So, you want them to get married? Of course you would! ;) But those of you who said they are not ready, you were also heard! Thank you for voting and especially for all suggestions outside of voting options.

"I knew this was a marriage trap!" Mulder joked, not knowing what else to do. He just had to break the silence somehow before turning to his partner and dealing with her reaction.

"What do you want to do, Scully?" he asked carefully.

"You were married," Scully said quietly instead of answering him. Her eyes were filled with tears.

Jesus, Mulder thought. What difference does that make?

He already forgot he said it. Hell, he forgot ever being married. Why couldn't she let it go?

"I'm sorry," he sighed, figuring he should apologize, even if he didn't have any idea what he was apologizing for. "I wasn't hiding it from you. I just… I never think about that. But it's not a secret, Scully. If you'd just read my file…"

"Why would I read your file? You are my partner, not a case!"

"I've read yours," Mulder shrugged.

"That's because you're paranoid."

"In our line of work you have to be," he shrugged again. "But we are not here to discuss my first marriage. We were talking about my second one."

"So it's just a number to you?" Scully sounded hurt, which confused Mulder even more.

"It's not a number," he sighed. "But it's our best chance to get Emily. You heard Ms. Robinson, she doesn't think you can do it by yourself, and frankly, I don't think that either."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that we don't know what we're dealing with and how this child even came to be. We can't explain her parents' deaths or the tests she was subjected to. Adopting her is dangerous and since you are so determined to go on with it anyway, I won't let you do it alone. Have you even considered the risks?"

"Of course I have, Mulder. Regardless, this is the only right thing to do here."

"I agree. But you can't do it alone. If it gets you killed it won't do any good to Emily. You need backup."

"Which means… I should marry you? Mulder, this is crazy! Have you considered the consequences?"

"We get Emily?"

"We get separated and reassigned, maybe to another state."

"They can't send us to different states for getting married. It doesn't make sense. As for the x files, I'm sure that if we explain everything to Skinner he will allow us to remain partners."

"You want to tell him?"

"I'm not too thrilled about it, but I think we have to, Scully. We are going to need FBI resources to get to the bottom of this."

"How can you be so calm about this, Mulder? It's going to change our lives."

"It's just papers."

"Is it? So you don't expect to… consummate it?"

"What? No. I'm not ready to screw up everything we've worked so hard for. Unless… you want it?"

"No! No, of course not."

"All right then! Platonic marriage with platonic child. Just when I thought my life couldn't get more complicated…"

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. We don't have a choice, not if we want Emily to be safe. Besides, it's not like I'm saving myself for anybody. Are you, Scully?"

"No, I suppose not."

They didn't think it through. FBI agents don't have the luxury of time to think about important decisions. They have to act on an impulse, follow their guts and hope for the best. One wrong move and they can end up dead, but contemplating the life-and-death decisions for too long will kill them for sure.

Neither Mulder nor Scully thought it would be too bad to be married to each other. They respected and trusted each other and their partnership was effective. After all, like their social worker had said, what is marriage but a partnership?

It could work, if they weren't such a different people. It's one thing to share an office, but share a home too and even raise a child together? Wouldn't they get sick of each other soon?

Not to mention the physical part that neither of them was willing to provide. Not that it was anybody's business, but they seemed to have been getting only the hard parts of this traditional union.

Could they possibly make it work?

Neither of them thought they could, but they signed the papers nonetheless. They took comfort in knowing that they weren't the first couple to get married over a kid.

Dana Mulder and Fox Scully. Mulder suggested it, think it would be a modern thing to do if they both changed their last names. Scully rejected the idea.

Vixen Scully and Dan Mulder – was his next suggestion. Rejected as well. He was too nervous to come up with better jokes.

Scully got them some cheap rings, to wear in court, not at home. She didn't want her family to know. Mulder kissed her in the forehead after it was over. It seemed too wrong not to kiss the bride, even if their hearts weren't in it.

They've spent their wedding night talking, just like they'd spent their first night on their first case. Only now they weren't talking about Samantha, but her niece Emily. Their child Emily.

Their honeymoon was spent in court.

Meanwhile, Matthew Scully was born, so Scully's family was too busy with him to pay close attention to what was going on in her life. It hurt her how easy it was to keep the unconventional marriage a secret from them.

When Emily joined the family, they were happy, but not as happy as they were for Matthew. Scully couldn't blame them, but it still felt unfair to her. Nobody even asked about girl's new last name and if they did they would know it wasn't Scully.

Emily was Mulder now. Scully wanted to do at least one traditional thing by giving her daughter her father's name. It was also a bit of a compromise, his last name but her apartment for the child to live in. He could visit whenever he wanted and sleep on the couch, which technically meant he was very short of moving in with her. As uncomfortable as that made her, Scully was grateful that she didn't have to do it all alone.

There was still one thing standing between Emily and her new life in Washington D.C. – her health.

All right, let's get this huge choice over with. What happens with Emily's health? Please vote:

a) She's very sick and she dies

b) She's very sick and needs to stay in the hospital

c) She's sick, but doesn't have to stay in the hospital and is well enough to travel to her new home

d) She doesn't have to be in the hospital, but is too sick to travel so far

e) She is a perfectly healthy kid