We Who Remain Carry On by Neoxphile Act Two: The Game of Life Chapter 17 May 21st, 2002 She wasn't in his bed in the morning. That confused his sleepy mind; had it really happened, or had it just been a dream produced by his over-heated brain? Though there was no discarded nightgown by the door, his boxers laid in a crumpled heap where he remembered her throwing them in his "dream." It had really happened, then. Mulder perched on his bed, trying to think of what to say. It had obviously been a mistake. They'd both been thinking of other people and one thing had led to another... He hoped they could be mature about it and not let it complicate their arrangement. A new worry froze him. What if it had meant something to her? He wasn't sure he could handle it if she somehow got the impression that the night before had been the start of something. He'd have to though; it would be cowardly to try to avoid the situ- A thump at the door. "Mulder? Did you oversleep? William and I are ready to go." "Um, Yeah. I'll be five minutes." As he quickly threw on his clothes, he tried to figure it out. Muffled as her voice had been by the door, it hadn't sounded emotional. Except for a mild annoyance that he was making them late, perhaps. He didn't know what to say in that case. Fortunately, William's insistent clamor for his attention saved him from saying anything at all. "Go! Go!" Mulder took him from Reyes, and ruffled his hair. "Morning, Bub. Your old man's making everybody late. So let's get the show on the road." "Rud." William said. "Is it just me, or has he just started mimicking us?" Mulder tried to maintain the same cool calm Reyes had shown since he walked out of his room; he didn't want to be the first one to betray nervousness. "Us!" "I'd say so." "Guess we'd better be careful about what we say." Mulder suggested. He watched her, wondering if she'd get the duel meaning. She made it impossible to tell by her response as she shouldered the diaper bag. "Good idea." ** "Us! Rud! Go! Us! Rud…" Mulder knew that he ought to be proud that his son had acquired not one, but three new words – even if he couldn't pronounce one of them properly – just a day after his first birthday, but he was too distracted to give it the proper attention. "Wonder what he'll be saying by the end of the day." Reyes remarked after smiling at the little boy. That's what Mulder was mostly worried about: what people would be saying by the end of the day. Sneaking a glance at Reyes, he reminded himself that it wasn't that he thought she was reckless, but he'd already realized that if Doggett hadn't shown up the night before with his wife, what had followed once the guests were gone may well not have happened. It was Doggett he was worried that she'd say something to. Maybe he'd spent too much time around women like Phoebe Green, but it wasn't hard for him to imagine a scene… "Morning. Could you hand me that file?" Doggett would ask. Reyes would shake her head. "I'm afraid I can't. I can't give you anything, not any more." "Um. What do you mean?" "Last night I got sick of living like a nun while I pined over you. So I had great sex with Mulder-" "You what?" At this point Doggett's eyes would be wide with shock." "Had sex with Mulder. Pay attention. In a moment of post coital clarity, I realized that you aren't worth the time or the effort. Barbara can have you if she'll take you back." "Okay." Doggett would look quite bemused at this point. "I'm sure she'll be glad to have your blessings." "I can't believe you never mentioned the fact that you never signed divorce papers! What sort of person holds out hope for some sort of relationship that's been dead in the water for years?" "I was going to say Mulder, but not if he's been slippin' it to you. And how do you know that I'm the one who refused to sign the papers? Maybe it was Barbara." Reyes would shake her head. "I've met the woman. She didn't strike me as needy or desperate." "And I do?" His voice would rise in disbelief. She'd give him a nasty smile. "If the shoe fits, wear it." And all during the conversation, Mulder would wish that the floor would open up and swallow him whole; before they realized that he could be the next thing they took swipes at. Trying not to be obvious about it, he gave her another uneasy glance and tried to telepathically send the message that he didn't want their business to become the talk of the Hoover Building. ** The look on Doggett's face was sort of sour when they came in. Mulder's eyes widened, and he wondered if perhaps the reason Reyes hadn't been in his bed in the morning was that she'd gotten up and called Doggett. Before panic could completely overwhelm his brain, Doggett spoke. "An old friend has come to visit." Mulder drew a blank. "An old friend?" Was Doggett calling sex an old friend? Maybe they called it that down south… "She's talking to Skinner." Doggett replied. "Said she'd be back in a minute. "Oh." Mulder thought he could feel his heart regain its normal rhythm. At least until a few seconds later. "Agent Mulder!" To his surprise, someone rushed towards him and gave him a hug. "I've thought a lot about running into you in December." Once the woman pulled away from him, he knew who it was. He snuck a quick look at Reyes, wondering idly if she'd be jealous of the greeting he'd gotten. If she was, she hid it well. "I don't think you ladies have met." Mulder said aloud." Monica Reyes, Leyla Harrison." Harrison's attention was quickly focused on Reyes. "Nice to meet you. Aren't you so lucky to be working with agents like Doggett and Mulder?" "I'm thankful every day." Reyes said dryly. "You probably don't know this, but I once worked a case with these guys." Harrison said cheerfully. "Agent Doggett and I were nearly killed by a…I don't even know what it was, after being blinded, but agent Mulder came to our rescue and saved the day." "That sounds like Mulder. There when you need him." Reyes said. It took all of Mulder's self control not to squirm like an embarrassed five-year-old. What had her comment meant, was it a veiled reference to the night before? And worse, was it sarcasm? "Yeah…" Harrison trailed off with a thoughtful look. "So, has agent Doggett told you why I'm here today?" "No, I didn't get around to it." Doggett said. "Maybe you should explain it to them just the way that you told me." "Oh, sure. One of my aunt's neighbors is having a problem with Brownies." Mulder's face was puzzled. "She is? Aggressive cookie selling tactics or something?" "Cookies?" Harrison now looked confused as well, but then shook her head. "I don't mean girl scouts." "I'm lost, then." Mulder admitted, and he noticed Doggett smirking. "You're talking about the fairy-creatures?" Reyes asked. "Yes, exactly." "I thought they were supposed to be good beings. Helpful with chores and stuff." "Normally, but it seems that they're harming her business. She does stuff with recycled objects, and they keep dismantling her work." "Ah." "And I think there might be an aughisky in the neighborhood too." "A what?!" Doggett asked rather loudly. Harrison didn't seem bothered by his tone. "It's a type of wild horse." "That doesn't sound so bad. A little unusual for DC-" She interrupted him. "My aunt lives in Maryland. But the thing that's bad about them is that they let you catch them and ride them." "Why is that a bad thing?" "Because as soon as you're on their backs the run towards the nearest body of water, drown you, and eat you." "Yikes." Reyes muttered. "Why would you suspect that something like that is in your aunt's neighborhood?" Mulder asked. "There have been three drownings in the neighborhood pond over the past month." "It's a bit cool out for swimming yet, but it's not improbable that three people got the bonehead idea to go swimming in May." Doggett said. "In all three cases they're found hoof prints along the edges of the water when they've recovered the bodies." Harrison explained. "Why didn't you mention that first?" Mulder wondered out loud. Harrison just shrugged slightly. "All we have to do is convince Skinner to approve-" "It already has been approved. By Kersh." Doggett said, which probably explained his mood. "We're supposed to spend several days researching the creatures before we go to the neighborhood agent Harris said is having problems.” It was on the tip of Mulder's tongue to protest. If some animal was drowning people, several days delay might cost more lives. But then he cast a look at agent Harrison. She still seemed very eager to be around the x-files, so maybe there was nothing to her claims. Mulder decided not to agonize over it. Especially considering that the prospect of waiting didn't remove the happy look from Harrison's face. "I guess we'll be experts by the time we get out there." "Guess so." Doggett agreed. "I didn't think you'd like the idea of being stuck in the office." "Given the fact that until a few minutes ago I never even heard of this thing that might be killing people, so it sounds like a good idea to learn all we can before we go after it." Doggett nodded, but his expression suggested that he thought that Mulder was being uncharacteristically sensible. Mulder suppressed a sigh. His mind was too full of wondering what his other partner was thinking about him to be overly concerned about that too. ** All day long Mulder was distracted because he kept expecting Reyes to act differently, or to say something, but she didn't. Not at the office, not at home. Not even as they said good night and retired to their respective rooms. It upset him a bit for reasons he couldn't identify, and left him feeling as nervous and awkward as he did around the first girl he’d ever slept with. Then, however, the girl seemed to feel the same. When he woke up from a nightmare he couldn't remember, he figured it out. He felt used. It'd been a long time since he felt that way. In a way though, it didn’t seem like a betrayal, but a gift – it was also the first time in a long time since anyone had thought of him as anything but an asexual grieving father. * The next night the door to Mulder's room opened so quietly that he thought at first that he'd imagined it; the soft shift of the mattress alerted him otherwise. More awake, Mulder froze, and wondered what she would do. It didn't turn out to be what he expected. There was a slight breeze when she pulled up the sheet and thin blanket, but it faded away as the bedding collapsed around her. Feeling brave, he reached out a tentative finger and felt cloth, not the sheet or blanket - she was dressed. She was tentative too, moving closer to him by painfully small degrees. It took so long that he drifted off. When he woke again it was an hour later, and she was pressed up against him, sound asleep. He liked that. It made him feel trusted in a way he hadn't for years. This time, she was there when he woke up. ** It became a pattern. All day in the office they'd commiserate with Doggett as they spent their hours trying to learn as much as they could about that mythical creature, the aughisky. By the end of the first week Mulder thought he could give a relatively informed presentation to a group, telling people how the creature was in Scottish mythology too, but they called it Each uisge or Kelpie, and that inland they remained horses, but if you let it near water your life was as good as over. No one could believe that Kersh really wanted them to spend two weeks looking things up. Out of desperation, Reyes decided to look up the far less dangerous brownies instead, but that wasn't much of a reprieve after a day or two. The three of them were bored senseless and complained often. Later in the day they'd go home, play with William who was delighted with the world now that he could pull himself up onto his feet though he'd yet to attempt any steps, eat dinner and watch TV. Same as always. Except that most nights Reyes ended up in his room at some point. More often than not, they'd just sleep, drawing comfort from the fact that there was someone else there. But not always, which is why Mulder found him some place he'd concluded a year before that he'd never visit again – the condom section of the grocery store. It wasn't easy to make himself go to that aisle, though he knew he had to after the second time he and Reyes had made love – he'd been lucky to find an unexpired condom that time. The first two times he walked by the aisle, people had been there, so he'd pretended that he needed something in the next row, and waited. He hoped it had looked like he hadn't run away like a scared high school kid afraid of being caught. Although, he really was afraid of being caught. A scenario kept running through his mind: he'd be reaching out his hand to take a box of Trojans off a peg when he'd hear it. "Agent Mulder!" Spinning around he'd be horrified to see someone he knew smiling at him. The product his finger tips had just brushed would require an explanation, from all but the least nosy, and who did he know that wasn't nosy? The diapers and beer were both too far from the condoms to make anyone believe he'd been reaching for them, so it would seem as though his standing before the display was deliberate. It would be deliberate, of course, but he didn't know how he'd explain that. Reyes wasn't his girlfriend. Friend, certainly. A very good one indeed. Roommate, definitely. Just the sort you occasionally had sex with. But for that their relationship hadn't really changed much that he could tell. They hadn't discussed what it "meant" as he was dreading, and she didn't seem to need to talk about it any more than he did. At least he didn't need to talk about it badly enough to bring up the subject himself… but how could you explain any of that to a person not involved in the arrangement? He didn't think he could. Which is why he waited until the aisle was completely empty, then shoved the box under the newspaper in his basket. Next time he was going to go to a warehouse store far from home. ** June 3rd, 2002 "Hey, Mulder, can I talk to you?" "Sure." He dropped the book with relief. There was only the rest of the day that they were expected to 'research' the pests before they were allowed to finally go to Maryland the following night. Coincidentally, it was only before the end of the day that Mulder had before he lost his mind from boredom too. If they were smart like Reyes, they would have gone off to the library too. "Has Monica said anything to you about Barbara and me?" Mulder gave him a blank look. "Like what?" "I told her a couple weeks ago that Barb and I had gotten back together, and she's never brought it up." "Why would she?" Mulder asked. He wondered if Doggett realized that Reyes had been hung up on him, after all. "We're friends. I thought she'd have an opinion about it, is all." "Maybe she does." Mulder agreed. "But she's had a lot on her mind lately." Or so he imagined. "Oh, okay." Doggett sounded a bit disappointed. "Why, were you hoping she thought it was a good idea, or a bad one?" "I didn't have either reaction in mind, really. Just wondered if anyone cared." Mulder hid a smile; Doggett sounded sixteen, so it made him happy he wasn't the only one acting immaturely lately. "If you want people to care, you've got to make them realize that you care." "What do you mean?" "How many people know you and Barbara are back together?" "Um…" "Exactly." Doggett shook his head. "It's just…it's probably my imagination, but I thought she was into me. I had this weird dream about talking to her about a relationship a while back and everything." Mulder decided to be merciful. "Okay, let me be straight with you. I think she was interested in you, but it passed." He felt like he was back in high school all over again. But, as a testament to his actual age, he didn't add a brag that Reyes had found greener pastures. "I hope so." Doggett replied. "Because Barbara and I are toying with the idea of renewing our vows in a few months." For just a moment, Mulder's conviction that she was completely over Doggett wavered, but he didn't let on. ** June 4th, 2002 Mulder supposed that it was because he'd built it up in his mind, but their first night in the field for the aughisky case just wasn't that exciting. It mostly involved hiding amongst the trees and crouching down a lot to make themselves unnoticeable. It made him very thankful that they'd chosen to only stake-out the three hour window that the medical examiner said all the deaths occurred within, rather than the whole night. He'd had a hard enough time making himself request that the gunmen look after William for that long, never mind the whole night. For reasons only known to himself, Doggett suggested that they split into pairs, and each watch a side of the lake. He even volunteered to be paired with agent Harrison, who'd surprised Mulder and Doggett both by wanting to be involved in the case after her horrible time in the field before. Kersh approved it without a peep of protest, leading Mulder to wonder if Harrison had some dirt on their boss, and if she was black-mailing him. Doggett volunteering to be paired with the woman, he thought he might be able to understand. Although Doggett would never admit that it dictated any of his actions, it was quite clear he'd received the upbringing of a southern gentleman that the romance novels were so fond of. Chivalrous attitudes dictated that leaving ladies, even armed ones, by themselves at night wasn't the thing to do, so he and Mulder weren't going to be watching together. And given that he was clearly concerned about Reyes' thoughts about his reconciliation with his wife, he could see how the opportunity of three hours of quiet conversation would not appeal. So Harrison was the logical choice. This left Mulder with a problem. There he and Reyes were, hunkered down out of sight from the other agents and everyone else... It fueled his imagination, and made him ponder any number of actions that would lead to dismissal if witnessed. It was funny, but when they'd first gotten there he'd noticed a bite in the air, but it had gotten a lot warmer. Except that Reyes seemed to be shivering. Puzzled, he peeled of his jacket and held it out to her. "Take this, you look like you're freezing." "Aren't you cold?" "No, I've been sweltering all night. I really don't need a jacket." He half expected her to touch his forehead to see if he had a fever, but instead she just gave him a doubtful look. "If you're sure you're not going to freeze..." "I'm positive." He assured her, adding to himself that if he started to cool off, all he needed to do was ponder what they could get away with on duty without getting fired. Uh...she fell in the water. Wasn't breathing. Had to give her mouth to mouth… ** Frowning, Mulder turned to Reyes. "Are you feeling restless too?" "I'm feeling pain." Reyes told him. "I think my calves are going to freeze in this position and I'm going to scuttle around like a crab for the rest of my life." "Can't have that." Mulder said, pulling her to her feet. She groaned. "Let's find a new spot to observe from. Maybe we can find one with a stump or rock to sit on to give our legs a rest." "She pointed her flashlight a short distance away."Like that fallen log?" He calculated how much foliage surrounded it to offer camouflage, then nodded. "That looks like it will do nicely." Mulder grabbed Reyes' arm when she stumbled. "Hey, are you okay?" "Yeah, I just tripped over something..." She directed her flashlight down towards their feet, then quickly pulled away from Mulder and crashed a few yards through the undergrowth. He winced a little when he heard her throw up, but with his own unruly stomach, he couldn't blame her. Yanking out his walkie talkie, he tried to get the others' attention. "Doggett? Harrison? This surveillance is over for the night." Doggett's voice came back to him. "Why?" "We started too late. Reyes just stumbled over a body. Literally." "Jesus. Are you sure the victim was killed earlier tonight?" "Um..." He looked down at the remains. "I don't have a lot to go on, here. The ME will undoubtedly be able to tell us more." "Okay. We'll join you ASAP." "Good." Listening to Reyes retching, he steeled himself for another quick look at the body, and wondered if he had time to throw up too before Doggett rejoined them. ** Chapter 18 June 5th, 2002 The medical examiner had information for them by the following afternoon. It was somewhat to their relief to find out that they had not, in fact, stumbled over a murder that had been committed shortly before they arrived. It seemed that the victim had been killed several days, were even a week earlier. "God damn Kersh, if he hadn't made us do all that stupid research we might have been able to catch this thing before killed this last person." Mulder grumbled. Although Reyes nodded in agreement, she was really trying to do her best to block out the mental image of the scattered body parts, because every time she thought of them her stomach roiled in revolt. She'd seen bodies before, but just not in quite so many pieces. A foot here, a bicep there, it didn't surprise her that the thought made her ill. "You're looking a little green there, agent Reyes." Agent Harrison noted. She'd stop by the office to find out the ME had a cause of death for them yet. Reyes waved one hand dismissively. "I just can't get that image out of my head. Makes me want to bleach my brain." "Hmm. Glad I didn't get better look at it." "Him." Mulder said sharply. "What?" "The victim was a young man, not an it." "Oh." Agent Harrison looks startled. "I didn't mean anything-" "I know you didn't, but you can't do that. Distancing yourself from the victim is no way to motivate yourself to discover a killer. You have to keep reminding yourself that victims had names, and lives, before they were taken away…even if it makes it hurt more." "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." Agent Harrison muttered. Reyes started at Mulder, startled by his passionate rebuking of a fellow agent. Harrison was younger, but she was an adult, their equal, not a child in need of a scolding. He knew that, but his feelings had obviously overpowered his logic. Was it Scully he was reminded of by every victim in there cases, she wondered. Or was the association even older, going back to his missing sister? Frowning a little, she thought that must be it. Not everything could be about Scully. "-need to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else." Mulder was saying when she realized that the conversation had moved on without her. "Of course." Doggett agreed. "Surveillance tonight, then?" She agreed when the others did, even though the mere thought made her weary. A nap as soon as the got home was definitely in order. ** A few hours later When Reyes woke up, she heard music. In the living room Mulder was sitting on the couch, his head back and his eyes closed. Your hands on me; pressing hard against your jeans Your tongue in my mouth, trying to keep the words from coming out You didn't care to know who else may have been you before "What are you listening to?" She asked, making him open his eyes. "I'm not sure." Mulder picked up the CD case and read it. "I guess the band is called Bright Eyes." "Funny, but this isn't the type of music I see you buying." I want a lover I don't have to love. I want a girl who's too sad to give a fuck. Where is the kid with the chemicals? I thought he said to meet him here, but I'm not sure I got the money if you've got the time "You're right, it's not. One of my cases took me to Idaho back in the early nineties, and I met a couple of kids, real stoners. The boy got in touch with me a while ago, seems that he cleaned up and is now a DJ. And apparently this CD is an advance copy and won't be released in stores until August. I think it amuses him to send something of questionable legality to an FBI agent." Mulder looked amused too. "Still, it was nice of him to send it to you." "Yeah, it was. And I think I actually do like this song." Love's an excuse to get hurt and to hurt Do you like to hurt? I do, I do then hurt me.. then hurt me... then hurt me... Reyes yawned. "When's the babysitter supposed to get here?" "In about fifteen minutes." He gave her a long look. "You still look tired." She yawned again. "Some of us don't do real well with spending half-days in the office and half the night out in the field." "My sleep cycle has been screwed up most of my life, so it doesn't really make much of a difference to me." "Well, lucky you." When someone knocked on the door she reached over and turned off the CD player while he got the door. The song is "Lover I Don't Have to Love" by Bright Eyes. I like the cover by Bettie Serveert better, but it didn't exist in 2002. ** Spring peepers and crickets chorused all over the night, but neither Mulder nor Reyes could hear anything larger. They crouched for the second time, keeping an eye out for potential victims, and their elusive killer. Bored, Reyes decided to break up the monotony by speaking quietly. "Mulder?" "Hmm?" "Who do I complain to about being required to wear FBI approved attire in the field?" "Kersh, I'd imagine. He's the one who decided to enforce that." "I'd like to get him out here in a skirt." "Kinky." "Ha. After an hour of having wind blow up his skirt I'm sure he'd change his tune damn quick." "I'm sure you're right, but if it's all the same to you, I'm going to shoot myself in the head to get the image of Kersh wearing a skirt out of my mind." "Aww man, here I thought you'd make some suggestions about how to keep me warm, and I've got you contemplating suicide instead." "Funny how life turns out like that some times. Besides, we're working." "Uh huh, that's exactly what's on your mind." Reyes smirked. To her surprise, he grabbed her hand. "You really are cold." "It's not even 50 degrees out and I'm wearing a stupid skirt. You do the math." "Maybe you should invest in those old-fashioned bloomers." Mulder suggested with a straight face. "The ones with the leggings? Believe me, I'm thinking about it." Reyes said before sinking into silence. "Um…I think you should stop doing that." Mulder said in a strangled voice two or three minutes later. About to ask "what" she realized what he meant. Although she hadn't really been conscious of it, she'd been stroking his palm with her thumb since he'd taken her hand. "Oh, sorry. Did I hurt your hand somehow?" "No, not hurt." He said as soon as she dropped her hand. Realization hit her when she noticed that he was squirming. "I thought you were thinking about work." "I was, but you were making it difficult." "How?" She asked, attempting to sound completely innocent. "Repetitive up down motion… like you said 'you connect the dots.'" "I think I said 'you do the math' but…really? I guess we can't take William to the amusement park, then." "What?" "The merry go round, Mulder. Although I think there are some without horses that go up and down, up and-" "Stop that!" Although she knew she should, she didn't. Needling was just too much fun, and he didn't really seem upset by her teasing. ** Something crashed through the undergrowth, quite near by. "What the hell was that?" Mulder toppled over and landed on his butt. It might have amused her to see him land like William did while attempting to walk, and she was tempted to tease him about "your new center of balance," but her pulse was racing as she looked around, trying to see it again. Because she had seen it, out of the corner of her eye. All she had caught was long legs and the flow of something like a mane. Next to her Mulder already had his gun out, and he was looking for the target too. "I think it's gone." Reyes whispered when there had been nothing but their breath for over a minute. "Mulder?" The sudden sound at her waist nearly made her gun. "Reyes?" She fumbled for the walkie-talkie. "Is it over there, Doggett?" "No, it got by us. I think it's heading your way." "It's come and gone." Reyes told him. "Do you think we scared it away?" Doggett's disembodied voice asked. Mulder requested the walkie-talkie, so Reyes handed it to him. "The way it was moving, I don't think it'll be back tonight." "Gotcha. We're going to come around to you, then." "Do you really think it's gone?" Reyes asked, as they listened to Doggett and Harrison tramp through the trees a couple of minutes later. "It seemed pretty spooked, just taking off like that without attacking anyone." "What do you say?" Doggett called once he was in sight. "Should we call it a night." "Yes, let's." Mulder agreed, and Reyes wondered if she was the only one who detected the note of eagerness in his voice. ** It wasn't until Doggett and Harrison left that Reyes discovered that her coy teasing had not be lost on Mulder. A pleasant surprise, because she hadn't thought he had it in him to take this sort of risk. "I need you so badly." He growled into her ear, and when he leaned across her to kiss her, she could feel the heat and hardness of his erection up against her leg. "So hard to be professional...thought they'd never leave." He muttered. "We're not on duty now." She told him with a smile. He responded by hauling her onto his lap and pawing at her clothes. Wearing a skirt had some advantages after all, she mused. Although the steering wheel bit into her back, she could ignore it in favor of the other things she felt, like Mulder's warm hands around her waist while he moved inside of her - The glare of headlights started them both, and Reyes jumped off his lap and back onto her seat despite his frustrated groan of protest. Ignoring that, she buttoned up her shirt with shaky fingers and thrust her underwear under the seat. She made herself glance quickly at Mulder's lap, and gave a sigh of relief that'd he'd made himself presentable too. There'd be no story at the water cooler the next day about how Spooky Mulder had been caught with his dick out - literally. She didn't even want to think about where the now unseen condom had ended up. When the rap on the driver's side window came, Mulder affected a bored look and rolled down his window. "Can I help you, officer, or are you interrupting an FBI stakeout for fun?" His voice dripped with arrogant condescension. The cop wasn't an idiot, and was clearly annoyed by what probably seemed like an unwarranted attitude. "Stakeout, huh? I'm going to need to see some ID." Both agents flashed their badges, and the police officer reluctantly offered a sullen apology for "interfering with a case." Then he stalked back to his cruiser and drove off. Reyes swatted Mulder on the arm. "What?" He asked, his expression very like William's when he knew he was being naughty. "Did you have to be such an asshole to the cop?" "Yes." He grinned when she stared at him. "I have a reputation to maintain. I doubt he had time to read our badges, but if he did he'd expect by reputation to have FBI agent Mulder treat him like a smug prick." "It was a fine performance, Mulder. I'm sure that's the exact impression he took away with him." Reyes giggled softly. He turned the engine over and said, "Put your seatbelt on. Let's go home before another bored cop decides to investigate this car for public fornication." "Huh. I guess I was right to peg you for the type to worry about being caught." Mulder shrugged. "This cop didn't think to ask how we could survey anything with steamed up windows, and we might not get lucky twice." "Too bad we didn't think to requisition some night goggles, huh?" She asked. "They'd of been practical and provide an explanation." "Wait, are you suggesting that we could have done that? How'd you find out that there are night goggles to requisition?" "Kimberly is a fount of useful information. You should join us for lunch some time." ** Mulder nearly screamed in frustration when he realized that as soon as they got home he was going to be right back out the door. William's babysitter Kerry was a nice kid, but she was a freshman in college, and her college didn't allow freshmen to have cars on campus. The bus she took to get to Mulder's apartment did its last run at ten, so she needed a ride home. William was sound asleep when they got home, so Mulder was able to gently rush Kerry out the door. They made polite small talk, but his mind was elsewhere, so later on he wondered if his answers to her questions made any sense at all. She didn't seem upset when he dropped her off at her dorm, so he supposed he hadn't said anything too bemusing. "Thanks a lot for watching William." He remembered to tell her out the window as she was walking away. "Any time, he's a doll." Waving good-bye, Mulder wondered how fast he could drive home without endangering anyone or getting busted by the cops for the second time in one night. It was the longest fifteen minute drive he'd had in a while. And in the end it turned out to be all for naught. By the time he got home, Reyes was sleeping as soundly as William. Shaking his head slightly, Mulder decided to take a very through shower. ** As Mulder stood under the warm pulsing water and cleaned up the mess he'd just made, something Reyes said came back to him. "I guess I was right to peg you for the type to worry about being caught." Was that true, he wondered for a second before forcing himself to admit that it was. The reason he was so eager to keep his sexual relationship with Reyes to himself was that he was worried about what people would think when they found out. A small voice at the back of his mind, one not subject to reason, insisted that anyone who found out would condemn him for cheating on Scully. Scully was dead, but it still felt like cheating. He knew it was irrational, even unhealthy, to have that attitude, but he couldn't shake it. Sighing, he turned off the water and wondered if it was a good or bad thing that despite the guilt he was able to continue his relationship with Reyes. Worry nibbled at him, insisting that the fact that she allowed him to keep it under wraps was letting him take longer to deal with his issues. Grimacing at himself, he decided that he couldn't put any of the blame on her. He'd have to cure himself – by telling someone what was going on when he and Reyes were alone. Who to tell was the thing he pondered as he climbed into bed. It would require some deep thought and careful consideration. Worries pushed aside for the moment, he was soon asleep too. ** June 9th, 2002 Sunday morning "Do you need anything at the store?" Mulder looked up that Reyes, but his pause caused William to squeal in irritation-Mulder had been helping him "walk." "What? No, I'm okay. I can't think of anything I need right now." "Mine if I leave the squirt here?" "Go ahead." As soon as Mulder was out the door, Reyes scooped William up and put them in his playpen. He began to whine immediately. "I'll take you out when I get out of the bathroom." Reyes smiled thinly, realizing that Mulder's explanations to his young son rubbing off on her. Three minutes later she made good on her promise. However, she was too distracted to notice how happy that made William. Instead she paced the living room. Don't turn blue, don't turn blue, it can't be blue, don't be blue- A short time later she picked an object up, looked at it, then calmly carried it into her room and set it on her dresser. Mindful that William was loose, she hurried back to him. "Moni!" He crowed in delight when she sat on the floor and began to play with him. The two of them were still stacking letter blocks when Mulder got home. "Was he good?" Mulder asked as he stacked cans in a cabinet. "Sure. He really likes knocking down blocks if you make a tower for him." "I'm afraid he's going to be disappointed when he grows up and figures out that Godzilla isn't a viable career choice." When he didn't get to laugh, he looked away from the groceries. "You're awfully quiet." "I'm just tired." She got to her feet. "I'm going to go back to bed." "Okay." She didn't notice his look of surprise when she headed for her room instead of his. ** After Mulder put William down for a midmorning nap, he spread out the notes he'd taken on the aughisky, and began to systematically compare them to the medical examiner's report. Reading the man's judiciously chosen words made Mulder sigh in frustration. The old saw about not realizing how valuable something is until it's gone struck a chord with him then. It wasn't until he had lost Scully's expertise with a scalpel that he realized just how much easier it made his work... or how much he'd taken her work for granted. Whatever her doubts about a case, she had never manipulated her findings to put herself in a better light. Unlike, it seemed to be the case with the ME they were working with at present. He threw the report on the table with a disgusted sigh. A moment later his stomach growled, prompting him to look at the clock. To his astonishment, it was nearly 2 PM. Casting a look at Reyes closed door, he got up to make a sandwich and debated if he ought to see if she was hungry. In the end he decided against it, figuring that bothering her would do more harm than good if she was ill. * * She wasn't really asleep. Instead she was lying on her bed, staring at the wall. Although her face was blank, her mind was going a mile a minute. A little blue line changed everything. Absolutely everything. She curled up on her side and tried to imagine Mulder's reaction when she told him - and she would have to tell him. All she could think of were the extremes. He'd scream and accuse, maybe demand she move out and be sent to another division of the FBI. Or the flip side of the coin: he'd be thrilled beyond belief and pull out a ring he'd been waiting for the right moment to give her. And she didn't know which scenario scared her more. The rest of the time she scolded herself for being so impulsive. Though people often lamented that hindsight is 20-20, she still felt as though she should have anticipated what had happened. It was obvious from that baby book she found that he was still grieving enough to have fallen apart at the one-year mark. And she thought that she might well have wanted to comfort him that night, even if Doggett hadn't dropped the bombshell that had her craving solace as well. She should have known, should have taken precautions... Rolling over, she decided that the one thing she couldn't claim was that this turn of events put a damper on the plans she'd made for her life. She didn't have any. Instead she'd spent the greater part of the last two years living in the moment. That's why she'd agreed to leave New Orleans to take part in Doggett's aborted attempt to investigate Kersh. It was why she made the impulsive offer to help care for William, and why she barely sought to spend time with any men besides her coworkers; living with Mulder and William was so comfortable and easy that it made her complacent. Somewhere along the line her desire to make any long-term plans had wandered off, and she'd yet to attempt tracking it down. Now she was going to have to. Eventually worry exhausted her and she fell into a deep sleep. Every dream involved raising William. ** June 11th, 2002 9pm "Drop it now!" Her heart in her throat, Reyes watched as the net floated down in what seemed like slow motion. It was never going to work. She could see that clearly, even if Mulder and Doggett didn't. The idea had seemed completely insane to her when Doggett had proposed it hours earlier, and the look on Harrison's face suggested that she too thought that the effort was going to prove to be futile. Now, however, both women were rapidly being proven wrong. It had actually worked. The horse, or what was passing for one, was tangled in the net that had suddenly dropped down on it, and it pawed at the rope, shrieking in fury. There was a flurry of bark as Mulder and Doggett descended the trees they'd been hiding in with more agility than she'd expected from either of them. "Doctor Shaw!" Doggett yelled as he and Mulder struggled to keep the animal from getting free of its bindings. "We need you now!" "Coming!" The vet shouted back. While he ran he clumsily filled a syringe from a small glass bottle, and Reyes was afraid that he was going to stick himself with the tranquilizer rather than the horse. To everyone's relief, he managed to keep the needle out of his own body long enough to inject the horse. It was a short reprise, however, because the horse continued to thrash beneath the net, showing no sign of being tranquilized. ** Basement office Seven hours earlier "So I went by the site this morning, and I realized something." Doggett began before Mulder interrupted him. "This morning? Did you sleep at all? You know we're supposed to sleep during the day when we do stakeouts at night." " Yes Dad, I know, and I did. I meant around eleven in the morning. Anyway, I noticed something – the hoof prints." "What about them?" Reyes asked blankly. They'd all seen them, so he couldn't just mean that he'd seen them that morning. "There are all in the same place. New hoof prints cross over old ones, at least three times." Mulder's eyes lit up. "So you're saying the, whatever it is, takes the same trail through the trees?" "I think it must. And it's smart, too. It must try to stay to where prints won't stick, because the hoof prints trail off into needles and fallen leaves." Doggett explained. "If it could jump over the fifteen feet of bare dirt, I don't think we would have been able to find any trace of it at all." Mulder slammed the palm of one hand onto the top of his desk. "This is great, we can really use this information." Doggett looked pleased as well. "I thought so." "Where these prints are, do you recall there being any trees?" Mulder asked. "Of course. There are trees everywhere." "Ones we can climb, I mean." Neither man noticed Reyes' alarmed look, but she knew that Harrison did. Giving the woman a wan smile, she hoped that Harrison just thought she wasn't a fan of tree climbing. "Sure." "So what we'll do is climb up a couple of trees with a weighted net, and drop it down on him when he walks by." "That, um, sounds a little far fetched." Harrison protested weakly. "Do you have a better idea?" Mulder asked, but nicely. "Short of finding a blow gun, I'm not sure there's a better way to do this." Doggett told her. "Besides, just Doggett and I will be climbing the trees. We need you two to be our look outs." "So suppose this plan does work, what happens after the... after it's caught up in the net?" Reyes asked. "Hopefully not it kicking the crap out of us." "Nah. I'm pretty sure the gunmen can hook us up with a sci-fi loving vet who would be willing come out in the middle of the night to work on something foolish and dangerous." "Way to characterize our work." Reyes rolled her eyes. "I'm nothing if not honest." Mulder said, affecting a humble air. For some reason, no one seemed to believe him. ** 9:10pm Under the net, the horse, or maybe it really was an aughisky like Harrison thought since it did seem to be preternaturally strong, bucked and snorted. Mulder, Doggett and doctor Shaw did their level best to keep the net down, and near by Harrison looked on helplessly. Reyes wanted to help them, but she was afraid to. Normally as rough and tumble as any agent, she was gripped by the terror that a well placed kick to her belly would take away what she wasn't even sure she was anticipating yet. Happy or not, she didn't want to take the risk. That fear kept her rooted to the spot. Ten heartbeats later it was all over. The creature snorted one last time, then its eyes rolled back into its head. It completely shut down. Reyes almost felt bad for it, the way she did for King Kong when he had finally been subdued in the old black and white film. She continued to stand back as Doggett and Mulder talked excitedly, and one of them called someone to get the animal. Even Harrison regained her animation as she crouched down and pulled off a dangling hunk of fur, and sealed it up in a specimen bag. What she thought was strange was that no one noticed that she wasn't doing anything. They were all completely absorbed in what they were doing, and she got the sense that she could have stripped naked and done the chicken dance, with no one noticing. No one at all seemed to realize that she'd committed a crime of inaction. On the way home that night she didn't say a word, and if Mulder thought it was strange, he didn't make light of it. Instead he talked excitedly about the case being closed, and he was still talking about it when she went to get ready for bed. ** chapter 19 June 12th, 2002 6:30am Mulder was trying to figure out a seven-letter word for fifteen down when Reyes joined him in the kitchen. Even though he didn't consider himself very good at assessing people's health a glance, even he could tell she still didn't feel well. "I could tell you had trouble sleeping last night. You tossed and turned. I made coffee-" "I'm pregnant." After three days of carefully scripting ways to tell him, in the end she'd just blurt it out. Her worry about being hurt and losing the baby without him even knowing it existed had festered all night, until she was opening her mouth without forethought. It might not have been the wisest move, but she couldn't bear to shoulder the knowledge alone any longer. He put down his paper. "Oh." At first he thought to protest that he'd bought condoms, but then it occurred to them that birth control hadn't been on either of their minds the first time. It was sort of ironic – he could have saved himself the agony of shopping for it later, given it hadn't made a difference. In the back of his mind his brain played dialogue from various movies that lamented about girls getting pregnant their first time. "Yes, 'Oh.' You're not going to ask me if it was on purpose?" She asked with a note of challenge in her voice. "Um, no. I didn't figure that it was." "Damn right it wasn't. Getting pregnant out of wedlock was definitely not one of my life goals." Reyes said sourly. She didn't bother to add that she had few goals, so it definitely hadn't been one. "Have you, um, given any thought to what you want to... do?" He asked nervously. "I don't believe in abortion." She said sharply. Mulder gave her a shocked look. "I wasn't suggesting...! I meant about you and I. We could act like this doesn't change anything. Or we could get married." The silence filled the kitchen. "You didn't marry Scully." "She wasn't the marrying type." "But you think I am?" "You're not Scully." "I'm glad you're aware of that." Her voice was flat. Unfriendly. "That's not fair." "Isn't it?" "No, it isn't. That you'd even think that makes me wonder about whether or not I'm just a substitute for Doggett." Mulder said a little heatedly and something like jealousy danced in his eyes. "Don't think that I don't realize that you never would have come to me if John Doggett hadn't gone back to his wife. I know full well that I'm just a consolation prize." The bitterness in his voice made her feel ashamed. She could deny what he said for the next hour, but they would both still know the truth in the end. Flapping her hands, she asked. "So what does arguing about this prove? That we've both been using each other to get what we need? Neither of us his blameless in this and neither of us is an innocent victim here." Mulder looked weary and contrite. "You're right, arguing about who used who isn't going to get us anywhere. What we should be doing is thinking about the real innocent victim here, the kid whose parents thoughtlessly created it." "Our baby doesn't have to be a victim." She said quietly. "He or she doesn't ever need to know that it started like this." "No…it's not as though we don't get along, right?" Mulder said stoically. "There's no bad blood to put aside or anything. It'll work out fine." Sure, Reyes thought. Just as long as you ignored the fact that neither of the baby's parents was in love with the other. Mulder kissed her on the cheek. "Every thing is going to be okay." "Right." More than anything, she wanted to believe him. "Promise me one thing." Mulder requested. "What's that?" "We save ourselves some money on therapy by never mentioning to William that his younger sibling was conceived on his first birthday." "You've got a deal." ** Hover building Mid-morning It had taken almost an hour of talking to clueless insurance administrators to set up a doctor's appointment for Reyes' first prenatal visit. Her GYN wasn't an OB/GYN so there had to be referrals…Listening to the terse exchange, Mulder thought Reyes had been very close to shouting at the fourth person who told her that they'd perform another pregnancy test in the office instead of giving her more important information - like the date of the appointment. He thought that she looked like she had a headache when she hung up the phone, and was on the verge of offering her some Advil when he realized that he had no idea which drugs were okay to take while pregnant and which weren't. Most weren't, a voice in the back of his head insisted, but he wasn't sure if it was a voice backed by knowledge or innate paranoia. Instead he did the best to keep William quiet on the drive into work, figuring that it would be best to not add to a headache that couldn't be cured. He couldn't tell if she noticed. Unlike most mornings, William seemed happy to be going to daycare, so Mulder felt good about that as he and Reyes walked away. Maybe there was hope that William might start to like some of the other kids there, not just Joel. He made a mental note to look up the development of childhood friendships in his psych books. They were almost to the door of their office when she grabbed his arm. "Don't say anything to Doggett." She hissed. "Okay." Mulder agreed. "We'll wait as long as you want to." Her fingers relaxed and she let her hand drop away. "Thank you. It's just too soon." "Right." As soon as they stepped through the door, Doggett flashed them an irritated look. "Where have you been?" "Car trouble." Mulder lied smoothly. "Ever had it?" "Yeah…wish you'd called to let me know you were running late, though." Doggett grumbled. "The lab called right after I got here this morning." "And?" Reyes asked. "Don't keep us in suspense. What did the lab say?" Mulder added. "For one they hope we never give them an animal to study again. The guy on the phone muttered something about a liver fluke, but that doesn't sound like much to bellyache about. "Anyway, they've done some preliminary tests on it. The thing doesn't match the DNA of any horse breed they have in their database." "I knew it!" Mulder crowed. "The way it fought, it couldn't be a normal horse." "There's more." Doggett told them. "Since we told them that we suspected it in deaths, and had partially eaten corpse, they evacuated its stomach contents." "And?" "And it threw up meat. Are you okay, Monica? You're looking a little green." After she nodded, he said, "That has the lab guys all freaked out. They don't know what sort of meat yet, but horses aren't supposed to eat any kind at all..." "It's beginning to sound a lot like agent Harrison was right." Reyes remarked. "What happens to the... animal if she is?" Mulder shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. But being released back into the wild won't be one of the options." "That makes me kind of sad." She replied. "Why?" Doggett looked faintly disgusted. "It's just that it was free, and now it's not, because of us." "And it's not eating people anymore because of us, too." Mulder pointed out. "So I consider it a reasonable trade off. It's not like this is a gentle little kitten we're talking about." "I guess." Doggett smirked at Mulder. "Spoken like a man who has never owned a cat. They've got sharp claws and sharp teeth." "Remind me to practice saying no before it occurs to William to ask for a pet." "Nah, you could get him a turtle. Nothing sharp on them." As soon as the words were out of Doggett's mouth, Mulder began to laugh to himself. He had a vivid mental picture of his year-old son trying to cram his pet into his mouth. For the turtle's sake it'd better be a big one. ** That night Reyes decided to call her mother and give her the good news before she lost her nerve. It was possible that her mother might take the news well - after all the fact that Paulo and his wife had decided against children was something Neva counted as a black mark against him - so she must want grandchildren. Still, she tried not to let her optimism infect her as she dialed the number. "Hola?" Neva's voice sounded slightly suspicious, making Reyes wonder if her mother actually used the caller ID. "Mama, I'm getting married and you're going to be grandmother." Reyes said in a rush. "Things worked out between you and Juan, after all?" Neva eagerly asked. Reyes took a deep breath. "No mama." "But you are pregnant?" Her mother sounded confused. "And getting married." "Yes mama." "Then who...?" "Fox." There was silence on the other end of the line. Reyes tried for joke. "You know how they tell you that you get pregnant on the first time? I never believed that until now - it only took one time." "Dios mios! How did I raise such a hija tonta?" "Mother!" It was the first time her mother ever called her fool. "Es la verdad!" Neva swore it was true. "And I suppose if I told you I was pregnant by John and marrying him instead you'd be thrilled?" Reyes asked sarcastically. "Mejor tan eso." Her mother muttered. For a moment Reyes wanted to scream at her mother and ask why it would be better than this, but sense prevailed. This was not the time to alienate herself from her mother. "I'm sorry I disappointed you." Effort or not her voice was still cold. "I never wanted this for you." "You never wanted me to be a mother?" "No no. I never intended for you to be tangled up taking care of someone you're not in love with and his baby, then getting pregnant so you have to stay. Just like one of those mail-order brides." "You think I have to stay?" "What else would you do?" Neva asked impatiently. Reyes shook her head. Her mother's ideas came out of the dark ages. "I could raise the baby on my own. I don't like the implication that Fox somehow orchestrated this as a way to keep me from leaving." "How do you know he didn't?" "That first time I mentioned... it was my idea." "Or that's what he wanted you think." Her mother said darkly. "Mama, enough." Reyes said. "I'll talk to you another time." When her mother didn't protest, she hung up. As soon as she put the receiver in the cradle, she realized that her mother would hold something she hadn't said against her- she never corrected her mother's statement 'you're not in love with'. Damn her for seeing things in black and white, Reyes thought bitterly. She'd been six years old when she learned what her mother's name meant. They'd been having class one warm fall day, and she'd been wearing a pastel plaid sundress that Neva made her. Bored, Reyes had drawn one leg up, sitting on it and tangling it in her dress. "Today in science we're going to learn about the weather." The teacher had droned. The little girl hadn't paid attention to her until the woman put up a slide. In the picture a white substance covered a house. "Who can tell me what this is?" A little boy in the front of the room waved his hand. "It's snow!" But since he was speaking Spanish, he'd used a form of the Spanish word for it – Neva. "That's right, Miguel! Has anyone here ever seen snow?" All but one or two kids said no. Reyes wasn't one of them, but not because she'd seen it. She hadn't said anything at all because she was still struck on the fact that her mother's name meant something. She wondered if Monica had any secret meaning to it too. As an adult she'd learned that her own name meant " advisor", and she'd come to a conclusion about her mother's name – it was a perfect fit. Cold, crystalline, alternatingly anticipated and unwanted. It summed up her mother and her infernal opinions all right. ** The next afternoon The view through the lens made everything seem small and rounded. A faint noise and an annoying green light that shone in his eye when he moved his head the wrong way indicated that the video camera was running. "Wave to Grandma, Will." Mulder encouraged his son. William ignored him, intent on taking wobbly steps towards his object of adoration – Mulder's new camera. The very first time the baby had attempted to walk towards anything in particular, it had been so he could try to get the camera away from his father. "Tell Grandma that you're going to be a photographer, or maybe a film director when you grow up." Grinning at him, William merely said "Dada" as if trying to convey what would in his teenage years come out as a much aggrieved, "Dad, please." As soon as William had threatened to become mobile on twos instead of all fours, Mulder had rushed out and bought the camera. Maggie deserved to see her little grandson's milestones. And for the movie Mulder dressed William in the sky blue outfit that Maggie had sent for his birthday. It was tasteful and matched the little boy's eyes. Switching off the camera, Mulder said softly, "Will, tell Grandma that you're going to be a big brother." He wished William would, since he had no idea how he was going to tell Maggie. Maybe he wouldn't. Uncle Bill would be most unimpressed, Mulder realized. During a solitary moment, Mulder had mulled over that idea – William was going to be an older brother. For nearly the first forty years of Mulder's life, he'd been childless. None of the women he'd been involved with before Scully had ever, to his knowledge anyway, even suffered a pregnancy scare, much less had a child with him. And here he was now, having fathered two children by different women in less than two years. In black and white it sounded rather sordid, but there were fine nuances to his life. He just wondered if anyone would notice them, or just tut at him like he ought to be a guest on a seedy talk show. "Come on, Will. It's time to find Monica so we can make her pick a place to order dinner from." Completely obvious to his father's mental gymnastics, William took careful steps until he was tottering into Mulder's outstretched hands. ** Things became less tense between Mulder and Reyes a couple of days later. It just took until they were comfortable with the idea of the change in their lives. "I had a realization." Mulder said. He held a mug, one decorated with a candy cane, in one hand and a pot of coffee in the other. "That you're the only one who can drink that stuff? That maybe we ought to have put away the seasonal glassware?" "You say that like you believe that coffee would really stunt William's growth if I gave him some in his sippy cup." Mulder teased. "Actually your second guess was closer. I realized that the Scullys probably won't be inviting us for Christmas this year, considering-" "Considering that you knocked someone else up?" Reyes asked wryly. "Well, I was going to say 'marrying' but yeah." "They'll get over it." Mulder nodded, but he had his doubts. ** "So…" Mulder said a few nights later. "Getting married. Any ideas about when and where?" "As soon as possible, and by a justice of the peace." Reyes said firmly. "You're sure that you don't want a big to do? Or even a small church gathering with friends and family?" Mulder sounded surprised. "What family?" She asked pointedly. "I hate to pour salt in a wound, but William is your only family. My mother doesn't approve, and I doubt like hell I'd coax my brother into coming to the states to watch me get married. And friends… a nice wedding with loved ones around seems like the sort of thing that only people deeply in love should subject their friends to. Besides, getting married in a church was never something I've ever really aspired to." Reyes told him with a shrug. The fact that she didn't mince words but was rather blunt about the fact that they weren't marrying for love gave him a pang he couldn't quite define. That wasn't what he wanted to discuss, however. "What did you aspire to?" "In regards to getting married?" "In regards to anything." He said wryly. "You've never been terribly forthcoming about what you've wanted out of life." "It's hard to be talkative on a subject when you have nothing to say." "I don't buy that. You can't have lived your whole life day by day with no thoughts towards the future or what you wanted to accomplish." "Yeah… I used to have a plan. It didn't work out." His gaze pieced her, so she gave him a half smile and went on. "When I was a kid, I had my whole life mapped out. Graduate from high school at eighteen, graduate from college at twenty-two, marry at twenty-three, have my first child at twenty-five… The first two things were easy enough, and after college I lost touch with the last two in light of other things. But I had plans, I had goals…until a couple of years ago." "Tell me what happened." Mulder prompted her. "Like I said, the first two things on the list were easy. After a college I spent a year 'finding myself' and found that I needed to go to Quantico. I was going to make people's lives better, and solve crime so they could have some piece of mind. For a while, all though the first couple of years of being supervised, I thought I was actually accomplishing something. Did you know that I didn't work on my first case involving a dead child until Luke Doggett died? That's not the type of mortality you want to be confronted with at age twenty-five." She looked up to see if he was paying attention, and he was. Even William had stopped beating his stuffed bear on the floor to listen. "So after a few months of soul searching, I decided to ask to be transferred to New Orleans to work on cases that were related to the occult. That's what my education was a background in, anyway. I liked the work. Most of it didn't involve dead people at all, and when it did, it wasn't children. The only thing that annoyed me was that so few of the cases were anything but crimes dressed up in the occult. That probably sounds strange, but I wanted proof that the things I'd grown up believing in were real, and it wasn't all just people being unfathomably evil." "I can understand not wanting to believe all the evil in the world is caused by people." Mulder said softly. "So I did that quite happily for a long long time. But don't get me wrong, I was ambitious. I was going to make AD of my division before my 40th birthday. Every step I made was weighted - would this be the right thing to do in order to advance my career in the direction I wanted it to take? Then one case two years ago changed all of that." "Moni!" William squealed, interrupting her and holding out his arms to be held. Smiling at the baby, she pulled him and Bear up on her lap. "The series of murders were the most grisly I've seen. The victims…it was very clear that they suffered. The surprise and pain was etched onto their faces, which were about the only parts of them unmarred when we got to them. Maybe it's perverse, but I thought I'd finally found proof. These murders, there was no way a mere person could have committed them. It must have been a demon, or some other soulless evil that had killed these poor people… "The murderer turned out to be a woman. Just a seemingly ordinary, forty-three-year-old business woman. You wouldn't have looked at her twice if you passed her on the street. I questioned her, and as I listened, I saw myself reflected in her eyes. That scared the shit out of me. Every one of the people she'd murdered had been someone who had gotten in the way of her ambition. So she'd made them hurt but good. "When I asked her why, she said that they'd stolen everything from her. Pressed farther she explained how it was this one's fault that she'd not been promoted, that one's fault her husband had left her because the other woman was willing to have his children then when she wouldn't… basically her step-by-step plan had gone off the rails, so she'd not been the success that'd she'd known she was meant to be, and she'd spent so much time on her floundering career that she'd learned just before the murders that she'd waited too long to have a child too. Her ambitions added up to a hill of nothing, and she snapped." "Yikes." "I left her, and went home terrified. If you could plan out your life that carefully and still have nothing to show for it, what was the point? What if allowing myself to driven by my ambition to be AD allowed me to hurt people too? It was just too much to take, so I opened the window and let ambition escape out it. It hasn't yet come back." "I think you're wrong." Mulder disagreed. "You are still driven, just not ruthlessly so." "Driven to what?" Reyes asked with a crooked smile. "Driven to do what's best for our baby, for William, for you and I, for the people we help with our cases… and that's not anything to sneeze at." "Okay." She looked down at the child sitting on her lap. "This is the best for him and us, isn't it?" She watched as his eyes widened in surprise. "Of course it is. Having you for a stepmother is the best thing that could happen to my son. Don't you realize that he already loves you?" Looking at Mulder, she wondered if either of them could learn to love the other. Why did what come so naturally to children become so tentative in adults? ** Chapter 20 A Week Later Shirley Mayes Home Maryland Crammed between the dinette set and a metal flower-stand that nearly overflowed with pots of African violets, Mulder felt foolish. Glances at his fellow agents' faces suggested that he wasn't the only one who did. Doggett, who was mostly obscured by the drapes he hid behind looked particularly self-loathing. And Harrison, who was crammed into an undersized pantry reminded Mulder of a cat his mother had once had; Mr. Jinx made a hobby of forcing his bulk into impossibly small boxes, unmindful that he overflowed them on all sides. Reyes, crouching under the table, looked like an idiot too, but a less uncomfortable idiot. It was probably the best hiding place of the lot for a pregnant woman, not that the other two knew that. She'd called dibs and they had reluctantly agreed that she'd thought of it first. Their stupid hiding places made him wonder how they'd apprehend the suspects, if any showed up. Giving the room a suspicious sweeping glance, he hoped that there were no hidden cameras, because he feared that they'd do a credible impression of the Keystone cops if they had to exit their hiding spots quickly. A scraping sound made him look around, but he couldn't pinpoint its source. He hadn't actually expected to see a brownie, but the idea was sort of thrilling. Harrison had shown them a number of pictures depicting the creatures, and he wondered if they'd be as sinfully ugly as artists imagined. Harrison must of have had better hearing, because she pointed at a wall. Focusing his eyes there, Mulder noticed what had probably once been a connection for a wood stove, but was now just a round pipe-lined hole. It was too dark to see the inside of the hole, but gripping the lip of the pipe were two small hands. They were vaguely misshapen, at least by human guidelines, and hairy. That didn't belie the artists' renditions, though, so it came as some surprise when the creature hauled itself out of the pipe. It had a pointed face, and wore a mask to obscure its dark eyes. And it had a black and white ringed tail. Taking no notice of the agents scattered around the room, though its quivering nose must have told it that it shared the room with humans, the raccoon boldly launched itself on top of Reyes' hiding spot. Using its unusually clever paws, it picked at the sculpture in progress that had been left out as bait, until it managed to yank off two of the shiniest bits. Then, with its treasure held between its teeth, it jumped back into the defunct stove pipe and got away. The kitchen was filled with a stunned silence for a moment, and then four sheepish agents extracted themselves with as much dignity as they could muster up given the circumstances. Harrison disappeared briefly and returned with her grandmother's friend. When no one else seemed inclined to explain to the sleepy old woman, Mulder took the duty upon himself. "We were not able to apprehend the culprit at this time, but we have identified it." "Was it a brownie?" Shirley Mayes asked. He winced a little, because he'd noted an eagerness to her tone. "Actually, it was a raccoon." "Oh." She looked faintly disappointed. "But how-" Doggett pointed at the stove pipe's hole. "He crawled in through there. I suggest that you have someone patch that up if you don't plan to get a stove." "I'll have my nephew Harry come by and do it." She gave them a bright smile. "It's wonderful that bright young people who don't mind helping an old fool solve a mystery." "Don't call yourself a fool, Mrs. Mayes." Harrison admonished. "I'm just happy for an open and shut case, for a change." Reyes told the old woman. "I think we all are." Mulder concurred, though he figured that Harrison privately disagreed. She'd probably have been thrilled to continue working with them. ** July 4th, 2002 The air pouring in through the open window carried the mingled scents of at least a dozen barbecue grills, and it made Reyes' stomach give an uncomfortable lurch. It wasn't that the smell made her feel sick, but it made her even more nervous. Most everyone else who had the day off had different plans than she and Mulder did. Most people were enjoying the holiday with friends and family. She and Mulder were sneaking off behind their backs. It was the best way, but the thought of people being together eating burgers and roasted corn cobs made her feel faintly guilty. Mulder didn't look guilty, though. When they pulled into the parking lot, it was nearly empty. As with other national holidays, most people who worked in that office were off for the day. It was just luck that they found a justice of the peace who was part of a skeleton crew at her office. A light was on in the building, which was the only thing that convinced her that the date for their appointment wasn't some sort of strange joke. She wore a dark blue dress. Though she'd briefly considered white, it hadn't felt right. A pure blushing virgin she wasn't. When she got out of the car she smoothed the skirt, relieved that it hadn't wrinkled like dresses often do at the most inopportune moments. Then she had to stifle a laugh. They hadn't invited anyone to join them, so who was she worried about impressing? William insisted on walking rather than being carried, so she had a couple of moments to collect herself while Mulder tried to get the little boy to take his hand. The door open easily when they tried the knob, and a voice called down the hallway asking if they were "the Mulder party." Reyes looked at herself and them. Not much of a party. A moment later they were standing in front of a woman with an iron-gray bob, and a smile on her face. It made Reyes want to stand up straight. Beside her, Mulder wore his best suit, one that was charcoal gray, and he'd found a formal looking outfit for his son, too. William was not happy to be wearing the jacket, but he confined himself to pouting instead of whining or trying to get undressed. Another woman, this one younger, a secretary the justice of the peace confided, joined them. The witness. They hadn't brought their own, so one was provided for them. Mulder turned to look at her and smiled. Then she knew. It would be okay. Everything. The vows were the standard ones, cut out obey, paste in your names, so she found that she wasn't really listening to them. She ought to have been, perhaps, since she didn't intend to take them again with anyone else, but she found herself only paying enough attention to respond at the appropriate times. Glancing at her very-soon-to-be husband, she wondered if he was listening better. When the vows were exchanged, the rings slipped on fingers, and the theoretically happy couple congratulated, they went back out to the car. Their next destination was a fancy restaurant that had sparkling grape juice on its wine list, and the best steaks in a fifty-mile radius. As they drove the barbeque smells were still hanging in the air. ** At the restaurant William made eyes at all the waitresses, and broke out into delighted smiles each time they noticed. "Oh lord." Reyes moaned. "A year old and already a shameless flirt." "Well, he doesn't get it from me." Mulder claimed. "What are you insinuating, Dear?" She asked archly. "Behaviors are as much learned as genetically predisposed." He replied, looking smug. "Oh, is that so-" "Excuse me." They looked up sheepishly to see an elderly woman smiling at them. "I hope you don't mind me saying, but you have a beautiful baby." "Thank you." Mulder said, beaming. "He looks more like his daddy, but his eyes are on mommy. He's aping everything you do." "Is he?" Reyes asked. Looking at William, she saw it was true. She'd been fiddling with her silverware while they talked, and the baby had gotten a hold of a spoon. He held his as alike hers as his pudgy little fingers could manage. Experimenting, she waved her spoon and the baby immediately mimicked the action. Mulder noticed and smirked at her. "And you thought I was full of it." "She probably still does, Dearie." The woman said and patted his hand before walking off. Both of them were still trying to stifle giggles when the waitress appeared with their meals. ** Lying on his side that night, Mulder watched Reyes sleep. He'd read an article once, while in a hospital waiting room, that stated that in the modern age when no one waited until marriage to consummate their relationships many couples didn't make love on their wedding night. The thought had depressed him then and still did. He hadn't wanted to press the issue, thinking it would be insensitive give that she was pregnant, but it turned out that he didn't need to say a word. No matter what their relationship lacked, at least they were sexually compatible. Bill Mulder would have shouted him for even thinking of comparing two lovers, since he had firmly counseled his son that gentlemen didn't, but Mulder couldn't help it. Without a doubt Scully had been a generous lover, and anyone who thought that she might be frigid was severely deluded. However she was so tiny that he couldn't entirely shake his ever-present low grade anxiety that he was going to hurt her. He tried to convince himself that he was just being egotistical about his strength and virility, but that didn't shame him out of what he rationally knew to be rather baseless fears. Fears that he never felt about Reyes. This made him smile in the dark; it was good to have a sturdy wife that you weren't afraid to be adventurous with. And she had quite the adventurous streak...he had the not entirely unpleasantly sore back muscles to prove it. Not to mention that he noticed her browsing the shelf at the bookstore devoted to sexual positions and pregnancy. While he watched, she opened her eyes. "Hey." Mulder leaned over and kissed her. "Hey yourself." "What are you thinking about?" She asked. "You." He said simply. It seemed crass to say, "I was thinking about what I like about you," because while it was true it wasn't all inclusive. "Oh," She said, fondling him through his thin pajama bottoms. "I can tell." Reyes laughed softly when it only took her seconds of effort to bring him to full attention. Growling playfully, Mulder reached for his new wife. ** July 5th, 2002 In the morning Reyes found Mulder sitting at the table reading their marriage license. Across from him William sat in his high chair, picking cheerios off the tray one by one and clumsily shoving them into his mouth. "Looking for typos?" She asked Mulder before going to the cabinet to get a bowl. He shook his head and smiled. "No, I was just thinking about how you're still Monica Reyes." "In the modern world, it's not uncommon for women to keep their last names." She reminded him. "Oh, I know. I'm a modern guy – I wouldn't presume to try to make my wife take my last name." "Emphasis on 'try'." She smirked. "Ha. Monica Mulder would sound strange anyway." Mulder told her. "And just think what it would be like at the office - 'I'd like to speak to Agent Mulder... Which one? Um...'" "Well, it'd make it easier to identify telemarketers." Reyes replied. "But I think one Mulder is enough." Mulder surprised her by letting out a whoop of laughter. After sobering, he grinned at her and said, "Skinner probably has that embroidered on a throw pillow." "You know, we haven't really talked about Skinner." Reyes said, after accepting a damp cheerio from her stepson and placing it on the table. William didn't look affronted that she declined to eat it. "In what way? Do you want to fix him up with Kimberly?" "I think we can let them arrange their own dates." She said dryly. "You know what I mean." "Eventually he's going to find out that we got married, you mean." "Exactly." "I looked into the FBI policies and protocols. There isn't any hard and fast rule against agents marrying." Mulder said quickly. "True, but that doesn't stop people from getting in trouble for violating 'unofficial policies'. If someone does make a stink about it, I'd be the one to resign." "Monica-" "No, I'm serious, Mulder. I enjoy working on the X-Files, don't get me wrong, but I'm not as deeply invested in them as you are. Odds are better than even that nothing negative will come from this, but if it does, we know where we stand. There are plenty of divisions right here in DC, so it's not like separating us would make where we choose to live a hardship." "But I want you there." Mulder protested. "And I want to be there too." She said, giving him a soft smile. "This is just contingency-plan thinking." "All right. If the issue is pressed and you want to bow out gracefully, I won't raise a fuss." Mulder reluctantly agreed. "Thank you." Standing up, she looked at the clock on the wall. "If we want to make it to the museum before our picnic, we should get going soon." "Yeah...This isn't much of a honeymoon, is it." It had taken arm-twisting to get the single day off, so they hadn't pushed for more time than that. "It's enough." "No it isn't, not really." He told her firmly. "But it'll have to do for now. I promise that we'll do something special, just you and me, one of these days. Maybe for our fifth anniversary." "That sounds nice." Reyes agreed, and she kissed his cheek. "I need to get dressed." After she left the room, he found that he could picture it. William would be five, and his little sibling four, which was old enough to spend a week or so with someone else. Just the two of them, somewhere warm with umbrella drinks... William poked a hole in his fantasy when a smell told Mulder's nose that Reyes wasn't the only one who needed changing before they left. Still, as he picked up his son and held him at arm's length, he thought he could still hold onto the impression of palm leaves in his mind. ** July 6th, 2005 "I think I'm going to practice being a married man." Mulder announced after dinner. "Practice how?" Reyes asked, looking puzzled. "I thought you were leaving in a few minutes so..." "Not that!" Mulder said quickly. "Later. But I mean an obviously married man. I'm going to wear my wedding ring tonight." "Do you think they'll notice?" Reyes asked him. "The gunmen aren't wholly unobservant." Mulder said, defending his friends. "One of them might notice the ring." "Byers." She predicted. "Are you sure you don't want to come?" Mulder asked for the fourth time that day. "Am I sure that I don't want to watch you guys play cards? Positive." "I don't have to go if you'd rather I stay home-" "Mulder, go. I don't need to be babysat." This flustered him. "I wasn't implying that you did, but-" "If I wanted you to break long-standing plans on my account, you'd be the first to know. Married people don't need to spend every minute together, even if they are newlyweds. You want to play cards with the guys. I want to watch bad lifetime movies and eat ice-cream. We're allowed to have difference interests still, honest." "I'm being silly, huh?" "Not too much. Just go and have fun. William and I will be fine." William, sitting in the playpen, clapped at the mention of his name. "Good. I'll be back around ten." After Mulder left the apartment, Reyes looked down at William. "I lied, Daddy is being very silly. I think you and I will have more fun than him, Kiddo. If you promise not to tell, we'll have ice cream together." Ice cream, a term definitely in the little boy's vocabulary, made his eyes light up, and he opened and closed his fingers like he did when he wanted something. Laughing, Reyes picked him up and put him on her hip. "I think we've got chocolate and vanilla both! Let's see if Daddy's weirdo friends notice his ring, huh?" ** Two hours later "Gimme three cards." Frohike commanded in a gravely voice. Mulder obliged. He had pretty much conceded defeat at that point. None of his friends seemed to notice the gold band on his finger, despite the fact that he made no effort to hide it. "I fold." Langly declared. "You always fold." Frohike told him. "I-" Langly started to defend himself, and he turned to Mulder for support. "Mulder, why are you wearing a wedding ring?" "Everyone knows that rings attract the chicks." Frohike said, giving Langly a disgusted look. "Right, Mulder?" "There aren't any 'chicks' here." Byers pointed out. "Yeah, that's true. So what's with the ring, then?" Frohike asked. Mulder gave them a weak smile. "I couldn't make your 4th of July bash because I was getting married." "To who?!" Frohike demanded to know. "To Monica, obviously." Byers told him. "It's not like there are a lot of women in his social circle." "Byers' right. To Monica." Mulder agreed and then cringed, waiting for them to tell him how Scully wouldn't have approved. "Damn." Frohike said, giving Mulder a nearly admiring look. "This comes out of nowhere. You didn't knock her up or anything, did you?" Though he'd meant it as a joke, Frohike observed that Mulder was quickly turning a bright scarlet. "No way!" Langly shouted, knocking a bag of corn chips on the floor when he flailed in surprise. Byers caught the salsa before it became another casualty. "It just happened." Mulder mumbled. "When's she due?" Byers wanted to know. "Early February." "Wow." Langly said. "Just wow." "I guess congratulations are in order." Frohike crowed. "I figured you for a hopeless bachelor like us slobs, so it's nice to see that I was wrong." Byers shot Frohike a reproachful look. "Speak for yourself. I'm not a slob." Frohike waved his hand dismissively. "Slob by association." Byers rolled his eyes. "I'm really happy for you, Mulder." "Us too." Langly and Frohike chorused. "Me too." Mulder agreed. * When he got home that night he gloated that Reyes was wrong about which gunmen would notice the ring. He went to bed happy, because the gunmen's opinions were the ones he most feared would be negative. After them Skinner and Doggett would be easy. He hoped. ** July 10th, 2002 Reyes could have taken the elevator, but she chose the stairs. Kimberly's voice had been entirely neural when she'd called five minutes earlier to inform her that she was being summoned to Skinner's office for a private chat, but she was sure that they'd been found out. Being spoken to separately didn't evoke a sense that things would go well, no matter what Mulder thought about bureau policy. The look Skinner gave Reyes as she entered the office was hard to read. "I heard a rumor that you were talking to human resources about the planned document for our medical coverage." "Um, yeah." Reyes replied nervously. She'd been so sure that their recent nuptials were under fire that it hadn't even occurred to her that he'd discovered that she was pregnant instead. "I take it that your questions about maternity care didn't pertain to a hypothetical pregnancy?" Reyes gave him a guilty look. "No, not hypothetical. I was going to tell you soon-" Skinner held up a hand to quiet her. "I realize that being the first person agent Scully told was a matter of circumstance, not normal practice. How far along are you?" "About seven weeks." He nodded. "Do your partners know, or would you rather I keep the knowledge to myself?" "Mulder knows, but I don't think I'm ready to share that with Doggett. Anyone else, really." She added quickly. Then she waited for him to ask her if one of her partners was the father, but instead he said, "I'll make a conscious effort to censor my remarks around anyone but you and Mulder, then." Watching him nod like he was okay with being kept in the dark gave her a pang of guilt. She fished in her pocket and pulled out her wedding ring. Laying it on the table, she said "I think that Mulder and I might have to redo our I-9 forms." "I'll let human resources know." Skinner replied, looking unsurprised. She began to regret letting the cat out of the bag on her own. "Will there being any problems with Mulder and I remaining partners?" "Not that I can think of." Skinner said. "You don't seem terribly surprised by all of this." Reyes remarked. Skinner didn't appear bother by the observation. "Call my way of thinking out-dated, but I find it difficult to believe that a man and woman can long remain platonic roommates. If they live together long enough..." He trailed off with a shrug. It shocked her to realize that her boss considered it a given that she and Mulder would eventually have had sex. Neither of them had, after all. "Oh." "Take good care of yourself, agent Reyes. We'll discuss arranging your maternity leave in a few months." She left the office in a daze. Things had gone so much more smoothly than she anticipated. That was almost an X-File itself, but she was humming happily as she made her way back to the basement. ** ** Chapter 21 Late July A hacking cough greeted Mulder when he opened the door to William's room. Sighing, he picked his son and carried him into the bedroom. Reyes looked up from putting on her slacks. "Still not feeling good, huh, Wills?" The red-faced baby coughed again in reply, and screwed up his eyes, apparently trying to decide if he should cry or not. He decided against it, but still looked miserable. Mulder sighed; William had been coughing since the afternoon before. "He's not better. I think that I'll have to bring him by the doctor this morning after all. It could be the whooping cough." "I'll do it." Reyes told him, and he looked up, surprised. "I have to go to my appointment this morning anyway, so there's no sense in you missing time too." "Are you sure you don't mind?" "I wouldn't have offered if I did, would I?" She leaned over and kissed him. "Go on, you're going to be late." "Thanks. When I'm not busy, I'll try to think of some way to pay you back." "Can't wait." She smiled at him. As soon as he was out the door she found the list of emergency phone numbers and called the pediatrician for an appointment. ** Pediatrician's Office "Good morning, mister Mulder-" Doctor Stevens finally saw her and reddened. "Oops, you're not mister Mulder." "Moni." William said, patting her hand. Her wedding ring glinted when he did. Both of the adults noticed. "I'm Monica, William's new stepmother." Reyes explained quickly. "Oh, so you're the one responsible." She froze but the doctor when on as if he hadn't noticed, and maybe he hadn't. "Every time I've seen William I've remarked on how well he's doing, and mister Mulder has claimed he's had a lot of help." "I've done my best to help him." Reyes admitted. "Besides being under the weather, this little fellow seems happy and healthy so you and his dad are doing a great job." Stevens reassured her. "Let's see if we can figure out what's going on today though." "Mul- Fox was concerned because Will got so sick with the flu in November." She watched nervously as William was examined. Doctor Stevens looked up. "William has been sick other times since then, hasn't he?" "No. Is that unusual?" "Somewhat. Most babies don't go more than a month or two without catching something. Especially babies in daycare. William must have a good immune system." "Lucky boy." Stevens pulled an otoscope down off the wall. "Let's take a look at his ears and nose." Seeming to anticipate what the doctor was going to use the otoscope for, William threw back his head and flailed his hands near his face. "No no!" He whined. "Sorry, Buddy, I need to look." Reyes tried to soothe him, and eventually the baby submitted to being examined, leaning back into her with an air of defeat. He pouted, and said "Yuck!" once his nose had been looked at. "Has he been doing that for long?" "Doing what?" "Using language purposefully, in this case to express his displeasure at a situation." "A while, maybe two months." "How many words do you think he can say?" "Thirty or so." Reyes told him. "He learns more every week." "Thirty. That's pretty impressive for someone only fourteen months old." Stevens said with mild surprise. "Hmm. Fox talks to him like he understands every word he says. And has practically William's whole life." "Well, no baby-talk helps in many cases." He made a face at William, which set the baby laughing. "Or maybe he's just a bright little boy." "Both of his parents are. Or were, in his mother's case." Doctor Stevens looked up. "You knew William's mother?" "Just a little." Reyes' heart beat harder at the thought of confessing that she'd attended William's half-tragic birth. "Enough to know she wasn't average." "Mister Mulder rarely talks about her." Stevens observed. "It's still painful for him." She said evenly. "But I think it's getting better." He looked her in the eye. "I should think it is." And she looked away. The doctor straightened up. "You can tell him that this is just a cold, and not the whooping cough." Reyes' eyes widened in surprise. "How did you-" "I've seen five other babies with coughs this week and every single one of their parents were spooked by a news report that said that whooping cough is poised to make a comeback. I'm just surprised that it wasn't the first words out of your mouth." "Guess I missed that report." She concentrated on redressing William before interrupting the doctor's chart-writing. "Um...are you taking new patients next year?" His pen hung in mid-air. "I take it that young William is going to be an older brother soon?" "February." She replied, her cheeks suddenly burning. "Congratulations. Sure, I'll be willing to take on a new pediatric patient from this family next year." Giving her a sidelong glance he added, "You don't need to be embarrassed. William's been motherless since birth, people expect that his father would move on with his life." Reyes managed a small laugh. "Tell that to the OB-GYN we're visiting in an hour." "Well, at least they can't say that you've had babies too close together." "Yeah." She agreed, picking her stepson up. "But only if I tell them William's not mine, biologically." "True. On your way home, buy some baby cough medicine and set up a vaporizer in William's room. If he doesn't get better in a couple of days, you or your husband can bring him back." "Great, thanks." ** Wentworth OB-GYN If there was anything considered normal that was more humiliating than a medical professional conducting a conversation while getting an eyeful of your genitalia, Reyes wasn't sure what it was. She reminded herself that she'd have to endure it frequently over the next six and a half months, but somehow that didn't make her feel any better. To distract herself, she looked down at the floor so she could see William. When he'd been the patient earlier in the morning she'd forgone his baby seat, but it was a necessity while she'd be in no position to chase after him if he broke free. Despite his cold, he was surprisingly content to play with her keys. She'd expected him to be grumpier. "So, I take it the charming young man you've brought with you isn't your son." The obstetrician said, her voice slightly muffled by the sheet tented over Reyes' knees. "Stepson." "Ah. Then I don't need to lecture you about breast-feeding with pregnancy without seriously ramping up your calcium intake." "No." "Well, Monica, everything looks great so far. I'll go have the receptionist set up an appointment for you will you get dressed. Then, if you have any questions, we can talk." "Okay, thanks." When the obstetrician left the room, Reyes found herself suddenly grateful that William was far too little to realize that she was getting dressed. It would have been a pain to find a nurse or someone to take him out of the room for a few minutes. It made her wonder what it would be like if she and Mulder chose to have another baby will William and this one were still younger than school age. She laughed at herself as she pulled on her shoes. One baby at a time. Her laces were half-tied when there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" "So, how's the morning sickness?" She wrinkled her nose. "Bearable." Glancing down at William she added, "Diapers don't upset my stomach the way I expected but strange things do." "I'm not surprised, since a lot of women find that their sense of smell gets crosswired while they're pregnant. I love ranch dressing but one whiff of it while pregnant with my son had me running for the nearest toilet." The doctor confided. "Did you think of anything you wanted to ask before you go?" The paper sheet she sat on made a crunching sound when she shifted her weight. "Can you take a bath while you're pregnant?" "As long as it's a warm one rather than hot, sure. It's actually recommended to soothing headaches and achy muscles." "Oh, great. That's all I could think of right now." Reyes slid off the table. The OB looked down at William. "Your stepson is very cute. However, once he and the baby seat weight 25 pounds together you're going to have to stop carrying him." "Why?" "Carrying that much weight once your center of gravity becomes awkward makes you more likely to fall, which can really hurt your fetus. Now might be a good time to shop a stroller." "Yeah." Reyes agreed, not bothering to mention that they already had one, but she thought it was a pain in the butt to use on a regular basis. "See you next month." The doctor held the door open for them. ** By the time she strapped William into his car seat, he was yawning. Reyes brushed his hair with her hand. "Is it wrong that I'm already sick of telling people that you're my stepson? Two doctors in a row...Your Daddy and I have never talked about what we're going to tell you about you and me. I guess we should think about it, huh?" William yawned again and looked around sleepily. "Daddy?" "We'll see him in a bit, Kiddo." He seemed to understand what she was telling him, and let his eyelids droop. After she buckled her seatbelt, she looked over her shoulder, and he was already sleeping with his mouth slightly open. She felt such a surge of feeling for him, that it left her shaking her head to clear it. Thank God she'd married Mulder. It would have broken her heart if things had worked out differently and she'd had to give William up to some other woman. Before she looked forward, she said, "Your Daddy is going to be so disappointed when he realizes that your doctor means a vaporizer for medicine, not shooting tiny insignificant planets Marvin the Martian style." A response of blown out bubble of spit might be interpreted either way as agreement or derision. He didn't open his eyes when she put the car in drive. ** Hoover Building Meanwhile... After debating for weeks about who should tell Doggett about Reyes' pregnancy, fate conspired to drop the responsibility into Mulder's lap. Hanging up the phone, he said to Doggett. "Monica says that it's not whooping cough after all, and William just has a cold. Apparently he's finally asleep, now that he's been tired out by going to both his own doctor's appointment and hers too. I hope he's feeling better by tomorrow." "Two sickies at home, huh? That sucks. Monica seems to be under the weather a lot lately." Doggett remarked with a concerned look. "I hope there isn't anything seriously wrong with her." "She's pregnant." Mulder said simply. Doggett was wide-eyed with shock. "How do you know that?" "How do I know?" Mulder gave him an incredulous look. "Who do you think fathered the baby? It wasn't a spontaneous conception, you know." "If it was you would have started an X-File about it." Doggett muttered, then he turned to Mulder with a confused look. "But really, you and Monica." "Yes really." He said irritably. "If they gave out metals for discretion you'd get the gold." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Nothing either of you said or did at work offered even the smallest clue that you were romantically involved." Mulder opened his mouth, intending to explain that romance had little part in his relationship with Reyes, but he thought better of it and shrugged instead. "Are you going to get married? I know you and Dana-" "It was Scully who was against getting married, not me. Monica and I want what's best for this baby, and William too, and that's two parents Actually..." Mulder trailed off and looked towards the door. "She'll kill me for telling you this, but we've already gotten married. Fourth of July." "You know, in a way I'm not surprised." Doggett said. Mulder, on the other hand, was surprised. "What makes you say that?" Doggett's shoulders rose in a shrug. "She never let on, but I know she wanted a family. Husband. Kids. Now she has both." "Yeah." Mulder gave the other man a sidelong look. He was taking the news rather well. It was probably because of Barbara, he supposed. "Though she didn't get them in the conventional order." "I doubt that matters to her, Mulder." Doggett grinned at him. "Traditional things in a non-traditional manner probably suits her just fine." "I hope so." Mulder told him. Deep down, he worried that they'd some day come to think their choice of wedding dates was an irony – codependence bringing them together on the date that celebrates the country's independence. "She start pestering you about picking names yet?" Doggett asked. "We don't even know if it's going to be a boy or a girl yet." Mulder protested. And if he had his druthers, he wouldn't know until they were in the delivery room. They hadn't yet gotten around to discussing if either or both of them wanted to know in advance. Though his vote was no he wouldn't make her keep it a secret for months if she wanted to know. Doggett laughed at him. "That doesn't matter. With Barbra the stick was barely dry before she was talking about which relatives she didn't want to name Luke after." By the time he headed home for the day, Mulder couldn't remember why he'd ever been afraid of how his friends were going to react to the big news. ** A Few Hours Later "He's asleep." Reyes took the box with the vaporizer from Mulder so he could us both hands for the gallons of water he was juggling. "What's the water for?" "That." He tried to point at the box. "It's distilled, so he won't breathe in any impurities that might be in our water." She resisted the urge to ask him what he thought drinking that very water might do to them all. "Oh, okay." William slept through them carrying the now unboxed vaporizer and water into his room. After they set things down, Mulder whispered to Reyes. "Do you mind filling this? There's still stuff out in the car." "Sure." Mulder was on the way back in by the time she finished and smeared some vicks into the vaporizer. It was already steaming merrily as she shut the door. He smiled when he noticed her. "Will still asleep?" "Soundly." "Good." He pulled a clear box full of chocolate fudge out of the bag he was holding. "I wasn't kidding when I said I'd try to think of a way to repay you." "Good choice." Her eyes lit up as she unsnapped the top of the plastic container. "And a good thing I'm not on a diet." "Mulder snorted. "As if you've ever needed to diet." "Actually, I was on the chubby side as a young teenager. Blame my mom's wonderful cooking." "You've obviously out-grown that phase." He said, and produced another container, this one filled with peanut butter fudge. "I do have a confession to make." "Uh oh." "Nothing terrible but...Doggett knows you're pregnant." He gave her a sheepish look. "It sort of slipped out when he worried that you were sick a lot. I think he thought you had something seriously wrong with you. So I told him the truth." She felt a brief start; once upon a time, she'd imagined being married to Doggett and telling him that she was expecting his baby. "How did he take the news?" She asked as soon as she could push the unwelcomed memory away. "Much better than I expected. He seems genuinely happy for us." "Good." She eyed the peanut butter fudge. "Do you think we could work out conditions for a partial trade?" He raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm sure we can reach a satisfactory agreement." That made her laugh and him wonder how long the vaporizer would run before their negotiations would have to halt so he could refill it. ** Mid-August 2002 7:30pm Fortunately William go over his cold quickly, but for weeks afterwards he slept fitfully, so they tried to keep things as quiet as possible for the hour or so after putting him to bed for the night. Which meant an unexpected phone call was very jarring in the otherwise silent apartment. Mulder dove for the phone, hoping to answer it before woke William. He succeeded, but barked his shin on the phone table in the process. Trying not to swear, he clamped one hand to his injury. "Uh, Hello?" "Zorro." An unfamiliar voice said disdainfully. "Zorro, I wish to speak to my daughter." "M-Monica?" He stammered. "Si." "Uh… just a moment." He set the phone down on the couch without waiting for Neva's reply. Reyes was just about to draw a bath when Mulder found her. "Sorry, that's going to have to wait." He smiled apologetically. "Your mother is on the phone." "What? Really?" "Yeah." He handed her the robes that already hung on the door. "Uh… why does your mother call me Zorro? Dashing though I may be, I'm not the gay blade." "To a few men's disappointment, I bet." She said with a naughty smile. "Zorro is your name in Spanish." "Zorro is Spanish for Mulder?" Reyes shook her head. "For Fox." "Great!" He groaned. "It figures." "Maybe I can get her to stop." "From what you told me about her, I doubt it." "Well, me too, there was trying to make you feel better." She patted him on his arm as she passed him a by. Not wanting to intrude, Mulder decided to head to their room and update William's baby book at the new words he'd added to his vocabulary so far that week -car, dog, on, moon. The ink wasn't dry when Reyes wandered in, looking out of sorts. "Bad news?" He asked, closing the book. Reyes sat on the bed. "I guess it depends on how you look at it... She wants to come to visit next weekend." "Oh." "Yeah, Oh." Reyes frowned. "I asked her why now- not bothering to add that I was surprised given that she couldn't be bothered to come for the wedding- and she said that it was time for her to make peace with my having married you." "That's nice, I guess." "She's probably coming to make sure you're not Bluebeard." He smirked at her. "My past track record isn't quite that bad." Reyes spread her hands in a helpless gesture. "She just worries about me still." "I've heard that some parents are like that." A sardonic age crept into Mulder's voice. "But I don't have any first-hand knowledge on that score." "Mulder..." He shook his head, rejecting the pity in her tone. "So, do we know when her flight gets in?" "10:30 on Saturday morning. She leaves at 8 on Sunday night." "You told her that we'd pick her up, right?" "Sure. I suggested that we visited the aquarium why she's here too. She'll like it, and it might interest William too." Her voice sounded tentative. "I'm always up for a visit to see fish too." He said in a way that he hoped would put her at ease. How bad could two days be? "Come on, let's take a bath." "Let's?" "It's a big tub." He cast off clothes on their way to the bathroom. ** ** Chapter 22 August 2002 9:25am "What time does her flight get in again?" Mulder asked as he stuffed extra diapers into William's bag. "Like I told you five minutes ago, ten minutes ago, ten-fifteen." "So we have about five minutes before we have to go, to give us a cushion in case of Saturday morning traffic." "Right." Reyes agreed. "I need to pee before we go so I'll meet you at the car-" No sooner were the words out of her mouth than someone knocked on the door. "Tell whoever it is that we're on the way out." Reyes advised before shutting the bathroom door. "Right." He expected to see one of the gunmen, but it wasn't. Mulder, with the baby still perched on his hip, gave the small dark-haired woman a surprised look. "Senora Reyes! I thought we were going to pick you up at the airport." Her baleful look included William. "Miracles of miracles, my flight came early. I decided to take a taxi." She peered around his shoulder. "Where is Monica?" "Mom!" Reyes came up behind them and gave her mother a hug. Mulder backed a few steps farther into the apartment to give them room. Still, they stayed in the doorway. He shrugged. Neva pulled away first, and raked her daughter's figure with her eyes. "You're not fat yet." "Well no," Reyes laughed softly. "I'm only three months along, Mama." Reyes took William from Mulder's arm, and Neva thrust her suitcase at him to fill them again. He put the suitcase on the guestroom bed, but still was able to overhear Neva say, "Yes, but you will be fat soon enough. Just like Paulo's wife, Isabella." As he reappeared, puzzled surprise flooded Reyes' features. "You've seen Paulo? Isabella is pregnant?" "Si, y ella es muy embarazada." "I thought people agreed that there aren't degrees of that, Mama." Reyes snorted, but then realized that her husband had no idea what Neva had said. Turning to him, she explained "embarazada is 'pregnant' not 'embarrassed'." "I see." Before Reyes could finish wondering how her mother would react to being asked to keep things in English, Neva shot Mulder a shrewd look before asking Reyes. "Zoro no habla espanol?" "Solamente un poco." Mulder replied promptly. "And I'd rather not be called 'Zorro', that's even worse than Fox." "And I'd rather Monica not live here in the States. We all have troubles, eh, Zorro?" Neva said dismissively, and Reyes gave Mulder an apologetic smile. "We're going to see pescados, yes? Let's go see the fish, then." Before Mulder or Reyes could reply, she was at the door waiting for them. Mulder grabbed his keys and William's abandoned baby bag, and then hurried after the women who were already out the door. ** Mulder tried to make small talk on the way to the aquarium, but Neva pointedly ignored him- except to criticize his driving once. "Zorro, why you let him pass you like that?" It didn't seem worthwhile to mention that the other driver was being reckless, and therefore safer in front of them than behind. Reyes had offered her mother the passenger seat, but Neva had declined, making some sort of cryptic remark about it being unhealthy for pregnant women to ride in the backseat. For all Mulder knew, it might be true, so he didn't protest. As a consequence, however, this meant that Neva and William shared the backseat. The baby found his seatmate fascinating and kept his eyes fastened on her. At first she ignored William as well, but eventually she began to talk to him. "El Nino, you have very blue eyes. Ojos azuel." "Oh!" William crowed. "Your Papa doesn't have blue eyes. Did Mama?" Reyes leaned over the seat. "Dana did have blue eyes. And red hair." She added before her mother could ask. "Then he must look a lot like his mother." Neva said. "He does." Mulder agreed without taking his eyes from the road. "It must make you sad, then." Neva said shrewdly. "To look at him and see her." He sighed. "It did when he was very small, but now it makes me happy. Now that he has a distinct personality of his own, I usually just see him." His mother-in-law didn't say another word until they reached their destination. ** One thing he'd forgotten about aquariums was that there were many dimly lit areas, so he began to become paranoid that he was going to run in the stroller into something but he didn't. Unlike the home or office, they were few obstacles to avoid - other than small children running wild. It made him glad that it hadn't yet occurred to William to throw tantrums until he was set free himself. Once they got to the penguin enclosure, however, William leaned so far out of the stroller that Mulder was afraid that he was going to tip it. William pointed excitedly at the penguins below, "Puppy!" "No, Bub, that's the penguins." William gave him a puzzled look. "Gwin?" "Peng-uin." He said slowly. "Ping-win!" "Close enough." "Puppy ping-win!" William waved frantically at the penguins. Mulder gave a good-natured groan. "Not a puppy, Will. It's a kind of bird." Bird was a word in William's vocabulary. "Fly ping-win!" He demanded. "Sorry, Bub, they don't fly. But they are good swimmers." "Oh." William said. Then, as if to illustrate his father's point, four penguins dove into the water. William clapped. Mulder looked over her shoulder and his wife and mother-in-law. "You can go on without us if you want. I'm pretty sure he'll throw a fit if I tried to leave now." "If you want us to leave, fine." Neva said, and stalked off. Mulder looked after her helplessly. Eventually William tired of the tuxedoed birds, and they caught up with the women. After a moment he realized most of the tanks were set above William's line of vision, so the baby just had a view of blank wood. It was a wonder that he hadn't noisily protested yet. It didn't take long to pull his son out of the stroller and put the diaper bag in it in William's place. William and Neva were both enchanted by the various fish, but he was fairly sure that Neva wouldn't appreciate it if he pointed out that she too wore an expression of wonder on her face. On the other hand, he was easy to tell that William was having fun, because he bounced in Mulder's arms. Before long, Mulder wriggled his nose. "I need to bring him to the restroom." He told Reyes. "Are you sure that there will be changing table in the men's room?" "There's a symbol for it on the doors. I think is a place a lot of dads bring the kids on their own." He said, and grabbed the diaper bag. "Come on, Bub, before we need to look in the gift shop for sure that says' I'm a little stinker.'" William laughed, apparently convinced it that his daddy had said something funny. ** The men's room was empty, which Mulder was willing to bet real money was not the case with the ladies' room next door. William peered around the tile room, obviously looking to see if there were people in this room too. He didn't seem disappointed that there weren't. Once Mulder had William on the plastic changing table, he found himself glad that he'd dressed his son in the sort of coveralls that had snaps along the leg seams, which meant he wouldn't have to half-undress him to get his diaper off. William barely noticed Mulder's efforts, because even the bathroom was fish-themed. Since his attention was caught by the colorful wall-art, William didn't give his father a hard time. It made Mulder wonder how many other fathers visiting that restroom had been grateful for the distraction. With the final snap closed and the diaper carefully slam-dunked, William and Mulder were ready to go. On the way out Mulder paused after only opening the door an inch; Neva and Reyes were talking just outside the door. About him. "Hija, I just don't like him." "There has to be a reason, Mama!" Reyes sounded frustrated, and he suspected that he'd been the topic of conversation for most of their bathroom visit. Neva didn't say anything, but he thought that, through the sliver of open door, he saw her shrug. "It's my gut. But he is a good father, like your Papa. No one likes changing diapers, but he doesn't complain." She paused for half a beat. "Or make you do it." "Make me?" Reyes' voice spoke of disbelief. "I'm his wife, not his servant." "As long as he remembers that." They both fell silent. He counted to ten silently, then pushed the door open. "Where next?" He asked brightly. "Mama and I were thinking of visiting the 'tidal pool' next." Reyes told him, and managed to make it sound like it actually was what they'd discussed in his absence. Perhaps their conversation had covered a wider scope than his short-comings. "Yeah…I think Will needs to skip that area. He's far too inclined to put things in his mouth, and I think they'll kick us out if he eats any of the sea creatures. We'll go on a bit, and you two can catch up when you're done." Mulder told her. She looked torn. "We won't be long." "Fine." An unexpected surprise met Mulder when he and William rounded the next corner: there was a new jellyfish exhibit. One tank contained moonlight jellyfish and he quickly realized that the plastic disks in front of the tank controlled the colored lights under the water. The translucent creatures turned the color of the lights. He turned all the dials to blue, then pointed at the jellyfish. "What color are the jellyfish, Bub?" "Blue!" Blue seemed to be William's favorite color, since it was the only one he'd learned. So far. He turned the dials, one handed, keeping the other around William's waist. The ghostly jellyfish turned red. He pointed at the tank. "Red. These are red now." "Wed?" "Red." Mulder corrected. "Red!" William pointed too. They turned the lights to green next. "Now it's green." "Geen!" Later on he learned "Lello!" too. It occurred to Mulder to wonder if William was only repeating the words, or actually associating them with the colors. That in mind, he turned the dial back. "What color, Bub?" "Red!" "Aren't you clever!" A voice behind Mulder cooed. Before Mulder could reply, a more familiar voice spoke up, surprisingly proud. "Thank you. My grandson is a smart boy." He looked back, mostly to reassure himself that those words had actually come out of Neva's mouth, and not from a confused stranger. It really was her. The four of the continued through the aquarium without further comment on the subjects of Neva claiming William as family - or her dislike of Mulder. ** Once everyone was in the car, Reyes turned in her seat so she could see Neva. "Mama, we were thinking that you'd like to see a movie." "In the cinema?" Neva asked. "That was the idea." "I'm too old to have to sit with strangers for that long." "You're not that old-" Neva waived away the idea. "If I say I am, I am. I would like to see a movie, though. You have one of those VCR things?" "Yes." Mulder told her. "We could rent something." Reyes ventured. Which is how Mulder found himself in the video store on a Saturday night forty-five minutes later. The store had only been fifteen minutes from the aquarium, but Neva had been stalking the aisles for quite a while. For his part, Mulder was bouncing William and trying to keep him from crying, since he'd had quite enough of their outing. They both had. A few minutes later Reyes put a movie in Mulder's hand, and he felt a surge of gratitude. At least until he looked at the box. It was a Spanish movie. Reading his mind, Reyes said, "There are subtitles." "Okay." The description of the movie was in English, so that didn't surprise him. "She knows this is a horror movie, right?" "I pointed that out." Reyes told him. "She claims that she had lately discovered that she likes them." "Okay, then." Mulder shifted William long enough to get to his wallet, then went up front to check out. * Later William decided not to sit on anyone in particular's lap, and was instead draped across both Mulder and Reyes. Though Mulder had been tempted to rest his bowl of popcorn on his son's back, he decided no one else would find it funny, and put it next to him on the couch instead. The move – The Devil's Backbone – was probably the sort of thing Mulder would have normally gotten into, but even with subtitles it was difficult to follow. Mostly because Neva had kept up a running commentary since the opening credits. "That Jacinto is a bad man." She declared at one point, then gave her daughter a sidelong glance. "At least you didn't end up with someone like that." "At least." Mulder said dryly. "But that Carlos, eh, he's a smart little boy. Like this one." She pointed her thumb at William. Then, under her breath, added something that sounded a lot like "nino must take after his mama" but Mulder pretended deafness just then. It wasn't until Mulder picked him up at the end of the movie that William seemed to wake up enough to realize that he had slept through dinner. Then he began to fuss. Over that, Neva stood and yawned loudly. "Like I say before, I am old. I think it's time for me to turn in." "Sure." Reyes agreed, standing too. "Zorro took my bag in there, yes?" Neva pointed at the door to Reyes' old room. "Yup. Do you need any help unpacking?" Reyes asked her mother once they walked into that room. From the sounds coming from the kitchen, it seemed that Mulder was getting more dinner on William than in him. Neva made a derisive sound. "Your Mama may be getting old, but she can still unpack a night bag." "I didn't..." Reyes said, floundering. Her mother peered around the room. "This was your room, no? Before you began sleeping with him." Reyes tried not to roll her eyes. "Technically it's still my room. At least until the baby's born." "You and the baby, you could come live with me." Neva surprised her by offering. "Mama!" She yelped. "You honestly don't think this is going to work out." Neva said nothing, but gave her a sour look. Shaking her head, Reyes quickly said good night and left her. * "She really hates me, huh?" Mulder after he'd put William to bed. "I hate to say it, but yes. For no good reason too. She's convinced that we won't last." Mulder pat the bed. "We could provide her some auditory evidence to the contrary." Though the idea of using noisy love-making as a way to prove her mother wrong was tempting, she knew her mother better than that. If confronted, she'd only retort that sex wasn't love. Still, she saw no reason to turn her husband down. Let Neva think whatever she liked. ** Sunday To nearly everyone's surprise, Reyes refused to go to the airport with Mulder and Neva. Mulder was tempted to beg her, but she looked a bit green, so he didn't press the issue. Reyes hugged her mother fiercely. "I love you, Mama. Have a safe flight home, and take care of yourself." "Me?" Neva asked. "I'm not the one embarazada. You take care yourself." "I will." Reyes gave Mulder a quick kiss on the cheek. "Drive careful. Wills and I'll make dinner." "Oh, I'm sure he'll be a big help." He laughed. "Well, someone needs to bang on the pots and pans." This made him smile, but his levity melted once he and Neva got into the car. * Neither of them said a word until signs for the airport loomed in front of them. At that point Neva twisted in her seat to stare at his profile. "Let me be clear, Zorro. I do not like you." "You've hidden that well." Mulder said dryly. She ignored him. "But Monica believes you to be a honorable man. I expect you act it." "Meaning?" Mulder raised his eyebrows. They had arrived at the airport's unloading area. "Take care of my hija, and my grandchildren, no matter what happen between you and Monica." Rather than waste his breath trying to convince her that she had no right to judge him so poorer, he simply said, "I intend to." Neva opened her door. "Good. I'll hold you to that." Before her could reply, Neva slipped into the throng headed for the doors. Sighing, Mulder put the car into drive and headed home. It wasn't until he was nearly there that he'd realized she'd said grandchildren, not grandchild. At least William passed muster, he thought with a rueful smile. ** That Night By the time dinner Reyes had regained her normal coloring. She claimed to be feeling her old self again by the time they climbed into bed. Mulder put his hand on Reyes' warm, still flat belly and then looked her in the eyes. "Is Paulo your only sibling?" "Where's that coming from?" She asked. "Yes, he's my only brother." "Doggett has two sisters that I know of. Kelly and Liz." "Em-hmm. Liz is older than John and Kelly." "It's good to have siblings." Mulder told her. "At Scully's funeral I talked to Mrs. Scully and realized that William would never have any brothers or sisters. I'm glad I was wrong." "Me too." Reyes agreed softly. "Things are going to be so much better for William and the baby than Jeffrey and I. They'll grow up together, and they'll be friends." "And if the baby is a boy they'll occasionally beat the crap out of each other." "How do you know that?" Mulder asked her. "Most of the boys I grew up with had brothers." "Yeah, now that you mention it I think I remember friends fighting with their brothers…we should have a girl, then." That made Reyes laugh. "It's a little late to decide that now." "You can picture it though, can't you? She'd have dark hair and brown or hazel eyes…" And as he said it, she found that she could picture it. ** ** Chapter 23 Last week of September, 2002 Though he hadn't been conscious of it, Mulder's mind had been valiantly keeping monsters at bay for months. It wasn't until people could tell that Reyes was pregnant no matter what she wore that the monsters began to win. Watching her rub a hand over her belly one day filled him with a sudden and nameless terror. She noticed. "I'm not going to die." Reyes said calmly. "What?" He tried to make himself look shocked and innocent both. His poker face must have slipped for a second. Long enough for her to see through him. Her brown eyes looked serious. "Don't play games. You look at me like you're measuring me for a casket and I'm not supposed to realize that you're worried?" "I can't help it." Mulder protested. "Worrying isn't something you choose to do so you have a new hobby." "Months ago you told me that I wasn't her. Now you need to remind yourself that." "I-" "She had a rough pregnancy from the beginning. And I'm fine. I will continue to be fine." "You're right." Mulder told her, doing his best to sound contrite. But in his heart, he still worried. What if he wasn't merely unlucky, but that the world really was against him? It was too easy to imagine being in the same spot again, the only parent to a motherless infant. Of course he worried. Reyes nodded, but she walked over to the desk that he'd long ago pushed up against the wall, and opened a drawer. After she took out a stack of papers, she handed them to him. "What's this?" He asked, trying to make sense of the formal language. "Life insurance policies, and a rough draft of my will. I know you made yours months ago, so I decided a matched set was best." Actually, she'd nagged him into doing his right after they decided to marry. He'd named her William's guardian, in case in predeceased her while William was still a child. "Is this supposed to make me worry less?" He asked, letting his eyebrows rise in disbelief. "I don't know, maybe. At the very least you wouldn't have to worry about money if your worst dreams come true, even though they won't. A few more signatures and they can be notarized." Mulder's fingers found a brochure at the bottom that clearly had nothing to do with life insurances or wills. The glossy photos on it showed smiling adults holding small children and pushing slightly larger ones on a swing. The bright primary colored title cheerfully said "Formally Adopting Your Stepchild." When he looked up he noticed that her expression was an endearing mixture of uncertainty and hopefulness. "What do you think?" "I think this is a fantastic idea, if you want to do it." "Of course I do. I love Will. He already feels like he's mine, this would just make it legally so." For a second Mulder thought briefly of Scully, and decided that she'd like the idea too. "I'm not sure I could convince him to say Mommy instead of Moni, though." He teased her. "That's okay, I rather like Moni." Reyes told him. She then deftly returned the conversation back to its starting point. "I have every intention of being in both of your lives for the long haul, Fox Mulder, and don't you ever doubt that." "I won't." He promised, and all of a sudden his worries seemed a lot more remote than they had only minutes earlier. ** October 12th, 2002 "Come on." Reyes told Mulder while she tugged on his hand. It was a sleepy autumn Sunday, and he'd been trying to care about the game he'd been half watching. Unaware of his feigned interest, the announcers on the TV continued to shout with bliss about a sudden save. Mulder yawned and stood up. "Where are we going?" "For a walk." Reyes told him. "Okay, just let me get Will dres-" At that moment William ran into the living room, already wearing a light jacket and a hat. "Oh. I see that this invitation was premeditated." "Isn't everything I do?" Reyes asked him lightly. She threw him his jacket. It matched Will's, though the little boy didn't seem to care nearly as much about the sports insignia on them as Mulder did. "What about you? Aren't you going to put on a coat?" Mulder asked her when she made no move to do so. "Nope. I feel like a furnace. This sweater is almost too warm as it is." She said, pulling at the burnt orange sweater she'd been excited to find because it didn't have ribbons, bows, or any cartoon animals on it. He recalled that she'd said that it was something she might have picked in a non-maternity version had she'd been shopping at another time. "And they say that there are no pluses to being pregnant." Mulder muttered. Then he ducked the couch pillow she tossed at him. "I'm just saying, it sounds like we'll save on the heating bill this winter." "Would you like me to find you a shovel, Mulder?" She asked archly. "I'm sure it would be quicker." "Uh, no." Mulder reached down and took William's hand. "Come on, Bub. We're going to follow Monica's lead. Before Daddy says something that makes her hurt him." "Wise choice, Dad." She smirked at him over her shoulder as she opened the door. Outside, the smell of wood smoke hung in the air, and several chimneys had smoke trailing out of them. Mulder pointed at one. "You could almost forget you were in DC on a day like this." "I know. Look at these leaves! Every year I'm surprised all over again by the fact that the leaves change colors in the fall." Holding each of their hands, William stomped on fallen leaves with the enthusiasm only seen in the very young. Laughing, they swung him by his arms and made him shriek happily. "How long did you live in New York?" Mulder asked her. "The leaves must have changed there." "They did. A couple of years." "So you really haven't seen many colorful falls." Mulder said. "Or maybe I'm wrong and there's a lot of color in New Orleans come fall." "Nope, at least not like this. It's one of the things I like about living up here." "What else do you like about living up here?" He asked suggestively. To his disappointment, he wasn't first on her list. "I like that there's snow more often than there are hurricanes. That you can visit the capital even though you're not a tourist. I love our crazy job..." She trailed off and smiled at him. "And you guys. I definitely love the two of you." He tried not to let his surprise that she'd made an open declaration show. Instead he gave her a wobbly smile. "Well, we love you too, so it's only fair." "Good. I like it when things are fair." Completely unaware of the serious nature of his parents' playful conversation, William continued to stomp all the leaves he could reach with his small sneakers. When he looked up at Mulder, he felt his heart swell. "Monica, we need to buy a rake." "Uh, interesting change of conversation." She said, though she didn't look upset to be confused. "Why do we need a rake?" "So we can rake leaves into a pile to jump into." Mulder replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm not sure that the building super would appreciate that." For a moment Mulder was disappointed, but he immediately brightened. "After we play with the leaves, I'll spread them out again. He'll never know." "That's not sane, but it does have merit as plans go." Reyes admitted. "Just don't expect me to be doing any jumping myself. I'd catch hell from my OB if I managed to hurt myself." "That's okay. You can woman the camcorder." "It's very kind of you to find something for me to do." She said drolly, but he knew that she'd do it. Just as soon as they got back from the hardware store with a rake. ** October 31st, 2002 Skinner was waiting for them when they got back in that morning. To see him standing there in their dingy office struck Mulder as strange enough to have him looking at the clock to see if they were late. They weren't. This apparently also seemed odd to Doggett, who gave their boss a curious look. "Sir?" Skinner's own expression was grave. "I take it that you didn't listen to the news while you ate." Reyes answered for them. "No, sir. The diner had the Yankees on." It was rare for them to do anything before work, but Doggett had wanted them and Barbara to eat breakfast with him. The women got along better than Mulder would have expected. He sighed, which alarmed Mulder a little. "We have a situation." "Define 'we'." Mulder requested. "The FBI. One of the agents from DC seems to have suffered a nervous break down." "Which agent?" Reyes wondered aloud. It was clear from her tone that she was worried that he was going to finger one of them. Which was probably silly, Mulder decided. Probably. "Agent Cameron Hart." The three of them looked at one another and shrugged. From the blank looks on Doggett and Reyes' faces, neither of them had heard of him, either. "I may be wrong, but I suspect that you haven't told us this so we can send a get well soon card to the sanitarium." Doggett said in a tone that just managed not to come off as sarcastic. "Unfortunately no. I'm sure that Mulder at least already knows this, but there's a house here in DC that's reputed to be haunted." "I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific." Mulder told him. "Many dead people are supposed to be wandering around the capital." Before Mulder could begin naming dead presidents, Skinner elaborated. "Specifically the Carver House." Even Doggett shuddered a little before asking, "Isn't that the family that was supposed to have murdered all their children?" "It wasn't alleged murder but well documented. Henry Carver lost his job during the great depression. When he couldn't find another job he began to drink. One night, after a hard night of boozing, he decided that his children would starve to death, but that was a bad way to go. So he murdered all eight kids before he killed his wife. He then calmly walked to the police station and confessed." "What happened to him?" Reyes asked. "Before he could go to trial he hanged himself in the county jail." Mulder gave into his impatience. "It's an interesting story, but what does that have to do with the FBI? You mentioned a situation with an agent Cameron." "I was getting to that, Mulder... Agent Hart has been having some trouble, depression, instability. To be frank, he was put on leave for attacking a witness he and his partner were supposed to be questioning. His partner had been checking in with his wife every couple of days, and he seemed to be settling down. At least until last night." Reyes' eyes were filled with concern. "He didn't do anything to his wife, did he?" Under the desk, Mulder gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Luckily, Skinner shook his head. "No, nothing like that. Hart was fascinated by the history behind the Carver murders, and told everyone that he'd taken some time off from work to write a book about the incident. Since his wife and partner didn't want to upset him, and given that he did seem to be coming around, they didn't tell anyone otherwise. Unfortunately, the current owners of the Carver House have been widely proclaiming that there are ghosts actively haunting the site. It's not the first time that anyone has made the claim, but it is the first time that anyone has guaranteed that people could experience the haunting for themselves." "Let me guess." Mulder said. "They didn't bother to have any special effects in case they were wrong?" "The fools were so sure that the ghosts would materialize that they didn't consider for a second that they wouldn't. Anyway, Hart was one of their guests last night. When the ghosts didn't materialize in the wee hours of this morning like they were supposed to, agent Hart lost it. Now we've got a hostage situation at the Carver House." Mulder held out his hands. "It's been a while since I've do anything like profiling, and I've never negotiated a hostage situation other than the Barry case and you know how that turned out, but if you think we can help-" "You're one of his demands." Skinner said far more calmly than Mulder thought the situation warranted. "The three of you, actually." The hand that Mulder had squeezed went to Reyes' belly as she gave their boss a shocked look. "What?" "Agent Hart has long been in awe of the work that the three of you do down here. He's one of the few agents I've ever met who asked how he could be transferred to this division. That was probably a year ago. At the time I told him that we'd just put two new agents here, and I didn't know when we'd add more. He looked disappointed, but not dangerously so. Anyway, when the police and the hostage negotiator spoke to him he said that he'd only speak to the three of you." "Wow." Doggett muttered. Mulder felt that it was an understatement, but he couldn't think of the right words himself. "I told the negotiator that I had no problems with Mulder and Doggett speaking to him, if they wanted to, but that agent Reyes is fairly far along in her pregnancy, so I didn't think it would be a good idea if she entered such a situation." "Of course not!" Mulder exclaimed. Reyes glared at him and Skinner both. "Although I appreciate the concern for my welfare, I'm not a child-" Skinner held up a hand. "Let me stop you there, agent Reyes. The negotiator said that he conveyed the message to Hart who then insisted that it was the three of you or he was going to start harming the hostages." "Jesus!" Mulder swore. "Is it our assignment to go see him?" "I can't order you to put your lives at risk for a case that technically falls outside the scope of this division-" "But we can't let him kill people." Reyes shot back. "Not if there's something we can do to keep him from hurting anyone." "That's what I thought you would say." Skinner said before turning and gesturing at the doorway. Two people walked in quickly. One of them carried a pair of Kevlar vests, the other a measuring tape. Mulder and Doggett were each handed a vest. "While you two go and put those on under your clothing, Mrs. Davis here is going to measure agent Reyes. It's lucky that we're in DC, where one of the only makers of Kevlar vests meant for pregnant police officers and FBI agents operates." Davis had already measured Reyes by the time Mulder and Doggett reached the hallway. He heard her say, "Oh good. We have something that'll fit you in stock." Once they reached the men's room, Mulder grabbed an out of order sign out of the supply closet and stuck it to the hall side of the door. "I don't feel like trying to get my shirt on and off in the stalls, do you?" "Not really." Doggett told him, beginning to unbutton his shirt. "So... you're okay with Monica going?" "Of course not." Mulder snapped. "Then, why-" "Not long ago she accused me of worrying that she was going to die on me like Scully did. I told her that it wasn't true, but we both knew that it was. How can I tell her that she shouldn't come?" "Well, you're her husband." Doggett pointed out. "Right. And I'd like to be her husband who trusts her to look after herself, rather than her over protective husband who she ends up leaving." Mulder told him as he strapped on his vest. "Being more worried for her than us is irrational." "But it's normal." "Are you saying you would have told Barbara to stay home because you were afraid that she'd get hurt?" "She sold real estate when she was pregnant with Luke." "You know what I mean." "Probably not." Doggett admitted. "I wouldn't blame you from telling her not to go, though." "With advice like that, I'd worry that you want me to screw up." Mulder snorted. "Why would I want that?" He gave him a sidelong look. He wasn't going to make the obvious joke about Doggett having designs on his wife. Not with Doggett being the serious sort. Not with her carrying Mulder's son or daughter. "So you look better by comparison? How's Barbara anyway?" To his surprise Doggett's face lit up. "Great. Keep it under your hat for now, but we're really doing it. Renewing our vows. Probably right before Christmas." "That's great!" Mulder's enthusiasm was genuine. It would do everyone good if Doggett s also considered himself safely married. "Yeah. Are we done here? Much longer and we'll have jokes about falling in." Mulder smoothed down his shirt and looked in the mirror. It was no more visible than the seamless bras Victoria's Secret kept advertising during football games. He wondered if one would make a decent Christmas present. Somehow, he thought it wouldn't be as appreciated as much by the recipient as himself. "Let's go." It turned out to be a case of hurry up and wait, however, because they had to wait while a vest was procured that would fit over Reyes' belly. Half an hour later, Reyes was also sporting a Kevlar vest, and they were on their way. It was a quiet drive after Mulder made the mistake of telling Reyes that with the vest on she merely looked heavy instead of pregnant. Doggett mouthed the words "don't ever say anything like that again" as soon as he blurted it out. Not that Mulder hadn't immediately drawn that conclusion himself. He might be a rookie husband, but he wasn't a fool. Chapter 24 The Caver House When they arrived at the Carver House, there were a lot more cars in the lot than one would expect that time of day, even for Halloween morning. A van from WCC26 was parked prominently in front of the doors. Doggett was already looking for the reporter that belonged to the van when he climbed out of the car. He pointed at the offending vehicle. "Things like that make me wish I was still a cop." "Why?" Reyes asked. She rubbed the small of her back while making a mental note to ask Doggett to sit in the back later. "Cops can write tickets. And that van is clearly illegally parked." "Maybe we can find an obliging officer after we're through." Mulder suggested wryly. "But for now..." The three of them made their way towards a cluster of people wearing black FBI jackets. "Like a murder of crows." Reyes muttered quietly. "Or an unkindness of ravens." "You know what they say," Mulder said as they were waved over by another agent. "Birds of a feather-" "If you finish that, you're asking for it." Doggett threatened. Mulder chose to let the remainder of the expression go unsaid. The agent looked relieved to see them. "Thank God you came." She held out a hand. "I'm agent Pope, by the way. Cameron Hart is, or perhaps I should say was, my partner." Mulder nodded, now understanding why the partner had kept in touch with the wife. Not that male agents wouldn't be so concerned for a partner's welfare, but that she hadn't had to worry that being that familiar with Hart's wife would be considered untoward. "How do you want this to go down?" He asked her. For a second agent Pope looked like she felt helpless, but it passed quickly. "Personally, I want this to go as cleanly as possible. Cameron's a good guy and I don't want to see him hurt, but I want to see those hostages hurt even less." She said with resolve. "I believe AD Hopewell wants you to just talk to him. If you can talk him into letting people go, great. If not, just distracting him will be a benefit." Mulder was relieved to hear her mention an AD's name. It was never a good idea to have someone be in charge of situations with potentially poor outcomes that involve their partners, estranged or not. There was just too much emotional baggage there to ensure clear thinking. "Hopewell." Doggett remarked. "How fitting." It took Mulder longer than he wanted to admit to understand what Doggett meant. Hopewell soon joined them. "Thank you for coming." He looked down at Reyes' stomach. "I trust you'll take every precaution for your own safety." "Of course." They agreed. "I'm going to have the negotiator bring you in. I have no idea what Hart is going to say to you, but I assure you that we have snipers in place, should it look like the situation is going south." "Hopefully it won't come to that." Doggett said, tapping his chest. "We're wearing vests if it should." "But the hostages aren't." Hopewell said darkly. "With luck it won't come to that." As they followed the negotiator a minute later, Doggett looked back over his shoulder. "You think he'd of been more optimistic." "Am I being punished?" Reyes asked then, and all three men looked at her. "Or are bad jokes you guys' way of trying to remain calm?" "What bad jokes?" Mulder asked Doggett. He shrugged. "I thought you might know." Reyes stalked after the hostage negotiator and didn't speak to either of them again until they were inside. ** The Carver House must have been remodeled at one point, because most of the bottom floor was one very large room. At the back there were a few doors, probably for offices and bathrooms, but the rest was a rather large living room like place. Plenty of room for a crazed man to hide, not that it turned out that way. They were barely in the room before Hart rushed forward. "Not so fast!" The negotiator shouted. Mulder wondered fleetingly why they hadn't gotten his name. It clearly wasn't a good time to just then. Hart stopped short, but he was close enough for them to see the strangely eager look on his face. "You're here!" "I heard that you're our biggest fan." Mulder said evenly. "What is it that you requested an audience with us for?" "Your help, of course." Hart said, looking a little disappointed that they hadn't known already. "With?" Mulder asked, but he wasn't really paying attention to Hart. Instead he was silently counting the number of people in the room. An elderly woman stood behind a desk, looking frazzled within an inch of her life. A young couple in their twenties crouched next to the spiral staircase that dominated the center of the room. An older couple held hands with a boy who looked about fifteen and a girl a couple of years younger. At the far end of the room a mid-aged man in gray overalls stood next to a forgotten mop bucket. Hart waved his arms. "The ghosts. You're going to help me get the ghosts to show themselves." "Why do you think we can help you with that?" Reyes asked, honestly curious. "I don't know if someone told you that we're mediums or anything like that, because we're just ordinary people." "Of course you're not." Hart scoffed. "There's hardly anything ordinary about the people chosen to work on the X-Files." He looked a bit chagrined, but went on more or less calmly. "Clearly you were chosen for your special attributes." Doggett and Mulder shot her looks that telegraphed their desire that she tread carefully. She didn't need to be warned. "I suppose you're right. My mother taught me to be humble, though." "False modesty isn't very becoming." Hart's tone carried a faint note of rebuke. "Right." She agreed. "No," He said, beginning to pace. "I'm very sure that if anyone can help me, it's you." "So, what did you have in mind?" Doggett's voice was exaggerated casualness that immediately had Mulder worried. Doggett was anything but casual on a day to day basis, so him playing at it during a tense situation couldn't be good. Hart smiled, which raised the hairs on the back of Mulder's neck. "I've read all about your cases. Strangeness follows you like eager puppies. The way I figure it, all we need to do is wait." "Just wait?" Mulder asked. "Yup." Hart nodded sagely. He waved at the floor and they sat down. So they waited. And waited. Close to an hour ticked by while everyone got antsy. Except for Hart. He sat peacefully with a blissfully expectant expression on his face. Mulder shot daggers at the negotiator, who seemed to be trying very hard to ignore him. For a negotiator he didn't do much negotiating. He hadn't said anything at all to Hart after yelling at him to slow down. "I can't take this." Reyes said softly just before alarming Mulder by getting to her feet. Hart immediately turned his head in their direction. Reyes smiled apologetically. "Hart, maybe we'd be more successful if we take a look around. We usually have to investigate things even though they probably seem to just find us." Hart took a moment to consider this. "All right. But only if you split up. You go to the second floor, Mulder goes to the third, and Doggett stays on this floor." "Sure." Reyes agreed, and she and Mulder headed for the stairs. "Third floor, Mulder!" Hart warned. "Right." ** Mulder did in fact go up to the third floor. He spent a while looking in rooms and seeing nothing, just as he expected. Then he concentrated on figuring out a way to get to the second floor without being noticed, which was only a problem since the large fist floor had cathedral ceilings that cut into the second floor. It was easy to see the second floor balcony from below. After a bit of wandering, he discovered that the leftmost staircase opened into a short walled area before the balcony stretched the rest of the floor. Getting there was easier than getting Reyes' attention. He waved to her for a while before she noticed him. And when she did, she jumped a foot. Her right hand was on her chest when she reached him. She used the other hand to punch his shoulder. "Jesus Mulder! I thought I saw-" "-a ghost?" He smirked at her. "Yes, something like that." Her voice was rather reluctant. "It's dark up here, I saw something move... it's not a huge leap." "You think this place is haunted?" Reyes shrugged. "This place must have a reputation for a reason. It's not creepy enough to have people thinking it's haunted without someone having seen something." "Well, maybe..." Mulder said doubtfully. He didn't add more to his thought because they heard raised voices coming from the floor below. Hugging the wall, they peered down stairs. "You're never going to see anything here!" Doggett snapped, making Mulder wonder what had come earlier in the conversation. "Why not?" there was an edge to Hart's voice. Which Doggett ignored. "Even if there were such a thing as ghosts, they probably wouldn't appear for a crazy asshole waving a gun around!" What happened next happened very quickly. Without ranting or yelling Hart turned towards Doggett and fired at his head. One of the hostages screamed, but Doggett did nothing more than widen his eyes in shock. For his part, Hart looked at the gun with a perplexed expression, and shook it. Armed agents burst throw the doors, ordering everyone to get down. Everyone did so, except for Doggett and Hart. Hart dropped the gun to the floor like a petulant child and held out his wrists. Three agents swarmed him, and cuffed him. Hart was still being docilely led out of the house when Mulder and Reyes burst through the door to the stairwell and ran to Doggett. To Doggett's surprise, it was Mulder who gave him a bear hug. "I thought you were dead for sure, Man." Doggett grimaced and pushed his friend away. "I'm fine." He glanced at Reyes. "But you were right. It was irrational not to worry as much about you and I. Not that I meant to tick him off enough to shoot at me. I...lost my cool." He looked sheepish and slightly ashamed of himself. "What as that about worrying as much about yourselves?" Reyes asked, but they pretended not to have heard her. Hopewell and Pope were the next to force themselves into the room. Pope spared her former partner a look before walking over to Doggett. "Oh, thank God. I wasn't sure if his wife had been able to do it." "Do what?" Doggett asked. "Would you mind explaining why my head isn't splattered all over the walls behind us?" "What a lovely mental image." Reyes murmured to herself. "Blanks." Pope told him. "I got his wife to load his gun with blanks." Reyes looked faintly scandalized. "This was easier than having her simply take the damn gun away?" Pope didn't react. "Easier than having to explain to a mentally unstable man why she'd taken it away and why he couldn't have it back, yes." Reyes turned to Mulder, who immediately said, "Don't look at me. I promise you'll never have to take my gun away because I've gone insane and plan to take people hostage." "You'd better promise that." She said, sounding a bit fierce. "I don't think he actually planned-" Pope began to protest, but gave up. "Married, huh?" "Yeah, they are. Can we get back to the subject of almost making me piss my pants by shooting a blank at me?" Doggett asked impatiently. Mulder glanced down at his front of partner's pants. "You've got nerves of steel, John." "Of all the things to be admired for, not pissing myself isn't one I was aiming for." Doggett said sourly. "Aww, we don't get to choose how we become people's heroes." Mulder said with a smirk that made Doggett roll his eyes. "Are we done here?" Reyes asked. "My own bladder's killing me, and not because of the gunfire. Not to mention I'd kill to get this vest off." "Poor choice of words considering today's events, Monica." Doggett scolded, but his eyes twinkled with the return of good humor. Pope's look was one of commiseration. "I need a statement, but you can go to the bathroom." "Good." She said, trotting off faster than Mulder expected a woman more than five months along to be capable of. Mulder turned back towards the other agents. "What's going to happen to Hart now?" "Psych evaluation." Pope replied bleakly. "I don't think it's going to go very well." "Gee, he only held eight people hostage, I can't imagine why you think that." Doggett snapped. "You'll have to excuse my partner, he gets cranky whenever someone pulls a gun on him." Mulder told Pope. Reyes returned a couple of minutes later with the vest slung around her left forearm. Mulder tried to make amends for his earlier blunder. "See, now you don't look fat." Doggett shook his head in dismay, but didn't offer any advice this time. "When are you due?" Pope asked. "February." "Wow. My husband would have had a fit if I wanted to go into the field for a case like this that far along." "Good thing mine's more reasonable." Reyes remarked coolly. "Even if he's an idiot about a lot of other things." Mulder said, hoping she'd correct him. She didn't. He sighed. Deeply. The three of them trudged back out to their waiting car, and then sat in it for quite a while as the parking lot emptied around them. "No hurry, right?" Mulder asked them and they didn't disagree. "We haven't been here for hours and hours like those poor folks were." "It felt like it though." Doggett remarked. "I can't believe how tiring it is to just watch a nutcase for a while." "No kidding." Reyes began, but Mulder cut her off. "You're spying on me now?" "Ha." The parking lot was finally pretty much empty, so Mulder put in his key and was about to turn the engine over when Reyes grabbed his arm. "Look." She said, pointing up to a third floor window. Two small faces peered down at them. They were hard to see, but clear enough if you looked in the right spot. "We must have missed some of the hostages." Doggett said dismissively. "Since the rest left the building before we did. I counted." "I guess we did." Mulder agreed, but it was all he could do to keep his voice from shaking. He'd checked every room. He knew he had. ** Later "Tonight's Halloween." Mulder said with a yawn when they finally arrived home. Before doing anything else, he set William on his feet. It only took about two seconds for the little boy to disappear deeper into the apartment. "There's no rest for the wicked." "He's so little that he probably doesn't even understand that it's tonight." Reyes suggested. William toddled back a moment later carrying his costume. "Daddy, treats?" "Fat chance." Mulder said sadly. "I'm betting The Hair told them alllll about Halloween today. That's so like her." "Maybe you can get someone else to take him out." Reyes suggested, barely resisting the urge to tell him that he was being too hard on the daycare worker. "Maybe..." Mulder was doubtful, but he found willing volunteers. They arrived in short order, which impressed him given how last minute the request for aide was. His feet dragged as he pulled himself off the couch to get the door. Once he opened it, he was deeply confused. The gunmen were standing there, as expected, but they weren't wearing what he thought they would. Instead of scary masks, or maybe star trek costumes, they were each dressed in a tuxedo. Langly was oblivious to his puzzled look. "Is the little dude ready to go score some candy?" "Uh, yeah, I think so." Mulder looked over his shoulder and caught a brief glance of William dragging his bag by one handle. "So... what are you guys?" "Bond." Frohike told him solemnly. "James Bond." "What? All of you?" "There were lots of Bonds." Byers pointed out. "We're just three of them." "Okay, right." Mulder said, and looked down at Frohike. "Which Bond are you?" "Pierce Brosnan." This was too much for Mulder, so he made his escape. A minute later he walked back, using the baby's back to muffle some of his laughter. By the time he'd rejoined them, he was composed again. "You'll be careful, right?" Frohike gave him a disgusted look. "Like we'd ever do anything reckless-" Mulder stared at him. "-around William." "I know. It's just..." Mulder shrugged. "Parents are worrywarts." Langly supplied. "More or less." Byers reached over and took William from Mulder. "We'll be back at nine. Say good-bye, William." William opened and closed his hand. "Bye Daddy." "Be a good boy, Will." Mulder told him, and planted a kiss on the top of his head. He watched them walk away, and wasn't really surprised when Reyes appeared at his side and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Your friends are very strange. Nice, but very strange." "I know, isn't it great?" Since it would be two hours until the guys returned, they settled on the couch to watch a movie. Reyes leaned back against him, and they watched a screaming damsel run up the stairs. "Dammit, don't go that way! You're going to get trapped, you stupid tart." Reyes complained, but then she took Mulder's hand and placed it on her belly. His hand bounced just seconds later. "Wow. I don't think the baby likes this movie." Mulder remarked, sounding a bit awed. "Too bad." Reyes yawned. "I want to see how it ends. What? I'm the one fielding the objections here." "Whatever you say." "I like the sound of that." She said smugly. "Queen of the known universe, that's me." "Well, at least until the grays come back." Mulder told her. "You know that 'They are among us.'" "Don't I just." She sighed, putting her head on his chest. "At least they're not here in the room with us." Mulder thought about saying it might be kinky if they were, intergalactic voyeurs, but he realized they were both too worn out by the day's events to think about putting on a floor show. Another night, then. Chapter 25 November 15th, 2002 Reyes stared down at her bloody hands, then over her shoulder at the gathered crowd. They stood there impassively. “Help me!” she demanded, but none of them so much as blinked. It didn’t make sense. They’d come for the baby, hadn’t they? That’s what they both had believed. Yet it seemed as they didn’t care if the baby died, and the mother along with it. Scully’s face was nearly as red with exertion as the blood on Reyes’ fingers. “You can’t have him! He’s mine!” “He’s-“ Reyes had been about to agree but glanced down at her self and stopped, puzzled. It was her own waist that was swelled, not Scully’s. “He’s mine.” Scully repeated, no longer laboring. She was looking at Reyes. “He will always be mine.” Drops of blood fell to the floor as Reyes wrung her hands. “William?” she asked. “No.” Scully said vehemently. “No!” “But-“ The redhead’s fingers looked like claws, and Reyes turned away. Not quickly enough. Within a couple of heartbeats those claws were hooked into her shoulder, and it hurt. “Mine!” “Not any more.” Reyes asserted. Her shoulder began to burn. It was so convincing that she looked for flames. Unsatisfied that she was burning her rival, Scully began to shake her. “Come on, wake up.” A voice demanded, but she was still being shaken. Shaken awake, she soon realized. Opening her eyes, she saw Mulder bent over her. He gave her a slow smile. “Must have been some nightmare.” “Yeah.” She ran one hand along her belly and winced at a particularly fierce kick. “Did I wake you up? Too?” “No, I was feeding Will breakfast when I heard you crying.” “I was crying?” She asked, but then became aware of the wetness on her cheeks. “That’s why I decided to wake you. Are you okay?” “I’m fine.” She told him before throwing her feet over the side of the bed. “Are we late?” “Not yet. Take your time.” “Thanks.” He smiled again, and left her to her own devices. Guilt, she silently told her pale reflection as she looked in the mirror. Of course it would surface now, once she was pregnant. If things had turned out differently, it might be Scully standing here in Mulder’s room, looking at her pregnant silhouette. They hadn’t and it wasn’t. After reminding herself that she’d done everything she could to save the other woman, Reyes finally calmed down enough to pick out something to wear. Some day she thought she might believe that it wasn’t her fault. ** November 28th, 2002 Although it was only nine, a few fresh poinsettias set around graves he drove by told Mulder that he wasn't the only one out and about on Thanksgiving morning. At that moment, however, he and William were the only ones around the cemetery, at least as far as Mulder could see from the car within the vast sea of peaceful dead. Reyes had offered to come with him, but her eyes had told him that she was only being nice, so he'd suggested that she'd be better off resting before the gunmen arrived for dinner. He couldn't quite pinpoint the moment where the meal the year before had morphed from an event to a tradition, but it had seemed as natural as breathing to invite them over again. Though he had to wonder what his friends would think if they'd heard Monica's declaration that she'd try to find them "nice girls" within the coming year. It didn't seem quite fair to the nice girls, in his opinion, but he hadn't said anything. He'd let her enjoy the illusion for a while, at least until she spent enough time with the boys to realize the folly of her conviction. "We're here, Bub." Mulder told his son as they pulled up near Scully's grave. It didn't take him very long to unbuckle William from his car seat. Once he was on his feet William began to toddle aimlessly, but Mulder's hand reined him in. "This way." "Okay." William agreed, and more or less walked in the direction Mulder led him in. For Thanksgiving morning, it was fairly warm. Not balmy, but there wasn't an icy wind. A slight breeze picked at the potted evergreen in Mulder's grip. He'd thought of a poinsettia too, but he knew they were poisonous to cats, so they probably weren't safe from inquisitive eighteen-month-olds either. Eventually Mulder stopped in front of the granite marker that bore Scully's name. William looked up at him. "Here?" To his perspective, one gravestone was probably much like another, considering he couldn't read the labels. "Yup, right here, Will." Mulder said, kneeling down to put the pot on the grave. Frowning, he picked it up again. The striped plastic wrapper looked festive now, but he'd seen the weather's effects on packaging like that. It might break his heart if he came in a few months and noticed that the red stripes had faded to pink. Once he'd peeled it off the pot, he balled it up and put it in his pocket. "That's better." His son sat down on the dead grass. It made Mulder wince a little, since he was sitting directly on the grave. He fought back the urge to move him. "So, this is where Mommy is now, Will. Someday you'll understand more, but this is where we can visit her." William didn't even look up at him. Instead his gaze was fixed on the stuffed bunny he'd insisted on bringing with them from the car. Satisfied that he was occupied for the moment, Mulder relaxed. "Hey Scully, happy Thanksgiving. William and I are doing pretty well. I told you that Monica and I got married, and that Will's going to have a little brother or sister. So far the doctors are saying that the baby looks really healthy. Three more months to go, now." He paused and looked over at William. The little boy was thumping his bunny on the ground, and looked quite content to listen to his father talk to someone he couldn't see. "We miss you, Scully. Oh God. If you could only see how big Will's getting... he's beginning to look even more like you. I hope he'd be taller than you, though. Your little feet never really did seem to reach the pedals... “He's smart too, but I guess he gets that from me." Mulder's mouth curled into a smile. "Kidding. Neither of us are dummies, so I guess it's natural. His doctor says that he understands and uses language that's pretty advanced for such a young child. I bet he's going to be good in school too. I know I always was. The only year I had any trouble was the one Samantha went missing." William dropped the bunny on Mulder's lap and grinned at him. Once Mulder threw it back he laughed. "Have you... have you seen her? I want to believe that you ended up in the same place. She was just and innocent little girl, and you... a person would have to look far and wide to find another woman as good as you. I think Monica is, though. How lucky am I? Two great women stumbled into my life, and I didn't manage to scare either of you off. I've gotten off track now, though. If you do see Sam, tell her that I love her? I know I don't even have to ask. The thought of death is scary for everyone, but I know that when my time comes, I'll see you both again. That makes it a little easier." Mulder got up from his crouch. "Love you, Scully." He picked up William's bunny and took the boy's hand. Before he could lead him back to the car, the little boy ran forward. Reaching out one chubby hand, he patted the gravestone. "Mommy." "That's right." Mulder told him. He blamed it on getting dust in his eyes, but they had suddenly smarted with unshed tears. "This is where Mommy stays." Someday his son would be old enough to wonder why, but at the moment his simple acceptance broke Mulder's heart. ** November 30th, 2002 As a timer went off, Mulder hurried towards the stove. Reyes gave him a gentle push. “Mulder! I’m trying to make cookies!” “I know, I just thought-“ Mulder turned slightly red. “I didn’t know if you’d be able to get the stove open okay, considering.” “Considering you think I’m getting as big as a house?” Reyes asked archly. “Of course not! I uh, remember you saying your back has been aching today.” He said quickly. She bought that. Almost. Still, it was fun to gently tease him. “I can do it fine. Watch.” She deftly opened the oven door and pulled out a tray of sugar cookies. “Fat people can use the oven without getting in their own way too, you know. You should spend some time watching the cooking channel.” “I’d rather die.” Mulder’s tone implied that he was serious. “Okay... These won’t be cool enough to eat for twenty minutes.” “Are you going to decorate them with icing?” It amused her to notice an excited gleam in his eyes. “My mom used to let me help her do that.” “If you want to decorate them, knock yourself out. I’m fine with them either way.” “Good, I think I can find an icing recipe on the internet.” He smirked at her. “I can make it myself, before you ask.” “I assumed.” Reyes said, but she still looked amused. William toddled in just then and tugged on Mulder’s hand. “Play, Daddy!” “You heard him.” Reyes said. “I’ll look up a recipe for you.” “Great.” Mulder called over his shoulder as he allowed himself to be pulled away. “It’s called royal icing.” It didn’t take Reyes very long to be completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of icing recipes. At first she thought it was merely 800,000 copies of the same recipe on different sites, but clicking a few links showed that they were variants. She was on the verge of admitting defeat when a knock on the door provided a welcome distraction. At least it was pleasant until she actually opened the door and saw William’s grandmother standing there. "Uh...Mrs. Scully, what an unexpected pleasure." Reyes' cheeks flamed when the older woman's eyes zeroed in on what used to be her waist. "Hello, Dear. I came to DC to do some Christmas shopping with some old friends, and I thought I should visit my little grandson. But if now is a bad time..." "No, of course not. Please come in. Mulder and Will are in the baby's room." The older woman raised her eyebrows, but didn't ask which baby. Reyes reached William's room first, and stuck her head in. "Mulder, Will's grandmother is here to see him." Mulder swung a surprised face towards the door. "Maggie. How have you been?" "Quite well, Fox." To his further surprise, she got down on the floor amongst the baby toys. "Hi sweetie, do you remember me?" At first William looked uncertain, but then he solemnly handed her one of the plastic rings from his stacking toy. "Like this?" She asked him as she carefully placed the ring on the cone. William grinned at her. "You've had a lot of practice with toddler toys, I see." Mulder noted as William placed the next smallest ring. Then he realized that Maggie's eyes were on another ring - the one on his finger. "I think you and I have some catching up to do too, Fox." She said mildly. "I meant to write to you..." It was Mulder's turn to have roses bloom in his cheeks. "The wedding ring is hard to miss, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Monica has just developed a weight problem." He kept his eyes guiltily downcast. "Monica is due the first week of February." "Good for you." Maggie startled him by patting him on the back. "You're not mad?" "Mad? Of course not. I recall advising you that a lot of couples begin as friends." “I thought you were just being... I don’t know.” Mulder trailed off lamely. “Nice?” Maggie Scully raised an eyebrow, which keenly reminded Mulder of her daughter. “Trying to make myself less guilty for not being around much?” It took all Mulder could do not to wince, since he could recall suggesting just that to Reyes nearly a year earlier. “Maybe.” “I wasn’t being nice, though perhaps there’s a grain of truth concerning guilt. But what I wanted is what I see right this minute, Fox. You and William both look content. So does Monica.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “You look like you belong together.” “We do.” Mulder said firmly. “I know.” Maggie’s smile suggested that she’d known it long before they did. “So what do you say to letting an old woman take a lovely young family out to dinner tonight?” “We’re not so young,” Mulder corrected. “But it sounds like fun. Let me ask Monica if she’s up to it.” “You do that.” Maggie told him. It didn’t take Mulder much convincing before he got Reyes to agree to the outing. On the way out Mulder eyed the cookies and thought they’d make a great dessert once they got home. ** December 2nd, 2002 "It's starting to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go..." The loud, if slightly tinny music had a point, Reyes decided. The customary floral arrangements through the mall were temporarily replaced with potted Christmas trees that were festooned with tiny twinkling lights. "Geen." William pointed at the trees as Mulder pushed his carriage. Reyes had wanted Mulder to correct his pronunciation, but he insisted that it couldn’t hurt to let him say it that way for a while. And it was cute. "That's right." Reyes told him. "But what color is that star?" Her index finger indicated the gaudy thing atop the nearest tree. "Lello!" William crowed, clapping for himself. A long line came into view. Many parents and small children were fidgeting while they neared the candy cane'd village that represented the north pole. Mulder smiled down at his son. "We're going to see Santa, Will! Isn't that exciting?" From the way William craned his neck and looked around uncertainly, Reyes doubted that he was excited. In fact, he looked sort of scared. She decided not to tell Mulder since it was possible that she was wrong. Mulder nudged her with an elbow and whispered in her ear. "Does it make me a bad person to think that Will is the cutest kid here?" "You're his dad, you're supposed to think that." Privately she did think that William was the least goofily dressed child there. Most of the little girls wore velvet and lace dresses, and looked uncomfortable in them. The little boys wore garish red and green two-piece outfits. William, on the other hand wore a blue sweater adorned with a single snowflake, and brown corduroy slacks. And the fact that Mulder had let his son's hair grow long enough to curl under at the ends only made him look more endearing. William surprised them by going to Santa and settling on his lap without protest. He just eyed his parents who stood not far away behind a miniature fence meant to corral anxious adults while pictures were taken. All was well up until the moment that the photo was actually taken. The flash of the camera must have him startled, became his face immediately crumpled. Within seconds his face was awash in tears. Holding out his arms, he began to whimper. "Moni! Moni!" After exchanging a look with Mulder, Reyes pushed her way forward, nearly tripping over the fence, and the faux Santa held her stepson out to her. "Uh oh.” Santa said cheerfully. “I guess we'll have to hope that one take came out well." "Thanks." Reyes told him. As soon as she awkwardly settled William on her hip, he buried his face against her shoulder. "Sorry about this." Santa waved dismissively. "This happens twenty times a day. And every single one of them wants their mommies." "Yeah..." Reyes found herself smiling. "Kids are like that." "Let me guess, this little guy here is the firstborn, right? Your hubby looks anxious enough for it." "Yes, Will's our first." Reyes agreed. She wondered if Santa was always this talkative. "Don't worry. By the time the next one is this big, you'll feel old hat at parenting." Santa gave her a sly smile. "At least when it comes to babies and toddlers. You folks have a great holiday." "You too, Santa." By the time she and William rejoined Mulder a person dressed as an elf had already brought Mulder the picture. He was looking at it with a pleased expression. "What do you think, Monica? I don't think this came out half bad." The photo must have been snapped just before William decided that he didn't trust the jolly old elf. His little face wore a curious but not yet distressed expression. Reyes handed it back. "He's adorable. As usual." "Isn't he? Our boy is going to be a heartbreaker when he gets older." "Not much older, I bet." Reyes predicted. "Little girls will follow him around in kindergarten." “I remember that.” Mulder’s eyes had a distant cast, as if he were actually remembering being chased around by five-year-old classmates. It made Reyes smiled. After a few seconds, he returned to earth. “What do you want to do next?” She looked around at the nearest stores, then pointed at one of the seasonal ones. “We didn’t do much for Christmas last year because we knew that we’d be going to the Scullys. I think we could use a few new ornaments.” “And a tree.” Mulder looked up at her as he buckled William back into his stroller. “Well sure, but I don’t think we’re going to find one of those in the mall, Mulder.” “What do you mean? There are trees all over the place.” He waved a hand to indicate the gaudily decorated trees that were a permanent fixture in the mall at that time of the year. “I meant ones for sale!” “You didn’t say that.” “But you knew- Unless you planned to steal one, you knew what I meant.” “Maybe I meant to steal one.” “Why? Missing being on TV? Stealing one would get you on the news.” “Missing being on TV?” He shot her a puzzled look. “Oh. I caught part of that Cops episode a few nights ago. I’m surprised that you and Scully didn’t get fired over that.” He shook his head. “They told her that the FBI has nothing to hide, so how could they have fired us for hiding nothing?” She reached up and placed her hand on his forehead. “Are you feeling okay? You just indicated that you think that the bureau operates rationally.” “Ha. I was being ironic.” “Right. Let’s try The Christmas Barn first.” She said, leading the way through the crowds. “Barn? You know, my mother once said she’d never buy anything from The Dress Barn because it seemed so low brow.” “I think I would have liked to meet your mom.” “I don’t think you would have liked her.” “I’m pretty sure that I didn’t say I thought I would. It just would have been nice to meet the person who raised you.” Mulder gave her a considering look. What would his mother thought of his wife, he wondered. She’d never warmed to Scully, but it might have been the fact that both women were reserved. Would she have accepted Monica for her openness, or have been utterly repelled by it? “That would have been interesting.” He said at last. “I’m sure.” Reyes glanced down William and around at the store. There were fragile ornaments everywhere you looked. “Maybe we ought to have brought some duct tape with us.” “For what?” Mulder asked, obviously distracted by the shiny display he was looking at. “To keep Will from breaking anything.” “You’re worrying for no-“ Mulder bit off his placating words when he had to dive for a box that William had managed to pull off a low shelf. “Monica, maybe we should go to hallmark instead. The ornaments they sell seem a little...sturdier.” “True. But I like those angels over there.” She said, pointing at a display a few feet away. “I don’t know...” Mulder gave them a doubtful look. “We can put them on the top of the tree.” When he still looked doubtful, she began to laugh. “What?” “He’s not a kitten. He’s not going to climb the tree.” The look Mulder gave his son suggested that he wouldn’t put it past him. “Well, okay. He wouldn’t. Not this year.” “Ha. And if he does next year, you can tape it for America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Mulder wheeled the stroller out while Reyes made her purchase. To kill time he daydreamed about what Bob Saget, or whoever the current host was, would have to say about William scaling a tree.