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[J. Edgar Hoover Building
Downtown Washington D.C.
Friday, 9:10 AM]
They were late to work.. again. It wasn't because of a missed alarm this time, though; it was because they honestly didn't care about whether or not they were on time today. Mulder and Scully were too happy to care.
After Scully told Mulder the test results yesterday, they skipped out of work early and went out to dinner at a Chinese food restaurant, Em's choice. Scully had tried to explain the reason they were celebrating to her, but she wasn't sure if she quite understood... she was only three years old, after all. Em seemed happy about it though.
They had Em sleep in their bed with them last night; both Mulder and Scully couldn't bear the thought of not having her with them when the exhilarating knowledge of the test results still so fresh in their minds. She didn't mind it in the least; Em was turning into one of the most snuggly people to ever exist (at least in Scully's opinion, that is). Morning cuddles. That was why they were late for work.
Walking through the bullpen with Em walking in between them, holding both of their hands, the surrounding agents were noticeably quite a bit more… attentive… towards the three of them.
"What rumor do you think they're circulating around today, Mulder?" Scully whispered lowly to Mulder.
"I'm not sure, but a few agents heard Em call me 'Daddy' yesterday. It could be about that.."
Scully smiled despite herself. she didn't think she would ever tire of hearing their daughter refer to him as 'Daddy'. It was still all too surreal. They have a daughter. A perfect combination of the two of them. Something that was theirs and theirs alone. God, she wanted to scream it from the rooftop. 'I have a child with Fox Mulder, the love of my life!' she would yell for any and all to hear.
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As they walked into their office, Scully immediately noticed that the light on the answering machine was blinking. Walking over and pressing play, Kimberly's voice (Skinner's secretary) blared out of the tiny box.
"Good morning, Agents Mulder and Scully. You have a meeting with the Assistant Director at 10:00 am sharp. Both of your presences are being requested."
Scully looked over and made eye contact with Mulder, who was getting out all of Em's coloring books for her. "Did she sound nervous to you?"
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know Scully, maybe… Are you worried that this could be about us or Em again?"
"I don't know. I hope not, but I kind of have the feeling that it is…"
He walked over and pulled her into a warm embrace, as if to protect her from the outside world, from dangerous things, from her own anxious thoughts. "We'll just have to wait and see I guess.." Mulder didn't tell her that he was worried, too.
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"Hi, there!" Kimberly cheerily chirped at Em from her spot at her desk when they came walking through the door. Em didn't verbally answer, but she responded with an apprehensive smile. Scully saw this and took note of it as 'progress' for her daughter's reserved personality.
Before they could even take a seat, Kimberly let them know that they could just head straight on in to see Skinner. Sitting down in their usual spots, like normal, it was Scully who ended up with Emily in her lap- she still couldn't get her to separate from either of them; and to be honest, she didn't want her to.
Skinner seemed to be slightly displeased that Em was still following them around everywhere, so Scully explained begrudgingly, "I'm sorry, Sir. She doesn't start at the daycare until Monday."
Skinner nodded slightly in response and began to write something down on a piece of paper. "Well Agents, you've been requested here today because someone has convinced one of the higher-ups that you both share parentage of this child. They also claimed that you're involved and are possibly raising her together. It is because of this claim that I had to call you in. Originally, this meeting was deemed to be fit full of HR reps, fellow AD's, and some people from legal… but I managed to convince them that they weren't needed, that I could handle this misunderstanding myself." He then lifted up the piece of paper that he was writing in. On it, it said: 'Audio recording in progress. Lie your asses off.'
Mulder started to look worried, while Scully's eyebrows hit her hairline. 'This is a new one.'
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Standing back outside Skinner's office, their meeting now over, Skinner stopped them before they could leave the anteroom. "Just off the record, Agents, but what exactly is going on now. Who managed to find grounds for those claims?"
Mulder looked towards Kimberly wearily and Skinner reassured him that she is 100% trustworthy; Scully corroborated his statement.
Scully blushed as she began to explain. "Well, off the record, there might have been a few instances where other agents might have heard Em use certain terms of endearment towards us that could be thought of as being 'involved'..."
"How do you mean, Agent Scully?"
It was Mulder this time who spoke, choosing to be less cryptic than his partner had just been. "Agent Rausch may or may not have heard Em call Scully 'Mommy', a few agents in the first-floor bullpen might have heard her call me 'Daddy', and we've also been told a lot that Em looks just like both of us. Oh and also there were some… informative… test results that went through the lab yesterday that one of the technicians might have seen and gossipped about.."
If Skinner had hair, his eyebrows would have just disappeared under it. "Good God, Agents! No wonder they made me schedule a meeting with you two." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "If you don't mind me asking, why were the lab test rules sensitive?"
Mulder and Scully both simultaneously grinned at him. Scully began to speak with excited eyes, "The lab test that I had run was a DNA test for Em. The results of that test concluded that not only is she my biological daughter, but she's also Mulder's." She watched as her boss' eyes widened in confusion.
"Wha-, how?" he squeaked in puzzlement, looking back and forth between the three of them.
Scully looked up at Mulder who was standing behind her with a hand resting loosely on her waist. "We don't know, Sir. But we're damn thankful for it."
"So, you guys are together now?!," Kimberly piped up hopefully.
"Off the record?" Scully looked at Skinner.
"Yeah, off the record."
"Yes, we're together. We're raising Em. And technically, all of those claims that were made about us today, are true.."
"Yay! It's about time! You guys took forever to figure out that you're meant for each other!" Kimberly was beyond exuberant now. Scully looked over at her and smiled, subconsciously leaning back into Mulder as she did so. His grip on her waist tightened slightly.
"Well, I'm happy for you Agents," Skinner began. "I'll do my best to try and convince the higher-ups that there's no need for action or investigation into your partnership, but just be prepared because I don't know how much of it they'll actually listen to."
"Will do, Sir."
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[Fox Mulder's Car
en route to Dana Scully's Apartment
Friday, 7:30 PM]
"Hurry up, Mulder," Scully demanded impatiently. They had just dropped Em off at her mother's house and it was one of the most difficult things Scully's ever had to do. She hasn't been separated from her since she came into her life and now she just had to say goodbye for the first time. Scully cried. Em cried. Mulder was distraught. It did, however, get a little bit easier when Maggie got Emmy, as she calls her, back into the idea of spending g time with her and having fun, even if that meant being away from her parents.
Maggie positively beamed when she heard Emmy say goodbye to her daughter and Fox as 'Mommy and Daddy'. She was ecstatic that life finally seemed to be working out in their favor and allowing them some happiness. Of course, she did not let them leave without cracking a few jokes about how they should spend their time being kid-free. It gave her joy to see them both blushing at her comments.
And now, they were in the car driving back home and Scully was being extremely pushy. "Jesus, Scully what's the rush? I'm already speeding and I don't want either of us to die today."
She scoffed at him. Of course, he was clueless. "Mulderrrrr," she whined. "How could not have figured it outtt."
"Figure what out, Scully?" He was just pulling up to her building.
Scully bolted out of the car and raced towards the building. "I'll tell you in a minute, Mulder. Just hurry your ass up."
They walked into her apartment building and the elevator ride up to her floor seemed to take ten times longer than usual. Finally making it to her door, she bee acutely aware of Mulder's presence. Her hands started shaking so badly that she couldn't get the key to stick in the lock.
Mulder noticed this and grabbed it from her so he could unlock the door instead. "What's the matter, honey?" He was getting worried about her.
Scully leaned back into him with her hips and groaned. "Mmm, honey. I like the sound of that, baby." She rolled the endearment off of her tongue like warm honey.
Mulder finally caught on. "Wait, you've been horny this whole time? How did I not pick up on that?" He chuckled lowly.
Scully didn't think it was very funny, though. She arched her back further into his torso. "Mulderrr, I've been horny since the last time we had sex. But I've been hot since you grabbed my waist earlier." She sounded like she was almost pleading with him. She was desperate, tired of waiting for so long.
"Scully! That was like eight hours ago!" He pushed them into her apartment, using her body to close the door as he shoved her up against it. "I guess I better make up for making you wait then.." He grabbed her hips firmly. She whimpered at his touch.
Scully took her chance when he started to lean in for a kiss; she used her weight and height to gain some leverage against his lanky frame and turned them quickly so that he was the one against the wall. He looked slightly stunned at her unexpected move. All of the breath he was holding exited his lungs as his back made contact with the hard surface.
She smirked up at his bemused expression. "I thought you said you
weren't going to keep me waiting." She growled her voice laced with libidinous desire, as she grabbed ahold of his tie and yanked him down to the floor on top of her.