Special thanks to Marina Frenzy for help on this chapter.
Mulder had just finished telling his daughter yet another bedtime story based on one of the many cases he and her mother had investigated together.
"I want another story, Daddy!" whined the little girl.
"I'm sorry, angel, but you need to go to bed now," he said as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
"I want Mommy to tuck me in," the small redhead insisted, while hugging her stuffed fox tightly to her chest. It was her favorite stuffed animal. Mulder had gotten it for her at the fair when she was just a baby and they have been inseparable ever since.
Mulder chuckled. "Okay, I'll go get Mommy."
When Mulder left the room, he nearly bumped into an unamused Scully. Her arms folded over her chest, eyebrow raised, she looked like she was about to scold him. It was adorable. She was beautiful, she had grown her hair out again and he loved it long.
"What?" he asked innocently.
"You're going to give her nightmares."
"I kept it G rated," he insisted.
Scully rolled her eyes and kept her smirk hidden as she passed him into her daughter's room. "Time for bed, baby girl."
Micaela smiled as her mother sat on the edge of her bed and pulled the covers over her. The little girl eyed the golden crucifix around Scully's neck. She reached forward and touched it with her tiny hand. Scully was startled by the movement.
It was like déjà vu. She recalled a familiar memory, Emily, the little girl she never had the chance to know was fascinated by her necklace much in the same way her daughter was now. Her breath caught in her throat.
"You like that, huh?"
She hadn't known Emily long, but Micaela resembled her in so many ways.
"It's pretty, you wear it a lot."
Scully looked down at the golden necklace and then back at her daughter. "My mom gave it to me many years ago as a Christmas present."
"Grandma Maggie?"
"Yes, she gave me and my sister, Aunt Missy, one also. It means God is with you. He'll watch over you wherever you go."
Scully fought back a sudden rush of tears.
"Can I wear it?" asked Micaela.
Scully smiled and nodded. She reached to remove the clasp of the necklace.
Micaela moved her hair out of the way as Scully fastened the necklace around her daughter's neck.
The little girl admired the gold pendant in awe.
"Goodnight Sweetheart," she whispered as she kissed her daughter's forehead.
"Night Mommy," the tiny redhead responded.
Scully smiled as she tucked her daughter in before turning off the light.
They were celebrating their daughter's fifth birthday that weekend and Kayla was growing more excited as each day passed. Their daughter was a fury of red hair and a bundle of energy as she raced through the living room and tossed her backpack onto the sofa.
"Who's my girl?!" Mulder said as he went to tickle her sides.
"No tickling, Daddy!"
Mulder stopped momentarily when he saw a glimmer of gold around his daughter's neck. He brushed Micaela's hair back to see Scully's gold cross necklace. "Did Mommy give that to you?" he asked.
Kayla smiled. "Yes, it's pretty."
Mulder nodded. "I see. Well, you take care of it, okay?"
Micaela nodded as she toyed with the small chain in her hands. "It's really important to Mommy."
"I know."
Neither Mulder nor Scully were used to the hustle and bustle of children and parents moving about the house at their daughter's birthday party. Of course, most of the parents were considerably younger, except for a few who were in their forties. Having children later in life was becoming more common for economic reasons, but no one was nearly as old as them.
To their surprise, Jackson had also stopped by.
"Jack!" Micaela cried in excitement and ran towards him. He picked her up and swung her around until Scully warned him not to make her too dizzy.
He had recently graduated college with his bachelor's degree in Psychology and was figuring out what to do next. It didn't stop him, however, from maintaining a close bond with his little sister. It was very similar to the one he shared with Scully.
Another mom, one of the older ones in the group approached Scully as she watched Jackson give his sister a piggyback ride. Kayla loved piggyback rides, though it was getting more challenging for Mulder as his daughter grew bigger and the years caught up with him.
"Is that-" the other mother started.
"Her brother," Scully said quickly with a smile. "Jackson."
She watched as the other woman's eyes went wide, but just for a moment.
"Oh wow, there's quite an age difference huh?"
Scully shrugged. To her own surprise, she didn't mind having this conversation. "I discovered I couldn't have children some time ago. He was our first, it was a miracle you could say and I accepted he would be my only child...until I found out I was pregnant again seventeen years later."
The other woman was clearly impressed. "What a blessing. God works in mysterious ways," she smiled. Scully liked this particular mother because she was a Catholic church goer. It was nice to have some common ground.
"Yeah," Scully said, preoccupied in thought as she observed her children.
She watched as the other mother went back to the crowd of parents.
"Scully, there you are," Mulder said as he approached her donning sunglasses, a beer in his hand.
He caught her gaze and watched Micaela with Jackson until they made their way back to the group. "It's really amazing isn't it? We're parents to a five year old and a twenty two year old."
"Yeah, it is," she whispered wistfully.
Later that evening, after they sorted through the array of gifts their daughter received, the four of them sat together on the couch. Micaela's eyes began to droop, and she rested her head on Jackson's shoulder as he played a tile-matching game on his phone.
Scully looked over at Mulder, together they had picked out an extra special present that they wanted to save for last...once all the guests had left. Something just for the family.
Mulder nodded, then Scully went to retrieve the small surprise from their bedroom and quickly returned down the stairs. "Micaela, honey, I hope you have some energy for one last present."
Like a cat or dog hearing the sound of food hitting the bowl, she jumped up from the couch like the little sprite she was. "Is it a puppy?!" she exclaimed excitedly. Her greenish blue eyes were full of hope. It was hard to tell whose eye coloring she inherited. Sometimes they were green and sometimes they were blue depending on how the light hit them.
Mulder chuckled. "I told you we should have gotten a dog, Scully," he teased.
She looked at him and narrowed her eyes, but he could tell that just for a moment she seemed to consider. "Not a puppy," she said as she watched the child's face turn into a pout. Jackson laughed.
"Christmas is only a few months away, kid," Jackson reminded her.
Both Mulder and Scully gave him an exasperated look. One he knew all too well as "Don't get her started already".
"But it is something special," Scully continued. Mulder and Jackson looked up as Micaela eagerly opened the shiny wrapping paper.
Slowly she opened the box and her eyes lit up. "It's Mommy's necklace!"
Scully smiled as she watched her daughter's tiny hand hold the gold chain in her fingers.
"This one is actually all yours, just for you, Sweetie. Now we match," she said, tears lacing her voice.
Micaela recalled the story her mom had told her as Scully moved to help her place the identical necklace around her neck. She pulled her identical long, ginger hair out of the way, as she fastened the clasp and watched her daughter play with the small crucifix.
Scully watched with tears in her eyes as her daughter admired it and as she did so often, she wondered what it would have been like to have her mother here. She would have loved to have a granddaughter to spoil, of that she was sure. She and her mother had always been close and she hope to have that same connection with her daughter for years to come.
Suddenly Scully was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of her daughter's voice. "Thank you Mommy, but now can we get a puppy for Christmas?!"
"Maybe if you pray really hard, Santa might get you one," Mulder said with a wink. Jackson laughed and rolled his eyes before returning to his phone.
Scully sighed and looked at Mulder who smiled. Somehow she knew the next bedtime story he'd be telling their daughter was how her mommy prayed for a puppy.