Title

Title: Hold On 3/5-- Don't Look Back

Author: Smurf

Rating: PG/13

Category: Story

Spoilers: Vague if any

Keywords: Mulder/Scully married

Summary:

Disclaimer: I've said this before, but I'll say it again. Mulder and Scully are not mine. They never have been. Keep those lawyers on their leashes. Any other characters are mine, namely: Dr. Greene, Dr. Bethany Roche, JC Stoffand, Jo, and of course, Zoe. You can use them if you get my permission first and acknowledge them as my character.

Yeah, my stories have tamed a bit, there's not much language in this, and definitely no graphic sex. I mean, these people are married. They don't do it in the copy room, anymore. And if they do, they lock the door, no witnesses allowed.

Oh yeah, one last thing. The house in this is my dream house. It's not a real house, but I wish mine was like it. I'm just acting out my own little fantasies. . . Oh, forget I said anything.

Archive: Anywhere. I couldn't care less. Just tell me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Susan's Cafe

Monday, 12:10 p.m.

Scully had no clue how she finally consented to go to lunch with her friend Jo. She'd much rather be still at work, even it was by herself, doing work. At least she wouldn't have to hear Jo's endless droning. She loved being with her friend, and catching up on old times since college, but Jo had a habit of rambling on about one thing. And since Jo'd had her daughter, that one thing was her.

"Oh, and yesterday, she did the cutest thing. . ." Jo remarked, laughing a bit to herself.

Scully merely nodded and looked at her half-empty glass of water. She also like visiting with Jo and Jazzabella--whom everyone referred to as, "Bell"--she just didn't like the relentless bragging. Of course, it wasn't really bragging to Jo, but it felt like it to Scully.

She sighed boredly under Jo's story and wished that her cell phone would ring, pulling her back to work. The only problem was, Mulder wasn't at the office to call her. He had gone to play basketball with one of his friends. He never used the phone when he was there. And it was unlikely any superiors would need her during her lunch hour.

"So, Dana, I heard the wedding was really fantastic." Jo said, breaking through Scully's thoughts.

Thankful for the change of subject, Scully sat up and looked her friend full in the eyes. "Yeah, it was really wonderful. The reception was great, the guests were great, we had a lot of fun."

"Really? I'm sorry I missed it. My mother was ill and I had to fly up to Montreal." Jo picked up her water and took a sip. She smacked her lips satisfyingly and shook her head, remembering something long forgotten. "Never take a baby on an airplane. Let me tell you, it is no picnic . . ."

Fearing another change back to the new wonder in Jo's life, Scully looked out the window. There was really nothing interesting to look at, but Scully had a dim hope that *maybe* a building would blow up, or some strange mutant creature would maul somebody, needing her FBI assistance.

"Dana, are you listening to me?" Jo asked, her voice taking on an offensive tone.

Scully whipped her head back to her friend. "Yeah, um. . .I'm listening."

Jo looked at her friend quizzically, not believing a word. Obviously, Dana-the-FBI-agent was bored hearing about normal people's lives. "I'm sorry if my hum-drum life bores you." She said defensively.

Scully's expression softened, taking pity on the poor, close-minded woman. "No, no. It doesn't bore me. I wish I had your life."

"You certainly aren't paying much attention." Jo muttered under her breath. She looked back across the table to Scully, seeing that she really didn't mean to offend her. She cleared her throat and took another sip of water. "So, when are you gonna start your family?"

Scully smiled and chuckled a bit to herself. She looked down at the speckled Formica table top. "You sound just like my mother." She chuckled, carefully avoiding the truth. "She's always saying, 'when am I gonna get more grandchildren?' Like she's not happy with two. I've got a daughter, but she wants more grandchildren." Realizing she was rambling, Scully stopped and looked back up at Jo.

"You don't want anymore children? You *own* children?" Jo asked. She couldn't understand why Scully wouldn't want her own flesh-and-blood. She had adopted, and that was just dandy, but she didn't want a baby?

"I do." Scully confessed softly. "I just . . . I can't. I'm unable to conceive." It hurt her every time to explain this. Hopefully, Jo would leave it there and she wouldn't have to go into detail. Scully picked her glass up and looked at the contents thoughtfully. She wished she could have her own children, more than anything in the world, but it was impossible.

"I'm so sorry, Dana. I-I didn't know." Jo said. She placed her hand over Dana's as Scully set her glass back onto the table. "There are alternatives . . ." She offered.

"I know." Dana continued for her. "I can adopt a baby, I can get an ovum donation. There are possibilities. It's just not the same. It's not *my* baby."

Jo nodded, understanding. She looked at Scully's porcelain face for a moment longer, trying to convey as much consolation as possible. But it felt more like pity, which is not what Dana wanted. She glanced down at the dainty watch on her wrist. "Where are those salads?" She asked absently, as if they were magic words that would make the food come faster. It seemed to work, because less than five minutes later, their waitress brought the two garden salads.

After only half-an-hour of a strenuous game of one-on-one, Mulder was about ready to quit. His larger, taller friend JC, always seemed to beat him. Especially considering Mulder was seriously out of practice. Somehow, he managed to get the ball in his possession, shoot and rebound it, before passing it back to JC.

"Mulder, I haven't really seen you around, man. Where you been?" JC asked, just making conversation. JC and his wife Theresa had been in attendance at the wedding ceremony, but couldn't stay for the reception.

"I was on my honeymoon for awhile, that was the last two weeks of June." Mulder bent down in front of JC, preparing to block his approach.

JC faked right, then left, and whirled around Mulder back at his right. He dribbled quickly to the net for an easy lay-up. Then, he pushed the ball hardly back to Mulder.

Mulder caught the ball heavily against his chest. "Where'd you go?" He heard JC ask as he returned to Mulder's front to block him.

"Tahiti." Mulder darted around JC and shot a perfect free throw.

JC groaned with a mixture of jealousy and approval. "Lucky. We didn't go anywhere for my honeymoon. Theresa got pregnant too soon, and we were pretty much broke."

"You were broke?" Mulder could hardly believe that business attorney John Charles Stoffand was broke. "What's broke to you? A little more than what I make?"

"No, we were BROKE, broke. We got married when I was still in law school, a few weeks after I found out Theresa was pregnant. You should be glad you waited, my friend." JC took the ball in his large black hands, and dropped it to the ground, letting it bounce back up. "How was Tahiti?" He finally ask, obviously wanting to hear about Mulder's honeymoon.

Mulder exhaled loudly and stood up straight, stretching his back. He shook his head and grinned.

JC watched his expression change to the look of bemused remembrance. "That good, huh?"

Mulder nodded. "It was great. No phones, no communication with the outside world, no bothersome superiors. Clear beaches, more types of alcoholic drinks than you can imagine. It was just great."

JC stopped dribbling the ball and took a step up closer to Mulder. "Well, c'mon. Details, details!" He urged.

"You've met my wife, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. She's nice. Pretty hot little ticket, too." JC joked, he mostly wanted to see Mulder's reaction. Which was all he expected, Mulder laughed before jabbing him with his elbow and adding a sarcastic, "Watch it!"

"Let me put it to you this way." Mulder said quietly. "You'd be surprised the number of uses for whipped cream a woman can come up with."

JC leaned back. He smiled and grunted. "Ohhh. I gotta get my wife down there." He chuckled.

Mulder snatched the ball from him and dribbled to the net. He set up for his shot, pushed the ball into the air, and watched it bounce off the rim. JC rebounded and took it to the three-point line.

"You've got enough money, take her." Mulder remarked as JC set up his shot.

"Can't." JC simply replied as the ball rolled around the metal rim and slipped down into the net. "Resa's pregnant again." He watched Mulder's eyebrow's raise and his jaw drop slightly.

"Didn't you guys just have a baby?" He inquired, taking his position to block JC.

"Yeah, she'll be a year old in December. But, we're having another one." JC attempted to pivot around Mulder, but Mulder caught the action and stopped him. He raised the ball above Mulder's head, scanning for an opening. He faked down right and caught Mulder off-guard. He brought the ball down to his left, and booked it for the hoop. He jumped up and placed the ball easily into the net. He landed hardly and laughed. "That's the best dunk I've done in a long time." He huffed.

"What's that make it, four?" Mulder asked, changing the subject back to children. He received the ball from JC and grasped it in sweaty palms.

"Five." JC said, leaning against the wall behind the net, catching his breath.

"You dog." Mulder retorted in a rough voice. "You need a new hobby."

JC grinned and laughed lightly. "I like my hobby." He glanced at the black sport watch on his wrist. "I think it's about time we wrap this up. I got a case at one-thirty."

Mulder nodded and followed JC to the locker and shower rooms. He opened up the locker where his suit was and pulled his sweat soaked tee-shirt over his head. As he pondered a bit about his conversation with JC, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy. JC had four kids and one on the way, Mulder didn't have any of his own. Sure, he had Zoe, and she was like a real daughter to him, but the wasn't his *real* daughter. He wanted a child that he had created. Mostly, he wanted a child he created with Scully. But it was impossible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FBI Headquarters

Friday, 4:35 p.m.--One Week later

"Earth. . .Earth to Scully."

Scully was snapped back to reality by her husband's voice and snapping fingers. She had seen a vision of something, she couldn't explain what, but it had been a place she'd never seen before. At least that she could recall.

"Where'd you go, Scully. You just started staring off into space there for a minute." Mulder told her as she looked across the room at the wall.

Mulder turned his head and looked at the wall across from Scully and adjacent to his desk. There was nothing there of interest. "What are you looking at?" He asked her.

She took a sharp breath and shook her head. "Nothing." She answered, looking back down at her papers.

"What did you see?" He asked her after a couple of minutes. He shuffled the papers on his desk, awaiting her answer.

"Where?" She glanced at him questioningly, like she didn't know what he was talking about.

"You were obviously in some sort of daydream or trance for a minute, what did you see?"

She closed her eyes and thought of how to explain this to him. "It was a flashback of my abduction. But it was different. It wasn't the big white room with the men in it--the train car. It was a bright, white place, but not because the room itself was white, because there was a bright light shining down on me."

"Were you still on the exam table?" He asked, his voice was smooth and comforting, like the psychologist he was.

Scully nodded. "Yes. Except, this time, there were no men. Well, there was one figure in the light. He was leaning down over me. I couldn't see his face because the light was just too bright."

"Were there more test instruments?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I only saw everything for a second." Hoping to end the discussion, she looked down at her post-op paperwork. She really didn't want to discuss this, it was probably the remnants of some dream anyway.

Luckily, Mulder took the hint and returned his attention to his work as well. They were busy wrapping up a case involving a woman suspected of being a werewolf. It turned out, she had a disease call lupus in which people have the desire to eat raw meat. Mulder, of course, followed the werewolf scenario. Scully just thought the woman was a bizarre serial murderer. Neither of the hypotheses turned out to be true.

Scully was finishing her medical profile on Angela Walsh--the 'werewolf'. Suddenly, she felt the disgustingly familiar gurgling in her stomach. Immediately knowing what would follow, she swallowed through a dry throat and covered her mouth with her hand. She quickly rose from her seat and hurried out of the room to the ladies' room down the hall.

Mulder watched her rushed exit and knew just what it was about. Over the past week, she'd been getting sick a lot, and complaining of nausea. He came in the office one day, Monday, if he could recall, and she was laying on the couch in the office. Immediately thinking the worst, he rushed to her side. She assured him she was just tired, and needed to rest for a minute. He had chided her and told her to stay home, but she wouldn't have anything to do with it.

Mulder saw her come back in, smoothing her auburn hair into place and the wrinkles out of her black jacket. "You okay?" He asked her tenderly.

"For now." She said honestly. She couldn't explain the periods of vomiting. It was probably the beginning of the summer flu she'd heard was going around. Being early September, it was certainly plausible enough. Great. The flu. Just what she needed it. Then, it might not be. After all, she didn't have a fever, or the cold-like symptoms accompanying the common flu. That's even better. A mutated form of the flu. Whatever it was, if it didn't stop, she was going to see the doctor.

"Why do you think you've been getting sick?" She heard Mulder inquire from his seat at his desk.

"I don't know." She muttered, leaning back in her chair to brace against an oncoming wave of nausea. "It's probably the flu or something. I heard that was going around." As the nausea passed, she settled back over her papers.

Mulder watched her for a second. He had no theories on what was ailing his wife, but he didn't really think it was the flu. He would let her make those decisions though, she was the doctor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Family Physicians Building

Bethesda, Maryland

Tuesday

Scully suffered through her discomfort for three more days. Nothing she took helped. Not the pink stuff, or any of the other stomach virus over-the-counter medication she took. She finally decided to take a half day from work and go to the doctor. Mulder had wanted to come, more as a way out of the office than anything else. Scully had just given him a weird look and assured him she didn't need his help, or moral support, or whatever. It was just a routine visit to get some more powerful drugs and a diagnosis.

So, she drove from her and Mulder's home in Somerset, to the building on the same grounds as the hospital. She waited in the crowded waiting room for a half hour, until her two forty-five appointment. As usual, she was weighed, asked basic physical questions, and asked to sit in the room and wait some more for the doctor.

She sat on the paper sheet pulled down the cushioned examination bed. The room smelled like antibiotic cleaners and rubber. She mostly sulked at the fact that her weight had been at one-hundred-ten, which was five pounds over her normal weight. She began making mental plans for a diet and more exercise.

Scully stared at the clear pink hazardous materials container for used hypodermic needles. She remembered back to when she was getting poked with them more often that she'd liked. Always blood tests and experimental drugs and pain killers and IV's for her cancer. That was all before the godsend chip and the remission.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock on the heavy wood door and it being pushed open. A short, balding man stepped in the room. The hairless top of his head reflected the light of the white fluorescent lights. The little man smiled and introduced himself as Doctor Greene. He shook Dana's hand lightly.

"Dana, how have you been?" He inquired, opening his table drawer for his penlight. He laid the yellow folder containing various medical charts and papers on Scully onto the table. She noticed the bright pen writing at the top referencing the charts and papers outlining her as a cancer patient.

"Overall, I've been okay." She answered, still studying the folder, surprising even herself as being able to understand not only the various doctors' chicken-scratch, but the abbreviations and terminology. "Until recently." She continued.

Dr. Greene leaned back on his heals, grasping his metal penlight in one of his chubby hands. "Tell me the symptoms you've been experiencing."

Scully took a deep breath and exhaled in a sigh. "Well, I've been nauseous with periods of vomiting. Also, I get fatigued ever so often. It seems to be some of the symptoms of influenza, but then again, it doesn't *feel* like the flu. I don't really feel bad, just . . . inconvenienced."

The doctor looked down at the table she was seated on, he nodded thoughtfully. "The flu has been going around. As you can see from the waiting room." He added a small chuckle with this. Then, he pulled the stethoscope from around his ears and put the plugs in his ears. Scully turned loyally to the side of the bed so he could access her back and listen to her breath. "Deep breath." He instructed. He held the metal circular plate to her back as her chest rose and fell with her breath. He moved the plate lower and repeated the procedure. After two more listening spots, he seemed satisfied.

"All seems normal with your breathing, no congestion or wheezing." As she turned back to the end of the table, he stood in front of her. She sat up straight and let his place the pad on her chest, slightly above and beside her left breast. After a minute of two, he pulled the stethoscope away and looked at her thoughtfully. Without a word, he turned to the table and fingered through the papers. Once he found the one he was looking for, he turned back to her, brows furrowed. He put the stethoscope back into his ear, and held the plate against her chest again. He listened very closely for a moment longer before pulling away again. He crossed his arms over his chest and pondered for a second.

Scully had been patient with the doctor's check and recheck at first, but now she was getting worried. All thoughts of things that could be wrong with her popped into her head. The worst of which, was the nightmare where the doctor tells her that her remission had ceased and she is having a relapse. "Is something wrong, Doctor?" She finally asked, trying to hide the concern from her voice.

He scratched the ring of gray hair on the back of his head and finally met her eyes. He couldn't tell her straight forward, not until he was certain, or mostly so. "Dana, has anything else been different in your life?" He asked vaguely.

"Physically, not that I can recall." She said warily.

"Have you gained any weight recently?"

"I just noticed that I've gained five pounds in four weeks."

"What about your last menstruation?" The doctor leaned back against his table.

Scully was slightly struck off-guard by this, no one really inquired about that since she found out about her infertility. But, the more she thought about it, the more something did seem wrong. "Now that I do think about it, it was at least twelve weeks ago. Give or take a few days. I just ignore it usually, the time differences at least. The cycle's been irregular since my abduction--kidnapping." She shook her head on the last term, knowing that's what Mulder referred to it as, but other people would think it was something else.

Dr. Greene looked down at the floor. When he spoke again, his voice carried an undertone like he didn't believe the words himself. "I have reason to believe . . . that you are pregnant."

Scully opened her mouth to argue this, but was cut off by Greene.

"I know your charts say it's impossible, but I heard something along with your heartbeat. At first, I though it was an open valve, but as I listened closer, it was definitely a second heartbeat." Greene stood up straight and mentally braced himself, knowing that Scully was going to dispute his findings.

"I'd like a second opinion, from a specialist." Was all she said. She refused to believe it, she had already known for a long time that she couldn't bear children, and would not be given false hopes without sufficient proof.

Greene nodded and pulled a pad of paper out of his lab coat. "I knew you would say that." He scrawled something on a piece before handing it to Scully. "This is the top OB/ GYN over in the hospital. Show the receptionist this and you shouldn't have a problem seeing her."

Scully nodded slowly and slid off the table. She left the exam room and paid her service fee at the counter. She wandered out of the building in sort of a trance. She couldn't believe she was pregnant, it just wasn't possible, or was it? Although she told herself she wouldn't, she was hopeful she would be. She was getting her hopes higher and higher with every step towards her car. She climbed in and drove over to the hospital parking lot.

She sat in the car for a moment, thinking, taking all this is in. A thought occurred to her that she should call Mulder, and tell him what was happening. But then, she didn't want to get his hopes up, not until she was sure.

Finally, after a few more minutes of pondering, she got out of the car and went into the building. The writing on the scrap paper said she would find the gynecology and obstetrics ward on the fourth floor. She boarded the elevator and looked around at everything in an almost dreamlike trance. A man was carrying a baby in a back carrier in front of her. The baby was facing her as she leaned against the cool metal wall. It smiled at her and stared at this new person. She couldn't help but smile back and watch those wondering, wide brown eyes. Her hopes were at their peak as she stepped out of the elevator into the gynecology ward.

She reached office number forty-nine and gave her slip of paper to the secretary. The secretary read it quickly and looked up at Scully's neutral expression. She then picked up the phone beside her and pressed the internal line button with one of her hot pink painted fingernails. Scully shifted her feet as the woman spoke to who Scully guessed was the doctor.

"Dr. Roche, could you please pull a Dana Mulder's file?" There was a brief pause as the other side spoke. "I have her in here, she was sent over from the Family Practice office by Dr. Greene." The secretary explained in her high-pitched voice. There was another pause and she hung up the phone. She looked back up at Scully. "You can go in."

Scully thanked her and entered the door to her left. The room beside the waiting room Dr. Roche's office. It housed a large pine desk, book cases and shelves full of medical resources, and two leather chairs. Dr. Bethany Roche sat behind her monster of a desk, reviewing what looked like a file. She looked up from behind wireless reading glasses as Scully entered the room. "Dana Mulder?" She asked.

Scully nodded as Roche shook her hand.

"Take a seat." Roche offered as she continued studying what Scully guessed was her file. "Why did Dr. Greene send you over?"

Scully crossed her legs and took a deep breath. "Well, he said he thinks I'm pregnant."

Roche gave her an odd look and furrowed her brows. She sat back in her chair and took off her reading glasses. "Your file says you are unable to conceive, is that not true?"

"No, it's true, as far as I know."

Roche nodded and slowly rose from her chair. "If you'll come with me, we can perhaps verify or disprove Dr. Greene's findings."

Scully got up and followed Roche to a connecting exam room. The room mildly resembled Greene's room, except with different equipment. The exam table was not only bigger, but it had two metal stirrups in the end. Next to the table was a white machine with a paddle connected to a spiraling wire and a small monitoring screen, and ultrasound machine. Scully was directed to sit on the table while Roche pulled on a pair of prophylactic gloves and retrieved her stethoscope from her equipment table.

Roche put her stethoscope around her neck. "When was your last menstruation?" She asked.

Scully sighed and recited exactly what she said to Greene. "About twelve weeks ago."

Roche looked at her questioningly. "And you didn't think anything was wrong?"

"No, the cycles have been irregular since my kidnapping and all the tests."

Roche nodded. "Have you been experiencing any of the common early pregnancy symptoms? Vomiting, nausea, and/or fatigue?"

Scully merely nodded.

"What about more frequent periods of urination and soreness or tingling in the breasts?"

Scully thought for a second. "Actually, yeah, I have. I thought is was just a change in my diet or something."

Roche turned and went back to her equipment table. "Please remove your jacket and roll up your sleeve." She directed as she walked. Knowing what Roche was going to do, Scully did as she was told. Roche brought back an empty syringe attached to a hypodermic needle, a piece of gauze, and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol. She dabbed the alcohol onto the gauze and rubbed in on an area on Scully's upper arm. Scully habitually clenched her teeth as Roche pierced her skin with the needle and drew an adequate amount of blood.

"I'll be performing a radioimmunoassay pregnancy test. Using blood rather than urine, it tends to be more sensitive to human chorionic gonadotropin--HCG--the hormone produced by the placenta during a pregnancy." Roche explained as she took the full syringe and capped it before settling it in her small refrigeration unit for testing.

Once Roche had gotten the blood sample in its place, she returned to Scully. "If you could lift up your shirt so I could have a listen to your stomach please."

Scully unbuttoned the bottom three buttons on her blouse, exposing her cream colored flesh.

"Lay back." Roche directed as she put the stethoscope in her ears. Scully did as she was told and Roche laid the metal plate onto Scully's bare abdomen. Scully flinched as the cold metal touched her skin. Roche listened very closely, expertly discerning the sound of Scully's heartbeat from the sound within it. As she had expected, along with Scully's heartbeat was a lighter, quicker beat. Roche pulled the ear pieces from her ears. "I hear it," She told Scully. "There is a very definite second heartbeat."

Scully looked up at Roche from her rather awkward position. She couldn't believe it. It was impossible. But if it was true . . .

"Do you want to hear it?" Roche asked, pulling another stethoscope from her lab coat. She handed it to Scully who sat up a little and plugged the ear pieces in her ears. She placed the cold metal piece on her stomach just above her belly button and listened as closely as she could. Sure enough, it was barely there, but she could her a soft whooshing sound along with her almost overpowering heartbeat.

Scully slowly put down the stethoscope. The sound she heard was almost positively a fetal heartbeat. Of course, no one could be exactly positive until the test results came back, but it was pretty certain. "How far am I?" She asked shakily.

"About ten weeks." Roche answered off the bat, she had already calculated it. She watched Scully's silently bewildered expression for a moment longer, before turning back to Scully's file. "Because of your medical history, I'm going to consider this pregnancy high-risk. I understand that you are a very healthy woman as far as diet and exercise goes, but it's just a precaution. Instead of seeing me once a trimester, you'll see me once a month, just make sure everything is going accordingly."

"Of course." Scully answered dreamily, while buttoning up her shirt. "I will be seeing you?"

"Yes."

As Scully pulled her work jacket back on, Roche went back into her office. She rejoined her there were Roche only had a few more words of wisdom. "Judging by your lifestyle and job, I suggest you may want to ease up on job related stress. I'm not sure how agents' hours and such work, but make sure you don't do more overtime than you can handle, and make sure you get your weekends to relax."

Scully nodded. She turned to leave as one more question occurred to her. "Dr. Roche, could a pregnancy bring my cancer into a relapse?"

Roche looked at her with a certain pity filling her face. "I shouldn't think so. I really don't know. That's why I consider this pregnancy high-risk. I do know that your cancer isn't genetic and can not be passed along to the baby." She reassured.

Scully smiled thankfully and left. There was already enough to worry about this pregnancy, cancer shouldn't be one of them. The biggest thing, was HOW she could've gotten pregnant in the first place. But first things first, she had to tell Mulder. He was going to flip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder Residence

Same day, 6:45 p.m.

When Scully had left work, it had been for the rest of the day. So, after her doctor appointment, she went straight home. She didn't call Mulder, she needed to tell him this in person. He would find out everything, once he got home.

Scully sat on the gray-blue couch, with her legs folded underneath her. She wore only old cut offs and a light pink tank top. Her hair was up in a pony tail pulled behind her heade and off her neck. In the very warm September evening, she had decided her appearance didn't matter, especially at home. There was an air-conditioner, but Mulder had decided to only turn that on at night, for a reason unbeknownst to Scully.

At three o'clock, she had surprised Zoe by picking her up from school. The instant she saw her daughter, Zoe jumped into her arms, immediately knowing the news Scully needed to share with Mulder. That was one benefit to having a psychic genius daughter, never having to break news to her. With a glance at the small clock on the mantel, Scully realized that her husband should be home soon.

The sound of a key penetrating the dead bolt on the door and being turned told Scully she was right. It seemed to her, whenever Mulder knew she was already home, he arrived on time, but whenever they were together, they were always late. He stumbled through the front door, pulling his key out as he went. He had his jacket draped over one elbow and his briefcase in one hand. His Armani shades covered his eyes and gave him a look like a movie star. Scully suddenly remembered one of the reasons she married him.

"Somebody mow the lawn, or do I have another X-file on my hands?" He inquired as he dropped his briefcase by the recliner and hung his jacket over the back. He looked back out the open oak door to the recently cut front lawn.

"No, I told you, there's a boy down the street who mows lawns for five bucks." Scully studied one of her fingernails absently before chewing down the hang nail.

"You pay him five bucks to mow a lawn that your or I could do?" Mulder asked. He walked over to the couch and flopped down beside Scully.

"Mulder, we never have time to mow the lawn. Besides, I talked to the kid and he said he's making money for a new pair of roller blades, I figured it couldn't hurt. She leaned over to the side and stretched her legs out in front of her.

Mulder looked at her and pulled his sunglasses off his face. "Hi, Honey, how was your day?" He asked comically.

Scully snickered as Mulder put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. She knew she should've told him the *news* at this point, but just couldn't bring it up. "So, what's for dinner?" She asked instead.

Mulder shrugged and removed his arm from her shoulders. He tugged at the tie around his neck, loosening the knot. "Jeez it's hot in here." He groaned, rising from his seat to look at the thermostat. He left it at the temperature and went upstairs, most likely to change.

Scully got up and walked slowly out into the kitchen. The house she and Mulder had purchased was previously owned, it had a big in-ground pool in the back yard and a roomy two-car garage. It was perfect for Mulder, Scully, and Zoe. Scully fell in love with it almost immediately. The design was a pleasant mixture of conservative, mondern, and a country sort of feel. The front door led out to a small wood porch from which a quaint swing hung from the eave. There were twin flower beds on each side of the porch, neither of which Scully had had much time to do anything with. They were rampant with weeds and overgrown annuals.

Off to the left of the front door's 'foyer', was the stairs leading down to the basement. To the right, was the large, airy living room. The living room brought out most of Scully's taste, mostly a country sort of style. The TV sat in the corner by the large picture windows overlooking the lawn. The sofa which was previously occupied by Scully, sat against the opposite wall. The reclining chair was adjacent to that, by a small table holding a lamp. The other wall from the entrance, had a fireplace, and the entertainment center from Scully's apartment.

Beside the living room were the stairs to the second floor. Up there, was the master bedroom and bathroom, hall bathroom, Zoe's bedroom, and a partially empty room still containing boxes. It was meant to be another bedroom, but there was no one to use it. That was going to change. A short hall next to the staircase (on the first floor) led back to a guest bedroom, the office-to-be, and yet another bathroom. Most of the office supplies had not been unpacked yet. The only thing that made the otherwise bare room recognizable as an office was the empty desk. Most of the rooms where still bare and unrecognizable, except for the major traffic rooms. There just wasn't enough time (not to mention effort) to unpack everything. Scully had made the hypothesis when they moved in that they would still be unpacking boxes into the next decade.

Scully wandered out to her favorite room, the kitchen. It wasn't her favorite room because she actually cooked in there or anything like that, she just loved how the room felt to her. It had a lovely strawberry motiff in the actual kitchen section. The glass and wood cabinets were called 'strawberry oak', it gave the wood a reddish hue. The counter tops were a light pinkish color, matching the strawberry cookie jars, and various little knick-kncaks. It was a pleasant, almost vague decorum, Scully had planned it that way, in case they ever decided to change it. There were two windows in the kitchen, each on adjacent walls, looking out into the back and side yards. The curtains were red, with little white strawberries.

This is where Scully stood, leaning over the counter that seperated the actual kitchen from the adjoining dining room. The dining room was very formal. A very nice, pine table with a square drop cloth over the center. A large basket of fake paper flowers sat on the cloth. The china closet sat next to the table. It was filled with fine crystal glasses they would never drink out of, beside bottles of wine that would never be opened. There were the expensive plates and siver for that occasion that would never come. Mulder often liked to joke that they were waiting for the President to come to town, or Tom Jones, whoever came first.

Scully looked outside into the dining room as the evening sunlight shone through the patio doors. She heard the stairs creaking as Mulder came back downstairs. He came out into the kitchen, wearing khaki shorts and no shirt. He was actually pulling on a navy tee-shirt as he walked into the room. He walked to the refrigerator which sat in the corner and brought out a can of Miller Lite. "Beer?" He asked her absently. She normally didn't drink much, and now she definitely couldn't.

"No." She answered vacantly. Instead she reached into the counter above and beside her for a glass. She filled the glass with water from the sink and ice from the freezer.

"Where's Zoe? She wasn't in her room." Mulder asked, looking out into the backyard.

"Down the street playing." Scully looked at the digital clock on the microwave behind her. "Actually, she should be home by now."

"I'll go get her." Mulder announced, heading for the front door. "What house is she at?"

Scully sighed tiredly. "I don't know, she could be anywhere. Just go down to the end of the court and yell for her." She offered, meaning the cul-de-sac ending they lived near. Their house was situated on the side of the street, about three houses from the end house.

"All right." Mulder agreed, stepping out the front door to the still humid evening.

Scully stayed in the kitchen for another minute. She rubbed her temples, feeling a headache setting in. A headache brought on by what she didn't know, probably just stress.

She picked up her glass and opened the sliding patio door, stepping out onto the low wood deck just off the back of the house. It was a small deck, only stretching half the length of the house. It contained a small picnic table. The deck was mostly a place to hang towels and wet swim suits. Past the stairs into the yard was Mulder's favorite part of the house, the large in ground pool built by the previous owners. It had added a pretty penny not only to the value of the house, but the price. Since Mulder didn't have to but the actual pool, he bought it a water slide. Scully looked up the aqua-colored fiberglass slide attached to the metal rung ladder, wondering why she even let him buy it. She wandered off the deck and walked along the concrete edge of the pool. The water was clear and inviting, but she didn't feel like swimming.

She continued along side the pool, to it's corner. Off to her left, was the spa nestled in the corner of the tall privacy fence. That spa, was actually a whimsical purchase of her own. It had a beautiful deep blue marble look-alike interior with an underwater light that came with little lenses so you could change the color. She'd always had a little fantasy of sex in a spa. She and Mulder had tried it a couple months ago, when they finally found some time. The plain white light gave the water a color like champagne, drowning their bodies in bubbles. It had been fantastic. And if her calculations were correct, the baby she carried now was the product of that experience. What an interesting story to tell this kid when he grew up.

Scully plopped down on the tile edge of the pool, letting her legs dangle in the cool water. The water splashed around her legs, just to her knee. She must have looked rather childish. Ever since she'd been told she was pregnant, the world seemed somehow different to her. She walked around in a something like dreamlike trance. Maybe it was just the reality of what was happening catching up to her.

"Mommy!" She heard called from behind her. She turned her head in time to see Zoe running throught the patio doors. Zoe ran up to Scully and sat beside her on the pool edge. "I told Chelsea you were gonna have a baby, and she said it was great. But she still doesn't believe me that you and Daddy are FBI agents." Zoe looked at her mother's placid face with her wild blue eyes. She read a few things and her smile faltered a little. "You still haven't told him?"

Scully shook her head. Zoe groaned. "Mommy, you have to tell. Just spit it out. It's not that difficult." Zoe then pulled her legs out of the water and went back inside.

Scully wished it was that easy. In reality, she didn't even know why it was so hard to bring up the subject. Mulder was her confidant, she told him everything. He especially should know this. But she was almost afraid of his reaction.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the man in question sitting beside her in the spot previously occupied by Zoe. He held his can of beer in his hand and took a drink before sitting it on the concrete beside him. "What's wrong with you?" He asked casually.

She looked at him awkwardly. "Nothing. Why would you think something was?"

Mulder kicked his legs out before him, sending ripples through the surface of the pool. "I don't know, you just seem kind of out of it."

Scully yawned wearily again. Just another symptom of early pregnancy. She didn't answer Mulder's statement.

He looked over at her. "What did you find out at the doctor's? What have you got?"

Scully glanced into his hazel eyes before gazing down into the pool. She couldn't carefully avoid the subject anymore. He had opened the perfect opportunity for here to spill her guts. True, she could lie and tell him nothing, btu she didn't want to avoid this anymore.

"I'm not sick." She began, but knew she was only dancing around the subject. "They found out . . . they said I'm pregnant." She managed to spit out. Scully pulled her eyes away from the water and looked at her husband's face.

At first, his expression was deadpan, almost numb. He looked like he didn't believe her. Then, his jaw fell agape a little, and his eyes filled with surprise. "Wow." Was all he could think to say. "I mean . . . how?"

Scully looked down and mamged to smile a little. "Well, you remember that night in the spa?"

This brought the desired little smirk to Mulder's lip. "You know what I mean. We both know . . . err . . . knew you couldn't conceive. What changed?"

Scully shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe I've been able to have children all along, and just didn't know it." She shifted her eyes back to Mulder, to see if he believed her.

"Maybe." He repeated, deep in thought. She couldn't tell if he believed her theory or not, but he didn't say anything. He took a deep breath and pulled his legs out of the water, standing and stretching. "How about some dinner?"

"Okay. . ." Scully agreed slowly, a little puzzled by his dropping the subject. She thought perhaps he just needed time to process everything. She didn't bring up the baby for the rest of the night, neither did he.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FBI Headquarters

Wednesday, 10:18 a.m.

Mulder's avoidance of Scully's pregnancy was disturbing to her. It almsot seemed as though he didn't want her to be pregnant. She thought about it all day, barealy able to pay attention to her work. It gnawed at her nerve endings that he wouldn't bring it back up again.

The office around ten in the morning was so silent, it was deafening. Mulder stayed focused on his work, trying to keep busy. Scully lingered over the subject, but couldn't say anything. Not until the tension she felt between them was almost unbearable.

"Mulder," She said, getting his attention. "When are going to stop avoiding this?"

Mulder put down his pen and sat back in his chair.

"When I told you I was pregnant, you dismissed it like it wasn't any big deal. What is going on here? I was under the impreesion that you wanted children."

He sighed. "I do. But you and I both know the doctors told you that you couldn't conceive. All your ovum had been removed, I saw the vial myself. If all this is true, where did this baby come from."

"Mulder, I told you, maybe the doctors were wrong." Scully stood up and approached Mulder's desk where he still sat.

"So why didn't you get pregnant before?"

"It's all timing. People try for years at a time to have a baby, and still miss it by one hour." She argued.

He looked at the papers on his desk and shook his head. "I don't think that's what happened."

Scully leaned against his desk, eager to hear his theory.

"Remember when you were abducted from Zacatecas?"

She exhaled loudly, how could she forget? But this made her realize what Mulder thought about this pregnancy.

"What if they gave you back the ability to have children?"

"Mulder . . ." She began to contradict, but was cut off.

"No. Hear me out. If the first abduction took the ovum, the second put them back."

Scully groaned. "Mulder, they can't just put them back, it's not scientifically possible."

"There's a lot we didn't think was scientifically possible. And if my theory is true, we need to go back to Zacatecas. We need to go back and dig for answers about what they did to you. What they did to make you able to have children."

She exhaled loudly, obviously irritated. "I don't care why I can have children now and they told me I couldn't. I'm happy I'm pregnant now. I'm sorry if you aren't happy with just that. If you want to go to Zacatecas for evidence I don't care for, go ahead. But go alone, I'm staying here."

Their eyes remaied locked for a few heated moments as the phone began ringing on Scully's desk. Mulder looked back at his desk as she turned to answer it. He listened to her half of the conversation while thinking about what he had just said to her. He had done a lot of thinking since last night. There were some things he couldn't tell her. Things he was afraid of. He was afraid of what they did to her in the second abduction. He was frightened of what they did to the ovum that were put back inside her. But the more he thought about it, the more he didn't want to go to Zacatecas alone. If he did find something, would he be able to share it with his wife? Or would it be something so horrific, it was better left unsaid?

When Scully hung up the phone she turned back to Mulder. "You think about what your going to do. If you'll excuse me, that phone call just confirmed my pregnancy test, and it's official. I have to go meet with Skinner and tell him what's going on."

Mulder felt his heart ache when she left. He had told her it was confirmed, she was pregnant, no doubts about it. But there was no happiness in her voice. She should be ecstatic about it, but he had hurt her, and she wasn't. It was decided, he wouldn't go to Zacatecas and search for answers he would never find, or answers he didn't want. He would stay home and be with his wife and his baby. If it came to a point where something dire required answers, that would be the time to hunt for them. Not now, not while it was certain the baby was healthy.

Scully was right. He did want a baby. And he'd gotten it. He was happy she was pregnant. But, he couldn't help but let the past scare him. After all they'd been through, who knew what kind of tests she'd been subjected to again. What these men--if it was men at all--were capable of, was astounding. He just hoped they didn't do anything this time. He just had to grit his teeth, look at the future, and go for it. Don't look back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FIN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

C'mon, baby, you know what I want. FEEDBACK. That's right. Give it to me. Oh yeah.

Ciao till next time.