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Inconvenient Pregnancy

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Title: Inconvenient Pregnancy

Author: Sara B.

E-mail: sabo727@tampabay.rr.com

URL: https://sabo727.tripod.com/

Rating: Over 14 – Adult themes and bad language

Category: AU,Angst, Mulder/Other, MSR

Spoilers: Season 6

Summary:  Diana’s pregnant and there is no question that Mulder is the Father.  The real question is who is the mother?

Feedback:  Yes please!

Archive: I would be honored, just let me know.

Disclaimer:  The recognized characters are used Without Prejudice and are the property of C. Carter, Fox and the wonderful actors who breathed life into written words, most notably G. Anderson and D. Duchovny who were able to make us believe in the improbable.  No Infringements of these copyrights are intended, and are used here without permission.  The story and before unknown characters belongs to me.

Gratitude: To Kim Knight, you are the best, thank you.  To my Dennis, enough said.  To CC and Company, who created the X-Files.  Lastly, but my no means least, to the readers, you make this hobby of mine have meaning.

Author’s Notes:  This is dedicated to Captain Average who most certainly is not, Average, that is.  I hope you enjoy this!

Inconvenient Pregnancy

Sara B. 02/07

 

Mulder parked across from the address he’d gotten from Maggie Scully.  It was typical of the area; old but well maintained.  The front door opened, Scully walked out and she swept off the porch.

Mulder watched Scully from across the street and she was unaware of his scrutiny.  Her simple movements mesmerized him into complete stillness.  It had been nearly four years since he last saw her.  Four years filled with pain and regret but also joy. 

Love had once kept her by his side; loves betrayal made her leave; he prayed love would bring her back to him.

“Who is that, Daddy?”  Katie asked her father.

He pointed toward Scully, “She’s your mother.” 

~

Scully answered the door and one look at Mulder told her that something devastating had happened.  “Mulder,” it was only his name but it conveyed every question she needed to ask and every emotion she felt.

He never looked at her as he slowly moved into the room and debated whether to sit down; he stayed standing.  Scully moved toward him and his hand came to rest on her shoulder when he finally looked at her.

“Scully,” he began, his voice was broken.  “Scully, I just came from Diana’s,” he felt her stiffen and she moved slightly, which caused his hand to fall.  Now it was her turn to not look at him.  Diana was the one obstacle they’d never been able to overcome during their partnership.  The mere mention of her name built walls between them and what he was about to tell Scully would be the beginning of a wall that would make the Great Wall of China look like a speed bump.

“Mulder, what is it?”  She couldn’t hide the edge in her voice caused by the knowledge that he’d just been with Diana Fowley.

“Scully, God, Scully, I don’t know how to tell you this.”

Now she knew whatever he had to say had the potential of breaking their bond.  She didn’t know how she knew but she did.  “Just say it, Mulder.”

“After our fight about Diana… this is so hard.”  He walked to the window and looked out.  He couldn’t look at her when he told her what kind of cheap scum he really was.  He didn’t want to see the light in her eyes die as she looked at him.  “After that fight and everything that followed.  We got the X-Files back but you and I, well, we were never so far apart.  Emotionally we were in different worlds.  I know you were mad at me.  No, I think you were more disappointed than mad.  I was mad, I was furious with you and I wanted to punish you.”

Scully gasped as she understood where this was going.  Mulder turned and saw that she knew but he still had to tell her.  “Diana came to my apartment and I, we, I…”

“You had sex with her.”  Mulder had known fear before but never so acutely as when he heard the hollowness of her voice.

“Yeah, Scully, but that wasn’t the only time.”

Mulder watched her nodding her head as she began to pace.  “I think you need to go now, Mulder.”  Anger and hurt were warring within her.

“Scully, we need to talk about this.”  He was pleading for her to hear him out.  Besides, there was more she needed to know.  “Scully, Diana’s pregnant!”  Mulder blurted out.

All color drained from her face and her eyes welled with tears.  “A baby,” it was almost a whisper but he heard.  Diana was having the child Scully would never have the opportunity to have.  She shook her head and defiantly refused to let the tears escape.  “Mulder, just answer me this, why is it when you get laid I get screwed?  Now just get the hell out of my home.”

“Sculleeee,” Mulder pleaded with her.

“What, what exactly do you want me to say?  Congratulations?  I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.  I can’t congratulate you on this pregnancy, I just can’t do that.”  Her words came out like a sob.  “I can’t believe you are happy about this because if you were you would be with Agent Fowley right now, not standing there looking like you want me to rescue you from another Mulder screw up.  Well, pull your own ass off the fire this time, Mulder.  I won’t do it anymore.  You’ve made that choice you mentioned last fall, now you have to live with it, and so do I.”  Scully’s pain was so open and it killed him to know he was the cause.  She turned away so he could no longer see her face.  “Now please leave, I’ve got some decisions to make.”

“Decisions, what type of decisions, Scully?”  His fear stained his words.  He sounded so broken but it didn’t touch her, she couldn’t let it or she’d lose what little she still had.

“Decisions for myself and, for once, I won’t even consider you or the X-Files, just me, Dana Katherine Scully.”

/

Mulder was called into Skinner’s office and the last nail of his coffin was hammered in.  “Mulder, this morning I received Scully’s request for transfer.  She called in a few favors and secured herself a position in a field office.  She gave me her reasons for wanting the transfer now I’d like you to tell me what you know.”

“What did she say, sir?”

“Officially, Agent Scully requested the transfer to increase her possibility for advancement within the bureau.  Unofficially, and completely off the record, she told me that the two of you reached an impasse that is causing the work to suffer.  But I know that isn’t the real story, or at least not all of it.”  Mulder finally looked at Skinner.  “Mulder, there have been rumors flying.  Agent Fowley has been hinting at some things and apparently she’s been seen purchasing baby items.”

“It’s true, she’s pregnant and I’m the father.”

“Damn, Mulder, how could you?  I thought that you and Scully… damnit, I know you two were…”

“I acted like a spoiled child.  Scully and I had a big fight over Diana.  Scully never trusted her and she went digging with the help of the Gunmen, and found some questionable things.  I had to prove her wrong, had to prove to myself that Diana was not betraying me.”

“So you screw up your life and start sleeping with her?”  Mulder didn’t respond so Skinner continued, “you said Scully found some things that were questionable?”

“Diana’s record during her time overseas was expunged, a complete blank; no files or reports, nothing.  There were travel records; she was traveling all over Europe.  Scully and the Gunmen were able to correlate that she was visiting cities where MUFON groups were located and they think she was monitoring the female abductees.”

“Groups like the one you and Scully found last year?”  Skinner was shocked, “and you didn’t bring this to me?”

“I thought they were stretching, that Scully was letting her personal feelings interfere.  I told them that I knew Diana.”

Skinner removed his glasses and wiped them on a handkerchief.  “Mulder, has Scully ever done that?  Has she ever compromised an investigation because of her personal viewpoint?  No, she hasn’t and you, of everyone, should know she could never do that; she wouldn’t; she couldn’t; it just isn’t who she is.  You, on the other hand, have done just that too many times to count.”  Mulder’s head shot up and Skinner saw that this was the first time Mulder realized he did just that.  “Mulder, let me ask.  If what they found had been about anyone else besides Agent Fowley, what would you have done?”

Mulder pondered the unexpected question.  After a short while he hung his head.  “I would have gone after them with all that I am,” he admitted reluctantly.

“So it was ‘your’ personal feelings that were the real interference.  You let your past with Fowley obstruct the search for the truth.”  Mulder looked at Skinner in disbelief and anger.  “Come on, Mulder, everyone knew about you two, your antics were legendary.  It wasn’t like either of you were discrete.  The only reason no one capped you on it was because of your record and solve rate.”  Skinner moved to sit in the unoccupied guest chair.  “So what happened?  You began another affair with Fowley to spite Scully?  That sure solved your problem, didn’t it?  And now you are facing impending fatherhood with a woman that most likely is hiding an awful lot; congratulations.”  Skinner didn’t try to hide his contempt.

“I don’t even know how it started, not really.  And I’ll regret it till I die.”

“I know you will.”  Mulder nodded in defeat.  “Mulder, I think you need to face reality and grow up.  Ask yourself why, why you would trust Diana Fowley to the point that you risked your partnership and relationship with Dana Scully?  A partnership and relationship that, until now, has overcame every challenge that should have severed it.  What did Diana Fowley ever do to earn your trust?”

Mulder looked up at his superior and realized he had no answer.  Diana had never done anything to earn his trust.  He trusted her because she was there when he found the X-Files.  The reality of Skinner’s question hit him.  How could he trust someone who left him, over Dana Scully who worked hard to be trusted by him and stood by him even when he, himself, told her to leave?  She’d validated his work and even when she didn’t agree with him she never once hadn’t given her all to investigate the cases.  Yet, when it came down to it he had to admit that he had trusted Diana more than he ever had Scully.

/

After Scully transferred, Mulder began searching into Diana’s loyalties.  He started with the information that Scully and the Gunmen found.  Soon he was able to trace large sums of monies deposited in off shore accounts that they were able to trace back to her. 

Mulder contacted several of the European women from the MUFON groups Diana had been monitoring.  Most of the women in the groups were dead, which, sadly, was not surprising when you really thought about it, but there weren’t many alive.  Most had succumbed to a particular form of cancer, one he was all too knowledgeable about.  His interviews with the handful of survivors revealed that a woman named Diana Fowley had encouraged them to remove the chip and they stressed how adamant she’d been.  All the women, except the few survivors, removed the chip. 

Several of the women also told him that there was a man who sometimes accompanied Diana.  They all described him as a tall, thin older man who chain smoked. 

All roads lead back to CGB Spender.

Mulder confronted Diana with his findings just as she entered her third trimester.  Mulder had expected her to respond with shock and even a little shame but he was the one shocked.  He’d finished presenting her with the documentation of her crimes and she laughed derisively.

“It took you long enough, Fox.  My mission was to separate you from your precious Scully and I did just that.  So you found me out, so what?  What are you going to do about it?  You wouldn’t risk exposing your child to having to grow up knowing that its mother is a criminal, would you?”

It was Mulder who was in shock.  “You know what, Fox?  I think I’ll just solve both our problems and get rid of this thing,” Diana slapped her abdomen.

“You wouldn’t,” Mulder countered.

“Wouldn’t I?  It gave us the results we wanted, you and Scully apart, it isn’t needed anymore.” 

“Diana, you will not abort that baby, and furthermore you will sign over complete custodial rights of the baby to me.  You will have no contact ever and you will leave the United States and never return.”

“Is that so?  Why would I do such a ridiculous thing?”

Because if you don’t or if anything happens to the baby, Scully or anyone in her family, the Gunmen, Skinner, my mother or me I have left instructions that ten complete copies of theses findings, located throughout the world, are to be released to the media.”

Diana Fowley finally looked shocked.

/

The nurse placed the child in Mulder’s arms and everything around him ceased to exist.  His world consisted of him and this small being whose unfocused eyes were locked with his.  In that moment, Mulder pledged that he would devote his life to this child; his child, Katherine Anne Mulder, named her after the two people dearest to him and whom he’d lost; Dana Katherine and Samantha Anne.

The nurse took Katie, as he thought of her, and he looked over toward Diana.  She was nothing but an empty vessel now.  A symbol of his ignorance and arrogance and cause of his worst mistake yet greatest joy.  He walked out of the room while Diana called to him; it was the last contact he had with her.

/

Life as a single dad was ‘complicated’.  Katie was a good baby but she was just that, a baby and babies needed a lot of everything.  Months before, Mulder had moved from his dingy apartment into a larger place.  He purchased a duplex in a gated community.  It had a large back yard, three bedrooms and two and a half baths.  His tenant was a professor of literature who’d lived there for that last fifteen years and it didn’t look like he was moving anytime soon.  Providentially, the complex was only three miles from Mrs. Scully’s home and that proved to be a huge bonus. 

Katie had been home for three days when he couldn’t get her to stop crying.  He’d tried everything the books and internet sites told him to try.  The crying had gone on for three solid hours and he didn’t foresee it ending so he made a desperate move; he called Maggie Scully.

She was at his door fifteen minutes later and she had Katie calmed down about thirty minutes later.  She hadn’t done anything more than he’d already tried but somehow it worked.

Mulder put Katie down for the night then he and Maggie sat down and talked.  She knew what had happened between Scully and he so he filled her in on what happened after.  She was surprised that he’d taken on the sole responsibility for Katie but she seemed proud of him.  He’d transferred from the X-Files to a teaching position at Quantico.  Skinner arranged for two new agents to take over the X-Files and he consulted with them frequently but he didn’t go into the field and didn’t plan to until Katie was at least five.

Mulder told her that he was on family leave and he was really surprised at how much he was enjoying it.  Katie wasn’t even a week old and he already saw changes in her.

Mulder looked away and Maggie knew there was something he was debating on telling her.  “Fox, it’s just you and me.  Whatever you tell me goes nowhere.”

“It’s just, ah,” he looked at her and started again with more strength, “I know it has to be my imagination, wishful thinking even but, there are moments when I look at Katie and I see something that that reminds me of Scully.  If you ask me what it is I couldn’t even tell you but, when it happens, it hits me like a fist.”

That was the beginning and since then Maggie became his greatest confidant.  Through her he was able to keep tabs on Scully’s activities.  She was living in Boston, she’d been promoted and there was talk that she might make Assistant Director in a few years.

When Katie started to talk, she’d taken to calling Maggie ‘Gramma Mags’ and it stuck.

Katie was two and a half when they noticed that her hair started to darken from pale yellow to a reddish gold and a few months later  Mulder decided to have a DNA test run.  Not that he’d ever love her less if it turned out she wasn’t his child but he needed to know. 

The Gunmen sent the samples to a lab they trusted and, unbeknownst to Mulder, in addition to Katie’s and Mulder’s samples, they sent samples from Diana Fowley and Dana Scully.  Six weeks later the Gunmen showed up at Mulder’s on a Saturday morning with the test results.

Frohike and Langly took Katie to the back yard so Byers could give Mulder the results.

“From the way you are all acting, I guess I know the results.  Katie isn’t my biological daughter.  Don’t worry Byers, it doesn’t matter.  I love her and that won’t change.”

“No, Mulder, Katie is your child.”  He held out the test result letter, “99.897% probability that you are the father.  It doesn’t get much higher than that.”

Mulder’s hand shook as he took the letter and read it.  His eyes closed and Byers saw the relief on Mulder’s features.

“There’s more.  We didn’t tell you but we sent other samples to the lab.”

“And, tell me?  Come on, you’re scaring me here.”

“Mulder, Katie’s mother is Dana Scully.”

Mulder jumped from the seat, “What?  That can’t be, I was in the room when Diana gave birth.  I held Katie only seconds after she was born, they couldn’t have made a switch.”

“We never said they did.”  Byers left the rest unsaid.

Mulder fell back into his chair.  “God, Scully’s egg, they used Scully’s harvested eggs and my sperm then implanted it into Diana.”  Mulder couldn’t focus and his breaths became shallow from the shock.  “She’s a monster.”

“No, Mulder.  You can’t think of it that way, this is our Katie.  She’s the same child she was yesterday, only now you know that Scully is her real mother.”

“No, I was thinking of Diana, not Katie.  If anything, I love Katie more.”  He quickly explained.

“So, what are you going to do?”

Mulder looked out the window at his precious little girl.  “I don’t know.”

/

They had gotten to Boston Friday night.  Mulder’s first instinct was to go straight to see Scully but Frohike convinced him to save that for the morning.  He knew his friend was right, they needed to eat and Katie needed to be in bed shortly.

The next morning Mulder got Katie dressed and they all went down to the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast.  “So what is the plan, Mulder?  Are you just going to drop in on her?”  Byers asked.

“We’ll go to Scully’s house this morning.  I think I’m going to have you drop me off so I can see her alone.  Just my being here will be a shock but when I tell her about Katie…”  He looked at his girl and she smiled at him.  “I don’t want Katie to be upset.”

/

Mulder parked across from the address he’d gotten from Maggie Scully.  It was typical of the area; old but well maintained.  The front door opened, Scully walked out and she swept off the porch.

Mulder watched Scully from across the street and she was unaware of his scrutiny.  Her simple movements mesmerized him into complete stillness.  It had been nearly four years since he last saw her.  Four years filled with pain and regret but also joy. 

Love had once kept her by his side; loves betrayal made her leave; he prayed love would bring her back to him.

““Who is that, Daddy?”  Katie asked her father.

He pointed toward Scully, “She’s your mother.”  Katie just looked at him without understanding.  “I’ll explain later, Katie.”

Mulder got out of the car, “wish me luck, Guys.”  His three friends in the van watched Mulder cross the street.  Byers turned over the engine and moved into traffic.  Langly and Frohike began to complain.  “That scene is going to be rough enough on him; I don’t think he needs an audience.”

/

Scully looked up when she realized someone was walking up her drive.  It took her a moment to regain her composure from seeing him for the first time in nearly four years.  “Mulder,” she said simply when he reached the porch.

“I doubt you would believe it if I said I was in the neighborhood.”  He said depreciatingly and he was surprised when he was rewarded with a small chuckle.

“Um, could I offer you some coffee or ice tea?”  She asked and he detected the nervousness in her voice.  He was happy she hadn’t just turned her back on him.

“I’d like that,” Scully ushered him in and he followed her to the kitchen.  “Nice house,” Mulder stammered.  Scully prepared the coffee and he was happy to see she remembered how he took his.

“I got a really good deal on it.  It needed a lot of work; I’m still working on the upstairs.”  This was something they’d never experienced before.  They had never had to fill in conversation with useless chatter and it unnerved them both.

Suddenly Mulder said, “I suppose your wondering why I’m here?”

She chuckled again and he loved the way the sound played on his ears.  “I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”

He smiled at her, “I’m surprised you are taking my visit so well.”

“Mulder, it’s been four years.  I held onto the pain for a long time but I started with therapy and worked through it and realized I had to let go.  It still hurts when I think of it but I know now that just because I felt something didn’t obligate you to feel the same.”

Mulder’s eyes misted over at her words.  “The saddest part is I did feel the same.  I was just so angry that I let myself do things that I knew would hurt you.  It was childish and stupid and in the end I lost everything I wanted.  But, I did get something that I never knew I wanted; I got my Katie.”

Mulder saw the hurt in Scully’s eyes but she recovered quickly.  “You and Diana must be happy with her.”

That confused him.  “Scully, didn’t your mother or anybody tell you that Diana and I are not together?”

“No, I wouldn’t let anyone tell me about you,” she admitted.

“I never loved Diana, I always knew that.  After you left I took the information that you and the Guys found out about her and started digging further.  She was dirtier than even you imagined.  Those Mufon women that she was researching were mostly dead by the time I got to them but the survivors told me that she tried to convince them all to remove the chip.”

“Oh, God!  She wanted them dead; she caused those women to die?  I can’t believe it.”

“She started making threats about the baby.  I told her what we’d found and told her that unless she signed her rights away and left for good that the information would be made public.  The last time I saw her was when Katie was born.”  He stared into his coffee cup before continuing.  “I’ve been a single dad.  I took a position at Quantico and with the help of Skinner, the Guys and your mom I haven’t hurt Katie yet.”

He felt her hand brush over his.  “I always knew you’d be a great father.”

“That makes one of us.  I still doubt just about everything I do.”

“So, where is she?  Do I get to meet her?”

“The Guys are watching her back at our hotel.  I figured after everything we should meet alone first.”

“Probably a good call.  Do you have any pictures?  Who does she take after, you or Agent Fowley?”

This was his chance, “you, actually.  Katie looks like you.”  Her face registered her shock.

/

Scully sat stunned at what Mulder just told her; she was Katie’s biological mother.  Mulder just waited for the information to sink in.  When she did speak it was so quietly he had to strain to hear, even though he was only inches from her.  “Can I meet her, would that be okay?”

Mulder pulled her into his arms.  “That would be more than okay.  I want you in her life; I want you in our lives.”

/

Mulder opened the door to his hotel room and led Scully into the room.  They heard laughter coming from the connecting room.  They passed through the doorway and all three Gunmen screamed, “Scully!”

Not to be left out, Katie followed suit and yelled too.  Scully looked at the little girl and couldn’t contain the tears from flowing down her cheeks.  Mulder took her by the elbow and led her to Katie.  “Katie, this is a friend of mine, her name is Dana Scully.  Scully this is my, our, daughter Katherine Anne Mulder.”

Katie watched the newcomer warily for a moment then broke out into a smile.  “You look like me.”  Scully just laughed.

“I was thinking the same thing.”

Mulder picked her up.  “Guys you don’t mind if we…” he motioned toward the other room.

“No problem, Mulder.”

Scully walked over to the trio and gave them each hugs.  They all kept in touch but she hadn’t seen them since the Christmas before.  “Thanks, Guys.  Thank you so much.”

/

Mulder and Scully watched Katie’s sleeping form.  “She’s so beautiful, Mulder.  And you’ve done great by her; she is a terrific kid.”

Mulder took her hand and she looked down, not quite knowing how to take all that had gone on in one day.  “I woke up this morning wondering if I should call someone to come and power wash my house and windows and now all this.  It’s all a bit daunting.”

“You should have seen me the day the Guys gave me the evidence that you were Katie’s mom.  I was thrilled, mad, terrified, excited and about twenty other different emotions all at once.”  Mulder walked over to Katie’s bed and pulled the covers over her shoulders. Then led Scully out onto the balcony.

“Scully, when I found out Diana was pregnant it felt like I’d been kicked in the gut.  At that moment, I knew I’d lose you, actually, I knew that I’d lost you only you didn’t know it yet.”  He looked at her and saw the pain in her eyes and his heart clenched.  “I need you to know that I never loved her.  I didn’t want to be with her, she was only my  rebellion.”  He sat next to her on the small love seat.  “Scully, I loved you then and I love you now.  There has not been anyone since.”

Scully’s eyes never strayed from the child’s face and she didn’t respond to Mulder’s declaration.  Slowly she turned toward him.  “Mulder, back then I loved you so much and you tore me apart.  After the office burned and we went through those horrors that summer.  I thought we were finally moving forward.  Then everything changed.  When I couldn’t back you up at the OPR meeting you grew so cold.  You turned from me and shoved Diana Fowley in my face every chance you got.

“You told me you loved me while you were in that Bermuda hospital after we fished you out of the Atlantic.  I couldn’t believe you would do that.  It felt like you were trying to twist me around so I wouldn’t be mad at you.”  She started to laugh, “you really pissed me off.”

“What?  How, I told you I loved you.  How could that piss you off?”

“I’d waited so long to hear you say something, anything that let me know that I was really more than a partner and friend.  It took a near death and a whole lot of Demerol.”

“Scully, I meant it.”

“That’s just it; that was why it hurt so damned much, I knew you meant it.  You loved me but you still treated me like I was invisible or worse, like your back up plan, whenever that woman showed up.”  She smiled and stopped his protest, she was right he had acted inconsistently. 

“That Christmas, I thought that it was changing.  We went ghost busting,” Mulder barked a laugh.  “Then later, at your place we were so in tune and comfortable.  I hadn’t felt like that in a long time.  I hated leaving in the morning.  Then…”

Mulder finished what she couldn’t, “then I took Diana to that New Year’s Eve party.”  Scully just looked away and nodded.

She moved to look over the railing.  “We both know how rough things were.  Then that night you came to my apartment to tell me about ‘her’ pregnancy.  I knew you wanted me to absolve you.  You thought I’d somehow tell you it didn’t matter.  That I would stay.”

‘God, she knows me so well,’ Mulder thought.  “I didn’t know it then but you’re right I did expect that from you.  I was so mad when you kicked me out.  You were blaming me, making me face the what I’d done and I wanted you to say, ‘it’s okay, Mulder, it wasn’t your fault.  Diana made you do those things.’  I acted like such a child.”

“It seems you grew up fast after that.”  Scully turned back and smiled at Katie through the sliding door.

“I had to, I didn’t have you to fall back on anymore and Katie needed so much from me.  I thank goodness your mom took pity on me and showed me the ropes.”

“I’m glad too.”  She leaned back and Mulder could tell there was something she wanted to tell him.  He nudged her arm and smiled at her, it was all she needed.  “I was offered a position back in DC.  I’d decided not to take because,” she looked at him, “you know why.  But now…”

“You’re thinking of taking it and moving back.  I think you should, I want you to.  I vote yes.”

“It wouldn’t disrupt Katie’s life too much?”  She asked him shyly.

Mulder gently grabbed both her arms.  “Scully, if I thought for one moment that having you in Katie’s life was anything but good I wouldn’t be here.”  Mulder’s mood lightened, “besides, my tenant in the other half of my duplex is moving out and I need a renter in there fast.  Can you believe it?  Professor Collins has lived there for eighteen years as a bachelor.  Suddenly last month he came to me and said, ‘Mr. Mulder, I’m getting married in a few months so I won’t be renewing my lease.’  He sobered again, “Scully, move in.  The rent is reasonable and the landlord will just love you.”

“Not to mention the other perks,” she motioned toward their sleeping daughter.

/

Mulder and Scully were sitting on the back porch watching Katie on her new swing set.  It was Katie’s fourth birthday and it had been a hectic day.  They’d spent the day chasing sixteen three and four year olds around the backyard and plied them with cake and ice cream then sent them home to their parents in sugar induced frenzies.  There would be a whole lot of no sleeping going on tonight.

“You do realize that each one of those parents is plotting revenge on us for their kid’s next birthday, don’t you?”  Scully grumbled humorously.

Mulder responded tiredly.  “Next year, Micky D’s all the way!” 

They watched as Katie finally began to sag as the sun started leaving the sky.  The girl turned and smiled at her parents as she joined them on the porch.  She climbed into Scully’s lap.  “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had; we’re all together.”  She gave them a stern look that reminded Mulder of Scully.  “It was because of me that we’re here, isn’t it?”

Scully and Mulder just looked at each other before Mulder nodded.  “Then kiss already!  Do I hafta do everything?  Geez!”

Mulder and Scully broke out laughing and Scully leaned toward Mulder, “sounds like a plan.  What-do-ya say, partner?”

Mulder didn’t say anything just closed the gap between them.

Yeah, there would be a whole lot of no sleeping that night.

 

End

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