The year was 2018 and it had gone by in the blink of an eye. The month was September, early days of Autumn to be exact, and Scully was during her last stages of pregnancy. The weather was pleasant enough for her and Mulder to hang out all day on their porch. They had had lunch - Scully was tired and Mulder was a bit lazy that day, so he made some sandwiches and apple juice (Scully's latest craving) -, read sitting next to each other, or lying on the hammock reminiscing old times, talking about what was about to come, and Mulder spoke to the baby when he thought that Scully had fallen asleep.

They tried to leave behind the events that occurred earlier that year and would try not to talk about it. After they witnessed what they thought was the death of their son, Mulder and Scully drove back to the Unremarkable House and Scully immediately apologised to him about what she had said. William was their son and she had the DNA results from the tests she made when William was born to prove it.

A few weeks later, Scully began having visions and she started to feel in her bones that her son was alive, and, lo and behold, a couple of months after the visions started, William showed up at their doorstep. He was welcomed with hugs and tears and with an offer to stay, which he did for a few days. After that, he would check up on Scully through their shared visions or he'd crash at their home for no more than three days.

"Mulder?" Scully sleepily interrupted Mulder from his thoughts.

"Hmm?" He replied into her ear while getting a good whiff of her hair.

"What are you thinking about?" She turned her head and gazed at his beautiful hazel eyes.

Scully was very hormonal lately, and he feared that telling her the truth about thinking about their son would upset her. So instead, he lied and said, "I'm thinking that it's a beautiful day and that this baby is being very active today." He caressed Scully's belly with his thumbs and the baby replied with a kick to his carefully placed hands.

Scully chuckled. "That's funny, I was thinking the same thing. And that it's a beautiful day to go for a walk in the woods. Maybe the little lady will chill and sleep for a while." She turned her attention to the beckoning woods and smiled with satisfaction.

"Really? Are you sure?" Given that Scully was having their daughter – their daughter – at such a late stage in their lives, Mulder was wary of Scully throughout her pregnancy. Scully didn't mind all the hovering at first, but when she caught him standing outside the bathroom door while she was peeing, she had had enough. Still, that didn't stop him from worrying about her crazy bouts of energy, such as cleaning the entire house, lifting heavy furniture, redecorating the nursery that had already been set up, and, now, a walk in the woods.

"Yeah. I promise if I get tired or have any kind of discomfort I'll tell you right away and we'll turn around and come back home." She said as she struggled to get up.

Mulder chuckled and easily stood up – oh, how Scully envied that nowadays -, offering a hand. She took it and he pulled her up. "Fine. But take a jacket just in case. Otherwise we're not going." Mulder stomp his foot and crossed his arms.

Scully chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Deal."

Xxxxx

The leaves had changed their colours and the woods looked like a beautiful Autumn painting filled with reds, oranges, yellows and browns. They walked hand in hand and, from time to time, they'd take in deep, deep breaths, enjoying the glorious Autumn smell.

Sure enough, as Mulder predicted, it started to get cold. He could tell that Scully was starting to feel the change of the weather when she crossed her arms and rubbed them up and down. He smiled and put the jacket around her shoulders – "I'll take it, Scully. No need for you to carry extra weight," he had said nodding towards her belly; he was awarded with a glare – and Scully smiled back.

As they got deeper into the woods, they spotted several piles of leaves. Mulder ran towards them as if it was the first time he had seen a pile of leaves and started throwing them up in the air. Scully stood watching him with a hand on her hip and the other rubbing circles on her belly. The baby had calmed down, but had yet to fall asleep. She chuckled and said, "Mulder, you do know that you're ruining some poor man's meticulous job, right? And that you're a grown man?"

"Oh, come on, Scully. Don't tell me you never played with leaves as a child."

"Actually, I was more worried about making those piles so that Ahab wouldn't chastise me."

"Well, get in here! You have to practice for when the little nugget starts to play with them." Mulder ran to another pile and started destroying it. Scully looked up to the sky and smiled. She felt bad for the poor, hard working man, but he did have a point. Plus, she would be lying if she didn't admit that it looked pretty darn fun.

She walked as fast as she could and she joined Mulder. Leaves flew everywhere and Mulder made sure that most of them would land on top of her head. She hated having leaves and dirt in her hair, but she loved it at the same time. She loved Mulder and she had had far worst things in her hair than dirt. Like manure from that killer cockroaches case.

Just as they finished playing with the last pile, Scully spoke, "Listen Mulder. I'm not saying that I'm not having fun or anything. But I am getting tired, my feet are swollen like balloons and it's cold. So…"

"Come on, babe. Let's go home. But first, a photo." Mulder started to take his phone out of his pocket and Scully groaned. He walked towards her and hugged her by the shoulders. Even though Scully wasn't keen on getting her picture taken, when Mulder held his phone up, she put on the biggest smile and didn't even care on taking the leaves out of her hair. Mulder mirrored her smile and took the picture.

"Okay. Now, let's get cracking. I'll make some mulled wine." Mulder kept his arm around her shoulder and lead them towards their house.

"Mulder, you don't know how to make mulled wine. And need I remind you that I'm pregnant?"

"Fine. I'll make mulled wine for myself and some hot apple cider for you. How's that?"

"Mulder, you don't know how to make any of those things."

"Ah, Scully. You're taking me for granted, I'll look it up online." Mulder waved a hand in the air as if it was not a big deal and smirked.

Scully laughed. "Mulder the Internet's not good for you, I've told you that a billion times. And you've told me a billion times that you hate browsing through food blogs because they all start with the story of the day they made the food, and by the time you get to the recipe you just don't want to cook anymore."

"You're right. But right now my lady wants some hot apple cider, so I'll endure those dreadful stories that no one cares." Mulder kissed her head. Scully still had leaves in her hair and Mulder wiped them off. "So, how's my little girl. Asleep yet?"

"I think she is. Your big girl, on the other hand, is getting sleepy."

"Oh, no. I was hoping I would get lucky tonight after all the fun I put you through."

Scully chuckled and elbowed him on the ribs. Mulder yelped. "Not tonight, big boy. But I'll settle for a foot massage."

He would miss spending time alone with Scully and being childish in the woods while playing with leaves, but a more exciting part of his life was about to come. Sure, it wasn't going to be just him and Scully destroying pile of leaves, but a little girl would join them and make a hell more of a mess than they just did. And he was looking forward to it more than anything else.

Mulder smiled and hugged her close. "It would be my pleasure, ma'am."