October 16th- mid afternoon
Scully was lying on the couch reading, when the front door burst open. Mulder stepped in with two large brown bags. He looked over at her and froze. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he smiled at her.
He kept walking and said nothing to her. He went past her to the office and came back empty handed. She reached out a hand to stop him as he started to go past her again.
"Mulder," she said, her hand hitting his knee.
"Scully," he replied, sidestepping her hand.
She laughed quietly and he looked at her and winked as he went back outside and closed the door. She rolled her eyes and smiled. She could hear him moving around on the porch, but she stayed on the couch.
They had been in for another checkup yesterday afternoon, on the fifteenth. Everything was good and still on schedule. They had already been expecting a mid to late October due date. Elise, Doctor Reynolds, had jokingly brought up the possibility of the baby coming on Halloween. Scully had seen Mulder's eyes light up.
He had held out hope the baby would possibly arrive on his birthday, but it had come and gone three days ago. He had himself joked about a Halloween baby, but was sure it would not happen. Hearing the doctor's words had reignited that spark within him.
He had excitedly made plans as they walked out of the building. She smiled, reminding him again that babies come when they are ready. He scoffed and accused her of raining on his parade. She laughed and shook her head.
He had gotten up early and been gone most of the day, claiming he had stuff to do. She had not asked what the "stuff" entailed, but she had a sneaking suspicion. For Mulder, Halloween was like Christmas. A baby born on that date, good god, he would be ecstatic.
She put her book down and rubbed her belly.
"Listen little one," she whispered, running her hands up and down. "Try to hold on a couple more weeks for your daddy. I'll do my part and you do what you can in there, okay? Go Team Spooky!"
She patted her stomach in a faux high five and laughed at herself. She looked over at the picture Mulder had found of them from years ago. Team Spooky indeed.
She closed her eyes and listened to Mulder's steps on the porch. Back and forth, up and down the stairs. She heard him swear and she chuckled.
Finally, her curiosity got the better of her and she hauled herself off the couch. She put her hands on her waist, rubbing her lower back. God, it hurt today. Not wanting to rush the baby, but she looked forward to not having this extra weight on her. Also being able to sleep on her stomach. Not peeing constantly…
She sighed as she walked toward the front door and opened it. Mulder was standing on a stepstool placing ghosts and witches on hooks he was hanging up.
There were what looked to be about ten pumpkins of different sizes on the stairs. There was a bale of hay. Hay. God knows where he picked that up. Also, a scarecrow on a stake and a life sized witch holding a handle that went into a cauldron.
"So.. this "stuff" you needed to do," she said looking around, her hands on her back again. "It was buying all this junk?"
""Junk"?" he asked, looking at her as he hung the last ghost. "I'll have you know, this stuff was not cheap."
"You have a bale of hay, Mulder," she said looking at it. She touched it and it was real hay, not a decoration. "There's a bale of hay on our porch."
"I had to go to three pumpkin farms before I found it," he said proudly, pointing at her as he stepped off the step stool and walked over to her.
"Mulder, it's a bale of hay," she said staring at him.
"I know," he nodded. He had a pleased smile on his face.
She looked at him questioningly. "What are you planning to do with a bale of hay?"
"Well, the possibilities are endless," he said shaking his head. "I mean, it could just sit there. I could put the scarecrow through it. I could break it up and spread it around.."
He fell silent at her look. She blinked her eyes at him, crossing her arms.
"I could leave it on the porch as is," he said quietly.
"There you go," she nodded.
He stared at her and then turned back to grab the step stool, closing it up.
"Mulder," she began.
"Scully, I know what you're going to say," he said turning toward her. "You're going to say that I'm going out of my way to decorate for a baby who will have no idea nor care that I did it. You will say that not until she is much older, will she have a memory of decorating for holidays."
She raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth to answer him.
"To which, I will say that it's the gesture that matters, Scully. As for memory, how do we know for absolute certainty what a person remembers and when? How are we to know that somewhere in her subconscious will lie the memory of pumpkins and witches and she won't be able to explain how she knows it, she just does?" he said as he put the stool against the house and picked up the scarecrow.
She took a breath and opened her mouth again, putting her hands on her hips.
"To which I know you will say, "But Mulder, a baby at that age does not have the ability to "remember" something and call it up as we do." To which I would say, again how can we be absolutely sure?" he stuck the scarecrow in the hay bale and smiled.
She took a breath again, crossed her arms and almost got a word out before he spoke again.
"To which I know you will scoff and roll your eyes at me. To which I will say to you that I really shouldn't have to go through a big long winded monologue about how I want to decorate for the holiday because a baby born on Halloween should be a thing to celebrate," he stood in front of her, his tall frame encroaching into her space.
She stared at him and uncrossed her arms. She shook her head and smiled, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Bat crap crazy," she whispered before she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him.
He laughed into her mouth as he kissed her back. He stepped from her and smiled as he looked at the witches and ghosts hanging from the porch beams.
She watched him stare at the decorations and she sighed.
"Mulder, if the baby isn't born on Halloween, how upset would you be?" she asked him.
He turned and looked at her. "I'm not going to lie to you, Scully. I would be crushed. It would completely devastate me."
She stared at him, searching his face. He looked back at her, serious and unwavering.
Then he smiled and she smacked his arm.
"Shit," she said, as he laughed.
"Scully," he said, laughing. "I know it would be amazing to have a baby with a Halloween birthday, especially for us, I mean come on. How much spookier could I get than having a child born on Halloween?"
She laughed and nodded.
"But, if it's not Halloween, it's close Scully," he continued. "I'll just spend her life telling her how she almost made me the happiest person ever, but fell short before she was ever even here."
She huffed at him, smiling as she pushed at his chest.
He caught her hands and smiled. "Close enough is good enough for me, Scully. We're fifteen days away. We'll just have to do what we can to hold on until then."
"Keep my legs closed real tight. Got it," she said, winking and placing her hands against his chest.
"Well I didn't say that," he said, running his hands down her arms.
"Mulder, you know that sex has been known to induce labor," she said, trying to pull her hands away. "That sperm contains prostaglandins, which can help to ripen the cervix and can help labor begin. That women also release that same hormone-like substance so it's like a double dose. And since synthetic forms are used to induce labor, it would make sense that it would happen naturally with sex."
"Oh, Scully," he breathed. "Say prostaglandins again."
She laughed and he pulled her closer. She looped her arms around his neck again and kissed him.
"Oxytocin is released during sex as well," she whispered, her mouth at his ear. "Pitocin is a synthetic form of that and it is also used to stimulate labor by causing uterine contractions."
He groaned and dug his fingers into her hips. She smiled and bit his ear lobe. He groaned again, breathing hard.
"Orgasms also create uterine contractions," she whispered again, scraping her nails across his neck. "All those factors could lead to cervix ripening, and the baby needing to be pushed out of my vagina."
"Okay, you ruined it," he said pulling back and stepping away. He put his hands up and she laughed at his face of disgust. He shook his head.
"You know my feelings on that word," he said with a shiver. "How you ruined it years ago."
"Mulder, please don't tell me again, I can't.."
"Here are the facts," he shouted over her. "You suggested we attempt phone sex when you were out of town for work.."
"Twelve years ago," she added.
"You said it would be interesting and I was intrigued and definitely up for it," he said, raising his eyebrows as he began pacing the porch. She rolled her eyes and hung her head back. "We started and it was hot and I was enjoying the things we were saying. I could hear you taking off your clothes and that got me very aroused. And then.. you said it."
He stopped pacing and stared at her, shaking his head.
She smiled and tried not to laugh. It bubbled up and she laughed while he shook his head.
"Mulder, we'd never done that before, never needed to do it and I don't know, I was nervous!" she said, raising her arms.
""Mulder, I wish you were here. Your hands on my body. Touching my breasts, my vagina."" Your vagina, Scully," he said, exhaling and shaking his head.
"That's what it's called!" she said exasperated, her eyes wide.
"Have you ever said that to me before or after that night? Ever asked me to "touch your vagina"? he asked, crossing his arms.
"Oh, would you have preferred the word you once used? Would you have wanted me to ask you to touch my "kitty"? Mulder, "kitty"?" she said with a disgusted look on her face.
He shrugged his shoulders, opening his arms, palms up.
"You ruined that word for me. We can never have a cat, because no chance would I stand on this porch and yell "here kitty, kitty" and not think about you calling my vagina a "kitty." A "kitty," Mulder. You don't see a problem with using that word?" she asked him, eyebrows up.
"I don't know," he said, licking his lips and looking her up and down. "I'd say it's pretty accurate considering I've made it purr quite a few times."
She leaned back from him and her mouth dropped open. His eyes were shining and the grin spreading across his face, was the "I won" grin that she hated and loved all at the same time.
"Oh, my god," she said shaking her head and then she started laughing. He joined in and they laughed as they stared at each other.
"We'll call a draw," she said, still laughing. "Neither word will be used, nor will this story ever be told again."
She stuck her hand out and he shook it. She nodded and turned back toward the house. She turned around as he started to rearrange the scarecrow in the hay.
"Oh, Mulder," she said, making sure he looked at her before continuing. "You've made it purr way more than a few times. For longer than you even know and times in which you weren't even present."
She winked at him and it was his turn to stand open mouthed. She walked inside and heard him mutter "Jesus Christ" as the door shut. She laughed silently.
She rubbed her belly and whispered to the baby. "Mommy won that round. You'll find that will be the case most of the time."
She laughed again and headed to the couch. She sat down and picked up her book. She could still hear him muttering as he walked back and forth across the porch.
"Fifteen days, baby," she whispered again. "We got this."
*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*
October 20th- evening
"HeHeHe"
"God!"
"Mulder, just unplug it," Scully said, for at least the tenth time.
It turned out the witch Mulder had purchased had a motion sensor on it. Every time he passed by it, he got scared and he jumped. She rolled her eyes and laughed at him.
"No, Scully. I don't want to unplug it. Part of the fun of Halloween is being scared. And it doesn't scare me that badly," he said shrugging his shoulders.
Scully sat in the porch swing, rocking it slowly. She shook her head as he handed her the cup of tea she had asked him to make for her.
He sat next to her and the swing rocked a little faster. They sat in silence as she drank her tea and took a deep breath.
It had been four days since he put all the decorations up and every time he walked past the witch on the porch, he got scared. He was forced to walk past it more because Scully had spent a lot of time in the porch swing. She had been reading, relaxing, and sometimes napping. If she was outside, so was he, hence the constant frightfest for him.
The weather was starting to cool down and she could smell fall in the air. She closed her eyes and felt Mulder's hand on her stomach. She smiled as he rubbed his hand up and down. She leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed.
"How's she doing? Moving a lot?" he asked her.
"Hmm, yeah," she said. She put her hand on his and moved it down. The baby pushed as she did and she gasped as Mulder chuckled.
"Christ that was a hard one," she said, breathing out.
He moved his hand and pushed the swing a little. They sat in silence again.
Mulder had strung up some white lights on the porch. They were around the posts and on the ceiling of the porch. He had surprised her with the lights and the ability to do it on his own. He acted shocked at her reaction, but later told her he had only almost stapled his hand a couple of times.
She opened her eyes and looked at the lights and she smiled.
"These lights are so nice. I like them. Thank you for putting them up," she said.
"Hmm," he answered. "Eleven days, Scully. You think we'll make it?"
"We?" she asked, lifting her head from his shoulder and looking at him. "Pretty sure you're not the one pushing a baby out of your.."
"Aaa!" he said, putting up his hand. "No."
She put her head on his shoulder again and the swing began to rock.
"I'm doing all I can. We're doing our best," she said.
He lifted his arm and put it around her shoulder. He kissed her head and rested his head on hers.
"It's all I ask," he said quietly.