Title: Flight Into Egypt: New Life Author: Vickie Moseley Summary: continuation of the Flight Into Egypt Series. Mulder and Scully find themselves on different sides of an important decision. Spoilers: Post The Truth Category: MSM, Williamfic, A Rating: PG (very clean) Disclaimer: I continue to write these stories, some 8 years after I began. I'm still not making money, ask my family and my banker. A note about this series: These stories are set after The Truth, where Mulder and Scully leave Roswell the next morning and retrieve William, then set off for Montana where they build a new existence. This is the fifth story in the series. The others can be found on my web site. It would be helpful for you to read those stories before reading this one. Thank you, Mary, for such fast beta! Happy Easter, Joyous Passover, Glorious Spring (or Fall) everybody! Comments to vickiemoseley1978@yahoo.com Flight Into Egypt: New Life By Vickie Moseley Alexandria, Montana The Hale Residence April 5, 2003 Mulder chewed on the end of his pencil, staring out at the absolute whiteness beyond his window. The snow was coming down heavily and looked as if it would never stop. It was warm in his office, the room upstairs where he worked day and night to find out information about the coming alien invasion, yet he shivered as if taken by a chill. Other thoughts tangled in his mind. The seeping cold of the USS Ardiss, his body so old and fragile that Scully had to wrap him in the sleeping bag and close his eyes with a touch of her palm. He'd been sure he was dying at that moment. His only thought upon closing his eyes was that the last face he saw was Scully's, even as old an haggard as it looked at the time, and he would take the sound of her voice, so soft and gentle and just how he always remembered it, to his watery grave. The memories flashed and he was back on the field in Wilkesland, staring up at the bottom of a giant ship. The clouds above him swirled and darkened and took the ship into their folds. He turned and saw Scully, her red hair wet and plastered against her face. She looked so young, so beautiful that a single thought possessed his mind. 'I can die now, because she's here with me.' And he laid down his head and let the cold and darkness take him over into a deep, and he assumed permanent, sleep. Why was it always so frigging cold when they were in danger? A pair of strong hands, small but determined, gripped his shoulders and massaged the muscles tight from the morbid journeys of his mind. "Penny for your thoughts?" Scully asked as she placed a kiss just behind his ear. "Not worth that much, Scully," he replied softly and leaned his head back so she could kiss him on the lips. She smiled and sat down on his lap. His arms came up instinctively to encircle her. "Where's the 'wild thing'?" he murmured, but the words were almost lost as he nuzzled her hair. "Sleeping, amazingly enough. Remind me of this time, Mulder, the next time my arms start to ache." He pulled back and looked at her seriously. "Arms? Is something the matter with your arms, Scully? What haven't you told me?" She rolled her eyes at him and kissed his nose. "I've not hidden anything from you! I'm talking about babies." He replayed her last few words to him and his frown deepened. "No, you said your _arms_ ached. That has absolutely nothing to do with babies," he corrected. "It's something Mary C said once. That she knew Stephen was going to be their last because her arms had stopped aching every time she saw a baby. Before, when she would see a baby--in the mall, in church, her arms would ache. She would want to hold her own baby in her arms." "Why didn't she just pick up one of the ones she had?" Mulder asked, definitely confused and getting flustered with the direction of the conversation. He still wanted to know about these injured arms of his partner. "No, Mulder, you don't understand. It's like hearing a baby cry, even when the baby you have is right in the room with you, playing with blocks," she said and sighed, brushing the hair out of her eyes. "I'm not explaining this well," she sighed again. "You're heard a baby cry? In this house? What room?" he demanded. "Mulder, would you get out of X File mindset for one minute?" she snapped, and then immediately regretted her harshness. "It's not an X file, Mulder. Or maybe it is, but it's not totally unexplained. It has to do with wanting another child." He sat there, staring at her, his expression completely blank. Slowly, he drew his bottom lip between his teeth and she cringed because she was sure he was going to bite right through it. "You want another child?" he asked, his voice cracking. Until that moment, the thought had been only in her heart, not in her mind. But as she heard the words from his lips, she knew how right they were. She swallowed and nodded slowly. "Yes," she said breathlessly, in a whisper. Then stronger, with more conviction as the thought became more than a wisp, more substantial, "Yes, I want us to have another child." Mulder continued to stare at her for a full five minutes. "I need some air," he said quietly and without warning, stood, dropping her to a standing position and walked past her out the door. Her heart cracked a bit at his reaction, but she was more worried about where he thought he could go in the middle of a blizzard to 'get some air'. She hurried to the door and followed his retreating footsteps down the stairs. "Mulder, where do you think you're going?" "You said we needed bread and milk, if this storm doesn't let up, Scully. I'm going into town." She glanced outside at their driveway. The snow had started about an hour before and already the accumulation was probably a few inches or better. "Mulder, you'll never make it in this storm. We have enough milk to last at least two days and if need be, I can make a loaf of bread in the machine." He had his coat on, and his hand on the door. "I'll just make sure all the windows are closed in the car, then. Maybe take a walk down the lane." "Mulder, don't go out there," she pleaded, her hand on his as it gripped the doorknob. That got his attention and he favored her with a weak attempt at a smile. "I'm not going far, Scully. Just a little walk. I just need to think a bit, that's all." His other hand reached down and sandwiched her smaller one. "I'll be right back, twenty minutes, half an hour tops. I promise." She didn't trust her voice to speak so she gave him a single nod and drew her hand out of his warm ones. She held the door as she watched him jog down the steps, his collar turned up against the wind and his watch cap down, the New York Knicks muffler she'd bought him for Christmas flapping wildly behind him in the wind. When he got to the corner of the lane and moved out of view, she finally closed the door, realizing that she'd let in a considerable amount of cold. Or was that just her fear? Another baby? How in God's name could she even think about another baby? He thought angrily. They were on the run! Sure, it was safe enough here in the mountains, but that could change at any moment. And they already had a child, William. They had lost him, or didn't she remember her own fears and the reasons she'd felt compelled to put their son up for adoption? In the end, they found him, but only with what Mulder still considered 'divine intervention'. If they had arrived at the house a few days late, the baby could have been dead, starved and dehydrated in his own crib! Mulder shuddered and the wind seemed to magnify his soul's chill. Another child! It was bad enough they were endangering William's life, but to willfully add another would be beyond irresponsible. Maybe all the time alone in the house had finally gotten to her. Scully was usually the more rational of the partnership, but this, this was insane! There was a coming alien invasion. She knew it, she believed it. He'd been afraid to tell her because he thought it would break her spirit, but in the end she accepted it and vowed to fight it with him. Now she was talking about another child without considering for a moment all the attention that child would require. William was finally becoming a little more self-sufficient, he could play by himself, he was close to being potty trained. He was feeding himself and drinking from a cup. Mulder hadn't mentioned it, but he was looking forward to having her help him in the office, maybe take some of the information he'd found and sift through it, see if there was a defense they could build against the aliens. It was a long shot, but they weren't without resources. Their lifestyle was pretty simple, they could spend some money on equipment and supplies for a small lab. But another baby would put that discussion off by another two years at least and then it would be getting dangerously close to the year of invasion. Was she willing to put William's future at stake just because her arms ached to hold another baby? Scully kept wiping the back of her hand at the tears streaming down her face as she put the ingredients in the breadmaker. Flour, a touch of sugar, salt, mix the yeast with some warm water. The actions were so familiar now that she didn't need to read the directions in the worn copy of _Joy of Cooking_ she had found in the used bookstore in Mt. Airy. She put the metal basket in the machine, closed the lid and hit the button. The machine whirred to life, a slow and steady grinding sound telling her it was indeed working and in four hours and ten minutes, the house would be full of the smell of fresh baked bread. Why wasn't life that easy? Just toss together the ingredients, pop it all in some big machine and walk away. In four hours and ten minutes come back to a perfect life. Seemed reasonable to her. She moved over to the kitchen table, laid her head down on her folded arms and sobbed. She hadn't intended to get into a discussion of children. Hell, she thought she could go in and entice her partner to come to the bedroom and make love on a snowy afternoon. And it wasn't a question of whether she was comfortable using birth control. They'd been using birth control for several months, since coming to the mountains and she was fine with that. It was messy and sometimes it was a bit of chill on the mood, but they'd turned it into a game and Mulder never questioned the use of condoms. Neither had she, until she voiced the words aloud to him, even before they had formed in her mind. Another child. What the hell had she been thinking? But that was it. She wasn't thinking. Calm, rational Dana Scully wasn't thinking this one through at all. She was feeling. And damn it if it didn't feel right and good. She never told Mulder, for that matter she'd never told anyone, that she hadn't really thought through any of the important decisions in her life. Her undergraduate and graduate degrees had been the advice of her parents and teachers. 'You have an aptitude in math, Dana, take physics.' 'You like science, Dana, take biology.' And she'd never questioned any of them. Oh, on rare occasions she would glance longingly at the display of photography projects from the art classes. But she didn't miss taking art, never really considered changing her major to journalism or political science. She was happy with the decisions others had made for her. Later, her first truly impulsive action was, of all things, joining the FBI. She'd been in medical school, working a particularly long shift. She'd passed by the waiting room on her way to the morgue and when she looked at the screen, Jack Klugman's face was in close up. 'Quincy'. It was a running joke among the pathology rotation that all Medical Examiners had to smoke cigars. As her face turned to continue on to her destination, she ran smack into a woman in a navy blue jacket who asked directions to the morgue. Scully told her she was going there and offered to show the woman. Along the way, the woman told Scully she was an FBI agent and was there to look at victim's body. A comment she made stuck in Scully's mind. "Makes me wish I was a pathologist. Those guys are like gold in the Bureau!" Dana had put the whole thing out of her mind until the same woman came to the hospital some days later, with an older gentleman in tow. Over coffee in the cafeteria, they made their pitch. Would Dana consider joining the FBI, becoming a forensic pathologist? They talked briefly about salaries and forgiving student loans, but most of that was lost on Scully. Her heart had decided even before her mind could get around the implications. Before they left, she'd agreed. The next day she turned in her application. She didn't discuss it with her parents or her medical school advisers. She just packed up in a month, right at the end of her residency, and moved directly to the FBI Academy at Quantico. And years later, in a lonely hotel room in Roswell, New Mexico, she didn't think through the pros and cons of throwing away her life to follow a condemned man on the run. She did it because it was right, right in her heart. And following that decision, she found other parts of her soul that she'd been sure she'd lost. William, primary among those pieces she'd given up, but more than that. The warmth of a home, the love of a family that was hers, friends to laugh with. She'd managed to get in a car and yet, get out of the car at the same time. And it had all been so good. She sat up and wiped her eyes, looking out at the snow and hoping she hadn't ruined everything. She looked up when she heard the front door. William had been up for a few minutes and she'd given him some crackers and juice it tide him over until dinner. She had just about decided it would be dinner for two when Mulder finally made his appearance. He hung up his coat on the coat tree and toed off his boots by the door. On sock feet he padded into the kitchen. "Have a good nap, Big Guy?" he smiled affectionately down at William and stole a cracker crumb encrusted kiss from his son. With some hesitation, he looked over at Scully. "Hi," he said sheepishly. "Hi," she answered back, trying to sound casual. He took in her red and puffy eyes, the still visible tear tracks on her cheek and a physical pain took up residence in his chest. What had he done? How could he make this right? He licked his lips and gave himself a minute by going to the stove and pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Want one?" he asked over his shoulder. "No, I just finished a cup," she declined. Coffee sipped, he had little choice but to talk to her. He leaned against the countertop and crossed his arms. "Scully, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have bolted like that." She bit her lip to keep it from trembling. A single shoulder went up slightly in a half-hearted shrug. "Scully, this is something big. And I want to talk about it, I do. But I'd rather wait until later this evening, when you and I can have some time alone. I don't want to discuss this with so many little ears around." She nodded solemnly. He wasn't doing this right, he could tell. Pushing himself off from the countertop, he walked over and knelt beside her, reaching up to touch her cheek with his index finger. "Scully, my love, my heart. Please listen to me. I love you. I love our son. I love our life, as it was before, as it is right now, as it will be in the future. Nothing we are discussing changes any of that. I swear to you." The trembling lip quickly became tears and she threw her arms around him, hugging him as tightly as he was hugging her. "I know. I've always known." She kissed him on the top of his head and then lowered her face to capture his mouth. "We'll talk later." Dinner was subdued, but not as tense as she thought it would be. She made stew and served it with the fresh bread. William was going through a finicky stage and refused to eat anything but the carrots out of the gravy. She gave up trying to coerce him to eat some of the potatoes and the meat and finally wiped his face and hands and lifted him out of the highchair. He scampered off into the living room to find his toys. Mulder ate silently and then cleaned off the table. She started the dishwater and washed while he dried and put away. As she was draining the sink, she noticed the time. "Aren't the Knicks on tonight?" He looked guilty and then nodded. She smiled at him. "Go ahead. I'll do story time tonight," she told him. He kissed her and hurried off to the living room and the big TV. She found him staring out the window again. The television was off. "Game over already?" "We were getting stomped. My heart couldn't take it," he said with a dry grin. He took her hand and pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her and laying his head on her shoulder. "I think this was where we left off," he said lightly. "Yeah. Maybe we should just leave it lie," she answered with a serious expression. "No, that's not how we've done it for 9 years, I'm not going to start now. You want another baby." She nodded. "But Mulder, I want you to want another baby. I refuse to force another child on you that you don't want." His hurt expression caused her confusion. "Mulder, what I mean . . ." "Scully, what on earth makes you think I don't want William? Or that there was ever a time when I didn't want William?" he demanded, his voice rough and pained. "Don't misunderstand, Mulder, please! I know you love William. I have never for one moment doubted your love for him. But you agreed to help me with invitro fertilization. You thought that failed. William, no matter how much we love him, was a complete surprise! And to make matters worse, I was six months pregnant when you woke up. I remember how it affected you, Mulder. I remember your exact words. 'I don't know where I fit anymore.' And it tore me up inside. I would never force another child on you, because I know you would love it and care for it and yet you would always be trapped because of it." He had closed his eyes halfway through her speech and she thought he'd stopped listening to her. But when her voice trailed off, he opened his eyes and his pain took her breath away. "Is that what you think I was talking about, Scully? That I was, what, jealous of the baby? That I felt 'trapped' by your pregnancy? Scully, you know me so well, how could you ever think that about me? I wasn't referring to William, Scully. My God, he was the only thing keeping me sane. The thought that you had your heart's desire, and yes, it was my heart's desire, too, that kept me going. Don't you remember how it was when I woke up? I'd been dead, Scully. Buried. Buried three months. My life was wiped out. I had nothing but you and the baby. My job was gone, everything but you. But to think you believed that I felt that way about William . . ." He shook his head and swallowed his own tears. "Scully, I wanted to give you a child so badly it hurt. And in many ways, I would love to give you a dozen children, give the Hawthornes a run for their money! But Scully, we have to be practical. William is our responsibility, and I will never regret having him. But right now, we can easily pick up and run if it gets too dangerous to stay here. With you pregnant, or with a newborn, that changes. We aren't as mobile, we're trapped here. Not that a baby is ever a bad thing, but to just decide to go through that without taking the risks into consideration . . . Scully, it's just irresponsible of us." She sat on his lap, perfectly still. He ran his finger down her cheek, brushed his thumb across her lips. "Tell me what you're thinking, Scully. Please," he begged. "I forgot," she said, her voice choked with emotion. "I forgot about the danger. How stupid of me! How thoughtless!" "No, Scully, no! It's not like that! You weren't thoughtless or stupid. You're a mother. Just as I knew you'd always be, you're a terrific one. I'm not saying you're wrong to want another baby. I'm just saying, we need to think about it. That's all. That's all I'm saying." He hugged her close. "Besides, I _do_ remember how much fun it was making the first one," he muttered into her ear as he nipped at her lobe. She moaned as his lips caressed the spot right behind her ear. "What say we take this upstairs and 'practice' our technique," he purred. "Last one naked has to turn out the lights," she tossed over her shoulder as she sprinted off his lap and toward the stairs. April 13, 2003 Palm Sunday They hadn't really spoken about babies again, but each spent a good deal of the preceding week weighing the options. Scully accepted what Mulder was saying, the danger involved. Mulder thought about William's babyhood and all the joys he had missed while he'd been in hiding. And all around them, winter was releasing its hold and spring was starting to appear. "I can't believe we were having a blizzard just a week ago," Mulder told Joe as they watched the Hawthorne's youngest, Stephen, help William hunt for Easter eggs with the other parish children around the church. It was a warm 54, everyone had on light jackets. The grass was a pleasant shade of green, buds were on most of the trees and crocuses were popping up in the most surprising places in the grassy lawn. "Yeah, this is your first spring here, isn't it?" Joe chuckled. "One minute it's December, two minutes later it's April. But we always have one good snow before we get spring. Last week was just winter saying goodbye." "Goodbye and good riddance," Mulder muttered. "I thought you said you were from New England," Joe teased. "You must have had long winters there." "I was born on the islands, Martha's Vineyard. We had cold and snow, but not as much as the mainland. You couldn't go swimming until June, but spring was pretty there, if we didn't get much rain. This winter just seemed like it would never end." "What's eatin' you, Hale?" Joe asked abruptly. Mulder looked over at his friend, shock on his face. "Nothin' Joe. Nothing's eating me," he deflected and looked away to search for William on the field of children. "Oh, William just found an egg," he declared proudly. "She wants another one, doesn't she?" Joe said, folding his arms across his chest and frowning. "Dana wants another baby." Mulder jerked his head up and glared at his friend. "How could you possibly know that?" "Women talk. Mary C., in case you haven't noticed it, talks a lot." "Dana mentioned this to Mary C.?" Mulder croaked. "Probably just came up. I think they were talking about the Sullivan's new baby," Joe said with a shrug. Mulder pulled Joe away from the other proud and watchful parents. "Joe, you know a little bit about our situation. Bringing a baby into this family right now would be adding to the problem, not bringing joy. It's just not the right time for us." Joe shook his head sadly. "You have absolutely no idea, do you?" he said with a sigh. "Hale, my friend, it's not up to you. Hell, if I'd had my way, Mary C. and me would be jetting to Hawaii every winter--just the two of us. Instead, one minute I'm 22 years old, drunk on the quad at University of Montana, next minute I'm 47 with a wife and six kids. I have no idea how that happened, I just woke up and BAMM!" "I can relate," Mulder said sadly. At Joe's raised eyebrow Mulder shook his head. "Long story. At least a six pack," he acknowledged and was grateful when Joe let the comment drop. "But that doesn't change our situation," he reminded both himself and his companion. "Hale, if we waited for the perfect time to have kids, the human race would have died out years ago!" At Mulder's continued frown, Joe charged on. "OK, so maybe not, but you have to remember what it was like when this little guy was a baby," he pointed to William, who had just found another egg and had a look of slightly befuddled glee on his face. "You must want to experience that again, don't you?" "I'd like to experience it for the first time," Mulder muttered, then looked over, thankful Joe had missed his heart talking out loud. He looked over and saw Dana and Mary C. walking toward them with another woman in tow. As they approached, Mulder saw that Scully was holding a bundle of blankets in her arms. "What have you got there, sweetheart?" he asked a little too cheerfully. He knew perfectly well what she was carrying and for some reason it scared him more than an armload of body parts. "This is Joshua David Sullivan," Scully said, drawing back the blankets so that Joe and Mulder could see the baby. A tiny red face adorned with lots of reddish fuzz on top squinted up at them from the comfort of the blankets. "Ellery, you remember Carrie Sullivan," she said as she gave the baby back to his mother. Mulder vaguely remembered Carrie and her husband Mike from the myriad of faces he was finally able to recognize in the parish. "Boy, Carrie, he sure is a cutie," Joe said with a grin. "You didn't let Mary C. touch him, did you?" he demanded anxiously. Carrie laughed. "I know the rules, Joe. Mary C. only gets to look," she smiled over at Mulder. "Would you like to hold him, Ellery?" Mulder blanched and swallowed. Far-off memories of holding a tiny William, all tangled in blankets with silk edging, rushed through his mind. A gentle kiss over their newborn son. Then he had to leave them and just a soul-wrenching ache remained where his beating heart had been. He swallowed again. "I'm not sure, uh, I'm don't know if I remember how," he stammered. "It's like riding a bike," Carrie insisted and placed the baby in Mulder's hands. "See, nothing to it." "He's so tiny," Mulder whispered. "How big was William?" Carrie asked Scully, but Mulder jumped in before she could answer. "6 lbs, 9 oz. He was 20 and a quarter inches long. And he had blond hair, like my side of the family. The red was there but you had to hold him in the light just right to see it," Mulder continued, tears choking his voice. "And his fingers, his fingers used to wrap around mine, as if he never wanted to let me go." A tear streaked unnoticed down Mulder's cheek until he looked up to see the tears glistening in Scully's eyes. "You forget so much," he said quietly, giving the baby back to Carrie. The three observers watched in silence as Scully wrapped Mulder in her arms. "So much you never got to see," she whispered up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "It's all right, don't cry," she murmured into his ear. "That's supposed to be my line," he whispered back roughly and she pulled away to see his lop sided grin. "OK, so it wasn't original," she grinned back. She turned when she remembered they had an audience. "We waited for William for a long time," she explained quickly. A small ball of exuberance rushed over to them and wrapped his arms around Mulder's legs. "I find eggs, Daddy!" William proclaimed and held up his basket with four shining plastic colored eggs resting inside. "Wow, Buddy! Let's see what you have there," Mulder happily redirected his thoughts to the here and now. He picked up his son and looked in the pro-offered basket. "One, two, three, four. Four eggs. You did great!" "Four eggs, Mommy!" he cheerfully showed Scully. "See? Bunny left 'em!" "Wow, let's see what's inside them," Scully suggested and they all walked over to the steps of the church to look at the eggs. One whistle, two peeps and a bag of jelly beans later, it was time to head home. After all the time in the fresh air, William was sound asleep before they made the city limits. Mulder looked back at him and smiled fondly. "He's cute when he's asleep," he said with a grin. "And easier to handle. Just like his father," Scully shot back before turning her attention to the scenery. "Look at the trees budding. Spring is really here." "I want us to have another baby," Mulder blurted out and Scully just about gave herself whiplash turning to stare at him. "Mulder . . ." "No, hear me out. You were right. Absolutely right, Scully. The whole aching arms thing, I think I get it now. Holding that baby, it brought it all back, all the stuff I missed. I missed you telling me, well, at least telling me when I couldn't already guess what was going on with you. And I missed out on his birth. And then I missed out on the first 11 months of his life. My God, I hardly qualify as a parent, I've spent more time away from the two of you than with you." "Mulder, you had very good reasons, you know that," Scully interjected. "I know I did, Scully, I thought them up, but now . . . now I just know what I feel. I just want to get that feeling again, for the first time," he grinned sardonically at her. "You know what I mean," he concluded. "Mulder, you were right last weekend," Scully insisted. At his raised eyebrow, she nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes, I just said that. I said you were right. Now, may I continue?" He nodded and bit his lip to keep the smirk from turning into a belly laugh. At her silence, he got himself under control. "You made a number of excellent points last weekend. There is still the danger that we might be found. My last pregnancy was not exactly a walk in the park . . ." "I don't know, Scully, it sure reminded me of every time we've had a walk in the 'woods'," he muttered and grew silent again at her glare. "And I don't think I want to try to drag two babies around while we're running for our lives. Now that doesn't mean I'm shelving the idea of another child forever. I just think we need to wait a while." He drew in a deep breath, but didn't say a word. "Mulder, I know exactly what you're feeling. And it's wonderful that at least we're sharing that longing together. But I really think you were correct to approach this rationally. And I apologize if anything I did today shook your belief in your very rational decision." "So we wait a while." He said it so softly she almost missed it. "Yes, we wait." She took his hand and grazed his knuckles with her lips. "Doesn't mean we can't 'practice' till the cows come home," she said with a raised eyebrow. April 20, 2003 Easter Sunday (very early) "Bunny! Bunny!" was still ringing in his ears as Mulder finally stretched out on the mattress. It was after midnight and Scully was sound asleep, or so he thought. "Eggs hidden?" she muttered around her pillow. "And the baskets. And no, I didn't peek in mine. I'll be totally surprised tomorrow," he added with a long yawn. There wasn't much else the long and thin object sticking out of his basket could be except a whiffle bat and ball set, but he wasn't going to let on. "What time did he go down?" "You mean what time did he finally fall asleep? About fifteen minutes ago. Four stories, he lost Fluffy three times, and I thought Christmas was bad!" "It's all the excitement. It's on TV, it's everywhere." "We live on a mountain, all by ourselves," Scully pointed out with a glare. "And we limit the amount of television he sees to ESPN," she added dryly. "OK, so _we_ have been excited," he admitted. That got him a raised eyebrow that he barely recognized in the pale moonlight. "All right, _I've_ been excited." At her agreeing nod, he slid further under the covers. "When do you think he'll be up?" "Three seconds after the first bird call," she replied sleepily. "Mass is at 8, we have to bring the casserole for the parish brunch, and then it's on to the Hawthornes' for Easter dinner." He rolled on to his side and pulled her in to his arms. "Can we snuggle?" "As long as you expect absolutely nothing beyond that," she warned and then kissed his nose sloppily. It didn't matter, he was already asleep. Scully rolled over when she heard the noise. At first she thought it was William, out of bed and wanting to join them. Since they'd moved him from his crib to a youth bed, his late night wanderings had become fairly commonplace. She liked to put the blame on his father's genes. But it wasn't William, the shadow was much larger. "Dana, wake up." The voice was one she hadn't heard in years, six years to be exact. It was her sister, Melissa. "Missy?" Scully asked, sitting up. She sat against the headboard and watched her sister sit on the foot of the bed, legs drawn up Indian fashion. "What are you doing here?" "Checking in. Making sure you get all the facts." Scully shook her head. She glanced over at Mulder, but he was sound asleep. She thought about waking him . . . "Don't bother Fox. He's exhausted. Besides, he won't see me. I'm not here to see him, just you, Short Stuff." Only Missy called her Short Stuff. Well, and lived to tell the tale. Scully swallowed hard. Was this what it was like when their fathers had visited Mulder and told him where to find William? "Missy, why are you here? What do you need to tell me?" "I just don't want you to waste your life waiting for the other shoe to drop. Dana, you have all the power. You will find the answers. That's been known from the start. Don't let saving the world get in the way of your happiness." Scully absently clutched at her stomach, looked down at her hand and then up to her sister. "I want another child." Missy smiled. "Go for it. It's your life, Dana. Yours and Fox's and William's. Don't let others dictate your choices." "But the danger . . ." "You will handle that when it comes. As you always have." Dana bit her lip and closed her eyes for just a second. When she opened them to say something to Missy, there was no one at the foot of the bed. "Missy? Missy, come back!" she called and looked frantically around the room. "Missy, I don't understand." When she opened her eyes, two small hazel eyes looked at her and she smiled instantly. "Hey, Sweetheart. You need to get back in bed." William shook his head and pointed out the window. The sun was already peeking through the curtains. "Bunny, Mommy. Bunny!" She rolled over to wake Mulder and found the other side of the bed bare, but still warm. Mulder entered from the hallway to the bathroom. "Hey, sleepyhead, we've been trying to get you up for hours!" "Hours," she challenged, one eyebrow firmly cocked. "OK, the last five minutes. I left my main man in charge while I answered nature's call. So, can we get downstairs and start looking for those eggs?" Scully tossed back the covers and tugged on her robe and slippers, following her men down the stairs. Mulder had done a good job, the eggs were hidden, but most were in plain sight and just about William's level. He found 10 out of the dozen Mulder had hidden without any assistance. "Well, that's the old bloodlines showing," Mulder grinned proudly. He helped William find the last two eggs and then turned to looking for their baskets. William found his basket just behind his toy box and squealed with delight at the container of bubble liquid and the pinwheel sticking out of the jelly beans and chocolate rabbits. Mulder made a great show of trying to locate his own basket, and oohed and ahhed over the new work gloves and a box of bandaids. "This is a not too subtle hint that I need to clean out the gutters?" he asked with a pained expression. "Wear them in good health, G-Man," Scully smiled at him. "Hey, you still have a basket to find," Mulder reminded her. She started looking around the room, finding the basket behind the rocking chair by the window. She moved aside the chocolate hollow egg imprinted with her name and the row of marshmallow peeps. At the bottom of the basket was a large square bottle. She brought it up to her face to squint at it without the aid of her contacts or glasses. "Prenatal vitamins?" she read slowly and then stared up at Mulder with a confused expression. "Mulder, what . . ." He took the four steps to stand behind her, wrapping her in his arms. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Most obstetricians recommend a woman should start taking prenatal vitamins before she becomes pregnant." She turned in his arms and looked up at him with a frown. "Mulder, you were so set on waiting. What changed your mind?" "I admit, I'd bought the vitamins when I was so sure a week ago. And then I was set to throw them out. But I heard you and Missy talking. Last night." "That was a dream," Scully whispered. "I couldn't see her, but I could hear her plain as day," Mulder said with a serious look. "You have all the power. You will find the answers. Don't let saving the world get in the way of your happiness." He pulled back and looked into the eyes. "I got the bottle out of the drawer and added it to your basket. Just in case you need the add incentive." She didn't trust herself to speak. She just shook her head. A single tear streaked down her cheek and Mulder wiped it away with his thumb. "Here, here, none of that," he clucked. "So, can we start trying tonight?" he asked impishly. "You'd probably like to start right now, this very minute," she sniffed. Then she pushed him away. "But you'll have to wait until tonight," she smirked. "I think I can handle that," he said, kissing her gently. A tug on her robe made her look down. William was pretty much covered in chocolate and was tugging at a bag of fruit snacks with sticky fingers. He held the goo-encased bag up in a silent plea for assistance. She sighed. "And we want another one?" she asked with feigned dismay. "Maybe this one will be neater?" he offered. The end. And yes, there is more coming, I promise.