A/N: This chapter is going to take a weird little jog to left field, but that's just to set up the next few chapters. Don't get worried, I'm not that cheesy, they aren't that out of character. And I apologize for the overuse of the word "weird." I was too lazy to click on my thesaurus. Weird.

That night as he watched her sleep, he allowed himself to dream.

He imagined the look on her face when the doctor would tell them that they were going to be parents. He smiled, thinking of her mood swings and strange cravings, and how he'd cater to it all, just to make her happy. He imagined her in her ninth month, still trying to get the laundry out of the bottom of the washer and not being able to bend that far. She would sit on the couch, propping a baby name book on her belly and whine at him to just look at her list. She'd shake him awake from his spot on the couch to tell him that the baby was coming. She'd blame the pain on him, but cry when it was all over and she held their child for the first time. It would be a girl, and they would give her a frilly girly name like Lily or Charlotte. Their daughter would be healthy, have her mother's eyes and her fathers dark hair, and a temperament they would both blame on the other. The first few weeks would be hard and tiring, but they would get through it together. One her six-month birthday, their little frilly girl would have solid food for the first time. As their daughter examined the spoon with skepticism, Scully would announce "She's considering it. She'll let us know what she decides," as if their daughter was an executive. Her first word would be daddy, followed closely by mommy and cookie and no. She would walk before her first birthday, and would have her first overnight trip to grandmas at 18 months. They would watch her grow together and the three of them would be a family.

Eventually their little girl would be a preschooler, and then a kindergartener, and then she would be in elementary school, where the boys would chase her on the playground. The boys would never stop chasing her and by the time she was 16 every male in school would be scared of her father. Eventually she'd go off to college to become a lawyer and there she would meet her Prince Charming. They would get married and have lots of kids and live happily ever after.

Mulder smiled at the thought as he drifted off to sleep.

Scully had never been so nervous in her life. The doctor assured her that the procedure had been completed without any complications. Now they just had to wait to see if implantation occurred. She moved slowly and carefully as she pulled her coat on and headed out to the waiting room. Mulder was sitting in the far corner, the large stack of magazines next to him a testament to his long wait.

"Hey," he said as she approached. He stood up and went to her, tipping her chin up so she could look in his eyes. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. It's just... it's weird."

"Yeah, I know. I mean I don't really know, but I kind of get it."

She smiled as he took her hand.

"When does the doctor want you to come back?"

"He said he'll do a blood test in 2 weeks."

"2 weeks? That's a long time."

"I know. He said that a lot of times doctors will do a confirmation test earlier, but he feels that sometimes produces a false negative and then the mothers get distraught and they can actually lose a baby that they thought they didn't have. He likes to wait until implantation is established and all systems are go -his words not mine- before making a final declaration."

"Okay, so 2 weeks."

"He said to do everything as I normally would, just no field work."

"Good. Ready to go home?"

The next two weeks crept by at something that would be a snails pace when it grew up. Scully was restless. She wanted to find out if the procedure had worked, but she was also dreading it. With a 20 percent success rate, it was hard to have hope that things would work out. She would sometimes catch Mulder watching her and realize that he wanted this just as much as she did. And he wanted it all. They had several discussions on how to raise a child, and how they would share responsibilities equally. At first she thought that he would just move in with her, but he had other plans.

"Let's get married," he'd said one night as they watched TV.

"What?" she asked, lifting her head from its spot on his shoulder.

"You heard me."

"Mulder-"

"Just hear me out. Let's say you go into labor and there are complications. And maybe you can't make decisions about what to do, but I can't make decisions for you because I'm just the father, I'm not the next of kin. And something has to be done soon, and the doctors make the decision and it's not the one you wanted. If we were married, we could avoid all that confusion. And speaking of confusion, how is our child going to explain that his or her parents are not married, but they're not divorced, but they do live together and they do get along, but they're not together? That doesn't even make sense."

"Mulder-"

"And what about us, Scully? How do I introduce you? This is Dana, the mother of my child? I don't like that."

"Mulder."

"What?"

"You don't get married for reasons like that."

"I thought you like practicality."

"Your practicality is a little far fetched."

"Oh."

"Now if you had said that you wanted to marry me because you loved me and you wanted the three of us to be a family, that would be something to discuss."

She returned her head to his shoulder. These hormones were making her awfully bold.

"Maybe I thought you wouldn't believe that."

"You thought wrong."

He was quiet for a long time. Finally, he cleared his throat and began to speak.

"I want to marry you. I love you and I want us to be a family."

"Okay."

"Okay what?"

"Okay, now this is something we can talk about."

"Alright."

"Would you want to marry me even if there was no baby involved?"

"Yes."

"Then how come you never said anything before?"

"Because we've never been in a place where we could even entertain the idea, much less have an actual discussion about it."

"This is officially the strangest conversation we've ever had."

"No, I believe the strangest one was "Hey, want to be the father of my baby." This is a close second."

She laughed a little and sat up so she could look at him.

"Mulder, I love you. But being married is just... I don't know, it just doesn't seem like something that could ever be real. I don't think you and I could exactly live like we're on the Donna Reed show."

"Of course not. You'd look terrible in those dresses."

"Mulder..."

"I know, marriage would be a weird thing for us. Especially since most people date before getting married and having a baby."

"That's true."

"But didn't you confess to me that you wanted the whole package?"

"Yeah, I did. But that was years ago."

"You still want it, Scully. And you can have it."

"You know, when I was younger and I would think about getting married, it always involved more... fireworks and candlelit dinners and kissing and diamond rings and-"

"You didn't count on it sounding like a field report."

"No."

He nodded and turned back to the TV, thinking the conversation was over. After 20 minutes of silence she finally stood up from the couch with her hands on her hips.

"Okay Mulder, let's do it."

"What?"

"Let's get married. Maybe we're not romantic, and maybe there's no horse-drawn carriage, but we love each other, and we would be getting married for the same reasons that other people do. Besides, once in my life I'm going to do something totally crazy and unpredictable, and I want to do that with you."

"Really?"

He was completely shocked. He had expected her to laugh him off or make some joke about a shot-gun wedding. But to have her say that she would marry him?

"We love each other, right? And we've always said we're going to be stuck together forever. I mean, you already picked out our retirement home. And maybe this isn't the traditional way to do things, but we never do things the traditional way, and they always work out. We don't have to figure out how this is going to work right now, either. We can get married and have a baby and figure everything out as we go along. Give me one good reason why not."

"Uh... because your brother would kill me?"

"He's not allowed to kill family members."

"What if your hormones are talking?"

"Then I'll sleep on it and decide in the morning."

"This is a weird conversation, Scully."

"You started it."

"Do you really, honestly want to marry me?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "I think I do."

"You look like that surprises you."

"I'm surprised that I admitted it to you before I admitted it to myself."

"We're certainly unconventional."

"Yeah, we are."

They settled back into the couch quietly.

It seemed so long ago as she though back on it, but it had only been three days ago. Now he was sitting across the table from her, a blank marriage certificate between them.

"So? Still want to do it."

"I said I did, Mulder. I still do. I just can't believe you got one of these so fast."

"We don't have to do this right away, Scully."

"What if I wanted to?"

"What?"

"Our appointment is in four days. Let's break that news to my mom before we get married. I don't want her to keel over from two surprises in one day. So after the appointment we can go over there and tell her, and then we can decide when to do this."

"Are you sure? You really want to marry me? For certain?"

"Yeah, I do. I know it was kind of rushed when we talked about this before, but I've been thinking about it a lot, and I keep coming to the same conclusion. I want to marry you."

He had tears in his eyes as he stood up from the table and crouched down in front of her.

"And I want to marry you too."

Her smile came quickly and he leaned up and kissed her. She kissed him back, pulling him a little closer and running her fingers through his hair.

"Mulder?"

"Hmm?"

"Is there a psychological term for emotional overload?"

He chuckled and pulled her into a hug.

"Come on, Scully. You need to lay down."

She followed him to her bedroom where he'd already turned down the covers and fluffed her pillows.

"Tomorrow is Saturday. I expect you to get up no earlier than 9. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Good."

He pulled the blankets over her and kissed her again.

"Sleep good. Call me if you need anything."

"You're leaving?"

"The couch calls my name."

"Please stay here."

"Scully, I'm not tired yet. I'll toss and turn and you need your rest, okay?"

"Alright. But leave my door open."

"I will. Goodnight."

"Night."

She was quiet for a minute, then sat up and called for him.

"Yes?" he asked, coming to stand in her doorway.

"Will you take out the trash?"

"Now?"

"No. When we're married. Will you take out the trash?"

"I suppose I could do that. Any other questions?"

"What side of the bed are you going to sleep on? Are you even going to sleep in a bed or are you just going to sleep on the couch? Do you expect me to make you dinner and do the laundry and the dishes all the time? Because I have no problem with that, but is it what you want? Maybe you want to do the dishes. Which way do you prefer the toilet paper to be put on the roll? Can you run fast enough to avoid Bill when he finds out or am I going to be a widow? I don't know how to file a joint tax-return. Should we share a checking account? What about a savings account? And credit cards, what do you think about credit cards? What are the Gunmen going to think? Do you like 2% milk or something else? Coke or Pepsi? Who's going to do the shopping? Will you remember our anniversary? What if this doesn't work out? What if we can't live together? What if I want another dog and you hate dogs and you won't let me have one but I really want one? What then, Mulder? And what if we're both getting ready in the morning and you have to brush your teeth and I have to brush mine, but we can't do it at the same time? And what about when I get PMS-y and I yell at you and we get in a huge fight? What if I want to watch one TV show and you want to watch another one? Mulder, how do you fold your towels?"

His eyebrows raised at her speech and he just stood there for a moment.

"I don't fold towels, I usually just shove them in the drawer."

"You might have to change that."

"I figured. Scully, all this stuff is just silly. You don't need to worry about it right now. And I'm tired of telling you not to worry. Okay?"

"Alright. I'll stop."

"Good," he said, kissing her again. "Now go to sleep."

"Thank you, Mulder. Good night."