Author's Note:

This is the second part of the "Cursing Miracles" story. If you haven't read the first part, I would recommend it, so everything hangs together as I've intended.

Angst and MSR. Set after the close of "Cursing Miracles" part one, which takes place in season seven and an AU season eight. So, canon is blown to bits by now--although, it keeps sneaking in again. Mulder and Scully are now married and have left the X-Files. And it seems that Scully finds the adjustment more difficult than Mulder does.

Please don't give up on this story, if you're turned off by non-FBI related fanfic stories. Scully and Mulder may be out of the loop for now, but within a few chapters they are back in the thick of things. It's not just domestic angst--I promise! There were some unanswered questions left hanging in part one, all of which will be addressed.

PART TWO

Chapter One

Scully could hear William's cries from the other room, and she tried to arouse herself from her deep sleep. She could feel Mulder beside her, sleeping through William's cries, not quite as attuned to his needs yet as she was or perhaps just an incredibly heavy sleeper. She forced herself to sit up, unable to ignore the cries of her own child, despite the fact that he was now nine months old and quite large for his age. Her legs were tangled in the sheets, and in the process of pulling them out, she finally awakened Mulder, who was the one pinning down the sheets in the first place.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice thick with sleep.

"William's crying. I'm going to check on him."

"I'll go," he said without stirring.

"Go to sleep, Mulder," Scully said with a smirk, wishing for a moment that she had a slipper to hit him with, but she could not find her own in the darkness.

They had only bought the house four months ago, and she still was not accustomed to where things were, especially without the aid of daylight. So, she usually picked her way very carefully around at night, but William's cries always sprung her into rapid action and she hurried down the hallway. Forgetting about the table pressed against the wall for a phone and some pictures she had set up, she knocked into the corner and went sprawling on the hardwood floor.

Just as she was picking herself up, Mulder rushed into the hallway, flipping on the light, and bent over her to make sure she was all right.

"I fell," she lamely explained.

Mulder was sitting crouched on the floor giving her a bizarre look.

"Scully, your nose is bleeding," he said pulling off his T-shirt to hand it to her to stop the flow.

Scully pressed the shirt to her face before looking down at the white T-shirt now stained with dark red blood; her heart skipped a beat. William's cries had stopped with the clang, but Scully scrambled to get up and duck into his room anyway, trying to ignore the fact that she was having a nosebleed: she had had too many of those, and she decided to simply ignore this one.

Mulder entered the room and stood behind her as she looked into their baby's crib.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

Scully licked her lips, which were salty with blood and the few tears that had trickled down her face before she had the good sense to stop them.

"I just fell on my face, Mulder," she said, turning around with the shirt pressed to her face. "How do I look?"

Mulder didn't crack a smile, terrified by the sight of the blood. "Do you want me to take you to the ER?"

"It's a nosebleed, Mulder," she said pushing past him and turning the nursery light off on him.

She went back into their bedroom and Mulder followed her, but stopped in the doorway, leaning on the doorjamb. She turned on the lamp next to the bed and slipped under the sheets all the while dabbing at her nose.

"They'd think we were insane if I showed up with a nosebleed at the ER."

"I don't care. I don't care what anyone thinks."

He finally came in the room and sat on the edge of the bed looking at her intently.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm not sick. I just fell on my face—that's all."

Mulder swallowed and rested his hand on her leg. "You're not the one who is supposed to be sick," he said in a strangled voice.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, I'm not sick! I'm fine, Mulder. And no one is getting sick."

Scully was beginning to panic herself, and she turned off the lamp with a decided motion in order to shut out Mulder's worried face.

He moved up next to her and whispered in her ear, "You're not getting rid of me that easily. I'm sorry if I scared you, but…seeing you like that…"

"I know, Mulder. It scared me too. And I'm still worried about you."

They held hands in the darkness.

"I know you feel fine. That everything has seemed okay. But I want you to schedule a check up just to be sure, Scully. I can't…please, do it for me."

Scully stood in front of the bathroom mirror gently fingering the bridge of her nose testing to see if it felt broken, but there wasn't any pain any longer, just the visual reminder of the bloody episode now lying in a heap on the floor of the bathroom. Mulder stepped out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist came to stand beside her in front of the mirror.

"How's the nose?"

"It's fine," she said reaching for the tube of toothpaste.

"Good," he said bending over to kiss the tip of her nose and then slipping by her out into the bedroom.

Fifteen minutes later, Scully emerged from the bathroom fully dressed and ready to meet the day. She was wearing a light blue suit with a white blouse underneath. It had taken her awhile to realize that she didn't need to wear black everyday anymore in order to demand the respect she deserved in her job.

She made her way down the stairs pushing a stray strand of red hair out of her line of sight. Mulder was already sitting at the small kitchen table in the part of the house the realtor had called a 'breakfast nook.' He was bent over a newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. He also dressed more casually than when he had worked for the FBI: he now wore a new uniform of khaki pants and a fitted knit sweater or a polo. William was sitting in his high chair still dressed in his Sesame Street sleeper.

Scully poured herself a cup of coffee, and opened a cabinet door to get a bowl. Scully believed in some form of a healthy breakfast, while Mulder believed in coffee. William's plastic bowl was sitting washed and dried by the sink from the night before, and Scully grabbed that with her other hand, pulling the refrigerator open with her elbow. Finally setting everything down on the counter top, Scully noticed the yellow pages splayed open by the toaster. She was about to slam it closed and ask what he was doing with the yellow pages, when she glanced at the page to which it was opened. Mulder had underlined a name with a thick blue pen still lying next to the book. She moved her finger under the name as she read it: Cancer Research Center. She glanced back up at Mulder, who was watching her.

"You're about as subtle as a neon sign, Mulder," she said pouring the milk and grabbing William's tiny spoon.

"It's not one of my strong points," he agreed, smiling that devilish smile of his, which Scully always pretended had no effect on her, despite its real power.

She carried the two bowls over to the table, setting the one on William's highchair as he banged his little chubby fists.

"For me?" Mulder asked, since her own bowl had been momentarily set in front of him.

"Not a chance," she said pulling it back, sloshing a little of the milk onto the table.

"It doesn't have any sugar in it anyway. What is that stuff you eat?" he asked getting a spoonful for William and whirring it around his rosy face like a plane.

"Organic Healthy Fiber Multigrain Flakes. It's good for you," she said with her mouth full.

"Looks like it," he said, making a disgusted face.

"Anyway, I've got a meeting this morning, so I don't have time to make myself anything else," she said glancing at her silver bracelet watch.

Mulder paused in the feeding of William. "A meeting?"

Scully nodded her head.

"Who will stay with William?"

"You, Mulder," she said between mouthfuls.

"No, no, this is registration time, so I'm there all day every day this week."

"That's next week," Scully said with aggravation in her voice.

"No, afraid not. For once, I have the mundane details right. I have a meeting with one of my advisees in less than an hour."

Scully put her hand to her forehead and uttered a quiet, "damn."

"Just take him with you," Mulder said wiping some of the spilled cereal from the baby's chin.

"That would be completely unprofessional."

Scully had always fought for respect—being the consummate professional always seemed like her best defense. Taking a baby to a meeting did not rank high in that category.

"So was sleeping with your partner, but that didn't stop you," Mulder said with a smirk.

"You know, if you weren't feeding our child right now, I would slap you."

"I might like that," he said laughing.

"Typical, Mulder, typical."


"Well, I'm glad you're not surprised. I know, Miss Scully hates surprises," he said biting his lip to keep from smiling.

He inched his chair closer to William, assuming that the closer he was to the baby, the safer he was.

Scully stood up and grabbed his coffee cup, her own, and the cereal bowl off the table to dump them in the sink.

"Any other brilliant suggestions?" she asked hands on hips.

"Don't you know anyone who could watch him for a couple hours? Your lab is over at noon today, right?"

"No."

"You don't know anyone who could watch this perfect angel for four hours?" he asked in a 'give me a break' tone as William tried to make a grab for the cereal which he liked to ball in his hot little fists.

"You take him, Mulder."

"Nice try. I'm not going to submit everyone to his antics…that would be unprofessional. Call someone, Scully. You have to have a co-worker or some kid you teach that will watch him. Look, if you get it covered until 11 o'clock, I'll take off an hour to watch him until your class is over."

Scully walked over to the telephone and picked it up from its cradle, but stood there staring at her class list without dialing.

Mulder pulled William out of his chair and rested him against his shoulder. Scully looked back at Mulder.

"Mulder, I don't think I can."

He came over beside her and took her free hand with his own. "You know, one day he is going to have to go to school and then we won't be able to watch him every second of the day."

"I know."

"Every parent goes through this," he said taking the list from her hands and scanning it.

"No, not every parent," she said with a sigh.

"You mean we're different, that our situation is different…sure, yeah, it is. But, you know we can't raise him thinking about that constantly, because he'll end up one seriously messed up kid, you know that?"

Scully cocked her eyebrow at Mulder, but she knew he was right, despite his less than prosaic way of saying it.

"He'll end up like me," he added, grinning. He took the class list from her. "One of these girls here…they all baby-sit, right? This one—she likes microscopes, right?"

Scully laughed. Mulder loved it when she laughed: she had the best laugh and it was rarely bestowed.

"Okay. Hand it here," she said taking the list and punching the keypad on the black wireless telephone.

Mulder kissed her on the forehead and went upstairs to change William and get some of his things together.

Scully was waiting for him when he came down the stairs, and he handed her William, who was wearing a Winnie the Pooh jumpsuit and matching pacifier clip.

"Scully, this stuff is cute as hell, don't get me wrong, but I never thought my son would be a Winnie kind of guy."

"Marvin the Martian more your style?" she asked dryly.

Mulder winked at her with a smile. "Did you get someone?" he asked as he grabbed the car keys.

"Yeah, she's going to meet us outside of the library."

"God help the library," Mulder said as he unlocked the car, which was parked in their two-car garage, minus another car.


Mulder had been the first one hired by the university, which had been intrigued by his profiling abilities. Their next door neighbor was the vice president and knew that the university was looking for a new career counselor, and he thought Mulder's expertise could be applied in a new avenue. Mulder had been highly doubtful that he would be of any help. Moreover, he didn't think he would like telling a bunch of college students what to do, since they would probably all think he was old and therefore not listen to a word he said anyway. But, it had only been a week before Mulder decided that this was a dream job. Not only did he get to shoot the shit with college boys, whom he realized he still had a lot in common with—something Scully had no trouble believing—but he also got to advise college girls, who tended to be more than a little bit flattering.

"I didn't realize that Mr. Mulder was your husband," Katy said, leaning over Scully's shoulder as she scraped aside something with a razor under the microscope. "He's my roommate's adviser, but she never mentioned the connection."

Scully was surprised by her student's remark, assuming everyone knew that she and Mulder were married. "Well, I thought going by 'Dr. Mulder' would be confusing. I didn't realize that no one knew."

"Oh, maybe some people know."

That small comment set Scully's mental wheels to turning and it was these thoughts that were running through her head when she went to pick up William from Mulder's office. Scully's heels clicked on the tile floor of the counseling suite of offices and she smiled politely at the few people sitting at their desks as she walked by, headed for Mulder's office at the back of the building. She opened his office door without knocking, accustomed to sharing an office with her partner and not feeling the need to knock. As she swung the door open, she saw a young girl sitting on the corner of Mulder's desk. Scully merely arched her eyebrows, and the girl slid off standing up.

"Thanks, Mr. Mulder," she said slipping past the rigid Scully.

Mulder had a grin on his face and swiveled around in his chair to grab for William's car seat, where he was strapped in sucking on a bottle.


"Scully, you mustn't think that something untoward was going on."

"Can it, Mulder," Scully said reaching for the baby.

"So, are you going home now…or?"

"I have some things to do. I'll be here to pick you up though…what time?"

Her voice was icy, and Mulder thought she was being stricter than usual with him.

He glanced at his appointment calendar. "Say about five o'clock?"

"Fine," she answered curtly and shut the door behind her.