Making of a Family – X-Files Style

Part 4

Mulder got off the plane and immediately scanned the crowd for his family.  This was his fifth trip to see them and it would be the longest, a whole month.  The month after finding Scully, he’d returned and instead of staying at the local motel he took up residence in her guest room.  That trip and the ones after that had been such successes that he had a small hope that by the end of this trip he’d be rooming down the hallway; Scully’s bedroom.  If not this trip it would be the next, or at least he hoped.

Mulder suddenly was covered in hugs; a child on each side and Scully to the front.  Scully pulled back slightly and kissed him deeply.  “You were missed, Mulder.  Welcome back.”

Mulder returned her kiss enthusiastically then leaned down and kissed each child. 

A voice from behind Mulder caught their attention.  “Gosh, those two are just beautiful and they look just like their father.”  It was an elderly woman Mulder remembered from the plane.  “But they definitely have their mother’s eyes.” 

Mulder began to say something but Scully stopped him by saying, “thank you.”

~

Sunday morning Mulder waited for the others to return from church when they were all going out for breakfast.  He’d been here two weeks yet he still had a gnawing feeling about that careless statement that woman made at the airport.  .  Mulder could still hear every inflection in the ladies voice, ‘they look just like their father. . .’ and ‘. . . have their mother’s eyes’.  The twins did have Scully’s eyes, did they look like him?

Mulder pulled out the photos that Scully had sent him and held them on either side of his face and looked in the mirror.  It wasn’t good enough so he went and got their 8x10s from the living-room mantle.  The mirror didn’t lie; Grey and Paige did look like him. 

Could it be?  Was there a possibility that he was . . .  Mulder’s mind was trying to assimilate the possibilities.  His thoughts turned to Emily. 

He carefully replaced the pictures to their place on the mantle then went to the children’s bathrooms for hair samples.  While he was at it he got a sample of Scully’s hair too.  He needed to know.  He wanted to overnight the samples but this was too important to chance it so he would just have to be patient and hand carry them when he returned to DC.

He was walking down the stairs when Scully came in to get him so they could go to breakfast. 

~

Mulder was sitting on the back porch watching the ocean.  His mind was jumbled with the possibilities.  Scully came out and played with his hair to get his attention.  “Kids in bed?”  Mulder asked as she took the seat next to him.

“Uh huh, you really tired them out at the playground today.”  She said as she scooted a little closer.

“Tired myself out too.  I’m not as young as I’d like to be.”

“You really enjoy this don’t you, Mulder?  I mean, you are a natural with them.  They love you, you know?”

“I love them too, Scully.”  His voice dipped, “and I’d like to be a natural with their Mom too.”  His arm snaked around Scully’s shoulder and he stole a kiss.  He pulled back and she followed and held his head from moving away.

“You are; a natural with me.  After everything I never stopped being in love with you.”

Mulder’s head snapped back at her words.  He searched her eyes trying to assure himself that her words meant what he hoped they meant. 

“Scully,” he didn’t know the words to say.

Scully leaned back and stretched.  “I guess you tired me out too.  I think I’ll head up to bed.”  She rose and Mulder deflated a bit.  She’d taken two steps when she turned back and said, “care to join me?”

Mulder was by her side in a second and his lips took possession of hers.  “It’ll be my pleasure.”  He whispered to her mouth.

“I think the pleasure will be mutual.”

~

Mulder woke to find himself holding Scully tightly.  Their bodies faced each other and his hands were possessively holding her ass.  “Love you, Scully,” he said quietly.

“Love you too,” she slurred back to him and she scratched her nose on his chest.  Her movements stirred his nether regions and he gently pushed her to her back.

“How do you feel about morning sex, Scully?”  He asked as he began a slow exploration of he body with his mouth.

“I think two o’clock this morning answered that for you.”  She answered huskily.  “Oh, God!”  Scully cried out as Mulder reached his goal.

~

Mulder and the twins were in the kitchen when Scully walked in.  Mulder leaned over and kissed her.  Paige watcher her mother and asked, “Mom, are you okay?  You’re walking funny.”

“Yeah, and last night there was a lot of groaning coming from your room.”  Grey contributed.

Scully’s hand covered her face and Mulder just started laughing.  “I’m fine.” 

“You are better than fine, Scully, you are down right phenomenal.”  Mulder exclaimed.

~

Mulder was halfway over the country when he noticed the woman next to him.  She’d obviously been trying to get his attention.  She was the typical example that Scully would say was his type.  Her skirt was very short and there were a few more buttons open than he remembered when she sat down.  She smiled seductively and he smiled back then turned to look down the aisle and daydreamed of a tiny redhead and a set of twins.

Scully took him to the airport alone.  The twins had plans to go to an amusement park with their friends.  He’d thought that leaving would become easier but each time he had to go back to DC it hurt worse and the ache stronger.  He heard the woman next to him huff something about ‘married ass.’  Yeah, he was as good as married, he thought as he patted the three samples envelopes in his pocket.

~

Mulder stared at the results of the DNA tests in blissful disbelief.  His stated that there was a 98.785 % chance he was the father of the twins and Scully’s said that it was 99.524% chance that she was their mother. 

Now all he had to do was figure out how to tell Scully and convince her to marry him without it seeming like the only reason was because of these tests.

He’d gotten more time off and already booked a flight.  He had two days and six hours to figure out how to tell Scully.

~

Scully ushered the kids into the house and turned to lock the door behind them.  “Mulder!”  She heard the twins scream and she looked, he was locked in a dual embrace.

“Mulder,” she echoed, in awe that he was there.  She’d been thinking of him all week, she had something serious she needed to discuss with him and it had to be done face to face.  She didn’t know how she was going to wait the three weeks until they visited him in DC; now she didn’t have to.

The kids let him go and them Mulder and Scully were in each other’s arms.  “Missed you so much.”  Neither knew who spoke the words but they both meant it.

“I was just missing my family so I decided to come.  I’m taking you all out to dinner.”

~

Scully walked to the back porch to find Mulder.  He was standing at the railing watching the children.  There was something in the way he looked that told her it was time to talk about the final truth. 

She placed her hand on his shoulder as she approached.  “When did you figure it out?”  She asked simply. 

Mulder turned toward her and leaned back.  “How. . .”  The rest of his question remained un-voiced, it didn’t need to be.

“It was how you were looking at them; full of pride.” 

“So, how long have you known?”  Mulder needed to know the circumstances behind this.

“I started to suspect shortly after the adoption went through, it went too easily.  Can you understand that?”  Mulder nodded remembering the problems they’d encountered when she tried to get custody of Emily. 

She took a seat and he followed.  “Grey was dribbling his basketball and suddenly I thought, ‘I’ll bet that is exactly how Mulder looked at that age’.  Then little things started having more meaning.  The way Paige devoured learning and Grey’s gracefulness.  I knew, I just knew. 

“They are ours.  The perfect combination of you and me.  I called the guys and they did some checking for me into Jen’s background.  She never existed until those two were born.  I wanted to hate her but she was a good mother to them and they will always love her so I can’t hate her.”   

“That isn’t everything, is it, Scully?”

She graced him with a smile.  “God, it’s still scary how well you know me.  No, that isn’t everything.  I had their DNA compared to ours.”

“Scully, I,” Mulder looked away trying to gather his thoughts on how to ask.  But once again Scully was right with him.

“They are both perfectly healthy, not at all like Emily.”  Scully stood and closed the short distance between them.  Mulder folded her into his arms.  “I guess the Mulder-Scully metabolism lives on.  Even more so, they heal quicker than we did and you know that’s saying something.”

“Why didn’t you call?  You had to have known that I,” Mulder stopped. 

“Mulder, I didn’t know anything.  The last memory I had is that you really didn’t seem too interested in having me around.  I couldn’t just pick up the phone and call.  What would I have said?  Congratulations or happy Father’s Day?  I only knew that you would drop everything if you knew that you were their father.  I couldn’t do that to you and I couldn’t do it to them or me.  If the four of us were ever going to have any sort of relationship it wouldn’t be because you felt obligated.  I was afraid that you’d come to resent them or see them as another way the syndicate duped you and interfered with your life.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?”  Mulder’s pain at how well she interpreted the situation and how it could have played out.

“I’d decided that I would talk to Skinner and the guys next year and see what they thought.”  She looked down.  “I’d forbidden them to talk to me about anything personal regarding you so I didn’t know how things were with you.  I didn’t know if you were still with Angie or had found someone else.  The hurt cut pretty deep.”

Mulder pulled her tighter and kissed her forehead.  “You know I love you don’t you?  And that I love them?”

“We’re pretty fond of you too.”

“No, Scully, I love you, I’m in love with you and I want, no, need to be their father.  Can we do that?  Will you let me?”

“Mulder, you are their father and they know it.”  He looked at her with surprise, “no, I didn’t tell them.  I don’t think I ever will.  What I mean is you’ve been the only father figure they’ve ever known.  They love you and they know you love them.  Even if they didn’t share our DNA they would be our children.”

Mulder’s head reared up and he yelled, “God, I love this woman!”  The twins stopped their game and cheered.  “Marry me, Scully.  Make an honest man out of me.”

“Oh, yes, a thousand times yes!” 

~

A week later five different and diverse sets of people from various parts of the country opened their mail.

Maggie Scully carried in her mail after a friendly chat with her new mail carrier.  She was a nice young woman; a single mother of three who just traded routes.  Maggie made herself some tea and then leafed through the various bills, catalogs and flyers till she got to one, that by its shape, looked like a card.  The envelope had no return address and the post mark was from Hawaii.  She slid the letter opener through and extracted the card.  The elegant script on the front held a simple salutation.  She opened it to find a picture and a burst of joyous laughter broke forth from her throat and she said a silent thank you prayer.

Walter Skinner returned to his desk after meeting with the budget department.  If he thought transferring Mulder from the X-Files would have brought his budget in line he was sorely mistaken.  Doggett and Reyes could out spend Mulder and Scully on a bad day.  Well, at least there were less medical bills, that had to account for something. 

He rifled through his afternoon mail of memos and classified paper-shit till he ran into a card.  “It’s about damned time,” his Assistant heard him exclaim loudly.

John Byers walked in carrying groceries and their accumulated mail from the Post Office box.  Langly separated the assortment of personal mail and that for their publication.  Mixed within his American Gamer magazine, Byers’ latest book rejections and Frohike’s latest copy of Scanty Panties was a card addressed to all of them. 

“Well, if it wasn’t going to be me I’m glad it was him.  He looks content for the first time, don’t you think?”  Frohike commented to his two colleagues, who had the good sense not to mention the tear tracks down their friend’s cheek.

 “I’ve never met the guy but things will never be dull for them.”  Charles Scully said as he reached for his youngest son.  “This is going to make for an interesting Christmas,” he joked with his wife, Renee’.

“I say more power to them,” She replied. 

In California the man kissed his wife and son then sat down to his first cup of coffee and the morning mail.  Bill Scully sorted through the mail and came to what appeared to be a card.  He noticed the postmark was from Hawaii and wondered which of his friends had caught that cushy assignment.  Carefully, he opened the envelope and pulled out the card.  With the jokers he knew the darned thing could explode.  He read the front ‘Greetings from Hawaii’.  Yeah, rub it in whoever you are.  Bill opened the card and nearly dropped his mug.

Tara looked at him alarmed and grabbed the card.  Inside was a photo of Dana, Fox Mulder and the twins.  At the bottom Dana had written, ‘from the Mulder family’.

“That sorry son of a bitch!”  Bill bellowed.