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Chapter Text

They called her enigmatic, but that was the exact adjective that came into Sully’s mind when seeing Mulder that morning. His mind seemed lost in meadows and his posture slouched as if coveting a secret gift in his grasp. The air around him filled with a powerful cedar musk from the bodywash he reserved for after the gym. Freshly toned and showered, his skin steamed like asphalt in the sweltering summer underneath his tight tailored suit.  

“I-uh, I’ll be leaving early today,” Mulder stammered in low tones, pulling a file from the cabinet across from where Scully was reviewing her lab results.  

Scully lifted her head from her papers, intrigued by his curious demeanor. She decided to test the waters. “Hot date?”

Mulder cocked his head, and ever so slightly jutted out his plump bottom lip. A sudden urge and a vision crashed into Scully’s mind. In it, she closed the distance between them and that lip was between her teeth. She was sucking on it, long and slow, soliciting a low rumbling moan from his throat. Scully crossed her legs, her tongue darting between her lips. She had been allowing her mind to wander too often lately. His answer to her question tore the fantasy from her like a ship crashing into an iceberg. “Sort of.”

A hot blaze of fire streaked into her abdomen. Her stomach twisted in knots, not prepared for another Diana rollercoaster. She gave him a tight short lipped smile in response. 

Mulder smirked and chuckled. The cabinet drawer clicked as he shoved it closed and held up his right hand as if waving it for the Queen of England. “I’ve got a deposit to make.”

Scully tried her best to hide from her face the wave of relief sweeping over her. “Are you doing this at the doctor’s office or the comfort of your apartment?”

“Doctor’s office,” Mulder said, reaching for a handful of seeds on his desk, tossing one in his mouth and crunching the shell between his teeth. “You’re more than welcome to come along if you’d like to lend a hand.” 

“Nice try,” Scully retorted. 

Mulder shrugged. “I thought so.”

Three hours later they were in Skinner’s office getting a lengthy debrief of the meeting Skinner had just come from with the director and the other assistants. Mulder peered at the clock then at Scully. The corners of his mouth cinched upward and his arm nonchalantly fell from his lap, brushing his fingers lightly against hers. The gesture warmed her chest and burned at her eyes. It was almost time. He gave so much of himself to her. In return, her heart vowed a commitment to him on a level deeper than descriptors. Gently, she hooked her fingers around his. Out of Skinner’s sight, Mulder squeezed them supportively.
 
Shortly after Skinner dismissed them Mulder headed out, and Scully headed to the basement to sort through the day’s seemingly endless emails. Her mind didn’t let her get far. It had receded into the recent past. Mulder. He had kissed her on New Year’s Eve, told her he loved her after almost drowning in the Bermuda Triangle, but then there was Diana.. in his life, in his dreams, in his apartment. If Diana was alive, would he still have agreed to the IVF? Were they being honest with each other? Or was there something more to the bond, the love and the trust Scully shared with him?

Scully glared at the time on the bottom right hand corner of her monitor. It hadn’t been that long since Mulder had left. Swiftly she closed her laptop, grabbed her coat, and headed out.

*****

So many times her knuckles had struck against the hard wood of the door with the number 42 in brass, but not with the tenacity it did today. Her heart beat hard in her chest and her blood ran cold. What was she doing? Why was she really there? For answers, but to what? 

“Uh, just a minute,” she heard him call faintly from the other side. She shouldn’t have come. She turned to leave and the door opened. “Scully. Something happen?”

“No. No, I..” She laughed shyly. She didn’t know what to say or ask and now she was questioning herself as to why she was even there.  

Mulder stepped to the side of the door. “Why don’t you.., come in.”

Scully wandered into the unusually dark room. The blinds had been drawn to block out the midday sun, and several candles were glowing on the coffee table, side table, and on top of the t.v., like he might be preparing for a seance. Instrumental jazz played low from his computer speakers. 

“Have a seat,” Mulder invited, sitting down himself, leaning his elbows on his thighs. With fingers intertwined, his thumbs squeezed at his bottom lip. 

Scully sat next to him, her eyes surveying the room again. “Mulder, what is all this?”

Mulder passed her a warm smile and chuckled. “I was thinking, I did it at the doctor’s office the first time and.. I don’t know.. thought maybe this time, if I made it special.. I don’t know what I was thinking..”

“So you tried your hand at romancing the bone?”

Mulder’s smile widened as his eyes flitted to hers. “Yeah, something like that.” 

Underneath the light conversation, Scully felt her inner turmoil bubbling. The silence that proceeded had stricken her with an unnamed fear. A frisson of anxiety skittered down her spine and suddenly she heard herself take the leap, like bungee jumping off a bridge without the tether. Straight into the abyss, she flung the words, sending them both down the darkened pathway that with unspoken promises they had told the other would never be traveled. “Would it be different if Diana was alive?” she asked, her voice bleak and flat and almost unrecognizable. 

Mulder visibly cringed, almost staring right through her. “What are you asking, Scully?”

The fiery bite in his words caused her to look away and down at her fingers. Panic knotted in her chest and tightened around her throat, feeding her anxiety. In hushed tones she replied, “I know she was your friend, Mulder, but she was also more..”

“Scully, I’m sad that she’s gone, sad for her choices, but in the end, the love she had for me and for the work.. it would have always been about her. I saw her feelings and yours. I didn’t choose her, Scully. With Diana there was no us. Only her.”

An uneasiness hauntily whirled around them. One she had hoped had been extinguished to the grave. Now here it lingered. Shakily, she replied, “Couldn’t the same be said for what I’m asking of you?”

In his eyes, the abyss yawned, and within its depths love and light flooded up into his Caspian Seas. “You are my partner, Scully. You and I.. It’s very different. And I-I have some responsibility for what they did to you.”

The stiletto sliced through her and in preservation, her cool detachment returned. She took control over her emotions and pulled back within the lines of her comfort zone. “You have to let that go, Mulder. They were my choices,” she clipped.

“To follow me? And look where it’s gotten you.”

“To follow the work,” Scully corrected. Darkness and despair bloomed inside her chest, weighing down her heart and spiraling into her throat as it amplified. It was her deepest fears creeping from oblivion, a raw and painful emptiness threatening to break her open. “God, Mulder. If you’re doing this out of some guilt or obligation to me..”

“That’s what you believe?” As he said it his voice rose, clamoring around the room and echoing in her eardrums, then immediately calmed to almost a whisper. “Is that what you came here to ask me?” 

Scully’s gaze fell away as she slowly shook her head. “No,” she breathed out almost unintelligibly. She had come for answers, but to questions she had yet dared to ask herself.

Mulder glanced at the clock then back at Scully. “I don’t mean this to sound harsh, but I’ve got to get down to business before it gets too late, we can discuss this later.”

The conversation wasn’t going at all the way she imagined or practiced in her head on the way over. She really hadn’t thought it through at all. Once again she felt herself pushing him away when it was the last thing she wanted to do. “I will always be grateful for what you’re doing for me, Mulder.”

Mulder sighed heavily. “I never had a family, even before, when I thought I did… but I had my sister.” When Scully lifted her chin to meet his gaze he leaned in and she felt their familiar bubble lock around them casting away the rest of the world. “I knowingly sacrificed my future relationships in search of the truth.. And now..” He leaned in closer as if their noses might touch, as if protecting her from the weight of his words. “If this does come to be... This will be your baby, Scully.  And it will be my family.” 

“Mulder.” His words and their intimacy struck deep melodic chords within her. The electricity between them sparked and ignited, heating the space between them.

Mulder continued. “What they took from you, they took from me. This is a chance to get some of that back.”

There was a pause as his utterances hung in the air, balancing on the tether of their bond. His physical proximity almost scorched her skin as their auras weaved and married, yet they did not pull away. He looked again at the clock on his desk. “I’ve got to go,” he said, but didn’t move. 

Instead his gaze returned to hers, cultivating and blossoming, spreading like vines through her system, fueling her brazen words. “If only there was something that could encourage the process.” 

Mulder looked almost puzzled, but hopeful. “But what?”

She heard the smile in his voice, his eyes both coy and provocative. “I’m sure we could think of something.” Her hand laid heavy on his knee. Her thumb trailing small circles on the inside of his thigh. 

“It’s getting late.” Mulder widened his heated, but bashful grin. “You might want to move your hand.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Scully said abruptly, pulling away, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment. 

“No, that’s not what I meant.” His eyes shone down on her, his voice tinged with a tension she felt in her core. 

Her eyes fell away and she saw him hardening underneath the fabric of his pants. 

Felt the heat emanating. 

Her heart beat faster. 

Was this really why she had come? 

This was a line they would not cross. This would be risking everything. The walls protecting her heart would no longer be impenetrable. The, the… her mind scrambled for reasons to run, but then his eyes softened, letting her off the hook. He shook his head and pulled her in flush against him, tucking his face softly into her neck. 

Breathing out relief, her hands settled naturally around his abdomen. A comfortable silence cocooned them, the flicker of candlelight dimming. With Mulder she was completely comfortable in the dark, fencing the shadows and keeping the monsters at bay. Breathing in the musky cologne that was all him, she felt a sense of belonging and the calming peace that followed. 

Then the soft hair at the top of his head tickled her cheek. She had to fight the insatiable urge to rub her face against them. Instead, she ran her hand up his back and her fingers curled and threaded naturally around the short locks. He let out a sigh, his hot heavy breath blowing across her chest. Her nipples tightened, and she inhaled sharply just as his fingers flickered over the small of her back, tracing the hem. Her thighs flexed when the blaze of his fingertips touched hers. Between them his need grew and her body began to pound. She felt the energy shift, and heard their familiar pulse as the puzzle pieces of their souls snapped together. It was only Mulder, but that meant everything.

“Scully,” he nearly choked on her name, his voice breathy and dark.

His head lifted and his smoky eyes greeted her with a tentative, but scorching look. Like he was holding back, preparing for her rejection. It was a reminder of how much she could wound him and her chest contracted at the thought that she might ever hurt such a beautiful man. She couldn’t deny the wave of relief that hit her as he solidified his intentions with a chase kiss to her forehead. It was infuriating, yet oddly reassuring that he had the same reservations she did. 

His forehead dropped to meet with hers. Simultaneously, their mouths opened to speak, preparing to bring themselves back to sanity, but words did not escape their breath. Their lips instead hovered in frozen silence, caught in each other’s gravitational pull. Their eyes locked and Scully’s fingers started slowly, sensually, massaging the back of his neck. Their lips drew ever closer, danced, and reached for the other. Their eyes closed and when their lips touched it was more of a caress than a kiss, pulling back like they’d been burned. They repeated their motions again, the tension between them building, the sensations coiling and spreading. She wanted to let him go or never let him go. Wanted to stop this madness, but the feelings were too strong, pulsating her insides, her brain muted and on instinct, she pulled his mouth to hers.     

Mulder kissed like no one else she had ever experienced. It forced her outside of her mind, making her feel him in every part of her body. Their tongues were insistent, mating, entwining, their bodies rising to push hard against the other. What was intended as a restful expression of affection turned immediately dark, needier, hotter. This was so much more than they had prepared for. They craved each other. Her fingers tightened in his hair while his hand caressed her face. Her blood was running fast and thick through her body, her sex growing wetter as it throbbed for him. 

Their tongues reveled in the warmth of the other’s mouths and their lips stayed fused while her hand shakily hovered over his zipper. Hungrily, she grasped at his belt, dragging the end of the belt loop and slowly undoing the buckle, tugging it free. The rise and fall of Scully’s chest increased just as his breathing accelerated. This would complicate things between them and she liked it when it was simple. Her need to know, coupled with desire pushed her forward. With trembling fingers she undid the button and slid down the fly.

Her entire body locked when she pressed her hand against the steaming hard flesh tucked inside his boxers. For years she wondered how this would feel and it was exactly like nothing she had dreamed up. She closed her eyes, her heart raced and the world around her disappeared the way it always did when they touched. 

When she finally opened her eyes, his hazel ones filled with emotion and it gave her the courage to move past her doubts. What drove her more was that she didn’t want there to be a part of Mulder she didn’t know, that they didn’t share, that wasn’t open to her perusal if she wished. That someone else could possibly know more of him than her. That, and the need to touch him had just overcome every doubt in her head. 

Unwilling to restrain herself, she lowered her eyes in curiosity. He was exposed, straining against his boxers. She looked back at Mulder. His stare was downright sinful. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his, pulled the waistband away from his body, and slid her hand inside. Mulder moaned into her mouth as she wrapped her hand around his erection. Shit, it felt big. Long and thick. Her fingers couldn’t meet if they tried. She pumped him with appreciation and awe, sliding up and over the spongy swollen arrowhead. Scully returned Mulder’s moan as pleasure grew out of the electricity she felt in her hand. The sharp pulse streaked into her heart. It felt so good to touch him, to feel the silky heat of his shaft. 

Light and sensually, with her French-manicured nails, she grazed his balls, her tips trailing up the length of his cock. Mulder pulled back suddenly in an appreciative gasp.  She stroked him again. His head craned back to expose his Adam’s apple, his mouth falling open. 

Lifting his hips he lowered his boxers and his erection bobbed free. Her hand quickly snaked back around the perfect shape and she continued her motion, up and down, cork screwing near the top, loving the noises he made with each throb.

“How does that feel?” she asked.  

“I haven’t been touched like this in so many years, and it-it’s you.”

“Mulder.”

“May I touch you?” he asked timidly. 

“Yes,” she replied in her own meek voice, comforted by his gentleness. 

She closed her eyes and felt his long languid fingers run down the front of her shirt, undoing her buttons, teasing between her breasts, then over her stomach. His lips gentle against hers, then they were moving down her body, before finding her breasts and untucking them from their perch inside her bra. He put a nipple into his mouth and the pleasure forced her eyelids to squeeze closer together. Mulder stopped. “Watch me,” he rumbled. “You need to see, see that I’m right here. That I’m not going anywhere.”

Her chest tightened. She forced her eyes open and locked with his. With a tenderness he kept reserved, his lips lowered over her cherry blossom tip, trailing goosebumps in their wake. The voice in her head that forced her to shut down whenever Mulder got too close fell silent. 

Scully quickened her pace around his cock, missing his lips when they separated from her skin as he began to pant. He held her as she continued, sweat beading from his forehead. His unique smell, like a huge surge from a deep mysterious freshwater ocean, made her want to drown in its knowledge dressed in nothing but the moon’s luminescent glow. What spell had he cast upon her that her science had yet to disprove? 

It might have been the fatigue in her arms, or perhaps the absurdity of the situation, but the cold ghost of depression’s elongated tendrils grasped at her. Forced out of the situation she viewed as a third person the absurdity of it all. Two lost people, stripped of life’s normalcy, leaping at possibilities always inches from reach. It was too much. She should leave. They were prolonging an inevitability, settling on touches short of true intimacy. 

Without lifting his head, Mulder spoke, his voice low and thick. “What’s wrong, Scully?”

“I’m not sure.”

She felt his large hand cover her small one and cease its movement. “If you want to stop..”

“No,” she said, quickly. Truthfully, she didn’t know what she wanted. 

Mulder sighed. “I’m sorry it’s taking so long. It’s probably nerves. Although, the last time I was able to complete this task using this kind of stimulation from a woman, I was probably fifteen and it was more because of my age than her abilities.”

Scully wasn’t about to be out-done by anyone, even raging adolescent hormones. “It may be better if you show me what you like.”

Delicately, he coaxed her hand into long gentle strokes. The warmth and strength of his touch was a comfort and a turn on. He slowed to a stop again. “Would you be willing to try something a little different? Something that might help?”

“Maybe.” She could hear the distance in her voice. Knowing Mulder, there was no telling what he might suggest.

Mulder paused, then said, “You can try talking dirty to me.” 

Scully’s eyes rolled. Of course it would come to this. Whatever. At this point she wanted it done and him on his way so she could forget this situation ever happened. It was not the romantic teenage dream her younger self had of bringing her child into existence. She fought down the self deprecating depression creeping back in. What would turn him on? Then she had an idea. She kept her voice low and sultry and made an attempt. “Mulder, Did you know the B-52H Stratofortress is a long-range, heavy bomber that is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet? It can perform strategic air interdiction, offensive counter-air and maritime operation, and ocean surveillance for anti-ship and mine-laying operations. In two hours a B-52 can monitor 140,000 square miles of ocean surface.”

“Oddly enough, that’s not bad,” he said, continuing to stroke himself with his hand over hers. “I’ve always found your intellect irresistible.”

Ugh. She knew it was awful, but she wasn’t about to pretend to be one of his 900 numbers. She slowed her tempo and thought about his fantasies. “I believe there’s a base hidden 111 miles inland in Antarctica and it is so big that there is space for UFO spaceships, as well as the aliens that are living there.” Scully got in closer to the shell of his ear and gave him a few hard pumps. “I believe it might possibly be an alien city. I might just have caught a glimpse of it when we were there.”

Mulder moaned loudly, then growled, “What excites you, Scully?”

She didn’t have to think about that for too long. “Your spirit, your body, your relentlessness to go after the truth. To go after anything you believe in- you excite me Mulder.”

“Scully,” he moaned softly, “I can’t believe how hard that just got me. You, excited by me.” He had whispered it against her skin and every hair on her body stood at attention.

She felt cocooned by their heat and it thrust her into the moment. Her voice dropped an octave lower and she gently squeezed him. “Mmm. I love feeling you this hard.” 

“It’s from you.. for you,” he replied.

Scully stared down at his hand on hers, pumping his erection. She couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have something that big and that hard so deep inside her. Deeper than any man before. Mulder’s complete focused attention on her. Her insides throbbed. “God, you’re beautiful,” she heard herself say aloud. 

“Yeah?”

“And thick.”

“I would fit perfectly inside you,”  he rasped.

Her insides flexed as she moaned his name, like she could actually feel him dragging against her walls. Her grip around him pulsed with her own sensations. Mulder groaned in return and said, husky and needy, “Faster.”

“What would you do to me?” Scully asked, her mind’s eye lost inside the fantasy.

“Worship you,” Mulder returned quickly. “Excite you, give you as much pleasure as your body can take. Run my fingers inside you as I kiss your stomach, lick your neck, nip at your breasts. When you start to come, I’ll pull out my fingers and slide into you so I can feel you pulse around me. Only then would I really begin to move and use myself to bring you to a place greater than you’ve ever been.” 

Scully slowed her hand, feeling her heart wanting to believe their dream. To save herself, she thought more clinically. She released her grip to reach and open the packets on his coffee table, cleaning her hands, using another to wipe the head with surgical precision. 

“Uh,” Mulder cried out and shivered. “God, it’s sensitive. That’s cold and I was so close.”

Scully stroked him with a lighter touch. Trickling the pads of her fingers up and down his length as she cleaned him. “You want to come, Mulder?”

“I want to come for you, Scully,” he said softly. “I want you to drain me of every ounce.”

She kept her touches light, her other hand joining in, caressing and tugging at his scrotum, reaching just behind it with light circles. Mulder’s hips jerked forward and he moaned louder. “That feels so good, Scully, please, please, faster.”

Scully continued her feather touch and could visibly see him throb. “Do you like it when I tease you?” Her voice was rough, betraying her desires. She felt him come alive in her hand. 

“Yes,” he whimpered, his mouth slack, eyes dark, full of lust and need and seven years of pent up tension. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this hard.”

She had what she never thought she craved, his undivided attention. The reason her feathers ruffled anytime anyone drew close. She wanted it and she couldn’t admit it, but now that she was basking in it she couldn’t drink enough. 

She kissed him roughly, firming her grip and increasing her speed to a fever pace. Then she moaned softly against his lips, “Come for me, Mulder.”

“Scully, yes, for you.” Mulder reached for the cup and they locked eyes.

Scully’s hand moved like a piston as Mulder held the cup, watching her motions, moaning, breathlessly, “oh, Scully.”  “Faster,” “yes, Scully,” "squeeze a little harder" “Oh, keep going,” “oh yeah,”  “Scully,” he half gulped, half moaned, in a panicked voice. “I-I’m going to come.”

With his thumb he pushed the head down and positioned it into the cup, using his hips to pump through her grasp. “Oh, shit, Scully, it’s a lot, God, Scully, it’s so much.”

She couldn’t look away as she watched, as the pleasure she gave him washed over his face, as he pulsated and throbbed, filling the cup with elongated streams. Scully’s insides were contracting with such force as she watched him, fantasizing about wrapping her lips around him, and feeling the warm, swollen, hard flesh pumping into her mouth as deep as her throat would allow, working it until she could feel his release on her tongue, taste his salty musk. Then, the vision of him, grinding inside her with those gentle, caring eyes. 

“Cap it,” Mulder said.

“What?” Scully replied, slightly stunned, jarred from her fantasy.

“The lid, for the cup.”

“Oh,” Scully said, bringing her mind into the present, taking the cup from him and screwing on the cap, an impressive amount inside.

After fixing himself, he took it from her hands and reality colored his cheeks. She felt the heat on her own. They were fully clothed yet naked to the other. He broke their gaze and glanced at the digital clock on his desk. “If I leave now, I won’t have to rush, even if I hit traffic.”

“Go.”

He smiled and nodded. He placed the specimen in the cooler and stopped and stared at her as he grabbed his coat. “This is it.”

“Yeah,” she said with her stomach tight. She mumbled out with an almost teary eye, “Last chance.” 

His hand slipped around the brass of the doorknob, but didn’t turn it. “We okay?” he asked, his eyes on the door. “I mean, what happened.”

“We’ll be fine, Mulder,” she assured him. 

He tightened his grip and nodded. “Good. I’ll give you a call when I get back.” 

Scully stared at the door long after she heard the click of the deadlatch. Then she blew out the candles, watching the smoky dance rising above each wick. With every exhale she made a wish as if the candles were on a birthday cake, until she was encased in darkness. Birthday cake. Scully fixed the pillows on the couch and folded the throw, heading towards Mulder’s bathroom to wash up. Daylight burned through the blinds into the dusty haze of his bedroom. Surprised at the brightness, she sheltered her eyes until they had time to adjust. Scully took a long deep inhale. The day was still young. Flicking on the bathroom light, she decided that next she would head downtown. Suddenly she had a craving for something sweet.

Chapter Text

Six weeks later…

Mulder sat in Walter Skinner’s office with his hands gripping the arm of the chair like he was preparing himself for takeoff.

“I guess we can get started,” Skinner said curtly. “I wanted to review your case report before I submit it to..”

Mulder lifted his hand and Skinner stopped. “Shouldn’t we wait for Scully?” Mulder asked.

“She has a doctor’s appointment late this afternoon and requested the day off.” Skinner paused, searching Mulder for a reaction. “I assumed she told you.”

“No,” Mulder replied. His mind spinning in a thousand different directions. It was very unlike Scully to keep anything from him. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go,” Mulder said as he rose, lifting his jacket from the back of the chair and heading out the door.

“We need to discuss this report,” Skinner shouted in the distance. 

Mulder flipped open his phone and dialed.

“Scully,” the voice said after the third ring.

“You didn’t tell me your appointment was today.”

There was an uncomfortable silence on the other end that made Mulder’s chest tighten. Finally she said, “I didn’t want you to have to worry. I was planning on telling you tonight when I had a definitive answer.”

Mulder pressed the elevator down button and it illuminated. He raised his head and watched the numbers change, releasing a deep sigh. “Will you at least let me drive you?”

“Mulder, you’d just be sitting in the waiting room.”

“It’s better than waiting in my apartment, or worse, in the basement.” He wanted to ask her why she wouldn’t allow him to be her shoulder, to help carry her fears, but there was no point in asking a question he already knew the answer to. “Scully, please.. after all that’s happened.” He knew it was a little bit of a low blow calling in the recent past, but desperate times..

“Alright. Pick me up at three.”

Mulder smiled and ended the call, stepping onto the elevator and heading to the garage.

*****

After what seemed like hours of pacing in his mind and fiddling with old Highlights for Children magazines, a nurse finally appeared and called out his name. “Dana asked for you,” she said as he approached the door. 

Mulder didn’t know what to think, but the sound of her first name made his butterflies hatch butterflies. He pictured his stomach just filled with cocoons splitting open like some David Cronenberg movie. Bile splashed up and burned his esophagus. 

Entering the exam room, Scully appeared so small cowering on the parchment paper of the exam chair. His immediate instinct was to lift her into his arms and hold her close, but instead he simply slid the warmth of his hand over her cool one, squeezing it gently. “What is it?”

“The doctor is returning to speak to me about the results..” she said weakly. “I thought it would be easier if you heard them from him.”

Mulder nodded silently. If it was bad news, it might just shatter his heart to know she was alone when she received it. 

The doctor came in with a metal folder, flipping through the pages within it. The whole encounter seemed quite surreal. He lifted his head and smiled. “All the tests have come back and you remain in complete remission.”

“No indicators?” she asked in a gasp.

“None. Bloodwork came back normal. No outliers, except..” The pause had Mulder’s heart drop into his lower bowels. He couldn’t take an exception, not when it came to Scully. The doctor tightened his lips. “Your Hcg levels are over a thousand.”

“She’s pregnant?” Mulder blurted out. He looked at Scully who had a tear dripping off her cheek, her hand tightening around Mulder’s fingers like a vice.

He gathered her into his arms and explained to the doctor, “We had been trying. Her appointment isn’t until next week.”

“I’m happy to be the one to give you the good news then,” the doctor replied with a grin. 

Scully unburied herself from Mulder’s shirt and her face turned crimson. “I’m sorry, you took me a little by surprise.” She swatted at the tears before more fell from her eyes.

The doctor extended his hand. “Let me be the first to congratulate you.” He rose from his stool. “I’ll give you both a minute in private.”

The gentle click of the door latch and Mulder felt the sting behind his own eyes. He hugged Scully closer, burying her under his chin as relief and joy washed over them both. The moment was so intimate, the thought of joining her gaze felt almost too revealing.

A hard knock on the door broke them apart just as the nurse walked in. 

“I hear there’s some congratulations in order?”

“Yes,” Scully said softly, “thank you.”

The nurse looked at Mulder like her son just brought home a report card with all high marks. “And you are the daddy?”

Mulder had a little trouble getting the words out but Scully answered for him with a resounding, “Yes.”

*

Down the steps of the doctor’s office and across the street to their parked car, Mulder opened the passenger door and Scully passed him a strange look for doing so as she got in. “I’m not that pregnant,” she remarked.

“You’re pregnant enough,” Mulder answered as he closed her inside. Scooting around the car, inconspicuously, he opened the trunk and retrieved an item from it. Slinking into the driver’s seat, he presented Scully with a bouquet of flowers like he was performing a magic act. She accepted them with a huge grin, her eyes full of smiles. 

“I thought we could celebrate your remission,” Mulder explained, feeling suddenly shy. He hesitated, looking down at the console. “And now..” His head rose to meet her gaze, noticing the blush on her cheeks, the layered emotions clutching at his heart.

Scully buried her nose in the aromas, taking a deep inhale, and the sight of her happiness sent a bolt of pleasure up Mulder’s spine. 

“Mulder, they’re beautiful,” she mused.

Mulder acted surprised. “It was nothing really, I plucked a few stems from the entrance to the doctor’s office, I figured they wouldn’t miss it.” He started the car and Scully carefully placed the bouquet in the back seat. “Have you eaten today?”

“No.”

“Yeah, me neither. How about I take you out for lunch?”

Scully’s left eyebrow tilted ever so slightly and she quirked a smile. “What? Like a date?”

“Like one partner treating another partner to lunch.”

"I don't know, sounds suspiciously like a date to me,” she returned. 

Her honey sweetened smile spread across her face and onto his. “Fine,” he conceded. “It’s a date.”

There was an Italian restaurant right at the outskirts of the city near the doctor’s office. It was a little upscale for where he usually ate and not the usual choice, but he felt the revelations of the day warranted it. 

Mulder opened the door for them. As Scully walked through, her widened eyes said it all. The main dining room contained a large chandelier and a huge stone fireplace. The walls were covered with paintings from local artists, the tables contained linens and candles. There was a decent crowd although they were there well before the dinner rush.

The maitre’d led them to a table in the far corner of the restaurant against the back wall, but away from the restrooms and the kitchen. When the waiter arrived to take their drink order, Scully decided to order her meal as well. Mulder expected Scully to order one of her big salads, but she surprised him and ordered the eggplant rollatini with a side of meatballs. He guessed she had wasted no time sinking into the pregnant lifestyle. 

Mulder went with the Bistecca alla Fiorentina with a side of cannellini and warm arugula salad. The waiter took their menus, lingered a little too long on Scully for Mulder’s liking and then finally retreated.

Mulder pointed in the direction of Scully’s belly, then leaned in and with his voice barely above a whisper, said, “This is your call, but until the truth becomes undeniable, I think it would be best to keep this just between us.”

A small quiver of her chin gave away her fears. She moistened her top lip and slowly nodded. “I agree, but I should tell my mother.”

Mulder ran through in his mind all the dangers of her mother knowing, but came up short with the knowledge of Maggie’s overwhelming love for her children and grandchildren. “Of course,” he replied.

“But for right now it’s just between you and I.” Her look was raw and as much as his heart greedily leapt from his chest to meet hers, it also confused him. She had made her intentions clear that she wanted him to be a donor, the baby would be hers. He knew she would never keep him from his child, but it would be hers to raise. Now face to face with reality, maybe, possibly, he wanted those dynamics to change. Could she want the same?

The waiter interrupted his thoughts with their food. Scully had wasted no time stabbing at a meatball to take a bite, closing her eyes and licking her lips in satisfaction, her enjoyment of food almost a visceral pleasure. 

Mulder sliced into his steak and took a bite. He was certain his wallet might cringe at the bill, but his taste buds were doing flips. 

“I might have ordered too much food,” Scully admitted, wiping the sauce from the corner of her mouth, “but it all sounded so good. I guess it means I have lunch tomorrow.” 

They both ate in silence, caught up in their own personal reveries. When they were finished, Mulder motioned the waiter for the check and a to-go box for Scully. The waiter returned with the bill. Glancing at the check, Mulder’s heart rate accelerated and his wallet moaned as he cracked it open and pulled out his credit card to hand to the waiter.

Scully thanked him and they shared a deep long gaze until the waiter handed the credit card back and the slip to sign. Mulder signed it with the usual flourish and left an unusually large tip of 15%.

*

“Thank you again for lunch, Mulder,” Scully said as she opened the apartment door. “And the flowers.”

Feeling a little out of place without a rational reason, Mulder waited with his hands in his pockets at the entryway. Scully returned after finding a vase for her flowers. 

They stood together staring into the other’s eyes, but somehow the space between them tore at the truth that he hadn’t been listening to his heart. Even if everything was to change, what they had between them didn’t have to.

Nerves beaded his clammy palms. Mulder took a breath. “You told the nurse I was the father.” 

Scully looked hesitant and apprehensive. It made him doubt his courage to continue the line of conversation.

“I know you only agreed to be the donor,” Scully said. “I have no expectations and you can be in this child’s life as much or as little..”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Blood thrummed through his body, pounding past his eardrums. He knew his next words would change his life forever. “It’s what I want.” He knew he’d have to say it. His heart rate escalated. “I want to be the father.”

Scully reached for him; curling her arms around his neck she hugged him, her warm body and soft cheek against his. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, burying his nose in her fragrant hair, relief and intense emotion filling the void that he carried inside himself. 

“I want that too,” she choked out. “You will be an amazing father.”

Anxiety turned to elation, expanding in his chest, lighting him from head to toe, spreading warmth in its wake. “You’re going to be an incredible mother,” he whispered in return, sending a kiss to her forehead, too replete of emotion to say anything else.

Scully pulled back and looked up at him, the gentlest of lines showing underneath wisps of red hair. “I guess we should tell your mother then,” she said and raised up on her toes to press her soft tender lips against his cheek.  

With a sharp inhale and a lift of the brow he replied, “I suppose.”

Chapter Text

Electricity rained down like fireworks, blistering the floor of Scully’s apartment. Donnie Pfaster’s blood spilled and stained while he collapsed to the floor in a solid thunk, sinking away from Mulder’s grasp. Mulder, confused at first, froze as the sound of Scully’s gun ricocheted against his eardrums. Scully had taken Pfaster’s life and Mulder’s greatest concern remained their unborn child and its mother. A waterfall of horror tumbled and poured into his mind. How could he live if Pfaster had hurt them? How would he live if Scully was forced to have the baby in prison?  

After hours of investigations and interviews with the authorities, Mulder was finally able to get Scully packed, out of her apartment, and into his. He set her suitcases down on the floor of his bedroom. 

Trying to avoid more conversation around the spiritual or legal implications of her actions and wanting to make her as comfortable as possible, he asked, “You want to watch tv?”  

“If it’s alright with you, I think I’m going to go to bed,” Scully replied.

Mulder grabbed the pillow closest to the nightstand. “If you need anything, I’ll be right outside on the couch.”

“Mulder don’t. This is your bed.”

Mulder felt like he was wearing cement shoes. He wasn’t certain exactly what she was asking and he was fearful of assuming anything so he answered, “I wouldn’t be able to sleep if you took the couch.”

“I can’t stop replaying it in my mind,” she interrupted, her voice distant.“..I keep questioning what drove me to pull that trigger.. what it could have meant.”

“It’s going to take time for your thoughts to recover,” Mulder said quietly. “At least that’s always been my experience.”  He tossed the pillow back onto the bed, his body bouncing as it landed on the mattress. “Why don’t we watch tv. If nothing else, it drowns out the silence.”

Mulder switched on the small set with the remote and propped up his back with the pillow. 

Scully joined him on the opposite side of the bed. “I haven’t asked how you’re doing with all this.”

“Don’t-don’t worry about me, Scully.”

She continued anyway. “Driving to my house must have been frightening, and then walking in… whatever you thought of me before, the way you see me is forever changed.”

Mulder furrowed his brow and shook his head. “What that man put you through would push anyone past their limits. If you’re looking for my judgment..” He almost said, don’t look any further, but he managed to miraculously bite his tongue. “As far as I’m concerned, even under custody he was still a threat and if he would have hurt you, I would have killed him myself.” Mulder turned towards Scully, leaning on his elbow, the other hand softly resting on her belly. “You and the baby are okay. I don’t want to spend another minute on Pfaster.” He searched her eyes. He didn’t see any bruises on her exposed skin, but he knew they were hidden underneath her night clothes. The blood that had dripped from her nose at her apartment had been cleaned away and none had returned. Seeing it had reached him on a visceral level, reminding him of the not too distant past and her cancer. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the doctor? Maybe check on the little one?”

Scully’s incisor tugged at her bottom lip. “I will during my appointment. I just don’t want to raise unwanted suspicion.”

Scully covered Mulder’s hand splayed over her stomach. He watched as her fingers gently massaged his skin.

“If that makes you uncomfortable..” he started.

“No, not at all. It’s nice, only the baby isn’t that high up, it’s here,” she said, slowly lowering his hand so his palm covered her lower abdomen, his long slender fingers innocently brushing the light scattering of auburn strands veiled by the silk of her bottoms. Scully sucked in a harsh breath and Mulder searched her eyes again.

“Here?” In gentle circles he motioned around the area, his fingertips inadvertently, but repeatedly reaching past the line of scrimmage.

Scully nodded, looking suddenly flushed. “The fetus is only about two centimeters long. About the size and shape of a kidney bean.”

“Can the baby hear me yet?”

“Not until about 18 weeks.”

“When can we find out if it’s a boy or a girl?”

“After 14 weeks you can usually detect the penis or the vulva on the ultrasound if we decide that we want to know.”

Mulder slid his body down alongside hers and sent a kiss where his hand had been moments before. His eyes floated up through thick lashes to meet her deep blue seas and she threaded her fingers tenderly through his hair. The gesture tugged at his heart. Gingerly, he pushed up her night shirt and pressed his lips against the warm skin of her abdomen, her hips tilting ever so slightly in response. Involuntarily, his body came alive.

Mulder looked up at Scully and lifted his brow. She raised hers in return in a wordless moment of understanding. The sensual movement of her fingers through his hair sent electricity through him like his body was a lightning rod. 

His scalp tingled, body burned. They were close. Closer to crossing a line than they had ever been. Closer than the day of his donation weeks prior. Mulder could feel Scully’s focused stare upon him. As if she was waiting, wondering, when he would finally take the plunge. She had been through so much today, it added to his need to comfort her, to give her something… to have her feel… he wanted her to feel amazing, to know she was amazing. 

His chest grew tight, heart pounded, gathering the courage to do what she begged with her hips, her eyes. Suddenly, their rules of engagement were obliterated, and the next moment became inevitable. This wasn’t about healing or guilt, this was about them.

Lips, a mere breath away from her… he couldn’t think, couldn’t speak to warn her of the consequences. All of it became overwhelmed by the intensity of their electricity and the want pounding in his blood. This wasn’t supposed to happen again.

Hooking his fingers into her waistband, he couldn’t take his eyes off her hips. Scully lifted and he drugged them towards her ankles until they were low enough for her to kick them off. He should have gotten up and went to the couch. Apologized and moved on. 

He lowered his head and waited. Waited for that terrifying moment when she’d push him away, tell him no. She didn’t. Instead her fist tightened in his hair and it might as well have been around his cock.

His lips touched the bare skin of her thigh in the slightest hint of a kiss. This wasn’t a seduction, it was a tightrope wound tight, and if they allowed themselves to fall, they might never land. On her belly where his hand had been he left more kisses, her legs falling over each of his shoulders. He murmured her name, he could hear the hoarse desire and need in his own voice. The caring and devotion almost pained him to proceed. Yet his kisses fell further down until his tongue reached out and traced her sex, her heat swelling against it. His tongue rode each ridge, cascading and plunging between them. Her taste was reminiscent of sweet tangy guava juice. Except clear, and not sharp, maybe closer to passion fruit. Is that why it’s called passion fruit? No, he knew its name was derived from the flower and that name originated from the Passion of Jesus, the last days of his crucifixion.

Mulder felt the pull of his hair and Scully’s pubic bone press hard against his nose. “Oh, God, Mulder,” she purred.

“Actually, Son of God,” he murmured, clearly only amusing himself.

Meticulously he scoured the outline of her sex as if regarding the divine. This was Scully. The woman that had married with his soul, joined his quest, and became his dearest friend. Carefully, watching her eyes darken and jaw slack, he slid a finger inside her. Both bumpy and sleek, it drenched his finger as he felt her pulse and clench around it. The air stilled in his lungs as he pulled out and Scully released the softest of moans. Blood surged into his cock, the zipper of his pants digging into it, the swollen head pushing hard against the waistband. It felt claustrophobic. He reached inside to pull down his waistband and give it some relief. When he felt Scully’s eyes on him, he quickly removed his hand. Fuck. What she must think.

“Keep going,” she breathed out, with a look that affected him only the way Scully could.

With trepidation he palmed his cock and lightly stroked it, his nerve endings igniting like sparklers. The visions in his head reminding him of that moment when she first touched him, the power held in her gentle caress, life growing from scorched earth. 

Seduced by the moment, his eyes closed and he cradled his tongue between her sex, feeling her lips swell and her clit firm.  “Scully, you’re so wet,” he mewled against her, his hand pumping himself with each stroke of his tongue against her, the other wrapped around her thigh, his fingers trying not to dig too hard. The last thing he wanted was to add to her bruises. 

It all went blurry after that. Scully writhing and moaning, his mouth drenched from her, from himself, his body surrendering helplessly to her need, unable to stop, he coaxed them both faster and faster the sensations dialing up until he released, the hard contractions stealing his breath and soaking the sheets. 

He calmed his shaking limbs while Scully fixed her bottoms. They met under the covers, Mulder pulling Scully into the cradle of his body. He knew it would be different in the morning. It would have to be. If they knew, they could terminate their employment. Or reassignment. Even close the X-Files. So he cherished the moment they did have, not expecting more, and not daring to ask. Long into the night he held her, sleeping longer and deeper than he ever recalled, while reality stayed cold and wet below his feet. 

Days later… 

Catching bank robbers that delved into devious magic felt like a selfless act for Mulder in his attempt to keep Scully’s thoughts away from the too recent past. Scully saw it more as Mulder recreating some childhood fantasy. Either way, Mulder lapped up her flirtations with an eager tongue. It wasn’t until the five hour plane ride home that Mulder suspected Scully had not recovered from Donnie Pfaster as quickly as her bright smile had led on.

“Would you mind if I stayed at your place tonight?” she asked with an intake of breath and a shaky brow.

“Did the cleaners not finish up your apartment? I am more than willing to go there and take care of everything.”

“No, everything has been taken care of.” 

The silence between her answers spoke volumes to him. He may not have had the perspective capable of empathizing, but he understood. “You’re always welcome at my apartment, Scully, whether I’m around or not. You have the key, and we both know it’s not just to feed my fish.”

*

Cold sheets wrapped around Scully, like the hero of a Greek tragedy, while she tossed and turned in Mulder’s bed. Her eyes moving underneath their lids as if tennis balls at a Wimbledon match. 

“Rule number five,” she muttered in her sleep, “number five.”

Raised to live inside the rules and obey them, when it came to gun safety, her father made sure she and her brothers had them memorized: 1. Treat every gun as if it were loaded. 2. Always point your gun in a safe direction. 3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot. 4. Never point your gun at anything you don't intend to shoot.

The gun was a solid cold weight in her hand; as black as Pfaster’s soul, and a deadly combination of titanium, stainless, and carbon steel. Scully walked with dazed purpose from her bedroom, her feet stinging from tiny cuts. Red footprints marked her path with every step. Her ears rang, then fell to a deafening silence. Muffled voices. A hum. A voice in her head.

“Do it,” the voice beckoned. “Do it Dana, DO IT.”

Her finger shakily covered the trigger. She intended to kill.

Rules. They existed for a reason. Simple to follow, until it wasn’t. The slide slammed back, just above the webbing between her thumb and finger, before gliding forward. Each shell fell and pinged, bouncing against the floor as it ejected, until the magazine had emptied. A wayward bullet sent sparks flying from the ceiling’s light fixture like a pollinating dandelion. 

Everything came into focus at once: The sharp pain in her feet, the echoing aches from each bruise, the burning of her wrists from being bound. The gun became a hot weight as her ears rang and nose filled with the distinct aroma of gunpowder. 

Two figures stood. 

“Girlie girl,” echoed against the darkness as Donnie Pfaster’s evil soul left the earth.

“Scully,” Mulder gasped, staring at her with relief, sadness, confusion … and…. Agony.

She watched horrified as the full force of Mulder’s body hit the floor. 

Three steps was all her heart allowed before she dropped to her knees beside him. “Mulder!”

Her hands stroked his face, her thumb gliding along his cheek as he coughed, weakly. Blood sprayed and coated his chest bright red. Frantically, she tried to hold pressure on the wound at his neck, but more blood spilled, coating her hands. She’d shot him. A chunk of his flesh ripped away and hung loose near his trachea. Blood spurted from a severed artery until it pumped empty, his life force a mere trickle. Cold pale flesh lay heavy in her arms. Gone was the intelligent spark, the wry humor, the twinkle that always lurked in mossy shadows.

Rule #5. Rule #5. Rule #5. Over and over it drummed insistently in her head. She collapsed on top of him, sobbing with Mulder’s lifeless body in her arms. Their child would never meet its father.

“What is Rule #5, Starbuck?” her father asked.

 Dutifully she answered, “Rule #5 - Be sure of your target and what's beyond.”

*******

“Muuuulderrr!” 

Mulder bolted from the couch in nothing but his sheer yellow pajama bottoms, startled awake by Scully’s screams. The closed door of his bedroom slowed him down for only a moment, until he pushed it open and with the dryness of the air he scratched out, “Scully?”

With great gentleness and much trepidation he made his way over to her side, gingerly sitting on the bed. Her eyelids opened and he gently wiped the tears that fell from them before drawing her unresistingly into his arms. Scully breathed deep, soothing his fears as she nuzzled her warm cheek on his bare chest. 

“Don’t go,” she whispered through the scant hairs between the planes of his pecs.

Wrapping himself more completely around her he said in soft low tones, “I won’t. I’m here.” 

A roll to her side and he followed her lead, sliding beneath the blankets, unsure of how close she wanted him. All concern faded when she moved into his body, snuggling into him ever still. Mulder draped his arm around her waist and Scully burrowed deeper into him, severing any space between. With his nose buried in her hair and his body surrounding her like a cocoon, he breathed in her sweet warm scent, feeling her chest rise deeper against him with each slowing breath until he was certain she had drifted back to sleep and only then dared allow his own body rest.

Scully dreamt. 

Walking through the mist she felt the claws of branches on alternate roads. Gargoyles rose from their perch and chanted out across infinite planes- “You’re the one that got away.” Reaching, pulling, they demanded her baby. A gargoyle’s face demented and changed. Donnie Pfaster’s face smirked and twisted, a menacing sneer to which he rasped out, “Who does your nails, girlie girl?”

Chapter Text

They had been tested in Tennessee by the devil and his serpents. The threat of a snakebite to Scully’s pregnancy sent Mulder almost spiraling. Hiding their growing baby had revealed dangers they had not considered. Sharing an apartment had its own unique issues. One being the bathroom situation which led to a kitchen sink incident he would rather forget. It didn’t help that Scully was having a rough time of it. She seemed to have morning, afternoon, and middle of the night sickness. He wished he could do more than rub her back and make her herbal tea with a side of saltines.

Mulder pondered this and more as he rustled through old case reports when Scully said from across the office, “I think it’s time I go back to my apartment.”

A sharp pain rained fire into his stomach. Mulder released a breath. “I don’t mind sleeping on the couch and my bed’s not going anywhere.”

“You don’t want to sleep in your own bed?”

“I have. On occasion.” He lifted his head from his files, not able to hold back the upward turn of the corner of his mouth as he met her eyes. On and off they had slept in the bed together , although they had remained, for the most part, platonic. “I have no plans tomorrow. I could help carry a suitcase and some Chinese food?”

Scully paused as if playing a scenario in her head. She shrugged. “Okay.”

*

With Scully’s suitcase in one hand and her drycleaning folded over his arm, Mulder fumbled with the keys in the lock of Scully’s apartment door. Swallowing, his throat dry, as he turned the knob he asked, “I was wondering if you might want to go to the museum with me tomorrow?”

“Surprise!” The people inside yelled as Mulder pushed open the door.

“Did you know anything about this?” Scully whispered to him in a growl through her fake smile and gritted teeth.

“No, of course not,” he whispered from the side of his mouth in return.

They were interrupted by Mrs. Scully throwing her arms around her daughter and planting a kiss on her cheek. Mulder looked up at the “Congratulations” banner strung across the apartment.

“Mom, I thought we weren’t telling anyone,” Scully said, smiling at the adoring crowd in her apartment.

“We’re not, this is for your engagement,” Mrs. Scully replied with a joyful exuberance. 

Scully tugged her mother close and whispered. “Mom, we’re not engaged. We’re work partners.”

Maggie shook her head. “We know, but it’s a way to celebrate without suspicion.”

“Suspicion. Mom, if the wrong person found out about this we could lose our jobs.”

“We?” Mulder asked, setting Scully’s very heavy bags down and draping her dry cleaning over the couch. For a moment he thought his eyes were deceiving him. “Mom?”

“You invited Mulder’s mother?” he heard Scully as he made his way through the crowd.

“She helped plan the party,” Maggie answered.

Mulder gave his mom a short, but caring hug. “Mom, you helped with this?”

“Fox, it’s only right that people think you’re at least engaged when you have this baby,” his mom replied curtly.

“Mom, it’s Scully’s baby,” he said softly, kissing her gently on the cheek, keeping his voice low, scanning the room to make certain no one was listening. Everyone seemed to be circling around, greeting Scully.

“But certainly you’re going to help raise it,” Teena insisted, “Or will you be like your father?”

“Mom,” Mulder said louder than he would have liked and quickly lowered his voice, “I’m going to be the father, but this baby has nothing to do with any romantic relationship with Scully. The last thing we want is for it to be about us. Our focus is on having this baby.”

“Fox, will you listen to yourself?” She waved him away. “I guess I’m just old fashioned. It’s not the way we did it in my day.”

“I still haven’t recovered from the way they did it in your day.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing Mom, nothing at all.” He bent down and kissed her cheek again, putting his arm around her. “Let’s enjoy the party. You can introduce me to your friends.”

Mulder did his best to play nice, traveling from one gathering of people to the other. His extra height allowed him to easily see over everyone and catch glimpses of Scully in the distance looking about as pained as he felt. 

A knock at the door drew Scully’s attention away from her mother’s church group. Skinner stood in the hallway with a perplexed look on his face. 

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” he said, peeking through the crack in the door. “Have I come at a bad time?”

Realizing his curiosity, Scully quickly closed the door behind her as she joined him in the hallway. “My mother’s church group,” she explained with a smile. “They can get a little rowdy. What’s going on?”

“Do you know anything about this?” Skinner asked, handing her a copy of an application. “Agent Mulder applied for a temporary six month assignment in violent crimes. It’s assisting in profiling, but mostly it’s a pencil pushing job. Something tailored for a senior agent looking to get out of the field.”

“He’s applying to leave the X-Files?” Scully said, not attempting to keep the shock out of her voice.

“He’d remain part of the X-Files, but he’d be working in a different department while on assignment.”

“He’d leave the basement?”

“For at least six months.” Skinner’s hands rose to his hips and towered over Scully. “Is there something I need to know about you and Agent Mulder?”

“Like what? This is the first I’m hearing of this.”

“When I approached him, he wouldn’t give me a straight answer as to this sudden complete reversal of his life’s priority. Dana, there’s only one reason that Mulder would ever leave the X-Files.”

“And that is?”

“You.”

Scully stared blankly at the copy of the application. None of it made sense. If this was Mulder’s way of being protective, he had a funny way of showing it. For the first time, Scully worried that maybe Mulder had been having second thoughts about the baby.

Back inside, Scully met Mulder’s eyes and caught a twinkle of something. He walked towards her and said, “I guess I didn’t realize these parties came with a mountain of presents. I think all the ladies are waiting for you to open them.”

With Mulder’s arm around her and her mother feeding her gifts, she sat on the couch and opened them one by one. 

“Matches the kitchen,” Mulder remarked on the first gift. It was a type of blender for making shakes and smoothies. “and perfect for when you are on your health kicks.” She felt his hand comfortingly stroking her back, simultaneously leaving a fire in its wake.  His lips pressed at her ear. “You can make baby food like you wanted,” he whispered deep into the shell, his plump lips brushing against it and causing her heart to skip.

Food storage containers were the next gift, Mulder commenting, “Guess It’ll no longer be acceptable to just toss the leftover Chinese back in the fridge.” He was really hamming up his fiance’ routine. 

Another gift made Scully downright blush. It was a very attractive set of towels, but with an embroidered S & M. Mulder puffed out his cheeks in a failed attempt to swallow his laughter. The others caught on. Crying from his chuckling, he wiped his eyes, gasping, “Scully, how did I not know this about you?”

“I was going to just have the letter “M”, but then I didn’t know if you were changing your name, so I figured it would be safer to go with both,” Teena’s clueless Mahjong partner explained. “Now that you’re holding it up, I see what I did.”

Both Maggie and Teena were redder than the carnations the cleaners had left in a small vase on the dining table.  

Mulder leaned over Scully to lift the paper inside the next bag and smirked. 

“What?” she asked him. 

“Thought maybe they’d be some fuzzy cuffs, or even a flogger in this one.” 

Scully mockingly smacked his arm before picking up the next gift. It was a picture frame collage. Scully considered the photos she might place in it. A vivid image of her and Mulder holding their new born baby materialized. Today was beginning to be too much for her. She wasn’t certain why, but a hollowing sadness expanded in her chest, the darkness threatening to creep up into her spine. Suddenly, she was tired of roleplaying as the happy engaged couple. Luckily the day was almost over. Maggie served snacks to the guests and after cake everyone said their goodbyes. Mulder offered to drive his mother home, noticing how visibly exhausted she appeared, but she was having none of it. 

It was now only the four of them and they had retired to the dining table where, except for Scully who had herbal tea, they drank what was left of the coffee Maggie had prepared. 

“Have you seen the ultrasound yet?” Maggie asked Teena. 

“No, Fox is so busy. I hate to bother him.”

Mulder reached into his pocket and retrieved his wallet, pulling out the picture behind his driver’s license, having to push back into its sleeve the other of him and Scully on a case a couple years ago. He handed the ultrasound pic to his mother. The smile and the way her eyes lit up was something of nostalgia. She looked over at Mulder and touched his cheek. “Thank you.”

Mulder thought she might cry. “I think it’s Scully that we should both thank.”

“I think it’s best that going forward we keep the surprise parties to a minimum until we’ve navigated the delicate task of informing the FBI,” Scully said.

“Nonsense, I saw you speaking with your boss in the hallway,” Maggie replied. 

Mulder narrowed his brow at Scully and tilted his head like a confused puppy dog.

Scully glanced at him, but addressed Maggie. “Please, Mom, for just a couple of months.”

Maggie threw up her hands. “Fine, no more parties until you decide.”

Scully nodded. “And as far as Mulder and I, we don’t need anyone playing matchmaker. Please.”

“But you’re all alone,” Maggie protested.

“Exactly,” Scully replied, “Alone, not lonely.”

“But to spend so much time alone..” Maggie countered.

“Mom, I’m fine.”

Teena scowled. “Sounds like conversations I’ve had with Fox.” 

“If you two could only see what we see,” Maggie continued, “the way you look at each other, the way you care for each other… even when you opened the gifts today.. you know each other and you’ve shared so much of your lives..”

“I’ve always seen them like a married couple,” Teena remarked.

Scully took a deep breath and looked over at Mulder. “We enjoy our independence. We’re not lonely,” she repeated.

“Well, if you two need a home cooked meal, you know where to find it,” Maggie said. “And if you want help, my women’s group at the church has people that are available.”

“The only thing I use my oven for is storage, but I’m always willing to join you for dinner,” Teena added.

After both mothers left, Mulder wasted no time asking Scully, “What did Skinner want?”

“To tell me my partner asked to be on assignment.”

“Ah,” Mulder replied with a quick rise and fall of his brow. “It’s only for six months. Long enough for me to be there for your pregnancy. They can’t close the X-Files for a personal relationship we didn’t disclose if I’m not on the X-Files. Meanwhile we can hopefully have some control over who will be filling in during your hiatus.”

Scully shook her head. “Let me put in for the transfer. I can teach, I can become a doctor.”

“Now’s not the time for you to be changing roles.” He waited for her response, then searched her eyes when he didn’t get one. “What is it?”

Scully pushed a hand through her hair. “I don’t know. Maybe it was the conversation with our mothers or the party disguised as another party..”

“I know.”

“Maybe, sometimes, lately, I do feel lonely…” 

“Considering everything that’s happened lately it’s understandable.” He shrugged. “I kinda liked knowing you were in the other room. I liked you being around.”

“You could stay the night.”

A flare shot from his stomach and glowed inside his chest. “I can do that. I don’t have my overnight bag with me so it’ll just be me in my boxers. I can sleep in your guest room, but I am going to need a toothbrush and some paste. Want to keep my teeth pearly white. 

“I don’t want you to sleep in the guest room.” 

The stiletto shining in her eyes cut right into his soul. Mulder furrowed his brow. “The couch?”

Scully reached out and intertwined their fingers. Her soft warm touch was laced in an electric need that lit him up the way it had every since the first time they had touched, even when he was drowning within the dark depravities of the world. In a wordless understanding, she pulled him towards her, leading him down the hall and to the bedroom. 

Their contact broke as they crossed the threshold. Scully pointed in the direction of the bathroom. “You can use it first. There’s a new toothbrush in the medicine cabinet. Soap is under the sink. Towels are above the hamper.”

After Mulder finished getting ready for bed and relinquished the bathroom to Scully, as promised, he slid under the sheets wearing simply his boxers. Rolling onto his side, he faced away from the bathroom to give Scully her privacy. Inside his mind he played out the struggle between her and that monster, scanning the room to re-enact the events that matched her report and her injuries. He only allowed himself to indulge in it once, to feel the pain, anger, the hatred, and the guilt for not believing in her instincts sooner, allowing his own hubris to interfere, then washed it from his mind. Waiting for her return, he drifted to sleep. 

The next time his eyes opened was with the sound of the rustling of the sheets and the feel of the mattress sink delicately behind him. The petite touch of her hand gingerly rested on his shoulder blade, then looped around to his ribs. He  tucked her hand in his. The feel of her silky night shirt cascaded across his back as her breasts pushed against it. It sent a rush of heat through his body.

“Maybe we could try?” The words came out broken and meek. He understood the effort it took for her to say them and the caution that underlined every syllable. He felt the press of her lips sear his skin.

Mulder rolled to his back and gathered her into his arms. The air around them changed, thickened and sparked. Scully’s expression darkened. His heart beat faster. With a hand on his chest her lips reached for his; he wanted her so badly he couldn’t speak. The truth burned his eyes and took his breath. His lips tightened in a line and he felt the stretch of the skin on his neck as he tilted his head back and out of her reach.

“Mulder?” 

His entire body felt like the surface of the sun. Need scorched his skin and boiled his insides. Yet he didn’t make a move. Every cell in his body wanted her and not one piece of his heart would allow him to act unless he knew it was for the right reasons.

Breath left his body as he looked down into her intense deep blue gaze. The world always seemed brighter when his heart swam in her depths. A stark realization jarred his thoughts.

“You’re not wearing any underwear,” he replied, his hand slipping unconsciously down her nightgown and sliding unprovoked up her thigh to cradle the bare warm skin of her behind.

Her leg snaked comfortably around his waist, pulling him close enough to catch the hints of mint on her breath and the smell of fresh bodywash on her skin. If his boxers hadn’t been between them, he wasn’t certain if his will power would have held out. They were so close he felt the rumble in her chest at her laugh. She pulled back her lips as her expression darkened. “This isn’t hormones or loneliness. I know what I said, but what I feel is not lonely, and I’m trying so hard to not…”

“Hey,” he said, lowering his brow and shaking his head. “It’s on my mind too. A lot.” 

Her deep exhale tickled the hairs of his chest, prickling the skin across his body. She cupped his cheek and this time he bent his head down and kissed her. Like a switch, his body turned from longing to starving so fast his brain couldn’t catch up. His tongue dove passed her lips and their mouths slammed together as his body ached and ground against hers. It would take very little coaxing for him to lower his boxers and sink into her. Each swipe of her tongue laced with depth and passion, his fingers squeezed tighter into the flesh of her behind as she slid up and down his thickening erection. 

A loud groan of his name from Scully broke the spell long enough for his mind to catch up. Slowing it down he brushed her lips with a lighter touch, swallowing each soft moan she made, feeling her arms relax around him, her hands cascading across his shoulders, manicured nails dragging. All of it sent heat and searing pleasure up his spine. Unable to resist, he slid his tongue against hers and had to reach in again for more. Right there and then, promises he had made to himself cracked like sand castles in high tide.

Chapter Text

The darkness sheltered them from their thoughts, from the usually unadorned reality that beseeches them to continue their unrelenting journey. Pulling from her kiss he stared at her half-lidded eyes, and knew he had to slow down before his brain succumbed to his body. 

“Listen to me, Scully,” he said in meticulously low tones, “if it ever doesn’t feel right, if you change your mind at any time, we stop. If we’re going to risk it all, I need to know that we’re heading down this path together.”

Scully brushed the rough stubble of his cheek with a delicate hand. “You have my word, Mulder, and you have my trust.”

With a slight wrinkle of his brow he replied, “Then I have everything.”

Before another moment passed, Scully lifted her nightgown off her body, leaving herself exposed to his grazing eyes. “You’re beautiful,” he mumbled as his gaze lowered, absorbing every inch of her and etching it into his memory.

She raised a brow, calling attention to the fact that his boxers were still covering him. He rectified that in one fluid motion. Scully’s pupils dilated, the catch in her breath parting her lips. Mulder surged with pride at the reaction.

“You ready?” he asked softly.

Scully nodded, answering just as tenderly, “Yes.”

There in Scully’s bedroom, with nothing harbored between their souls, Mulder gathered up the courage and pushed inside, testing her with only the tip. The pleasure was sharp and strong and vibrated into his spine. Scully flinched and Mulder froze. 

“I hurt you.”

“No,” she returned quietly. “It just burned a little.”

He gave her a half nod, tightening his jaw. She wasn’t ready for him yet, but she would be, because he wasn’t going to give up. 

Gently, he covered her hips with his hands and rolled them both so she was now on top. They shared a shy smile. There was something so familiar and comfortable, yet new and foreign. The contrast alluring. She touched him and he almost lost all sanity. He felt her align him with her entrance, then the feeling of his crown slide snuggly inside her. His body shuddered and he gasped, shutting his eyes tight. Scully began to move in little short strokes. It was torture, not much more than the tip going in and out, over and again. He wanted more, he wanted all of her. He also wanted her to enjoy this moment and not rush it. Thinking more clinically, he squeezed his hand between them, between the gap from her tiny little baby bump down to her sex, idly circling her sensitive soft flesh, hoping for her body’s response. 

“MmmMulderrr,” she purred. 

“Use my hand, Scully. Use it before you attempt to take more of me.”

“There’s more?” She sounded surprised.

He chuckled softly, feeling a little self-conscious. “A lot more.” 

Scully leaned in, and closed her eyes, kissing him. Over and again she worked her lips over his, meeting his tongue, forcing his mind to stay in the moment. Mulder held his hips still as Scully ground against his hand, feeling her taking him deeper in the process. Suddenly she burst out, “Oh my God, Mulder.” 

A sharp bolt of pleasure struck him and he groaned and flexed his hips, his hands tightening around her, as a shudder pulsed through him. 

“Easy, Scully, slowly.” Even as he said it his cock throbbed at the mind-numbing anticipation of having more of her. 

“It’s not working,” Scully exhaled in frustration.

“Scully, I’m far from complaining. May I-may I try something?”

She looked reluctant as she nodded her head. Sensing her discomfort he held her hips and lifted her, sliding her toward him until her breasts dangled above his mouth. Brushing it gently with his lips, the friction caused her nipple to pucker and harden. “How did that feel?”

“It’s nice,” she said and he felt her lips at the top of his head, her labored breaths tickling his scalp. 

Inspired to continue, he filled his mouth with her breast, smiling at the sounds of her enjoyment. Then pulled back to fasten hard on her nipple and heard her gasp, tightening her hold on his shoulder as his fingers rolled and tugged at the other. With lips and teeth and tongue, with palms and fingers that refused to relent he forced her body to squirm and felt the slide of her pelvis hard against his abs. Oh yes Scully. It was working, she was unmistakably wet. He would have his mouth between her thighs right then if it wasn’t for the thrill of having the weight of her body on top of his, of the anticipation of what was to come. 

“I need you, Mulder,” Scully cried, “I don’t want to wait and I don’t want to take it easy.” 

With her eyes glazed and dark, she rose to a seated position and she sank down on him, deeper and deeper, hotter and wetter than he ever dared to imagine. The sound of his name escaped Scully’s throat in a half groan as she took him in completely. 

He felt her hips begin to move and stilled them. His fingers ran over her thighs and covered her hands, affectionately holding her wrists. “I never want to forget this feeling of us, together.” They gazed at each other, allowing their feelings to wash over them, an electric charge ebbing and flowing to the point that not moving filled him with need, certain he would lose his will and his strength.

“We’ve been friends a long time, Mulder,” she said softly.

“And look at us now,” he smiled, his words working through a myriad of emotions.

A staggering rush of heat jolted his hips up and into her and she rocked in return, contracting her inner muscles around him. “Uh, Scully. I don’t deserve to feel this good.”

“But you do, Mulder, we do.”

“I don’t deserve you.”  

Scully lowered herself into his kiss, rocking her hips as she did. Already her muscles were tightening again, he closed his eyes and pulled partially out and with one powerful thrust upward, entered her again, fully. 

Scully writhed and bucked, bouncing up and down. A deep raw moan left her and her head sunk lower,  hands leaning heavy on his shoulders. “Oh my God, Mulder.”

“I know… the way you feel, it-it’s incredible.” He held his hands over hers and leaned up to kiss her again. 

Recovering, Scully moved ever faster on a desperate mission, Mulder distracting himself with thoughts of Skinner’s beautiful bald head to maintain his control. Scully moaned his name and then screamed it, her body rigid as her knuckles whitened from the clutch she had around his biceps. She clenched and pulsed around him, thrumming and squeezing his erection. Then her body softened and collapsed flush to his skin as their mouths engaged, the sweet warmth of her body and the intensity in their kiss spiking him into oblivion.

“Everything okay?” Mulder asked as they pulled from their kiss, lightly stroking the apple of her cheek, their faces remaining close enough for their noses to caress. 

“You couldn’t tell? Oh my God, Mulder.”

“That, I felt,” he said, the words pouring from his heart, “right down in my soul. I meant with the baby.”

“Oh,” she said, “I’m okay. Everything’s okay. I feel fine.”

The following day…

A deep breath and Scully pushed open the office door. Her stoic stride came to a halt when she realized the office was empty. It wasn’t like him to arrive later than her, but she imagined that stopping off at his apartment on the way had slowed him down. The thought of last night froze her in place. Then she jumped at Mulder’s deep alto, “Good morning.”

Scully spun around to see him sporting a freshly cut face and resembling an Armani model. “Morning,” she replied. Damn, he looked good and he smelled divine. Deep and woodsy, but sweet with a hint of an earthy tone. A wave of pleasure crashed through her reminiscing on the scent. The same one that filled her lungs when his warm cheek had laid against her chest with his arms wrapped tightly around her, as he peacefully slept. 

“We’ve got a meeting with Skinner in about half an hour,” he said, jolting her back into the present. “I had a feeling you might not have had time for breakfast so I brought your favorite.. Oh and a cup of hot tea, naturally decaffeinated with a hint of honey.”

“Thank you,” Scully said, taking a sip of the tea and opening up the other cup to find fruit inside. 

“You look disappointed,” Mulder said. 

“No, no it’s very healthy, I mean,” Scully stammered.

“You wanted this?” Mulder asked, pulling away his sports jacket to reveal a square bakery box with a plastic window on top. 

Scully took it greedily, her face brightening immediately with a wide grin, opening the box to find a donut inside. 

“I figured the baby might have a craving,” he said, smiling just as wide at her enjoyment.  

“If we weren’t at work I’d kiss you,” she said before taking a large powdery bite of the vanilla creme in the middle. 

At first, Scully didn’t realize what she had said, but when the walls came crashing down, she felt the rawness of the night before. 

“W-We should go see what Skinner wants,” Mulder stuttered.

“Right,” she said for lack of anything else to say. 

In the elevator, they leaned against opposite walls with Scully’s arms crossed in front of her and Mulder’s pressing his behind his back. 

Her mind couldn’t help but drift again, unfurling in her gut, rehashing all their intimate times. Mulder seemed just as far into his own thoughts and staring at him now, she wondered how long it would take for the scruffiness to return so she could feel it again on her lips, her neck… between her thighs. Heat blossomed and smoldered inside her core. 

The elevator dinged as it reached the first floor and the doors flung open. Agent Banks stepped into the elevator and pushed the button to the fourth floor, leaning against the only unoccupied wall. 

“Agent Scully. I hear there may be some congratulations in order. Rumor has it you’re engaged. The two of you are engaged,” the young agent said with an innocent smirk.

“Where did you hear that?” Scully retorted, hearing the snark in her own voice.

“I’m in the choir at your Mom’s church.”

“Well, I’m afraid you’ve heard wrong. Agent Mulder and I are just partners.” The words felt dry on her tongue.

Agent Banks brightened. “Really? Oh, well, in that case, maybe Friday you might want to work out together at the gym? Go get something to eat later?”

Scully glanced over to Mulder, but he remained stoic. “I’m afraid I’m currently working a case, but if anything changes..”

“Yeah, sure, I understand,” the Agent returned, clearly disappointed. He left the elevator in a slouch, with his head down as he shuffled away.

“If anything changes?” Mulder taunted once the doors closed.

“What would you have liked me to say?”

Mulder opened his mouth, then closed it again. There was no easy answer.

*

The solution didn’t come any easier inside Skinner’s office. 

“Agent Mulder’s request for temporary assignment has been accepted. He is to report tomorrow to his first case. In the interim Agent John Doggett has been assigned to the X-Files,” Skinner rasped.

“That was quick,” Mulder snarked. “Body’s not even cold yet. John Doggett? Does he have any experience at all with the paranormal?” Mulder asked. 

“May I remind you Agent Mulder that you requested this assignment.”

*

The tumblers of the lock to Apartment number 42 fell into place and the door creaked open. Matte black high heels clicked on the hardwood floor. Long, lined hands with blood painted nails shuffled through the drawers of Mulder’s desk, then slammed them shut in a huff.

 “It’s got to be somewhere,” she murmured to herself. She moved on to the kitchen, opening up the cabinets and closing them before heading to the bedroom. She glanced over her shoulder. She could hear the faint shuffling at the door and ducked into the bedroom closet, sliding shut the set of bifold doors. The slats painted dark stripes over her face and suit, but there was enough space between them to see out and more than enough to hear. At first she assumed it to be Fox, but the sound of heels was clearly that of another woman. Was she breaking into Fox’s apartment or did she have the key?

Chapter Text

As Mulder slid his key into the lock he heard shuffling from the other side of the door. Unholstering his gun, he entered to find Scully standing on the other end. “Scully, what are you doing here?”

“I don’t know, exactly,” she stammered. “I was on my way home and then I was thinking and… well, then I wasn’t.”

“Oookay,” Mulder replied, not certain what to make of the intrusion, thinking whatever she had in mind had to be better than all the others that had laid in wait for him inside that apartment.

Scully sighed. “Don’t you feel strange?”

The question contorted Mulder’s face. “About what?”

“About this, about us…”

“About what I choose to do with my best friend?”

Scully nodded sheepishly.

“No,” he said sternly, then softened his voice. “but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it’s a little weird being in the office, fully clothed, knowing I have to pretend I don’t know what it’s like to spend eighteen hours naked in a bed with you. How I had to suppress every part of me, overcome a chasm in my gut, so I could get a miniscule amount of work done…”

“Mulder,” she let out in a breathy voice and a sly smile. “I really wished I could have kissed you today.”

“Me too,” he admitted. The heat in her eyes spread and blossomed into his chest. It forced him to look away and down at her soft lips currently being moistened by her tongue. His Adam’s apple bobbed hard in his throat and his mouth went dry. He watched as her breath held for a beat and then she lunged, pulling him to her mouth. Instinctively his hand fell to the small of her back, the other buried in her hair, returning her affection, half laughing with surprise. 

“We’re off the clock now, Mulder,” she said against his lips, her mouth stretching into a playfully devious grin while her hand brushed his thighs.

The gravelly tone in her voice and the allure of her fingers sent the blood pumping from his heart on the express train to his cock. The next seconds blurred. Astonished, he watched Scully crouch down and unzip his slacks to drag them and his boxers down his legs. Stepping out of them, his eyes wandered to see the black lace of her bra hugging the curves of each breast perfectly. He was certain he had never been this hard in his life. 

Stars burst in front of his eyes as he felt Scully’s hand lightly cup and massage him. For someone who couldn’t recall what it had been like the last time someone cared enough to send the very best, this was more than he could take. “Scully, you don’t have to… oh, Scully.”

Scully was guiding him into her ethereal mouth. The one he worshiped and relied on for all his sanity. His partner, his sweet, enigmatic, nonpareil Scully, closed her eyes and took him down her throat to nearly the root. Then she moaned, sending vibrations of pleasure into his balls and up his spine. Mulder groaned, his legs shook, knees buckling, his hand threading through the hair at the back of her head. Somehow her lips managed to curve into a smile as their eyes met. This was hotter and more sensual than anything he had ever witnessed in any porn and there was something about it, that it was Scully, the woman that made his toes curl and brain hurt all in the same day. Mulder groaned and gritted his teeth, stroking the back of her head, the pleasure building the harder she sucked and the way she timed the strokes of her tongue with the bob of her head. Mulder let more of his weight rest against the door as his legs melted into ectoplasm.

Gazing upwards with her steely blue eyes made Mulder’s whole body throb with pleasure. It forced him to lean his head back and close his eyes to steel himself. “Scully, you’ve got to stop,” he croaked out in agony. 

Immediately she rose up to her feet, but before she could react, he captured her lips in a bruising kiss, walking her backwards, hiking up her skirt, then lifting her up, pushing away the papers and magazines, and laying her on the coffee table. 

“There’s only one way I want to get off tonight, Scully,” the sensual tone in his low growl surprising him, “and that’s to the sound of you begging me to because your body can’t take coming one more time.”

“You’re quite confident in your abilities,” Scully returned.

“You don’t have to believe me, Scully, because I intend to prove it to you.”

He hovered over her body as he ducked down between her legs. A gentle kiss to the outside of her panties made her moan. He inhaled deeply. Scully’s scent drove him crazy enough to rip away her underwear. She tried to protest, but he had already parted her legs. The clear view of her blazed tiny sparks along his skin. His sightline floated upward to meet hers. There was a sensualness to her gaze that he hadn’t witnessed before, one laced with affection. 

Tucking his hands beneath her he pulled her towards his mouth. Mmm, that taste. He wasn’t just licking her, he was kissing her, devouring her, wildly, passionately making out with every part of her sex, feeling it swell against his lips. 

Scully gasped and moaned, but hearing, tasting and smelling what he was doing to her wasn’t enough. He had to feel it. Sucking her sensitive nub he carefully pushed his finger inside, feeling her clench tightly around him, pushing hard against it. He pulled out and corkscrewed back in. Scully was soaked. Another surge of desire coursed through him and he met her gaze. 

Scully slid off the coffee table and their bodies met, both of them sitting up as they straddled each other right there on the floor, kissing each other desperately. 

Mulder could feel her heart pounding against his as she slid her hand between them to grip and massage him. He could feel the heat of her sex calling him. Mulder was about to explode. He attempted to remove her top and she half unbuttoned his shirt, but with his sleeves rolled up and an undershirt underneath, nothing was flowing quite right. 

“Let’s do this in the bedroom,” he breathed and Scully agreed, both of them stripping as they went, Mulder following Scully’s lead. He admired her as she bore herself to him, the way her hair bobbed, the curve of her bare back, the bounce of her ass, he wasn’t going to make it to the bed. 

He caught up to her and held her hips, stilling her, he buried his lips in her neck, his nose in her hair. She gripped the bedpost as he entered her. His intentions were to move slowly but Scully was so wet, so ready, he pushed inside as her eyes went wide. Instead of bucking into her he lifted her up and down on his cock, her legs wrapped around his for leverage, her hand steadily on the bedpost. “God Mulder, you’re deep. God, it’s so deep.”

“I’ve never been with someone that felt so tight around me… “ he admitted, “no one has ever felt as good as you, Scully. Nothing feels as good as you.” He lifted her up at the same time pulling almost all the way out, then lowered her as he thrust back in. The feeling was exquisite. Scully gasped and released a groan. “Do that again, Mulder.”

So he did and she whined out his name in a gasp.

“Say it again, Scully,” he breathed into her ear, flicking his hips quickly, penetrating her deeper. 

“Oh, Mulder.” His name always sounded so good on her lips but now it sounded so desperate, so tender and filled with so much pleasure.

“Again, Scully,” he whispered, quickening his thrust.

“Mulder.”

He panted hard. All he could concentrate on was the feel of sliding in and out of her dripping tight muscled walls and her reminding him that her pleasure was coming from him alone. “Oh Scully, again.”

“Oh Mulder,” she purred before groaning it again in a repeated crescendo, her breath in a quick staccato, her hips matching each thrust of his own. “Yes, Mulder.” 

“Mulder,” she moaned, this time sounding suddenly panicked, a tight grip on the bedpost, the muscles on her neck strained and flexed, she beared down on his cock, chocking it with her insides and screamed out in a breath, “Oh God Mulder you know how to fuck me.”

Woah. He lowered her onto the bed and on all fours slipped his hand between her legs, finding her clit. Scully placed her hand over his and moved two of his fingers; he found her rhythm and matched the motion with the pace of his thrusts. The sight of them working together, while he was deep inside her sent his body in overdrive.

Their breaths became short, sharp gasps, laced inside moans; she leaned back and grasped at his hair, pulling it, feeling him, touching him. 

When she came, he felt it. Felt it in every cell and fiber of his being; massaging his erection, reverberating with every clench of her around him, her body trembling, his release rocketing through his body, filled with waves of sheer pleasure. 

He collapsed on top of her, turning her towards him as he fell to one side, feathering her lips with his kisses, deepening them as their breaths returned to normal. 

She looked at him in a stunned silence, lightly stroking his face, her eyes soft and dreamy.

Mulder bit at his lip. “Uh, Scully, I’m not quite sure of the science, but I’m not finished yet.”

Her eyes widened. “How could that be possible?” 

“I know, I know, this has never happened to me before, but I can feel it, there’s more. .”

Her eyes closed as her arms snaked around his neck, she tilted her head and her mouth pressed to his, her tongue reaching into him like ocean waves attempting to lick the dawn. The gentle movement of her lips against his stirred him even more.

He broke off their kiss only for his lips to move down over her neck, down to her breast to meet the rock hard nipple at its peak. The sensations as he kissed her skin were overwhelming. She squirmed underneath him and he ran his tongue down the line of her abs to her navel all the way to her clit, already slick and saturated with their shared pleasure, rubbing it with the flat of his tongue until it swelled, then kissing his way down her inner thighs, the back of her knee, up her spine. There wasn’t a part of her Mulder didn’t caress, didn’t kiss or lick, didn’t store inside his eidetic memory to cherish always.

It wasn’t just him that couldn’t stop, every orgasm only seemed to make her needier instead of satiated. She took great pleasure in exploring his body until the fierce cravings built inside her again. She became obsessed with the expression on his face as he moved in and out of her. The way his teeth grazed his lip, the way his hands caressed her chest and teased the hard buds of her nipples. The way he gazed so deeply, so lovingly when he went deep and slow and the carnal desire when he went hard and fast. It was no longer about Mulder’s painful childhood or her need for rebellion, it was only about them. 

He pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly against him, her back to his front. Their breathing settling to mere sighs. “It’s never been this way with anyone, never even close to this,” he confided softly, nuzzling his face in her hair.

“That I believe,” she mumbled, relishing in the tight hug he had around her.

Mulder sighed. “You deserve more than this, Scully. More than a Christening of every inch of my apartment.” His emotions ripped at his words. “We don’t have much time before that baby becomes our life.” He sighed again. Deeper. “There’s something you need to know, Scully.”

“Why, when you say that, it always makes my stomach flip?” she replied. She could hear the thickness in her own voice.

“I’ve never done that, multiple times like that.” He snuggled in closer, his stubble scraping the softness of her cheek. “I’ve also never been with someone without protection.”

The strangest feeling sank into her body. She hated his past, but the thought crept up just the same. “Never?”

“No, have you?”

She knew from his blood work as much as he knew from hers that they were free of anything transmittable. Although that had never been enough for her to trust even her longer term relationships. She guessed that maybe not knowing that information with someone else he most likely would have opted for protection. “Well, no, I’ve only engaged in protected sex, but I thought you might have…”

“Not once. I never had a desire to be fruitful and multiply before with anyone.”

“Yes, but Mulder..”

“I never trusted anyone to not use one and I’ve never felt the need I feel now to be that close to someone. To have nothing between us. Something held me back. Something more than blood tests and birth control pills.” His lips moved to the sensitive spot where her jaw met her earlobe. “Then again..” His warm fingers were on her temples, smoothing away any doubt. “..I’ve never been in love before.”

Scully’s heart slammed in her chest. Panic rose in her throat and clenched her stomach. A stronger desire emerged and she shifted in his arms, snuggling into him, running her hand down around his hips. 

Mulder chuckled. “Scully, I’m afraid I have nothing left.”

“Giving up doesn’t sound like you, Mulder,” she said,  kissing him, touching the line of his jaw. Mulder released a groan, hoarse and deep, that stirred her as it always did. She didn’t want to analyze her actions, she just knew she didn’t want this moment to end, this feeling, this closeness, to have this need.. Slowly, her tantalizing fingers fell daintily from his chest, tracing his abs all the way down to his adonis belt while she kissed his swollen lips, eventually dipping to wrap around him and feel the blood beneath his smooth skin leap between her fingers.

His brow arched, forming two distinct lines between them. “I can’t resist you. My feelings are too strong and being with you feels too good.”

Their tongues danced, their lips brushing, caressing, and massaging the other as she stroked him. It was powerful to know his desire for her was so strong, so unsatiated, that it was only his body that had its limits, not his heart. That flip in her stomach started to flutter. 

She moved atop of him, pressing her hands against his shoulders as she straddled him. With a strong hand she guided him to her entrance, slippery from their last encounters.  

Mulder arched beneath her as she slid down his shaft, her head falling back as she consumed all of him. Her hands clutched at his shoulders as she gasped for breath. He was completely within her, and that alone fulfilled her. Moving on top of him she took pleasure in every movement and delight of his stroke against her sensitive nerves. 

A guttural moan surged from Mulder as he watched her, his eyes glazing over as his breath came over his parted lips. “What are you doing to me, Scully?” he asked in a hoarse, raspy voice. 

She looked deeply into his eyes. “It’s what you’ve done to me.”

She ground her hips against his in a circular motion as she arched her back, her breasts lifting outward, perfect for him to cup. Her body, already exhausted, leaned against him and slid faster, knowing that she would be the first to explode. Her hands slipped underneath him, marking his back as she came, pressing down tightly against him, wanting to remove the pain that fueled his existence, wanting to have only pleasure between them. 

The thickening of his morning wood inside her body stirred her awake. It was then she realized she must have passed out on top of him while he was still buried inside her. The sheets and comforter were twisted into coils at the foot of the bed, their bare bodies exposed to the cool morning air didn’t halt a new heat rising inside her. Involuntarily her muscles contracted at the stretch of her insides. The sensation was like no other. Every small movement creating intensely powerful pleasure. She moaned out a sigh and his erection expanded and throbbed. It swelled her tight around him and forced her hips to tilt and slide, the burn of her pelvis brushing his, creating a new kind of feeling. She felt his hand on her behind dip to the back of her upper thigh, his long finger reaching to caress where they were joined, unintentionally grazing her back entrance in the process. A small moan escaped her lips and Mulder joined her with a muted groan. She wasn’t certain if he was awake, she could hardly breathe from the acute pleasure. It was an area that had always been a hard no for her, but she didn’t say no, she said, “Mulder? Are you awake?”

“I am now,” he said in a gravelly voice, his hand squeezing her ass, almost pinching it with his palm. He pried his tongue from the roof of his mouth. “Did we fall asleep like this?”

“I think so,” Scully replied, trying her best not to move until she had his permission.

The corner of his mouth crooked upward. “I’ve never slept better. Did you want me to..”

“No,” she said quickly, fearing he might pull out. “Don’t stop.”

She could feel him thicken against her walls with her response, growing deeper inside her, tickling her cervix. 

His fingers unnerved her as they hinted at a repeat of before. “Do you like that?” she heard him say almost in a whisper.

“I don’t know.”

He paused, then asked quietly, “Do you want to find out?”

With him buried inside her, he must have had her delirious because she said, “Yes,” her voice sounding small and distant.

She felt his slick fingers at the same time his length withdrew and then returned inside her. A feeling she had never felt before began to boil. Her insides pulsed so hard against his cock it stole all the moisture from her mouth. 

“Shit, Scully,” Mulder moaned, moving quicker while his finger continued to caress the back of her. A moan, more of a really loud cry, broke through the feelings rushing forth in her and she felt him withdraw his hand for the small of her back as he pushed her tight against him, thrusting up into her at a feverish pace, her clit sliding against his pelvis as he did; she was too worked up, trapped in his ungodly rhythm, it was more than she could take, only to feel him grow with one last surge and she came with the deep pumps stemming from the very root of him.

Mulder shook his head in disbelief as he stared up at the ceiling. “That’s another first,” he said in hushed tones as she felt him wither out of her. “That was… it was.”

“Pretty incredible?” she finished. 

“Yes.” He sent a kiss to her forehead, their actions dripping from her, warm and sticky between them. “We need to get up or when they find us here we’ll be nothing but bones intertwined. Not that it is the worst way to go.”

And with that he carefully tore from her body and dashed to the bathroom.

Scully fell back against the pillow. What were they doing? What just happened? And what was with the voyeuristic dreams last night? In her sleep she recalled hearing the crack of Mulder’s closet door. She recalled a dark figure leaving the room. Had she witnessed another apparition? A ghost in the shape of Diana Fowley? Her eyes rolled. It had to have been a nightmare.

Chapter Text

Holding her breath, with tears brimming in her eyes, and her heart beating with a fury that might tear it right from her chest, Diana fled Mulder’s apartment straight to the open doors of the elevator. Her face felt like she had been standing next to a roaring fire. She pressed the button frantically until the doors closed and the elevator descended. It caused the sinking feeling in her stomach to rise. Her body trembled, her legs shaking so severely it made it difficult to even take the short walk to her car. 

A stream of lightning flashed through the sky and cracked open the clouds. Rain beat a steady rhythm on the windshield hiding Diana from prying eyes and passing headlights. Unable to restrain her emotions, she only got as far as placing the key in the ignition before she paused and began to cry. 

It was more than just losing Fox, or that it was Dana Scully, it was the humiliation of having to watch as he touched and kissed Dana in ways he never did with her. The things he said, that he had never felt that way with anyone, the desire and need to be with Dana Scully again and again, it was all too much. After all, Dana didn’t have her grace and class, didn’t have the power to rise above the system, to treat him the way he was accustomed… Dana was a navy brat that lacked decorum and refinement. She could never meet the standards and sophistication, the polish of someone with their upbringing. Snot dripped from her nose as she beat on the steering wheel, her strangled cries changed to a howling scream, like a coyote being eaten by a bear, claws puncturing flesh to tear out the organs from the inside out. 

There was nothing left inside her but hate. Sweat broke from her pores as if hiking in the Tunisian desert. With racoon red-rimmed eyes, she pushed away the tears that had smeared her make-up and bled from the putridity of her black heart. The car roared to life, streetlights blurring to four images as she pulled away. Heavy showers pounding her car drained into the sewers like liquid tar.

That night she was tortured by her memories, penetrating into her dreams. Flashbacks of what she heard, what she saw. The look on his face as he succumbed to Dana Scully. Telling her she was the tightest he ever had, the most he had ever felt, the intensity of his gaze, the complete relinquishing of his heart… 

*

Scully straightened her slacks as she shifted in her seat and crossed her legs. The chairs in Skinner’s office were impossibly uncomfortable. He had beckoned her from the basement with the utmost urgency and now he was making her wait.

After a few more excruciatingly long minutes, Skinner finally entered, and shutting the door behind him addressed her, “Agent Scully, Agent Mulder was assigned last night to profile for a case of a missing child, the possible abduction of a little girl. He flew to California and was told to report back at noon. I haven’t heard anything. I tried contacting him, but he’s not answering his cell.”

Even putting Mulder on temporary assignment in a different department, Skinner wasn’t letting her off the hook on being Mulder’s keeper. “I’m not sure I understand. I thought Agent Mulder’s new assignment would keep him inside headquarters. I was told it would be mostly riding a desk.”

“Mulder had other ideas,” Skinner growled in reply.

The abduction of a little girl. That familiar feeling trembled in her gut. “I’ll book a flight immediately, Sir.”

That conversation with Skinner had taken place weeks prior, but it still weighed heavy on Scully’s mind. The pieces had fallen like Dominoes, revealing answers that didn’t interlock to form a whole, but instead intertwined like a quilt to tell the story of several little girls including Mulder’s sister and several mothers and their connection to loss. Had they all been saved and returned to stardust? Scully not only didn’t dare to question, she didn’t care to think about it at all. All she knew was Mulder’s mother had passed and he had confirmation in his soul that his sister, Samantha, was dead.

The night his mother died Scully had held Mulder in her arms as he mourned. It had brought another new stroke of color to the canvas of their relationship and with it another wall had withered away. Weeks later, she had found herself once again in his apartment, spending the night and most of Sunday morning. 

Standing in his foyer, she tilted her head to accept his kiss. “I’ve got to go back in for a couple hours,” he explained. “They need my help on a case that’s about to break.”

Scully nodded. Of course they did, they always did. She placed her hands behind her lumbar to give her back support. Four months pregnant and her back was already giving her hell. 

“Will I see you later?” Mulder asked, looking hopeful as his fingers juggled the handle of his new briefcase. 

“I have laundry and an apartment to clean… and I probably could use some alone time,” Scully replied.  It was true with everything that had been going on in Mulder’s life she hadn’t had much time to herself. She was looking forward to a day of just putting her feet up and reading a good book, getting organized.

“Okay,” he said, hooking a finger around hers. “I’ll see you at work, Monday then.”

The small touch sent her heart into overdrive. “Yes, come visit me in my office.”

He grinned as he kissed her again. “You want to rub it in my face that you have a desk in the basement and I don’t.”

Yes, Mulder, she thought. It had all been a grand scheme to acquire a nameplate on a desk. “You’ll be back soon enough,” she reminded him.

Scully closed the door as he left. She sighed. It was so much harder to leave each other now. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel him with her, didn’t hear his voice in her head, no matter where she was or what she was doing, but she genuinely enjoyed spending time with him and lately she never wanted that to end. Her heart hung heavy until finally she swung the door back open to try to catch him before he reached the elevator and she knocked into a tall hard body. It was him standing on the other side. He swooped her up into his arms, his devoted kiss parting her lips as she melted into his frame. 

Forty-five minutes later he finally left, late for his meeting. Scully was heading to the bathroom for a shower when there was a knock on the door. “Must have forgotten his key,” she said to herself. Then out loud as she swung it open, “Mulder, if you don’t leave I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow..”

Scully blinked twice at the woman standing before her at the other side of the door. The woman looked equally as shocked. “Diana?”

“Agent Scully. I wasn’t expecting you here.” She pulled her gloves from her hands as she stepped into Mulder’s apartment like she owned the place. When she didn’t see any sign of him, she spun around to address Scully who hadn’t yet changed out of her night clothes. Diana’s eyes narrowed in at the four month baby bump showing ever so slightly  through her silky gray shirt. “I see you’ve made yourself quite at home in my absence,” Diana snapped in disgust.

“How is this possible?” Scully returned, rage cutting into her spine, waving her hand in confusion. “Your body was cremated. I danced at the funeral.”

“ A body was cremated. It was staged,” Diana replied in a calm monotone tied to that fake pompously sexy twang Scully wanted to slap right out of her mouth.

“That’s obvious to me now,” Scully said, her hands on her hips. “I’d say only the good die young, but that wouldn’t ring true in your case would it?”

“You know so little of the truth.”

“That was you in this apartment. You were in his bedroom, spying.”

“Believe me, I wanted to leave, but it was not the right time for Fox to know. So I stayed and went through hell for him.”

“You heard us. You watched us?” Reality stung her with pain and embarrassment. She looked up into Diana’s dark eyes. Was there hurt behind that steely gaze? “Now  you know the way he feels about me and the way he doesn’t feel for you.”

“You’re going to fall for all that pillow talk?” Diana laughed. “Look at you. You should have learned the first time where his heart lies.”

How could she think she was every right for Mulder? The woman had no integrity, no loyalty, just a conceited self-centered gas-lighting narcissist. Her skin looked like it had been dragged down a gravel road and her voice sounded like she gargled with the rocks. She had more faces than a cherubim. “You heard what he said to me and I know what he didn’t say to you,” Scully returned. “I trust Mulder with my life and I’ll always believe him. Guess it hurts to know you take a back seat in all things when it comes to Mulder.”

Diana steps closer and Scully gets a full whiff of her expensive perfume. “So much animosity. Remember who helped you save Fox.”

“And look who’s side you’re still standing on.”

“Only to save his mother.”

That answer took Scully by surprise. “What are you talking about? Teena Mulder is dead. I performed the autopsy.”

“That wasn’t his mother, that was a hyper-aged duplicate.”

Scully knew that duplicating was a process much different than cloning, but, “What the hell are you talking about?” she demanded.

“We reached out to the Bounty Hunter’s to cure her, but they refused to do it again.”

“What do you mean again?”

“The first time was years ago, she had a stroke and was in a coma. They didn’t believe this time it was beneficial enough for the project to save her.”

“The project? The original Syndicate is dead.”

“Not all of them.”

“Where is Teena Mulder?” Scully demanded, her voice almost at a screech.

“He has her.”

“The Smoking Man?”

Diana nodded. “He is the one that staged her death, but he needs your help.”

“For what?”

“He wants to implant a chip in her neck. One similar to yours that might cure her, but he needs your help in obtaining the programming information.”

Scully crossed her arms and moistened her lips before striking back at Diana. “You show up here, after all this time, after your funeral, and you want me to believe that the woman that we buried was a clone?”

The corners of Diana’s mouth curved upward like she just won a bet. “Don’t you want Fox’s baby to know their grandmother?”

Scully’s blood boiled underneath her skin. She dropped her arms and went on the attack. “How do you know about my baby?”

“We didn’t, until I overheard you and Mulder. I can’t say I wasn’t surprised… and disgusted. How much guilt did you have to lay on him in order to get him to agree to that? I’m assuming it was done in a lab?”

Scully’s had more than enough of Diana. “What were you doing here that night?”

“I told you, I came to speak with Fox.”

“And he wasn’t home so you decided to organize his closet?”

“I didn’t want to shock him. He thinks I’m dead.”

“I’m willing to help make it a reality.”

“Think about what I’m telling you. Think about what Mulder wants.” Diana turned. Before she left she added, “Someone will be in touch.”

That someone was waiting for Scully when she returned to her apartment.

“Don’t you ever once think of knocking?” Scully scolded CSM. 

“I always do, but again you weren’t home. Seems you’ve been spending most of your time in Mulder’s apartment. I wonder why that may be,” The Smoking Man replied.

“Well now you can show yourself out.”

“You’re not at all curious about the chip in your neck? How it might save Mulder’s mother’s life?” His infuriating carrot he always seemed to be able to dangle over their heads stopped Scully in her tracks. CSM continued, “See I’m dying myself and my intention is to save the life of Teena Mulder, share my secrets and to bequeath this cure to millions of others.”

“So you want to give it to us to save Teena Mulder?”

“To you. Mulder fails to see the bigger picture.”

“You think I’m just going to go along with this? I’m not fooled by you.”

CSM’s voice softened. “Whether you want to believe it or not, Dana, you’re very special to me. I’ve held your life in my hands. I had a choice to make and I couldn’t let you go. Now you’ve heard my offer. Agent Mulder hears a breath of this and his mother will die and I will take it all to my grave.”

Before leaving, CSM dropped a business card on the table. It was blank with the exception of a number typed in the bottom left corner. 

Immediately, Scully picked up her cell and asked for a trace on the DC area phone number to get the address. She didn’t appreciate the threat of not telling Mulder, but how could she tell him that his mother might be alive when she knew that it wasn’t possible? Before she told him anything, she needed proof.

Chapter Text

Forty-eight hours later…

The man was worried. Got her mother to call her to check on her worried. Scully weaved the fleet sedan in and out of traffic on her way back to D.C. Her cellphone sat in the console beside her, taunting her and the fact that she was avoiding Mulder and the fear of disappointing him outweighed any desire to reach out.

Then it danced. Buzzing with Mulder’s consternation. She picked it up, opened it, but her vocal chords wouldn’t work.

“Scully?” Mulder’s voice came through like a dagger. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Then added because she knew he was thinking it. “The baby’s fine.”

“Why would you go anywhere with that man?”

“He brought me to his cabin..”

“Did he hurt you?”

“No. He only wanted me to help him obtain the programming, to a chip that is like the one that is in the back of my neck.”

“He was using you to get to some guy named Cobra,” Mulder explained and she could hear the bitterness in his tone. It made her stomach burn. Mulder had known. Known from the second she left the message on his answering machine. A slight change in intonation of her voice, the inconsistencies in her story, her sudden ability to stay away and not need to share, the fact that as much as she believed they had distance, there was none and nothing that she kept from him and he knew it, and she heard the hurt of feeling betrayed in his voice. “The Lone Gunman were able to hack into your account at work. They dug up a string of communications between Cobra and what he thought was you. The Smoking Man wanted the disk.”

“He gave me the disk,” Scully replied. “I’ll explain it all when I get there. You may need the Lone Gunman again in case there’s something encrypted.”

When she arrived at his apartment it became apparent that Mulder had been pacing, by the position of his basketball and the thin bead of sweat that had formed along his hairline. The three amigos had positioned themselves around his desk with their laptops cocked and ready to go. They were more than eager to take the disk. 

“It’s empty,” Langly replied after several minutes. Byers and Frohike shook their heads in unison.

Mulder, with his arms leaning against the top of the door frame, looked over in disappointment. His stare arctic enough to chill the room yet his love for her remained to be felt smoldering underneath the surface. It tore through her insides and seeped deep inside her heart.

“Alright boys, party’s over and the maximum capacity for this apartment is two,” Mulder said to the room. 

Frohike exchanged glances with Byers then Langly. Byers looked over to Langly. 

“We’ll call you later this week,” Frohike said, packing up and heading out the door. “I’m making enchiladas.” 

Mulder nodded and waved before closing the door behind them and facing Scully who was seated on the couch. “Now tell me why you would put yourself and the baby in danger.”

“I weighed everything and..” Scully started.

Two hard lines formed between Mulder’s brow. “And I don’t get a chance to weigh in at all… it.. It’s just.. it’s just your life.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, your actions speak volumes,” he answered, dropping his head and turning his body away from her. Her heart pinched.

“You don’t have all the information. Your mother…”

Mulder spun around. “My mother’s dead, Scully.”

“That might still be in question.”

Mulder’s hands rose to his hips, hovering over her. “What are you not telling me?”

“Diana told me that your mother is alive.”

“Diana?” His face scrunched in confusion.

“Last Sunday, you left me in your apartment to go to work and Diana decided to make an appearance.”  

“Her spirit?”

“No, her, in the flesh.” Scully took a deep inhale. “Mulder..” she said hesitantly, “she’s alive.”

“What? How? They faked her death?”

“We need to find your mother.”

Mulder raked a frustrated hand through his hair. “How can we trust any of this? We both know Diana plays both sides of the fence.”

Scully rose from the couch to meet Mulder’s gaze. Gently, she laid her hand on Mulder’s folded arms. He unwound them enough to clasp her hand and squeeze it. Scully sighed. “I saw the desperation in the Smoking Man’s eyes,” she said softly. “I saw something in him even more than a want for power, a longing for something he might never have. He loves your mother. I think he would go to great lengths for her.”

“Any sincerity he showed you is simply a mask,” Mulder shot back, pulling away. “You were gone for two days. Where did you sleep?”

“I told you. We were at his cabin.”

“Did he touch you? What exactly went on?”

“You’re overreacting.”

Mulder’s brow raised. “I’m overreacting? Maybe you’re not reacting enough.” Mulder’s voice remained low and even, but the underlying implications were there. 

Scully crossed her arms. “You can question my judgment all you want, Mulder, but we’re wasting time.”

“So my mother, did he tell you where she is?”

“Diana told me she will contact us when it is safe for her to do so.”

Mulder rubbed his face, leaning a thumb against his pulsing temple. “This is so improbable.” He moved his thumb in a slow kneading motion. “I-I need a minute to be alone.”

“Okay,” Scully whispered almost to herself. 

“I need time to work this out in my head. You’re hitting me with a lot all at once.”

“I understand,” she replied, but he wasn’t quite certain that she did. 

Scully lied to him, took off to spend the weekend with his arch nemesis. Then her and Diana plotting together? Diana, dead, but now alive? His mother? Mulder fell back on his couch ready to turn on his tv to slow his mind when a knock intruded his thoughts. 

“It’s open,” he called. At this point if the aliens were doing a drive by, he was ready. His heart leapt into his stomach as he saw her long strides march through the door. Then it felt like it had stopped all together. “Diana.”

She hovered over him like a vulture considering what part of the animal to eat first. “You’ve been busy.” 

“You’ve been dead,” he countered.

“Your father’s intention was to kill me,” she lamented.

“What changed his mind?” Almost afraid to hear the answer.

“He discovered your mother was dying. He needed me because there was no one else that could keep his intentions a secret. Anyone left alive from the Syndicate or aliens couldn’t know of his plan.”

Mulder leaned back into the leather upholstery. His hands covered his eyes while his fingers gently massaged his brow. Maybe this was all just some bad chili he ate. Soon he’ll wake up and pay homage to his porcelain throne. “What is his plan?” he grumbled.

“That chip in the back of Agent Scully’s neck doesn’t just cure cancer. It’s the cure for all human diseases. You see he’s dying too, complications of the brain surgery, but with that kind of power..”

“He would control who lives and who dies,” Mulder finished, his eyes shooting open as he darted up from the couch. “But he can’t play God without Scully,” he added as he paced, his hands joining in on the conversation.

“He needed her to obtain the science and now he’ll need her to protect it.” 

“And you? What makes you so sure he won’t take your life this time?” Mulder asked.

“I’m useful.”

“To hold his cigarette?” His sarcasm was not lost on her.

“I’ve been doing research for the past decade gathering information on past and present abductees.”

Mulder recalled Scully’s tirade last year concerning the connection between Diana and the abductees. “For what purpose?”

“I hold the catalog of test subjects.”

“You can summon them using the chip.”

“I can gather them at will.”

“Just not their own,” Mulder smarted back. Panic welled inside him as he recalled the last time someone summoned Scully using her chip.

“It’s for their own safety, Fox.”

Mulder shook his head. “Scully knew. She had her own beliefs about the dangers of that chip.” Mulder took in a breath, looking into Diana’s dark soulless eyes. “That’s the real reason you appeared after all this time. You can track what they do and say, manipulate that too.”

“Just because one has the power, doesn’t mean they choose to use it.”

“So kind of you to grant them free will,” Mulder returned grimly. 

“Free will is a myth, Fox, Grow up,” Diana snapped.

“Like Santa Claus and the Easter bunny,” Mulder mumbled. He ran his hand across his stubble then returned his hands to his hips. “Where is he keeping my mother?”

“She’s safe for now. She’s in a hospital facility. He keeps her sedated most of the time considering the amount of pain she’s in from her disease.”

“You’ll take me to her.”

“Yes, but I believe we also have some unfinished business.” She stepped towards him, her demeanor dripping with intention.  

“A lot has happened since you left, Diana,” Mulder said quickly, the weird change in tempo taking him off guard and making him step back.

“That’s painfully clear, but you also thought I was dead.”

“I guess I wrongly assumed that the guest of honor at the funeral would be dead.”

“You made due and I understand that.” Diana slowly swiped her top teeth with her tongue.  “Have you made a commitment to her?”

“Not in the way you mean it,” Mulder said honestly, dropping his head, noticing a stain on his wood floor, realizing it was from Scully’s blood the night her heart almost got ripped from her chest. 

Diana couldn’t deny the wicked delight expressed across her face at his answer. “Well then all is not lost,” she purred back, her scarlet lips curving into a smile. “I want us to be together.”

“I know you do,” Mulder replied softly.

“And you don’t?” 

“Scully’s pregnant.”

“How is that, exactly?” Diana’s tone was wry and her face etched in curiosity. 

“It’s mine, Diana, if that’s where you’re going, and even if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter, because as soon as it was born it would be. I don’t know how to explain it,” he mused, his eyes glassy with a hint of a smile, “but I love that child already.”

Diana looked momentarily surprised. “That’s very noble of you Fox, but I’m talking about a future, you and I.” As she said it she cupped his hand and squeezed it, leaning in with her lips to meet his.

Instinctively, Mulder’s other arm rose and he gripped her shoulder, keeping her at bay. He released his hand from hers. His voice remained low, understanding the sting his words might cause. “You heard what I said to Scully. I meant all of it. Every word.”

“You also thought I was six feet in the ground when you said it, but I’m not. Yes, I heard what you said, but I also heard what she didn’t say in return. Don’t spend your life chasing someone who is not going to follow you back. You and I, we’re like minds, forward thinkers that at one point in time were headed in a direction none had ever traveled. We finally have that chance again. Fox, I’m standing right in front of you and I’m telling you I’m prepared to make a commitment.” The intense lines in her face relaxed and her mouth once again crooked into a smile. “Is she?”

Mulder ran both hands through his hair and locked his fingers at the base of his head leaning back to look up at the ceiling. His back muscles felt suddenly tight and strained. The wrong woman was standing in front of him saying all the things he wanted from someone else. 

“A lot has happened in the past 48 hours that I haven’t had time to process.” He met her eyes, lowering his hands to his sides and Diana’s hand was there to take his right one. 

“Just remember Fox, when Agent Scully was faced with choices similar to what I was, didn’t she choose the same path I did? Didn’t she also run away with your father?”

“Scully would never,” he shouted. Before he could formulate a more articulate response, Diana released his hand leaving a key wrapped in torn composition paper in her wake. She turned with a wink and a soft but calculated smile, leaving Mulder standing alone in his apartment with the lingering stench of her flowery sweet perfume. 

*

“Air on the G string” by Bach permeated the room with a melodic meditation while Scully laid across the couch, her mind slipping between the covers of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion.”

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you.”

Scully pondered the parallels in her relationship with Mulder with that of Anne and Captain Wentworth. The fact that Anne would ordinarily need a scalpel to know what made Captain Wentworth’s heart flutter and leap. It meant so much more when you heard the words from him rather than from someone who easily flaunted their feelings with every utterance every time the occasion struck them.

Inside her mind, Scully repeated the words Mulder said to her, and every time he opened himself up and trusted her with those hallowed vows -in his hallway, in hospital rooms, while in his psychiatric hospital bed, in his bed- she closed her eyes for a moment as waves of warmth and electricity flowed through her system, thinking, remembering what it was like to have access to that part of him. Scully snuggled deeper inside her soft cotton robe, freshly showered, warm, comfortable, and in a complete satiated state. She was his one in five billion, his touchstone, and the only one who had his most sacred trust.

Three solid rasps, a jingle of some keys, and the door creaked open. “Scully?” Mulder called through the crack in the door.  

“Come in, Mulder,” Scully replied, resting the book on her chest. Usually Mulder bursting into her apartment unannounced was irritating, but it seemed to take on a different tone when she had been allowing herself to daydream about him all day.

“Diana was in my apartment,” he blurted out. 

“Did you get frostbite?” she returned just as quickly. Not a conversation that she wanted to entertain given her current mood, but Mulder definitely had other plans. 

“She told me about my mother. Gave me a list of addresses and a key.” Then he said something completely not only unexpected, but made painfully sharp pins and needles run through her body. For a moment, Scully feared losing consciousness. “She, uh, she also proposed to me.”

“What did you say?” Scully sat up and Mulder sat down in the unoccupied space on the couch. “I, I told her I needed time to think.” His warm hand wrapped too comfortably around her bare ankle. It startled her. “Scully,  you and I…”

“Are partners,” Scully straightened, pulling her knees to her chest and her ankle away from his hedonistic grasp. “You said you had a list? What’s the first address?”

When Mulder had been in his augmented state with the black oil entity infesting his pineal gland, she knew he had read her mind, knew her devotion, the true way that she viewed him, knew exactly what she held in her heart. He also had read Diana’s thoughts and feelings as well. Given all of that, and adding all that had transpired the past months, was he pulling away from her? More importantly, would she be able to shut him off from her emotions or had it all gone too far? Could she ever survive losing him?

“This is my mother, Scully. I can handle this one by myself. You have more pressing matters to take care of. Not to mention your job on the X-Files.”

Scully rolled off the couch and headed to the kitchen to pretend her glass of water was coffee. It didn’t work. “You wouldn’t have come over if you didn’t want me with you,” she grumbled.

“I always want you with me,” Mulder said, his gaze intensifying and expanding the warmth in her chest, making her fully realize the strength in every strand and fiber of the tether that connected them. It was enough to irritate the hell right out of her.

Chapter Text

So many nights Mulder had spent, curled up in his room alone unable to drown out the darkness within. Deep inside his mind hid the deadened phantom living behind his mother’s eyes. A ghost of darkness that bubbled like plumes of smoke inside him when he felt most vulnerable.

His mother’s eyes. Her salt and pepper hair. Her fragile frame.

Rows of large clear cylindrical tanks filled with a greenish liquid harbored semi-buoyant creatures. Seven of those stared out, reaching into Mulder’s soul, burning it cold and hollow like imbibing liquid nitrogen. The creature, an exact replica of his mother. 

The warm magical touch of Scully at his arm brought his consciousness and his gaze back to her. “Seven tanks,” he mumbled, feeling embarrassed and distant, like standing at the other end of a long dark narrow hallway. “Filled with my mother’s naked body. I feel like Freud would have a lot to say about this.”

“Why would Diana want you to witness this?” Scully asked, staring agasp at the sight. 

“Proof,” he said quietly. “And I’ve seen enough.”

Back at FBI Headquarters, Scully marched up the steps with Mulder close behind, inadvertently checking out her behind. His phone rang and he fished it from his coat. 

“Did you find her?” Diana’s voice boomed on the other end.

“No, but I found what you wanted me to see,” Mulder replied.

“Good,” Diana said, sounding distracted. “Have you given any thought to our discussion?”

“I have. I am.” Mulder looked over at Scully to see her glaring down at him from the top step.

“Mulder,” she said, calling him to heel. 

“I’ll speak with you later,” Mulder said to Diana, ending the call and taking the steps two at a time to catch up to Scully. Swinging open the office door, his fingers grazed delicately down Scully’s sports jacket, resting in its natural position at her lower back.  

*

That night, Scully invited Byers, Langly, and Frohike for more than just coffee and dessert. The next address on Diana’s list was a military base which, according to Langly, contained a science wing and a top secret cloning project. At least that was what he determined after some intensive hacking into government files. 

“It’s a good three, maybe four hours from here,” Mulder said. “We can head out during daylight hours and then go in at night.”

Scully was hesitant. “If you get caught, Mulder, they could kill you. At least I can get in with my credentials.”

Byers looked at the faces around the room, then back at Scully. “I think I speak for all of us when we say that we can’t let you risk the baby.”

“Byers is right,” Mulder returned. “I’m going in. It’s my mother.”

There wasn’t much Scully could do, but agree. “Then I’ll drive.” 

“I’m completely capable of driving,” Frohike butted in. “You’ll be putting yourself in unnecessary danger.”

“You said it yourself,” Scully replied, “you all need to go inside to tap into the security systems.” Her eyes sparkled as her lashes rose toward Mulder. “You need me in the getaway car.”

Mulder stood from the table. “I think we should call it a night. We’ll regroup in the morning.” The Gunmen stayed seated seemingly having a conversation among each other with their eyes. “Goodnight, boys,” Mulder reiterated.

He closed the door behind them. “You look tired,” he said to Scully, watching her gather up all the cups and dishes.

“I’ll be fine. I need a shower and a good night’s sleep.”

He tilted his head, then shortened the distance between them. Gripping the same mug she held he told her, “I got this. Take your shower. I’ll take care of the dishes.”

“You don’t know where everything goes.”

“I’m an Oxford graduate,” Mulder replied, the apple of his cheeks rising. “I’ll figure it out.”

Scully’s brow raised. “And if you can’t?”

“You’ll just have to get used to mugs in the utensil drawer and dishes on top of the microwave.” Mulder smirked. “How about I leave everything in the drying rack?”

“That’s probably wise,” she said, and turned, only glancing one time over her shoulder to pass him a look that stopped his heart. 

A short time later, with the dishes complete, Mulder hooked a bank shot off the kitchen cabinet, the drying towel landing wrapped around the faucet of the kitchen sink. Mulder fist pumped his accomplishment and headed into the bedroom. His eyebrows narrowed at the uncharacteristic reverberating bang against the shower’s glass and hurriedly knocked and nudged open the bathroom door. 

“Scully? Scully you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, breathing hard, her small hand pressed firmly against the patterned rain glass of the shower door. “I got a little dizzy.”

Mulder slid the other side open. He found Scully shivering, slinking over in the corner under the spray. Swiftly he stepped, completely clothed, into the shower, dragging her up and into his embrace. “You’re not okay.”

“No, I- I think I’m okay.” She tensed, her skin clammy against his. “I need to finish getting cleaned up.”

Mulder kissed her hair as he held her in his arms. “Scully, tell me what to do,” he whispered. “My gut is telling me to take you to the hospital.”

“I’m fine, Mulder. I must have set the water too hot.” She put an arm around his waist and hugged him tight, her cheek against his drenched shirt. He rested his lips on the side of her head before tucking her under his chin. 

“This helps,” she said weakly. “Thank you.”

They stood like that for several minutes, the hot spray soaking them both, drenching Mulder’s clothes, the fabric clinging to his skin, heavy on his body.

Relaxing in his arms she said shyly, “I’m going to finish my shower.” She broke from their embrace and Mulder pulled his shirt up and over his body then stripped out of the rest of his attire.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re not showering alone.” He adjusted the shower head to accommodate his height and turned the cold knob to lower the temp, still keeping it warm. He raised a brow at Scully. “I make a mean lather.”

Without an argument, she allowed him to soap up her hair, tipping up her chin to the spray. Mulder raked his hands through her hair, tenderly, carefully, again and again as he rinsed out the soap. He reached for her body wash and lathered up her loofah. Using a combination of his hands and the sponge he ran his hands over the curve of her shoulders, down her arms. Meticulously, he massaged and washed her back, underarms, and couldn’t resist a slight caress of those beautiful globes. She looked tired, but happier. 

She had scared him. Rattled his core. This, feeling her warm and alive underneath his touch, seeing the color return, the steam filling with her scent, this slowed his heartbeat and stilled his nerves. On an impulse he fell to one knee and kissed each muscle of her abs leading down to her belly. “You ok in there, kid?” he said under his breath, rough and deep, then stared up at Scully, the water plastering his hair and waterfalling from the bridge of his nose. Languidly, she traced his temple, around his ear and ever so lightly cupped his cheek. The affection she held in her eyes expanded Mulder’s chest and filled it with undeniable warmth. 

He watched as she squirted some shampoo in her hand,  then her fingers lost themselves, rubbing deep and hard in his hair. It felt amazing. Her nails digging in with just the right amount of pressure, simply heaven against his scalp. It put him in a transcendent state and he felt compelled to admit to her, “Showering has always been a solo act for me and now we’ve done this twice.” 

The other time he had been referring to was under a much less desirable situation. If Diana had only known how ordering them to shower after exposure to Cassandra would have contributed to them taking this leap… 

Mulder recalled that day as if it had just happened, Scully brooding and sullen and hot enough to turn his entire body to ash.

“Mulder, what are you smiling about?” Scully asked, a broad smile covering her own face. 

“Simply admiring you,” he answered and continued to wash her stomach, between her legs, then stood to cover the remainder of her back. 

Her eyes flickered as she glanced down at him, stirring his insides. 

He rose to his feet. “Here,” he said softly, handing her a new washcloth. “Finish me off.”

Scully pursed her lips, a comment at the ready, but instead squeezed soap onto her palm and rubbed her hands together to make a frothy lather. She washed his chest in gentle circular motions. He closed his eyes and took a breath. Not even his mother had washed him with as much tenderness.

She continued down to his waist, administering to him with an almost diagnostic touch, but he couldn’t halt his body’s response. Gently, firmly, he held her wrist in place and gave her a crooked grin. “I think we’re good.”  Then he added, staring at her intently, “I’ll meet you in bed.”

He rinsed himself off and left her to finish cleaning her important parts, waiting for her right outside the shower. Anytime he saw Scully vulnerable, it left him raw. Being pregnant only quadrupled the effect. 

Changing his mind, he decided she would be alright left to her own devices and headed to the bedroom to dress in his blue flannel bottoms. 

Ten minutes later Scully stood at the foot of her bed staring down at him sprawled out on top of it, hugging one of her pillows. “Feeling better?” he asked, patting the bed.

“Much. Thank you, again.” She scratched her head. “Mulder, I think I can handle sleeping alone.”

“You don’t want me to be here?” He asked, feeling the pinch between his brow, a heavy lump forming in her throat. 

“No, I-I do, but it’s not necessary.”

He lifted the sheet and his insides warmed as she slid into his arms. “I couldn’t imagine seeing my mother in those tanks like you did today. Everything you’ve been through, all the loss, the pain, when does it all stop?”

“It’s going to end soon.”

She snuggled in tighter, her arm draped around his neck, her breath at the hollow of his neck. “How can you be so certain?”

“Because I know,” he said, pressing his body firmly against her, closing every visible space between them. “Because I’m going to be the one to stop it.”

“How?”

“You let me worry about that,” he buzzed in her ear, pressing a kiss to her forehead, at the same time resting his palm on her belly. “The only thing I want you to worry about is yourself and that little one in there.”

“Mulder.” Her look was expectant, urging him to speak his feelings.

He couldn’t hold them back from her anymore. He simply refused. “I won’t lose you again.”

Her smooth, soft fingertips combed his rough cheek. In her eyes held the world of all their possibilities, and he could imagine a future that had promise, peace. A bright smile formed within their gaze that transformed as the intensity built. 

Her mouth brushed his, her top lip pressing against his cleft as her lower stroked the roundness of his lower lip. It was enough for him to taste the remnants of minty paste. He closed his eyes as her gentle kiss deepened, their mouths opening wide enough for their tongues to caress and stoke the embers smoldering since their first handshake in his office many years ago. Entangled in each other's arms, with their bodies pressed together tightly, they explored the other's mouth. Joy and intense elation pulsed through Mulder and burned behind his lids. There was so much happening between them that he thought was never meant for him. A happiness he had convinced himself he didn’t deserve. All of it now no longer a figment of the imagination, all of it in that moment held inside his arms. 

Some time later their mouths parted, Mulder sending his lips to her forehead, his hand combing through the strands of her hair. “Get some sleep,” he spoke in affectionately hushed tones. “In the morning I might be in the mood to make you breakfast, now that I know where all the dishes are.”

Chapter Text

The persistent buzz of Mulder’s phone woke Scully. She opened it to see, not a number, but a name. Beneath the name, it said five missed calls. A grumble released low in Scully’s throat. She snuck out from Mulder’s arms and decided to take matters into her own hands.

Two pins and a skeleton key later the locks clicked open in Diana’s apartment. A few steps in the dark and Scully hovered over Diana who was snoring, drool dripping onto her pillow. She snorted awake, lurching upright at Scully’s shadow looming in the darkness. 

“Agent Scully,” Diana hissed, flattening the sheets around her. “What are you doing here, in my bedroom, in the middle of the night, besides breaking and entering?”

“I thought this was how it worked. I break in, tell you something profound and then leave. No need to even get out of bed.”

“It’s a little late for games,” Diana grumbled. “How did you know where I was staying?”

“You left your address on that piece of paper you gave to Mulder. Or did you think he wasn’t going to share that with me.”

“Listen, if you came here to fight over Mulder, he’s perfectly capable of making his own decisions.”

“I came here to talk.”

Diana scoffed. “So what is it you would like to discuss? Fox? Let’s talk about him because he is struggling right now and I really don’t know what the struggle is all about. Look at the way the two of you live, what he has to go through, I personally think Fox deserves better.”

“You do.”

“Yes, I really do. You see, I made him a proposition six years ago. One I think he would have jumped at if I had stayed. Now, I’m back and that offer remains on the table. I know what he needs, I know how to get him what he wants. I think it’s more than obvious who and what’s best for him.” Diana shifted to prop herself on the pillows. “This needs to stop, Dana. Live your life. Find that man who wants to settle down, that's going to give you the family you want and not spend your life going down dark roads that get you nowhere. Let me and Fox be. You have your precious baby. Just go.”

Anger shot like a lightning rod up Scully’s spine. She folded her arms in restraint. “Why are you so convinced that you are better for Mulder than I am?”

“Because unlike you, with me, he’ll actually reach a destination. He’ll have answers, a life, even after the one we know falls away. I am his resurrection and salvation.” 

“I think you are only about yourself,” Scully snapped, pointing at her. “I think it’s about control. He’s like a pet to you.”

Diana got up from the bed and stepped towards Scully, staring her down. “I think this deep connection you think you have with Fox is all in your mind. It’s what you want to see and not what really is. Fox is a considerate man that feels pity for you because of what was taken from you. He befriends you out of guilt of all you’ve lost.” She took another step and leaned in, a mere breath from her face. “You are the cross and the chains around him and you’re really not even that pretty.”  Diana’s finger pushed against Scully’s shoulder, sending her back a step.

Blood burst from Diana’s nose and mouth with a quick jab cross combo. Before Scully even had time to think, her leg swiped at the back of Diana’s knees and sent Diana down to the floor, Scully’s fist cocked and ready to spring if Diana moved. “However Mulder and I feel toward each other is absolutely none of your business. What we share is between the two of us and not the one of you. Back off, Diana or I’ll back you off.”

Diana calmly wiped her mouth and then gave her a smile that would haunt Scully’s dreams for a week. “You’re lucky I wouldn’t hit a pregnant woman.”

“And me without my snake boots,” boomed a deep voice behind them. Mulder strolled into the room, glancing down at Diana. “Guess you two were leaving it up to me to bring the body oil.” He flicked on the light and noticed the blood dripping from Diana’s nose, the black and blue marks starting to form around her eye.

He crouched down, delicately tracing the bruise on Diana’s face. “Scully, what did you do to her?” 

“You don’t know what’s going on,” Scully returned.

“I think it’s very clear what’s going on,” Mulder said. 

Diana held her hand up, slowly beginning to rise. “I’m okay, Fox. Dana came over and wanted to know the details of what I had asked you. I guess I didn’t realize what was going on between you two.” She rubbed her cheek. “Dana made it perfectly clear that I don’t need to worry about that.”  

Mulder frowned. “Diana…”

“No,” she replied, putting up her hand, limping away. “I only wanted you to know how I felt, but it’s been made clear tonight that Dana wants me to stay away.” She limped again, wiping the blood from her lip. “Very clear.”

“What was that?” Mulder asked Scully as they made their way out to the street.

“Why are you here?” Scully countered. She scanned the nearby cars. “And how did you get here?”

“I took a cab.” Mulder shook his head. “I came here after your phone went straight to voicemail and lo and behold your car was parked right outside.”

“What made you think to look for me here?”

“I wasn’t certain, but my cell was moved from your nightstand and there were several missed calls and, well, I know my partner.” Mulder chuckled under his breath, his hands in his pockets, staring at the ground as he kicked a loose pebble from the sidewalk. “I walked in just in time to hear you go off.” He smirked as he joined her gaze, sending a flash of heat into her core. A flint of color sparked in his eyes. “You really kicked her ass.”

"May have caused a concussion." Scully felt the heat rise into her cheeks. “My actions weren’t very mature, or professional.”

“No,” Mulder agreed, “but I did get a little turned on.”

Eighteen hours later..

Scully waited outside in the car on a dimly lit side street.

The Gunmen had started at an underground entrance, then climbed to the top of the control building located just outside the fences. Repelling from the ceiling, they curtailed the alarm system, allowing Mulder to sneak past the security post.

Mulder crouched and waited for their signal then dodged and ran. Once inside he used the Gunmen’s directions to find the location of the science wing. It was there he dashed into a closet and changed into a long white coat with the name Scheffler on his displayed badge. 

“Where am I headed now boys?”

“Make a left at the end of the hallway,” Langly instructed.

Byers cut in, “Looks like the second door on your right.”

Mulder waited for a group of white coated associates to pass then ducked into the room. There he found a room that resembled a fancy army barracks. Rows of beds with gray haired women inside each one, hooked up to IVs and monitors. They all appeared to be asleep and as he frantically searched he found no sign of his mother.

“This is the wrong room,” Mulder whispered emphatically into his com link.

“That’s it, Mulder,” Byers confirmed. “It matches the number Diana gave you and what we are seeing in the computer files.”

“This can’t be it,” Mulder demanded, sitting behind the desk in the front of the room. “Get me a logon and password for this computer, Langly,” he said, reading off the ID number taped across the top of the monitor.

Once passed the security protocol, he was able to open the doctor’s files, medical records, and project notes. He did a rudimentary search, but his mother’s name never appeared.

The cell phone buzzed inside Byers pocket. He answered it with a “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve got a parade of Humvees headed straight onto the base,” Scully replied. “I think Diana might have set us up.”

The hacked security monitors displayed Scully’s fears to the Gunmen. Frohike spoke to Mulder, “We’re going to need to shut this down. The cavalry arrived.”

“Can you upload the files?” Mulder asked.

“There’s a block,” Langly said. “You’ll have to leave without them.”

“There’s only one way out, Mulder,” Byers said. 

“and you’re going to have to play Bruce Willis to do it,” Frohike added.

“Give it to me boys, I’m running out of time,” Mulder shouted, staring at the armed men running towards him as they came into sight from the distant hallway. 

“The exhaust system,” Langley said and Mulder climbed to the desk and leaped, pulling himself up into the drop ceiling and crawling into the exhaust tunnel.

One week later..

“Have a seat, Scully,” Mulder said, pulling out his desk chair, wheeling it around and ushering her into it. The screen lit up as he powered on the projector in the dark office.

“These are the latest images over Tunisia. What I’m showing you may look like crop circles,” he paused momentarily raising his eyebrows waiting for her inevitable eye roll, 

“but they are actually landing pads for helicopters and small aircraft. Hacking Raytheon’s satellite equipment we were able to zoom in on the cargo. An open crate indicated that  it is medical equipment. Medical equipment in the middle of the desert far from any military base or operation, and tell me when this starts to sound familiar to you, it’s all being taken to… Strughold Mining corp.” 

“Mining in a desert, for what?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Scully, and Diana confirmed it.”

Scully sat back in the chair. “You spoke with Diana about this.”

“I know what you’re thinking..” 

“And you expect me to fly to Tunisia?”

“Flight leaves on Saturday at 5:30. I’ve booked three tickets.”

“Diana will be joining you?”

“Us.”

Scully shook her head in frustration. “Can’t you see that once again she’s leading you on? How many times does she have to put that football in front of you before you stop trying to kick it?”

The shrill of the phone interrupted them. Mulder lifted the receiver. “Mulder.”

“Certainly and who may I say is calling?” he said in reply.

“Dr. Daniel Waterston.” Mulder looked over at Scully. “Yes, Dr. Waterston, Dana is in the office. One moment.”

“Dana,” Mulder said sarcastically, handing her the phone and watching her facial expressions as her lips pursed to suppress a smile. It was obvious she enjoyed his pangs of jealousy.

Unable to discern the conversation, he waited until she placed the receiver back on the hook before asking, “Who’s the Doc?”

Scully straightened her posture and lifted her chin. “A professor… that I dated in college. We had a mix-up at the hospital yesterday and I accidentally got his records.”

“And?”

“He invited me to meet up with him for lunch.”

“You’re going?”

“I was considering it.”

“I was thinking the three of us would be going to lunch.”

“You, me, and Diana,” Scully said slowly.

“Yes, to solidify the plan.” Mulder placed his hand on his hips. “But you want to see this guy.”

“I feel like it’s something I need to do. The relationship ended rather abruptly. I guess I’m looking for some closure. Can you understand that?”

“So you’re ok with Diana and me eating alone?”

“It’s not my preference.”

“So bring him along.”

“To lunch. With you and Diana?”

“Why not? It’ll be nice and cozy, just the four of us, like a masochistic double date.” He strolled over to the phone and lifted it, “Where would you like to go?”

Chapter Text

“Did you have any trouble finding the place?” Scully asked Daniel as he slid into the booth beside her.

“No, no, not at all.” He looked at her and smiled. “Imagine, after all this time, us here, together.”

“It’s lunch, Daniel,” Scully sighed, adjusting her oversized blazer to hide her protruding belly. “Although I have to admit it is a little strange.”

Daniel’s hand covered Scully’s. It made her uncomfortable yet she didn’t pull away. “I know how difficult it was to ask me to come, but you wouldn’t have if you didn’t want me here. That says something doesn’t it?”

“I’m not exactly sure what,” Scully replied. “What made you move to D.C.? What about your home? Your family?”

Daniel patted her hand, then squeezed it. “I didn’t take our breakup very well,  I shut down from my family after you left. After an interminable period of discomfort for both myself and Barbara, I got divorced. Then I came here to be closer to you. Even if I was never to see you again, something in me just needed to be close to you.”

Scully furrowed her brow. It all sounded illogical. So unlike Daniel. “When exactly did you move?”

“Ten years ago.”

“Daniel,” Scully gasped. “Oh, God.” To think he had been in D.C. the entire time and for him to appear now that Mulder and her were…” Her stomach turned. Why now? “You’ve come at such a strange time.”

“I know,” Daniel replied. “I know you have a life.”

Scully scoffed at the idea, at the very thing she had been contemplating for what seemed like months. Tears welled in her eyes. “I don’t know what I have. I mean, if it wasn’t for a mix up..” 

“Well, this is cozy,” Diana said, sliding into the booth across from Scully and Daniel. “Did you order yet?”

“No, we were looking over the menu,” Daniel said, exhibiting his typical doctor’s bedside manner. “I’m Daniel and your name?” 

“Diana,” she said, holding out her hand for him to take. “Have you been here before?”

Mulder edged into the booth beside Diana and answered, “No, actually Scully picked the place.”

“You know this is actually a franchise,” Daniel informed them. “They have one of these in California also. In fact, Dana and I went on a date there.”

“Is that why you chose this restaurant, Scully? Hoping for a little action?” Mulder wiggled his brow at her and Scully replied with a swift kick to his shin. “Ow!” Mulder cried as he rubbed his abused leg.

“Oh, I’m sorry, was that your foot?” Scully replied, glowering at him, only for him to glare back.

“Can I take your drink order?” the waiter asked, appearing seemingly from nowhere.

“Diet Pepsi for me,” Diana said.

“Hot herbal tea,” Scully ordered.

Mulder smiled, taking delight in the reason for Scully’s drink order. “Iced tea.”

“Water with lemon,” Daniel said, “and an order of canapes for the table.”

“You changed your hair recently,” Diana said to Scully once the waiter left.

Scully self-consciously tucked a strand behind her ear. “Yes, I’ve decided to go a little shorter.”

Diana smiled. “What a handsome choice. Sort of a paperboy, Beatles cross. Very retro.”

“I think Scully looks nice, although I prefer when I have more to run my hands through,” Mulder answered warmly.

“I understand, like a Shih Tzu,” Diana replied.

Daniel cleared his throat and furrowed his brow. “I agree with.. Fox is it? Although Dana could look stunning in a paper sack.”

“Mulder,” Mulder clarified. “The name’s Mulder.”

“Right,” Daniel nodded, him and Mulder staring at each other like they were preparing for a showdown. “My apologies.”

The waiter returned with their drinks, and pulled out his writing pad. “Ready to order?”

“I’ll have the chopped salad,” Scully and Diana said in unison. 

The waiter smiled. He jotted it down. “Dressing?”

“The house truffle vinaigrette,” Diana said.

Scully nodded. “I’ll have the same, but please put mine on the side.

The waiter wrote down the men’s orders then gathered up the menus and briskly left.

“It seems you two have the same taste in food,” Daniel commented, squeezing his lemon into his water. He took a sip and paused at the odd silence among them. “What am I missing?”

Scully glared at Diana and grumbled, “That’s not all we have the same taste in.”

Mulder tilted his head, frowning. “Actually, Diana has never tasted..” Diana whipped her head around and Scully’s stare sliced through him so sharply he felt his balls draw up. He waved away his comment. “you know, nevermind.” He took a drink of his tea. He turned his attention back to Daniel. “Daniel, you’re originally from California, what brought you to D.C.?” He fixed the linen napkin on his lap as he crossed his legs. 

“If I’m being honest..” Daniel countered.

“Oh please do,” Mulder replied, the sarcasm dripping from every word.

“Dana.” Daniel took Scully’s hand. Mulder’s eyes fixated on their touch and her reaction. Daniel ran his thumb over her knuckles before completely covering her small hand in his larger one. The Adam’s apple of Mulder’s throat bobbed heavily inside his reddening neck. “I started a medical practice here knowing it would be close to Dana. She had already left San Diego, we had been broken up, but still it drew me.”

“That’s very romantic, very heartfelt.” Mulder batted his eyes. “Wouldn’t you say, Dana ?”

Scully delicately pulled her hand from Daniel’s grasp. A dessert cart passed and Diana followed it with her eyes. 

“Oh look, they have key lime pie,” Diana commented. She turned to Mulder with a smile. “I know you like when it’s tart.”

“I’m thinking he should be puckering right now,” Scully hissed, cocking her head to the side and giving Mulder a tight smile.

The waiter returned with the appetizer plates. Daniel offered them to everyone, lifting Scully’s small plate and placing a couple on it. “I know you’ll like these. Brings back memories.” With the tongs he transferred some onto his own dish.

“So what type of cases do you work on?” Daniel asked Mulder, his tone professional once again. “Murder? Narcotics? Espionage?”

“Supernatural, the metaphysical, and unexplained phenomena,” Mulder replied.

Daniel’s brow gathered to a peak. “He’s not serious. Dana?”

Scully pursed her lips and nodded. “No, he’s quite serious.”

“So, what? You use psychics and Voodoo to solve cases?”

“Actually,” Mulder said, “those are the cases.”

“You’re pulling my leg. Next thing you’ll be telling me you investigate reports of alien abduction for the national inquirer.”

Mulder lifted his finger, “Well…” He winced, closing his eyes and drawing up his lips, pounding the table twice. “Would you please stop doing that,” he grunted to Scully through gritted teeth.

Daniel leaned back, crossing his legs and sending his arm over the back of the booth. He let his fingers dangle over the shoulder of Scully’s blazer. Mulder shifted in his seat, but remained silent. 

“I have to admit when Dana told me her male partner was joining us, I kind of wished you had big ears and bucked teeth.”

“Oh that’s Scully’s type too.” Mulder lifted his eyebrows and Scully pulled at her dark blazer resting about midway over her thigh. Mulder stabbed at his food. “Although she’ll vehemently deny it and blame it on the drugs.”

“Drugs?” Daniel asked, tilting his head towards Scully. “It wasn’t serious I hope.”

Scully shook her head. “No. Long story.” 

Finally their meals arrived, Diana chewed gingerly favoring the left side of her face.

“If I may,” Daniel said. Diana nodded and he slowly tilted her chin so he could examine her injury, currently covered thick with foundation. “You probably could have used a stitch when this first occurred. I’m assuming this was an on-the-job injury. It’s a pretty bad contusion, but I can see it’s already healing.”

“You need me to run out and get you something for the pain?” Mulder asked tenderly, listening intently to her response. 

Scully threw her napkin on the table in a huff. “Comeon, I didn’t hit her that hard.”

Daniel looked up in shock.

“Why don’t we all just eat,” Diana replied.

Mulder popped a meatball into his mouth. “Mmmm, Scully, you’ve got to taste these meatballs, they’re delicious.”

“I’ll taste your meatballs,” Diana crooned, hovering her fork over his plate, looking for a good one to stab.

Scully swiftly skewered the one under Diana’s fork. “You’re not touching his meatballs,” she growled, shoving it into her mouth in one bite. 

The table fell silent, no one daring to speak, everyone deciding to concentrate on eating their food. 

When everyone was finished, Diana cleared her throat. “This was originally supposed to be a working lunch. Maybe Fox and I should see if they have a two-top available for dessert.”

“It’s alright. I actually should go,” Scully said, failing to hide her disgust as she rose from the table. “Mulder, call me if there’s anything you need. Daniel it’s been very nice meeting up with you. We should do it again some time.”

Daniel followed her out of the booth and slid his hand to Scully’s shoulder. “I’ll see you to your car,” he purred, his cheek almost pressed to hers, basking in her glow.

Mulder rose from the booth, clenching his jaw. “Scully, can I speak with you for a moment? Privately?”

Daniel elongated his body, lacking two to three inches from Mulder’s height and a whole group of muscles. “I don’t know that Dana wants to do that.”

Mulder chuckled to himself. “ Dana, speaks for herself.”

“Yeah,” Daniel nodded, “Well, I know you think you know her, but we have a shared past that is very meaningful for us both. I’m ingrained in her mind and her heart. What she secretly longs for.”

“Well, I happen to be ingrained in a few more places.” 

“Mulder,” Scully admonished.

Mulder turned to Scully, his arms animated, his voice losing its even tone for a much coarser one. “Did you tell him? Does he know?”

“Tell me what? What am I missing?”

Scully shook her head. “Nothing. Let’s go. Mulder, we’ll talk later.”

Daniel walked Scully to her car. “I have to apologize,” Scully said to him, opening her door as she did. “You walked into a landmine.”

“This guy, Mulder, the FBI, this is your passion? Investigating mythological nonsense?  This is more meaningful than a career in medicine?”

“It’s difficult to explain to someone from the outside.”

“What do you want, Dana?”

“I want everything I should want at this time of my life.” She thought about Mulder with Diana. How he had yet to shut down her proposal. How their own relationship was so up in the air, white hot and icy cold, and how she was preparing herself to raise her child. A normal life seemed out of reach  because of the choices she had made and how difficult having a family would be going forward. How much she missed her sister. “Maybe I want the life I didn’t choose.” 

“If that’s what you want I won’t give up easily.” He hovered his hand out in front of his body, reaching for hers, and she met his halfway, their fingers interlocking as she shed the tears of all she had lost. Scully gathered her composure. “I’ve got to go.”

“Call me,” Daniel said.

“I will,” Scully replied.

“I’ll stay by the phone until you do,” Daniel added.

Scully nodded, and got into her car, Daniel closing the door behind her.

That night Scully sat inside her car, staring out at the lamp posts lining the street in front of Mulder’s apartment. Her heart thumped hard in her chest reminding her that she was alive. There she waited for Mulder’s return. She had the key and could wait inside, but she wanted her mind focused on what she needed to tell him before he left for Tunisia. The night air felt stifling, anticipation and anxiety knotting her stomach. Then a thought sucked the breath from her body. What if he brought Diana back with him?

Scully turned off the car and headed inside. Struggling to find the key, she first heard the elevator door at the end of the hallway close, then felt his gentle hand at her back. It made her mind clear and her body calm. She finally located the key on her ring, the one with the masking tape labeled Mulder. It took the push of the key and the turn of the lock before they even spoke. 

“You left without eating,” Mulder said softly. “You don’t want to leave the baby hungry.”

“I grabbed a salad before heading over,” Scully said just as faintly as she sat down on the couch, leaning her head against Mulder’s throw, enjoying the faint smell of the remnants of his cologne. 

Mulder sat down beside her. “You want something to drink?”

“No thank you. I’m fine.” She met his eyes and they gazed deeply into her own, holding it until the chemistry between them sizzled. "Sorry I ruined your lunch meeting.”

Mulder shrugged. "I enjoyed the entertainment but Diana was perturbed."

"What happened, her gynecologist pull the wrong tooth?"

Mulder faked a guffaw, pointing at her as he did. Then his expression turned sullen. “You’re not going to Tunisia are you.”

“It’s like you’ve been saying, I’ve got to start choosing my priorities. I’m not thrilled it’s her going with you, but I’m happy you won’t be going alone. You and Diana are more than capable of bringing your mother home.”

“I’m going to miss my partner, but I understand. It’s the right call. We don’t know what we’ll encounter when we get there.”

Scully wrung her hands. “I know that all the things you said were when you thought Diana was dead, but she’s back and she’s made it quite clear her desires to be with you have not changed.”

“Scully..”

“It’s like I said in the past, it’s a matter of trust, Mulder.”

Mulder swallowed hard. His tongue roamed along the inside of his cheek as his eyes drifted up to the ceiling fan. “I’m leaving and your old flame wants to pick up where you two left off, which seemed to be hot and heavy.”

“What’s your point?”

“No point,” he said, but his body stiffened against the old evergreen leather. “It’s like you said, it’s a matter of trust.” 

He reached for the remote and powered on the television to an old black and white movie. After a beat his arm came to rest behind her head and she relaxed against him, her head drifting onto his chest. Another ten minutes passed and Scully felt his lips kiss her hair. Deep inside her she always yearned for those small tranquil moments. 

Scully shifted on the couch and lifted her head, greeted by Mulder’s kind hazel eyes and a shy awkward smile. The gaze lengthened and his cheek color morphed into a rosy sheen. Softly he said, “I know you’re not going to believe this, but I’ve only ever done this with you.” 

“Stared at someone for an inordinate amount of time?”

“Well that too, but I meant sitting on this couch, enjoying a movie. I’ve always done this alone.” 

Scully’s brow furrowed. “Not even with Frohike?”

“I’m afraid not. I mean, maybe at his place, but his perfume doesn’t smell nearly as good as yours.” Mulder’s face illuminates with his brilliant smile that revealed too much and singed her insides with its depth. Before she overthought things, she leaned in and captured his lips, his eyes closing as the feelings in her core burned and exploded. His tongue reached into her mouth and she tasted the remains of the day overlaid with the saltiness of his sunflower seeds and the distinct smell of his aftershave.

It hadn’t been all that long since their last kiss, but she missed it just the same. Mulder pressed harder against her lips, his fingers weaving through her hair and Scully moaned into his mouth, lost on another wave of need, entwining their tongues unleashing all the pent up tension from the afternoon. Like a fire through the forests of Oregon, desire spread inside her, Mulder groaned in response and Scully pulled back, gazing at him, breathing hard, the electricity flowing between them stinging hard in her chest, traveling down to her sex. No one ever affected her the way Mulder did.

“I have to pack. My flight leaves soon.” His voice was soft and breathless and made her want to get lost against his mouth again. Made her want his warm strong body against hers, inside hers, his passion acutely focused on only her and later fall into that deep angelic sleep that only came inside Mulder’s arms.

“It is getting late. I should get some sleep,” Scully said, but her stomach was tied up in all kinds of conflicting emotions, most of them wanting to tell him not to get on the flight and spend the night with her in his bed. Instead she added, “I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Yes,” Mulder replied. “And I hope not a moment later.”

Chapter Text

“You are all I live for,” Daniel said, in his overdramatic romanticism of life. They were back at the hospital in the lab. Daniel was waiting on test results and Scully had decided this was the best place to discuss her intentions. Daniel wasn’t making it easy.

Standing next to him with her hands on the counter she said softly, “Maybe we met so you could find your closure and make up for all that time you didn’t spend with your daughter, your family.”

Daniel leaned his back to the cabinet and looked Scully in the eyes. He laughed. “You make it sound like our meeting was more than a coincidence.”

“I want to believe it was, that it couldn’t be simply coincidence.”

“That sounds like more of the crap your partner would say. Is this what you learned in the FBI? Because it’s not the grounded Dana I know.”

“I’m not the same person I was back then, Daniel. I wouldn’t have realized how far I’ve grown from that person if I hadn’t seen you again. If our past wasn’t served cold over lunch.” 

Daniel raked a hand through his hair. “And this is what you want your life to be?”

Flashes of thought grazed through Scully’s mind’s eye, all the cases, the illumination of dark corners of what was natural and of the world view, the pushing past the limits of all known science, and Mulder, together they built a magnificently exciting and dangerous life, changing and growing together along the way and away from the life of civilians, now unknowingly protected, shrouded in their shadows. “I chose this life for a reason, Daniel. It remains my passion.”

There were no tears shed telling Daniel that this would be their last contact. She refused to even squint her eyes when she stepped out of the hospital and into the warm sunlight. Sadness would have come with regrets and there was nothing to regret about a path that led her to exactly where she was in her life. She unbuttoned her jacket as she crossed the street, the clouds above parting and exposing her senses to the beautiful day. It being Sunday, she headed to her mother’s who should have been back from attending mass and socializing at the church.

*

“I ran into an old boyfriend,” Scully said to her mother before raising the hot tea to her lips and taking a sip.

“I see. Does he know that you’re expecting?”

“I didn’t tell him.”

Maggie refilled her cup. “Well, another couple weeks and you won’t be able to hide it.”

“I don’t want to hide it anymore. It’s a choice I’m proud of.”

“And Fox? Does he also factor into that?” Maggie asked and brought the teacup to her lips.

“I’ve always been proud of Mulder, proud to be his partner. Even when they mocked him and the ones above us disregarded everything he stood for.”

“You chose him to father your child. That’s a lot of pride.” 

“I chose him to be the donor for other half of my child’s DNA,” Scully softly corrected.

“The two of you created life and I know how important it was to you that he said yes and yet you look at it all so clinically. Are you saying you’re pursuing this other man?”

“No. No actually I told him it was best if we didn’t see each other anymore. I knew him from California and he moved to D.C. I think to be closer to me.”

“I’m not trying to alarm you, but he sounds like a stalker.”

Scully raised a brow. “I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Be careful.”

“Of course.” Scully refilled her cup. A breeze blew through her mother’s back porch curling the napkins on the wrought iron table. She snatched a sesame cookie from the bakery box her mother had brought home with her. “Now that I’m saying it out loud it does sound kind of strange,” she said as she chewed. They were still warm, hard and crunchy on the outside, but still slightly chewy inside. 

“Sounds like a creep to me,” Maggie added, then crossed her legs, staring out beyond the garden in the yard. “It is over between you two?”

“Definitely over.”

“Good. What about Fox?”

Scully sighed, grabbing another cookie. “He’s out of the country with Diana.”

“Diana, his ex-girlfriend?”

“Yes.” Crumbs of cookie fell onto the small flower rimmed plate as Scully took a bite. 

“She’s no longer an ex?”

“No, she is… I think. She asked him to marry her,” Scully said, sighing again. “He hasn’t said yes.”

“But he hasn’t turned her down?”

Scully shook her head.

Maggie lifted the box and picked out a chocolate coated rainbow cookie. “Would you rather he marry you?”

Scully laughed, then took a deep breath, rubbing her eyes with the pads of her french manicured fingers. “I don’t know, Mom. Mulder doesn’t want the same things as me.”

“Have you asked him?”

“I know, Mulder.” Unable to resist, Scully took a rainbow cookie as well and decided she was taking the black and white to go. She looked into her mother’s eyes and saw her longing for a future for her child she wasn’t certain she could materialize for her. “Sometimes I feel like I’m disappointing everyone,” Scully lamented, “I think about Dad and what he would think of all this..”

Maggie placed a delicate hand over Scully’s. “Dana, you think wanting a family makes you a lesser person?”

“I know it’s not close to what you and Dad wanted for me, in my career or my personal life.”

Maggie straightened in her chair, retracting her hand. “If you think I’m going to try to make you feel guilty because you’re not married at this stage in your life, or about having a child out of wedlock, or passing up career opportunities to remain with Fox, exposing atrocities and bringing crimes and truth to light, or whatever else you think I’m going to disapprove of, it’s not going to happen because I am proud of you. You are the toughest person I’ve ever known.” Maggie took a long breath. “That being said, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help. Raising this child is going to be more work than you even realize, than anyone can ever tell you. You’ll always wake up before them and not fall asleep at night until you know they’re safe and even then you only rest when they do. You don’t have days off even when you’re sick or tired..  to have no one to turn to will make it overwhelming. You’re putting a burden on yourself, not just to be a mother, but a part time father. You’ll be the one taking them to every soccer and baseball game and dance recital, and as they get older you will be their shoulder to cry on and their therapist to tell their problems. You’ll love almost all of it and cherish it when they confide in you and grow because of you, but to have someone to share those experiences with… I would be lying if I said I didn’t want that for you.” Maggie sipped at her tea, then placed it down softly in front of her.  “Do you think Fox thinks you’re weak for wanting to make having a family a priority?”

“I think Mulder will do anything in his power to make this happen for me. He’s expressed to me that he wants to be a father to this child, but I do think he sees it as a weakness for himself. Something that can be taken away from him or worse, hurt because of him.”

Maggie shook her head. “To live a life alone, so isolated…  and with his mother gone..”

“Well, we have reason to believe that it might not have been her that we buried.”

Now it was Maggie’s turn to lift a brow. “How is that even possible? Didn’t you tell me you discovered her disease through an autopsy?”

“It’s a very long story, but that’s where Mulder is right now, searching for what may be his mother and trying to bring her back if she is alive.”

“With Diana,” Maggie repeated, “just the two of them.”

“Yes.”

“Have you tried telling him how you feel? Sitting him down and telling him what you want and asking him if he wants to be part of that? Not just part time, but a partner to live with, love with, and yes, even experience death with?”

Both Scully’s hands covered her face as she leaned into them. She lifted her head slowly. “How can I do that when I’m not certain of anything?”

“You’re never going to be sure, not 100%, but you can be sure about trusting him, about knowing that it’s worth the risk. That child is coming into this world, what are you going to tell them when they ask about the two of you? When they look to you to learn about life and love and how to survive in this world?” Maggie paused. “Is the problem really about Fox not wanting this or more about you afraid that you might lose yourself in him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Dana, if love eradicates your ideologies about yourself, your plans about life, or what marriage should be, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Don’t you see, it can lead you down a path that wasn’t capable in your dreams, that may not have been possible to exist before.”

“It can also make you blind to warning signs,” Scully countered. 

“If it doesn’t work then you will go on, it would be hard, but you could survive it. You are capable of raising this child by yourself, but it would be a whole lot easier if you allowed yourself to lean on someone.” Maggie shrugged. “If you wanted to, you could even move in with me. Taking the risk is where the strong live, and the rewards.. they’re more than you can imagine.”

“What if this isn’t the right answer for us?” Scully challenged.

“I think you already have the answer. Think of all you accomplish as a team, think of all you two feel for each other and it is only the beginning. You need to talk to him. You need to tell him and give him the chance to say yes.” 

On the way home Scully’s cell rang and she answered to hear Mulder’s gentle masculine alto. “We’re on our way back.” He paused and the pain in his voice felt almost tangible. “We have my mother.”

“That’s great news.” She could tell by his lack of inflection that the journey was taking its toll on him. She could only imagine what it could be like to bury your mother only to discover that it was all a lie. Then to travel halfway around the globe to retrieve her. It was all so improbable, but such was their life.

Mulder sighed. “Well, as much as I want to stay on this phone and listen to your voice, I’ll need to check in for my flight soon so I better finish packing.”

“See you soon,” Scully said, her face curling into a smile.

“Im looking forward to it,” he replied and she felt the chemistry between them heat her cheek before ending the call.

“Fox?” Diana purred as she opened the adjoining door to their rooms.

Mulder shoved his cell into its holster and zipped up his suitcase. “I’m almost ready.”

“I just left your mother’s room, she’s still hazy, but she should be fine for the flight.”

Mulder nodded. 

“Fox.”

Mulder lifted his head and stared directly at Diana. “Yes.”

“While your mother is resting and we have a minute, I thought it would be a good time to discuss our future.”

Mulder bit at the inside of his lip. “Diana, you need to know, when you expressed to me what you want for us, the first thing I did was run to Scully and tell her.”

Diana crossed her arms. “And you did that because..”

Mulder stopped packing and faced Diana. “Because I don’t want to hide anything from her. Because I want to share everything with her. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

Diana dug the toe of her black heel into the ugly evergreen carpeting. “That you love her, that you’re friends with her, but you also didn’t tell me no.”

“Diana, my feelings for you are what they are and they won’t change,” The lines in Mulder’s forehead creased with revelation. “I am your friend, but attraction or history or any reason you want to come up with.. doesn’t matter. It will not work between us. Ever.”

“Fox.. You’re making this much more complicated..”

“No, not this time. It’s simple. You are not Scully and because of that fact alone, it will NEVER work. Scully is it for me. Scully is all there is. There was no one before her and there will be no one after her. I would rather live a life alone.” 

“Love isn’t always enough,” Diana said, pursing her lips, dripping her words with implications.

“You’re right,” Mulder agreed, “but that’s not all there is between us. It’s everything we share, who we are, and the strength of what connects us.. she is the one I want to spend the rest of my life loving. I love loving her, admiring her, worshiping her, knowing her. Is any of this seeping in Diana or do I need to go on?”

Diana blew air from her nostrils like a bull. “All this because she’s having your baby?”

“No, Diana.” He closed his eyes with a shake of his head then opened them slowly. “I wish there was a way I could express this without causing you so much pain.” He stepped in close to her and locked his eyes on hers. “I need you to really listen to what I am telling you.” He took a breath, the heart beating from his chest felt like it was trying to climb into his throat. His entire body broke out into a sweat and stomach tightened as the room fell silent. Not out of fear, but because what he was about to say held so much of his truth it almost felt like a betrayal to the feelings that words could not define, with full knowledge that it fell on lesser ears. “My heart, my soul, belongs with hers and until there is nothing left of me I will remain madly, passionately, in love with Scully.”

“You got the mad part right.” Diana shook her head. “Well, I guess you told me.”

“I needed to make it clear. I can’t lead you on any longer. I knew how these words were going to affect you and it was difficult for me knowing it was going to hurt you, but I need to be honest because it’s not fair to any of us to put it off any longer.”

Diana’s face twisted, her crossed arms almost hugging her body, her head steadily shaking. “Were you being honest with yourself when you kissed me in my apartment when you thought the alien invasion was upon us?”

“You kissed me, Diana, and no, I guess I wasn’t.”

“I assume you haven’t told her yet.”

“No, I haven’t,” Mulder said softly. 

“And what if she turns you away?”

“I’ll always have the X-Files. I’ve been alone before. I do just fine.”

“You’re going to have to tell her, Fox.”

“I know.” Mulder took a deep nervous breath. “I know.”

Chapter Text

Scully slumped back into the aged forest leather as it molded to her curves. It was as welcoming an embrace as a roaring fire on a cold wintery day. The wrinkles from Mulder’s many sleepless nights jutted from the cushion like the veins in the arm of the Hulk. She reached for his throw pillow and hugged it against her chest. The scent of Mulder’s aftershave played dominant, but his genuine mixture of the warmth of an ozone blue sky and a birch tree in the middle of white-hot Area 51 was intoxicating. It slowed the beat of her heart and lulled her into a tranquil slumber.

A suitcase thumped the floorboards and jolted Scully awake. “Hey sleepyhead,” Mulder said with a crooked smile.

“Mulder,” Scully yawned. “You’re back.”

“Yes, and you’re in my apartment,” he returned, joining her on the couch. He tilted his brow. “Not that I mind.”

“How’s your mother doing?” Scully asked carefully. 

Mulder shrugged. “She’s alive, but very out of it. In the morning there are tests you can do to confirm it’s actually her.”

“I can look at the telomeres at the end of her chromosomes. Unless they cloned the exact state of the telomeres, there should be an abnormal length for a person of her age. Plus I can look for known scars, fillings, fingerprints, iris patterns, and if the antibodies in her system match illnesses contained on her health record.” 

Mulder nodded, but she was certain she’d have to expound on her statements tomorrow. 

“Your mother was very pleased to have my mother stay with her,” he explained. “That’s what kept me so late. She insisted on making me something to eat and had lots of questions.” Mulder paused. “Diana wasn’t with me if that’s your concern.”

“No concerns.” Scully ran her hands down the length of her thigh to dry her palms and tightened her lip. “I told Daniel it would be best if we didn’t see each other anymore.”

“Oh?”

“I think it’s best for both of us that way.” Scully sighed deeply. “To think, I considered spending the rest of my life with that man.” The natural inclination of her hand covered her belly, her eyes following, “What I would have missed.”

“ I don’t think you can know,  I mean how many lives would we be leading if we made different choices, We don’t know. You could have been married with four children.” Softly his hand rested on hers atop her belly. A blaze of heat seared inside Scully’s chest when he added, “But they wouldn’t have been ours.” 

Scully looked down again at his hand covering hers over their growing baby, then returned her attention to Mulder. Their gaze lingered, warming the space between them, flaring and simmering and flaring again, until Scully shifted and leaned back, her head resting at the top of the cushion. It had been a long day and an even longer wait for Mulder’s return, but now with him beside her she could finally relax. The baby felt like it was zapping all her energy. As her arm drifted to her side, she grasped Mulder’s hand, her eyelids heavy, she allowed her body to succumb, hearing the faint words of Mulder as she drifted.

“All the choices along the way have led us to this very moment. One wrong turn and we wouldn’t be sitting here together. That says a lot. Says a lot alot alot. Probably more than we should be getting into at this late an hour.“

Waiting for her response he turned his head to see her already asleep. He knew she had stressed herself this weekend, he could see it in her eyes when he first walked in. He stared at her just to watch her sleep, beautiful and peaceful. Tenderly, with the utmost care, he tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear, studying her with such an immense affection that it spread through his body mending every void inside. For a long minute he searched her features, at the face he had grown to adore on a level so deeply. All those years that had filled his memory -the young determination she had shown attempting to get the powers that be to listen to the science to prove uncovered truths, the sound of her voice guiding him from the blindness, tremors, and disorientation as the alien entity took over his brain, the wiser eyes that shared his pain at the loss of his sister. 

Her refusal to leave his side, even through the roughest of storms, had brought them to where they were at that moment and for that he would forever be grateful. For now, though, he would let her rest. Meticulously he fixed his throw around her, tucking her in. He held her hand for a moment more, before rising and heading to the shower.

Scully stirred, disorientated at first in the dark room, the bubbling of the fish tank filter bringing it all to the forefront of her mind. The blanket felt rough, but soft against her skin, the remnants of Mulder’s intrinsic caring. From the shadowed living room she could hear the steamy shower hitting the cold tile through the wall, interrupted by the hum of the heater. In the far distance the elevator dinged, followed by hushed voices and footfalls in the hallway as Mulder’s neighbors headed into their apartments. 

Sleep slipped from her grasp as her mind spun, thinking of all she wanted to tell him. She didn’t want to wait any longer. 

All her thoughts and feelings blended together as she approached his bedroom, her heart beating hard. The bathroom door swung open and Mulder emerged.

“Hey,” he said, his voice low and buttery. “I wasn’t expecting you to be up.”

Even though he was wearing a towel cinched at the waist, she had to force her eyes not to roll down to glance below his chiseled abs. It was all she could do to raise her chin to meet his gaze. She couldn’t count the times his body had been bared to her and yet every time it never failed to affect her. Her mouth slacked, but no words emerged.

“What is it?” Mulder asked delicately.

She wanted to tell him everything she had kept buried for far too long. What her mother had goaded her to explain. Looking now into his freshly shaven face, smooth and softer than before, exacerbating his hard chiseled jaw….. she lost all nerve. 

Mulder studied her with a curious look, then lightly took her hand. “Scully, in my vision last year, the one of the life I didn’t choose.. that vision left me with no regrets about choosing this one. Your experience over the weekend, the path you didn’t choose..”

“I would have never chosen it, Mulder,” she said, almost cutting him off. “Even back then there was a voice inside me telling me it was wrong, that there was more.” She tried to ignore the heart hammering in her chest or the acid in her stomach working on her insides like a power drill. “You, Mulder, this, this is that more, and even though it was nothing I ever fantasized about, even though I also had my moment of doubt, I am very much in love with this life.. Our life.. And I wouldn’t change a thing. Not if it didn’t lead me to this moment, right here, with you.” 

Their gaze lasted longer than it should, a weighted silence falling between them. 

Not knowing what else to say, Scully turned to leave. Mulder's large heavy hands at her shoulders cemented her in place. “Stay,” he breathed. 

The simple word sent a shockwave through her. With the sound of the rustling of the trees against the window, he pulled gently at the collar of her dark blazer and she shrugged it off, watching in the darkened room while he folded it neatly at the corner of the bed. The scent of his soap loomed behind her as she sensed the hard planes of his chest near the back of her head and felt the tickle of his fingertips as he haltingly lifted her olive sweater from her body, her arms raising almost on their own accord. With a click of the latch, her nerves heightened as she watched her bra fall to the floor while the cool air hit her skin. His bold mouth skimmed her neck, his arms folding around her, sparking her senses and heating her body.  

A tinge of panic rose in her chest, she felt irrationally self-conscious at her weight gain and bulging belly. She watched on as a spectator as his hands rose from her abs and enveloped her breasts, each finger teasing the pink peaks until they prickled.

Her body pulsed, the feeling lingered and buzzed between her thighs. With a quick zip, her skirt fell from around her hips to the ground and like a call his long finger found that pulse and stroked it until it swelled and spread. Her head fell back against his shoulder, her eyes closed and anxiety grew with the sensations. Tingles shot through her like electricity, singeing her nerve endings. 

“I don’t want you with anyone else.” The words spurt from her lips and her skin flushed red hot. “I want to be the only one.”

“You already are,” he whispered moltenly into her ear as his body pressed harder against hers, heating from the outside in, wrapping her heart warmly in his words. “There will never be anyone else.”

The rhythm of their breaths aligned in the darkness as Mulder pushed down her nylons; his hand skimming her thigh and over her behind as she felt his eyes absorbing every curve and freckle. It made her uneasy, a stark contrast to the sensations his hands inspired.

“Oh, Scully,” Mulder moaned into her neck, his hard erection pressed against her back, the smooth skin wrapped around the engorged nerve endings, warm and heavy resting in the place his hand often found its home.  

Mulder entered slowly, teasing her with only tastes of him until she felt her core clench, and he pushed against the wave, pleasure searing through her, her hands falling to the bed for support. She felt his eyes on her again and knew his stare had landed where they were joined, making him grow harder, making her insatiably wet. She not only heard him moan, but she felt it. His fingers traced around her folds and her body contracted, pulling him deeper.

She moaned into Mulder’s next slide, he felt almost painfully good inside her. The pregnancy hormones coursing through her veins compounded Mulder’s already perfect tilt of his hips, flicking up into her with each thrust.   

The feeling was overpowering, deeper and more intimate than any time before. His hand traveled across her belly, over her breasts, the other at her hips. Every gentle touch felt more intimate, while he kept his thrusts slow and deep.

“Faster, Mulder.”

“I’m enjoying the feel of you,” he hummed, pulling almost all the way out before inching back in. He moaned again and breathed hard. “I’m going to pass out. Being inside you..” His eyes closed and he moaned again. “Scully.” 

Scully swallowed and the torment continued, the sensations only rising to a certain point before he slowed again. It forced her to thrust back against him and he groaned, “You do that again and I’m going to come.”

She glanced over her shoulder, “You better not.”

Scully did it again. And again.

Mulder pulled out, panting and pained. “Get on the bed. I won’t come without you.”

Scully crawled up onto the mattress and Mulder wasted no time, curling his arm around her waist, holding her against him on their knees, spooning her while he grasped her hips with his other hand and thrusted inside her. Scully, not to be outdone, rose and fell at her pace, her entire back slick from the sweat of his abs, both of them crying out, moaning, groaning, riding him hard. Her hands fisted the sheets and she paused, Mulder’s cock continuing to slide into her at an amazing pace, causing her to shut her eyes, releasing a high pitched cry. 

His soft breathy groans against her ear ratched the intensity, but when his lips brushed against her throat and he kissed below her ear and murmured, “You are everything to me, Scully,” something inside her burst, the feeling spreading out in a warmth from between her legs to a fire that enveloped her entire body.

“Scully… oh, Scully,” Mulder cried, his fingers whitening as they gripped tight at her thighs. He pulled her close and thrusted deeper and harder, swelling thick and long, burying himself inside her, releasing a long, soft groan.

There was nothing she could do to stop the spiraling. Scully came. Hard. She arched back and cradled Mulder’s head in her arm as spasms of relief and pleasure rocket through her body. Another wave of pleasure shivered up her spine as she felt Mulder’s release pumping into her, her body pulsing around him.

Pressing his forehead against the top of her shoulder, they held themselves there for a moment in the darkness before he carefully pulled away, unwrapping her from his arms. 

His hand danced over her bare back and he shot her a coy smile before walking over to his dresser to retrieve a pair of boxers. He tossed her one of his shirts, which she caught and slipped over her head, grateful, considering she had no other clothes with her. 

As soon as he slid under the sheets, Mulder pulled her back against his chest, pressing his face among her hair, inhaling briefly. There was something in that short breath that made Scully look back at him and he leaned in to kiss her, his grip tightening around her as he did. When she pulled from his lips they shared a smile. She snuggled back against his chest, fitting perfectly inside his contours, and cherished his strong warm arms around her.

He sent a kiss to her temple. In a low monotone, Mulder rasped, “Whatever it is you want, Scully, I need you to say it.”

“I want to spend my life with you, Mulder..” she murmured as she threaded their hands and brought them to settle beneath her cheek. “Whatever that life might look like.”

Softly, he nudged her and she rotated in his arms. He searched her eyes with a strikingly vulnerable expression she wasn’t certain she had ever seen on him before. His voice broke as he declared, “I want the same.”  His eyes closed as he pulled her into a deep hug. 

Scully shut her own eyes and listened to the beat of his heart, letting it comfort her as her breathing slowed and her body relaxed inside his warm embrace, inside his soft cotton navy shirt. He had done so much for her and there was so much more they had yet to do. Mulder’s breathing deepened as he entered REM. It made her happy to see his mind at rest, something that rarely seemed to happen. Her body responded to his movement and when he squeezed her in tighter her heart brightened. Sex with Mulder was otherworldly to say the least. That part of their relationship, as complicated as it was, came easy. Every touch sparked something new inside her, every movement inundated her body with dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin. Being with him was addicting in the most amazing of ways and for once, it didn’t take courage, it didn’t frighten her, it just made her thankful to share her days with him and appreciate who he was and feel gratified that he would always be her partner. Breaking away from him in the morning would be too difficult and with so much to do, including getting showered and dressed for work, she decided it would be best if she left now. Although she was so comfortable, he was so… comfortable. She decided to give herself a few more minutes, give them the moment of just being.

Chapter Text

With a flick of the wrist, the bottlecap to Scully’s rootbeer went flying into the bowl. Mulder’s sailed by, missing it entirely. 

“Steel Magnolias, Mulder?” She asked, looking at the VHS box, then tossing it indifferently onto his coffee table. “That’s not a guy movie. I figured you brought me here to watch Caddyshack or something.”

“Would you, uh, would you have gone for that, because I think I have it here somewhere.”

“No, no this is fine,” Scully answered, side eyeing him. “So, what’s the occasion?”

“It felt like the thing to do. Cheers,” he said and she replied, “Cheers” back, clanking their root beer bottles together before they simultaneously knocked them back to take a long cool drink.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I never made the world a happier place,” Mulder monotoned.

“Well, I’m fairly happy. That’s something.” Scully side-eyed him again before her mouth curled into a shit-eating grin. 

Mulder returned it as he downed his drink.

“The lab results came back and confirmed my initial findings. That truly is your mother staying with mine.”

Mulder nodded, staring down at the bottle between his lap, meticulously peeling at the label. “My lease is coming up..” He looked over at her. “ I’m thinking maybe it’s time I don’t renew it.”

Scully blinked. A flash of anxiety passed through her like lightning. She chased it away with a swig of her rootbeer. “I have a spare room. I imagine the baby won’t need a room of their own for a while.” She passed him a quick, but devious little smirk.

Mulder took a breath. “Well, I don’t know, my fish don’t like sleeping alone.”

“Is that why you’ve been on this couch all these years?” Scully reached for the popcorn and tossed a few into her mouth. “It’s all starting to come together."

“Is it?” Mulder questioned back. 

Scully pointed to the corner of Mulder’s desk and the pile sitting atop of it. “Are those pregnancy books? Mulder?” It was obvious they were, the titles in big bold text.

Mulder took another breath. “I’m preparing to share something big with you.”

Scully pursed her rosy lips and raised a brow. “Hopefully tonight you’ll share it twice.”

Mulder waggled his brow and lifted his mouth into a smile. “Thank you, but that’s not what I meant.” He grabbed his own handful of popcorn, but scowled at the lack of butter. “Did you know that there is a waiting list for Lamaze classes in our area?”

“I’ll need a partner,” Scully replied, leaning in closer to Mulder. 

“Hope you don’t mind,” Mulder said, clearing his voice, “I took the liberty of signing us up for some classes.”  He gazed deep into her eyes, enough to blaze the warmth she already felt for him, and brushed the hair from her face.

“Actually, I should thank you, I haven’t even thought about it,” Scully answered truthfully. “I suppose you can tell me all about it when we’re having your key made for my apartment.”

Scully’s eyes dropped to Mulder’s mouth, and as it moved towards her own, her breath hitched, her heart warmed, and her body pulsed. She felt her lips part when Mulder’s gentle fingers stroke her jaw, lingering as his eyes darkened, forcing her own to flutter closed. The heat from the press of his soft lips against hers was so severe, it caused her to gasp, then moan, when he plunged his tongue inside…

Months later…..

The hard pine of the conference room table felt cold underneath Scully’s knuckles. She and Mulder had been gliding through life the past weeks, moving him into her apartment, attending Lamaze classes, taking long walks along the beach, staring out at the night sky watching stars twinkle and comets blaze by. Their mothers had kept them busy, buying baby clothes and throwing showers, preparing them for their little one. All while they did their normal day to day of case work. Normal for them, anyway. None of which had prepared them for the round table at FBI Headquarters she was witnessing now. Marita and Krycek, The Lone Gunman, Diana Fowley, and of course Skinner. All discussing spaceships and aliens like they would discuss terrorists and drug dealers. Billy Miles had contacted them and they had taken the trip to Oregon. It was quite the reunion being the site of their first case seven years prior. 

Marita and Krycek were spewing their own theories from across the table. The Smoking Man’s fantasies and delusions had reignited. Scully had enough, but the descriptions of the ones being taken had sparked a recent memory. Unable to speak freely she left the room and waited in the hallway knowing Mulder would soon follow.

Of course, Mulder did, the sleeves of his charcoal shirt rolled up how they always were when he was ready to go to war for the truth. Mulder was ready to take on the galaxy, or so she thought, and somehow, if this was at all possible, it made him look hotter than ever. 

“I’m not letting you go back out there,” Mulder stated, both gentle and steely, and only the way he could.

Scully turned, her face scrunched in confusion. This was his holy grail after all. “What are you talking about?”

“It has to end sometime and that time is now.”

“Mulder?” Scully asked, staring deep into his hazel blue eyes, almost fearing what might be holding him back.  

“You have to understand,” Mulder said softly, “they’re taking abductees, you’re an abductee. I’m not going to risk… losing you.” Saying it outloud was almost too much for him to bear. He frantically searched her face, terrified that she might rebel against him, but instead she folded into his arms, her cheek against his chest, her hand at the back of his neck, his face burying into her shoulder.

“I won’t lose you either, Mulder.”

“I was never abducted, Scully,” he rumbled in return.

Scully pulled back enough to look into his eyes, but not out of his arms. “After you told me that there might be a connection, I reviewed the medical records of Billy Miles and the other known abductees in Bellefleur on our plane ride back. They all experienced anomalous brain activity. Electro-encephalitic trauma. Exactly what you experienced earlier this year.“ She fell back into his embrace. “There was something out there in that field. It knocked me back because it didn’t want me. If I was in danger, I would have already been taken.” 

“Yes, but you-you can’t know that for sure,” Mulder returned. He shook his head and tightened his lip. 

“We can’t take these chances anymore, Mulder. It’s like you said in Oregon, the personal costs are too high. You were right, Mulder. There is so much more than this. So much more for us. I want it to end.”

Mulder grasped her shoulders and hunched down to look her dead in the eyes. “You understand what you’re saying?”

“There has to be an end,” she said, repeating his words.

“You’re certain.”

“Yes.”

He gave her a nod and chewed on the inside of his cheek. “You trust me?”

“Always.” 

“Follow my lead,” he said, taking her hand and walking back into the conference room.

All eyes rose from the table and fell on them. Krycek motioned to Mulder and he joined them. Krycek continued, “The Smoking Man has the power to control the chips. He gets to decide who lives and who dies and now, with that kind of power…”

“All he would have left to do is take possession of the ship,” Mulder finished.

“For what purpose?” Diana asked. 

“With the ship he couldn’t just play God,” Mulder explained, “he could be God. Scriptures, science, all of it would be his to manipulate as he sees fit. He could rewrite history, create life, a virtually indestructible army to defeat any human or alien race. He could create a slave race and drones to do his bidding.” 

“Theoretically, he might rule not only over the world, but galaxies with that kind of power,” Frohike added.

“Darth Vader resurrected,” Krycek finished.

Mulder looked to Diana. “Diana, being an abductee, it is too dangerous for Scully to go back there. Will you go with me?”

“Of course,” she answered quickly, a sinister smile spreading across her face.

“Skinner?” Mulder asked, trying to ignore the death stare coming from Scully.

“You can count me in,” Skinner said roughly.

“We can leave late tomorrow,” Mulder instructed.

“How do you know it won’t be gone by then?” Scully asked.

“It won’t leave until it has what it wants,” Krycek replied. 

“The abductees,” Scully answered, in almost a whisper. 

Later, heading towards her mother’s house, Scully stopped for a red light and turned to face her partner. “Mulder, what are you not telling me?”

“We need to speak with our mothers. I’ve made arrangements with Monica Reyes. She’s secured the location I’ve requested. If they agree, our mothers will meet you at that location. When we speak with them today, they must understand that if they go with you, they must leave everything behind. Possibly forever.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You know as well as I do that the Smoking Man will never stop looking for you or my mother. He needs you, he’s in love with her, and he needs our baby. It didn’t make sense before, but I think it does now. Everything we’ve experienced in our lives, every illness we had, everything they did to you during your abduction, the cure for your cancer, your exposure to the ship in Africa, my exposure to the black oil, it’s modified our DNA. Just like how you determined that my mother was really my mother and not a clone, from the changes in her DNA. If The Smoking Man cloned us, the strands would be free of the life we lived, the roadmap in our DNA, from our illnesses and scars and what we’ve been exposed to. Not only our basic DNA, but who we are, the life that we’ve lived, has been passed to our child, and I think our combined DNA is the recipe the Smoking Man needs to create an unstoppable army.”

“And what about you, Mulder?”

*****

Later that evening…..

“Mom, are you certain? Because once we leave, there’s no turning back,” Scully said as they spoke in her mother’s backyard under an old maple tree. The wind had picked up, though the sky was still mostly clear. Scully defiantly tucked her stray hairs behind her ear. “You’re going to give up everything, for me?”

“You’re my daughter,” Maggie said as if it was such an obvious and simple answer. “I gave you life and I’ll give you mine if I need to. Bill and Charlie will be fine.”

“But to not know your grandchildren…” Scully countered.

“I will just have to believe that it won’t be forever, but if it is, I know I am making the right decision. I need my children to be happy. You need me more than the others. The grandchild you’re about to bring into this world needs me.”  

******

Scully’s apartment, late afternoon

Scully came into consciousness with the feel of Mulder’s bicep against her cheek. She nuzzled it before she realized what she was doing. Their hands still clutched one another. Even though she was lying on her back, her foot lay tucked behind his calf muscle. Far off in what felt like a dream she heard the buzz of her phone. Slowly, she opened her eyes and lifted her thigh slung over Mulder’s leg, just below a quite impressive nocturnal penile tumescence tenting his boxer briefs. Mulder’s free hand was resting on his chest, riding up his tee and exposing his abs. It caused Scully’s tongue to slide across her upper lip before reaching for her cell. 

“Scully,” she answered quietly, hoping not to stir the long eyelashes tickling Mulder’s soft cheek.

“Dana,” said a voice that sent a brick into Scully’s stomach. 

“Daniel,” Scully replied, her eyes watching Mulder as he lifted off the bed and padded his way into her bathroom. 

“How have you been?”

“I’m not trying to be cruel, Daniel, but I don’t believe that is any of your personal concern anymore.”

“I know, I know you’ve expressed that you no longer want to continue any type of relationship with me, but Dana, after all we’ve been through..”

“What have we really been through, Daniel?” Scully asked, her eyes on Mulder as he climbed back onto the mattress. 

Who’s that? he mimed, scrunching his face. 

Daniel, Scully mimed back.

“Mmm,” Mulder answered, nodding as he did, sliding down her body, lifting her light gray silk night shirt and planting soft kisses on her belly. 

Then Mulder disappeared under her belly. Unable to see him, she only felt the pull of the silk of her pants as he slid them down her leg. All the while, Daniel was continuing to drag on about his devotion to her and how their future was worth taking a risk on. She added in a “but Daniel,” but he droned on. Mulder’s head popped up above her belly.

Are you kidding, me? she mimed, but Mulder responded with a slow shake of his head, pursing his lips to cover up his evil grin.

He fell back out of sight, but so did the clothes on the lower half of her body. Scully sucked in a breath as he felt his tongue, warm and wet, twisting in and out of her exposed sex. 

“God,” she murmured, to what she thought was only to herself, her eyes rolling up into the wave of pleasure.

“Everything okay?” Daniel asked just as Mulder took hold of her hips and pulled her up into his stubbled face.

She sucked in a breath and let her eyes go wide in their sockets as Mulder pierced her with his tongue. “Yeah, I- I thought we covered this.”

“Dana, our love is worth exploring,” Daniel prattled on.

“Hm,” she hummed, her eyes fluttering as Mulder drug the pointed tip of his tongue over and around her clit.

“What is his name again?” Daniel asked.

“Mulder,” She tried to say it casually, but it still sounded more like a moan. Mulder’s hands cupped her ass and lifted her closer to him, and she couldn’t stop herself from grinding into his face as he continued to passionately make out with her sex.

Pleasure was overcoming her body. She was losing all concentration. 

“Yes, Mulder,” she heard Daniel say.

“Yes,” her brain stuttered as Mulder sucked at her core. She hadn’t a clue what Daniel was even talking about. 

His strong hands clutched her ass as she grinded into his face and just as Scully lost all desire to ever allow herself to speak to Daniel again she heard Daniel say, “You need to be careful with men like that.”

“Men like what?” Scully bit out, her voice thick. A protective streak lurched up in her. Daniel thought he could ignore her wishes and then insult Mulder for the second time? Try to stop her from going on with her life?

“He’s not like us, Dana.”

She wondered how it was possible to be a doctor and be that obtuse. “You know what Mulder is, Daniel? He’s a warm, caring man, with an incredible sense of humor, a brilliant mind, and the unique ability to see what’s really out there and cut through all the bullshit, and knows exactly what it takes to satisfy me.”

“You can’t mean that…”

“Goodbye, Daniel.” She ended the call, swiveling her hips onto Mulder’s face, feeling a jolt of pleasure as he groaned happily. “Oh, Mulder,” she moaned, tilting her hips into the motions of his mouth. 

Her back suddenly jolted from the weight on her spine and she tapped him away. Even lying on her back wasn’t a comfortable position anymore. “I’m sorry, Mulder, it’s the position.”

Mulder rolled to his back, the shine of her desire on his scruffed chin, his hazel eyes full of love following her as she kneeled on the bed. He tugged her leg toward him. Coaxing her to straddle his face. His hands pushed up on her hips, right as he pushed himself down the bed, lining his face up with… Scully moaned and Mulder disappeared between her legs. Her knees buckled and for a moment she feared she might suffocate him. 

Scully tangled a hand in Mulder’s hair and tugged at the roots. Her body coiled at the movement of his tongue, she pulled tight as Mulder’s hands traced her torso and sent shivers up her spine.

It wasn’t until the phone rang that she realized she had left it on the bed, without looking at the number she answered, “Daniel, if you don’t stop I’m going to file a restraining order.”

And just as she was going to press the end key she heard, “Dana?”

Oh my God. “Bill?” It was NOT her brother.

“Yeah,” Bill said, “You okay?”

Scully tried to wiggle free from Mulder but he only gripped her hips tighter. “Fine, just work stuff,” Scully replied, stifling her protests when the rebel between her legs, her rebel, kissed and gently sucked at her inner thigh. 

“Mom told me you’re going into hiding? Said you were dragging her with you.”

“I’m not kidnapping her, Bill. She insisted on helping me with the baby. It’s her choice to live with me.” Mulder was not letting up and neither had her libido since her fourth month of pregnancy. The sensations he was pulling from her were new and powerful and she couldn’t tell him to stop… what if they never felt that good again. Her hips flexed and she gently rode his face, chasing each growing sensation. Of course, there were challenges. 

“When is it going to stop?” Bill yelled in her ear. “How much more of this do I have to take? You know how that makes me feel? Taking my mother away from me in her golden years, her grandchildren, and why? Because of that sorry son of a bitch.” Bill breathed hard. “This is not okay, Dana. Do you know what Mom is going through? What you’ll be depriving her of?”

“Bill, just because she decided to live with me and Mulder…”

Her hips were bucking erratically. She could hear Bill grunt on the other end, annoyed by the mere mention of Mulder’s name which in turn aggravated her. In defiance she grinded her hips deeper into Mulder’s face. Bill raged on while Mulder’s tongue darted in and out, dragging and lapping, sucking at her clit and swirling it in his mouth. She could hear her own breath shorten. She was ready to come. 

“You’re taking her from everything she knows, everything she lives for.. And this is all for what? For Mulder?” 

She felt Mulder smile against her sex as she answered, “You wouldn’t understand, Bill.”

“Where is he going to be, Dana? Is he going to be there for this baby? For you? What is he doing to Mom’s life? To yours? What is he doing to you?”

It was now inevitable, her entire lower half was on fire and the deep pulsing contractions had begun. She tried to wiggle off of him, but Mulder’s hands dug into her ass and held her there. “Bill, I have to go.” She could hear him continuing to carry on as she ended the call and tossed her cell phone, collapsing against the headboard, bowled over by what felt like a tidal wave of sensation. Her body trembled and shook. 

“I hope that was as good for you as it was for me,” Mulder quipped. He had melted her brain cells, what did she just do? Mulder was all smiles as he chuckled and stared up at the ceiling, playing with the small waft of hair on his chest. “Do you think he was onto us?”

“I don’t know,” Scully replied, covering her face with her hands. Mulder broke every boundary she ever had.

“You know it’s always turned me on to have you scream my name,” he said, turning himself onto his side, leaning up on his elbow.

She closed her eyes and nodded because the truth of it was that every time he screamed her name, she enjoyed it, relied on it, just the same.

Chapter Text

“You have everything we need?” Diana asked Mulder as she entered Scully’s apartment. 

“An entire duffel bag of laser pointers,” Mulder answered. “What else could we need?”

Diana approached Mulder, invading his personal space, stroking his bicep and leaning over, intentionally brushing her breast over his forearm as she did, and zipped up his duffel bag. Mulder froze, but kept silent. Scully didn’t.

“Mulder, may I speak with you in the hallway?”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, closing the door behind them, leaving Diana alone in the apartment.

“I do not like her touching you.” Scully placed her hands at her lower back for support. She looked up at the ceiling and her head pivoted slightly from left to right. “I don’t want her touching you.” She shook her head again, then looked him dead in the eyes. “I need you to take a good look at yourself and what you’re doing to us.”

Mulder’s eyebrows gathered at the deep lines that formed between them. “I..” Now Mulder was the one shaking his head as it dropped, his shoulders hunching. His voice lowered a couple bars as he lifted it to rejoin her gaze. “-I haven’t taken the time to think about it.”

“It means something, Mulder.”

He carefully studied her face, looking at the emotions behind her eyes. “I see that now.”

They both walked back in, Diana’s eyes on Mulder. “Everything alright?”

Mulder ignored the question. “We need to leave before we miss our flight.” He slung the duffel over his shoulder, along with his backpack and took his carryon. Puckering his lips he leaned in to give Scully a peck and she followed it up with both her hands at the sides of his head, lengthening the kiss, softening his lips. Mulder’s lids grew heavy with desire as he withdrew from hers. Then he felt Diana’s hand tug him away.

“Time to go,” Diana reinforced.

Mulder lifted his hand away from Diana like he had touched a hot stove. “Diana, I need for you to refrain from any physical contact with me. I do not enjoy it and it is disrespectful to my relationship with Scully.”

Scully’s jaw slacked.

Mulder turned to Scully. “I’ll call you when I land.” Then murmured, “I love you.”

Diana, who had remained stoic throughout the encounter, followed him out of the apartment.

“You put on quite a show,” Diana said when they reached the hallway.

“It’s no show,” Mulder snapped back. “I’m happy in a way I’ve never been.”

“I can wait,” Diana replied, “Nothing lasts forever.”

“Scully and I are different, Diana,” Mulder said, galloping down the long stairwell onto the street and towards the cab, squinting into the bright sunlight. “We’re for better or worse, and death doesn’t stand a chance against Scully.”

*****

Luggage in the trunk of her car and her fake passport in the glove box, Scully pulled into the open spot in front of the bakery. If she was going to stress, the baby wanted a donut. Unable to choose, she ordered the chocolate glaze, a jelly, and a Bavarian creme. She squinted as she opened the door back into the street. Not from the sun, but the figure she saw sitting in her car.

“If you’re smoking…”

“I would do nothing of the sort,” CSM replied.

Scully got into the driver’s seat. “So what do I owe the misery this time?”

“Do you really believe Mulder can keep you safe? Vanish without a trace? Do you believe that there is a place where I can’t find you?”

“You could try finding someone else to obsess about and leaving us alone like someone who isn’t a psychopath.”

“Choosing Mulder will only get your child taken from you.” He took a deep draw of his cigarette. “It’s a simple choice really. Your child or Mulder.”

*****

Out in the Oregon night, Diana leaned over Mulder as he crouched down to place another spike in the dirt, setting the laser delicately on top. Diana, unable to restrain herself, stroked his back lovingly.

“You don’t have to resist, Scully’s not here.”

“And nothing has changed. I’m still in love with her.” Mulder straightened from his crouched position. “Stop, Diana. Just stop.”

Diana sucked in her breath. Her eyes went wide.

“What is it?” Mulder looked down at the lasers, and the arc formed by the path where the red blazes stopped. 

“I think I see it,” she said, staring out into the night. “It’s like I can touch it.” She reached a little farther, and her hand disappeared from Mulder’s view. 

Mulder stumbled and went to grab for her then stopped. He couldn’t risk falling into the other side of the shield. Couldn’t risk… his family.

“Mulder?”

Mulder spun at the familiar voice. “Scully? You’re not supposed to be here.”

“What’s going on? Where’s Diana?”

Mulder furrowed his brow. “What are you doing here?”

A plume of smoke rose from out of a nearby thick hardwood and CSM stepped from the darkness. “She came with me,” he hissed, taking a long hard drag of his cigarette.

“I find that hard to believe,” Mulder scoffed.

Scully scoured the darkness. “What happened to Diana?”

“He’s sentenced her to death,” CSM’s voice crackled as he spoke. “Her body will be used as a vessel for a human replacement. That’s only after she is tortured and brought to the brink of death time and again.” CSM grinned sardonically. “You and I are not so different after all.”

“She walked through of her own volition,” Mulder mumbled.

“And yet you didn’t try to stop her. Didn’t risk your own life for hers.”

“Scully and the baby need me and I need them.”

“So much love in your heart for a woman who won’t open her heart to you.” His lips pursed around his cigarette as he sucked at the filter. His exhale was slow and deliberate, creating a line of smoke much like that of a locomotive. “It’s unfortunate, really, her choosing her baby over you. When the project is complete, your precious Scully will be sitting at my table.” 

Mulder turned to Scully, a pained expression on his face. “Is this true?”

Scully rubbed at her belly. “It really wasn’t a choice at all.”

CSM’s grin snaked across his face as Mulder walked over to Scully, the expression across Mulder’s face could only be described as hurt and total devastation.

Scully flinched, as if she suddenly felt a sharp pain that put her in a great deal of agony. She yelled out in misery, holding her stomach as she did. 

Mulder stepped backwards, wrapping his hand around Scully’s wrist, yanking her into shadows, both of them vanishing.

CSM took a step towards them reaching for Scully before she completely vanished behind the walls of the ship’s cloak. Panicking that he may not get her back, or worse, the child might fall into the wrong hands, in his haste, his arm brushed against the invisible shield. It shimmered and shook, rippling as it drew him in. Once inside, he saw a mass of abductees gathered in a circle of light, waiting to be taken aboard. Diana was there and smiled at him. A peaceful calm penetrated his heart and he was uncontrollably drawn to join them. CSM stood with the others, almost not knowing why or how, his limbs moving as if on their own accord. He found himself in awe, a joyfulness overwhelming him as he gazed up at the peaceful bright light calling him from somewhere deep in his mind. Coaxing him, the pleasurable calming sensations washed over him. He smiled uncontrollably, lowered his head to look out into the forest once again. Where were Mulder and Scully? Were they already on the ship? His eyes widened as he saw the Bounty Hunter glaring at him. Fear strained his pupils. He recalled something he found most terrifying. The operation, the transfer of the virus from Mulder, it was now inside him . It wasn’t Mulder they wanted after all. They had come for him….

Stumbling and sliding from the rocks underfoot, Mulder rushed down the hill and towards the car, carrying Scully. She had an arm around him and the other still at her stomach, but she showed no signs of pain. They reached the car and Mulder set her down so she could get inside.

“You were very convincing,” he said before hurrying to his side of the car and climbing in. “It was an act, right?”

Scully chuckled. “Yes, Mulder, I’m fine. Did I scare you?”

Mulder shrugged, starting the car. “I was only making sure.”

Scully stabbed at him with her index finger. “I had you.”

“You did not.”

“I had you big time.” 

 Mulder pointed at the sky and Scully followed his line of sight, her mouth shaping into an O as her lips parted. “Oh. My. God. Mulder, it’s…. It’s huge.”

“So you’ve said,” Mulder replied in a slow monotone. The ship now covered their view of the dark sky, its metallic undercarriage on full display just before the lights hovered over, blinding them. At a tremendous, but silent speed, the craft vanished into the atmosphere. “You can’t deny it this time, Scully.”

It took Scully several minutes into the drive before she regained her composure, before the terror faded from her eyes and her features softened.

Mulder gestured to the glove box. “There’s a burner phone inside there. Can you pass it to me? I need to reach Monica.”

Scully retrieved it and handed it to him. He dialed Monica’s burner. “It worked. We’re on our way.”

He ended the call, broke the phone in two, tossed it out the window, then turned to Scully. “Monica picked up our mothers. They’re en route, heading to the location now.”

Scully nodded, glancing out the window at the tall trees of Oregon. It would be a long flight back for Mr and Mrs. George Hale and she imagined a longer drive to reach their unknown destination. Would she ever see the lights of D.C. again?

“Mulder, how did you do that? How was the Smoking Man not able to see us?” Scully asked, staring out at the mile markers.

Mulder grinned, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. “Smoke and Mirrors, Scully. More mirrors than smoke. An old magician’s trick. I had Doggett set them up yesterday. I emailed him the coordinates under an alias IP address. When I got there with Diana, I easily located them with the lasers. Authorities will place our file into the dusty cabinet of missing persons. The conclusion filed on the report will indicate that we most likely died of exposure and were consumed by a mountain lion or bear. Doggett and Skinner are covering our tracks as we speak. The military will believe we were abducted by the ship. No one will even bother to look for us.”

Scully shifted in her seat, her full attention now on Mulder. “But how will we keep ourselves from being discovered? Even with new identities, changing our appearances, there are ways we can be exposed.”

“I think the chances of them finding us will be very slim. We’ll be hiding in the least likely of places.”

“Which is?”

“We’ll hide in plain sight.”

*****

They had driven out into the darkness. Out of reach of the city lights that were now nothing but an ominous glow in the rearview mirror. Up above, what felt like endless stars, shimmered and shined, the incandescent moon bright from the sun’s natural reflection. As Mulder turned into the long dirt drive of their destination, he wondered if the legend was true and there really was a colony of aliens on the dark side of the moon.

Once inside the steel and aluminum fencing that followed the property line, the house came into view. The history of its old shingles and solid wooden shell echoed out into the cool night air. There was something comforting in the house’s old facade, something almost familiar, that made Mulder feel as if maybe they had made a life out here before, in another lifetime, or possibly somewhere far out in the multiverse. Mulder could see as they approached that his mother and Maggie had already opened all the doors and windows, allowing the house to breathe once again. With the birth of their child, he was confident that their happy memories would be embraced within its walls, out of the shadows and allow them all to lean into the sunshine.

“Where are we?” Scully yawned, extending her arms in a deep stretch. On the other side of the thick, high walled white porch, their mothers stood waiting to greet them. 

Mulder reached for her hand, lacing her fingers as they slowed in front of the unremarkable house. His mouth curled into a smile as the flecks of gold in his hazel eyes gleamed. “We’re home.”