disclaimer: i don't own these characters... duh. 1013 productions, chris carter, and FOX own them, but i'm just using them for a little while. no infringement intended. besides, i'm not making any $$ off this...

Chapter 14: Mama

"Time to rise and shine, Miss Dana Scully!" was the first thing she heard that morning, a few days after Mulder had moved in. They had gotten even closer since he began living with her. He knew all her strange little personal habits already (like how she absolutely would not drink coffee that had less than two creams), and she knew his (like how he loved sunflower seeds). Will accepted his presence and was especially friendly towards him. Scully felt safe and loved when the three of them were together. She even got warm fuzzy feelings when somebody seeing them on the street or in a store or something mistook them for a family. One lady had commented on how her son had his father's eyes in the coffee shop and Scully only smiled. A true, genuine smile that she could not help from spreading over her face.

"Five more minutes," Scully whimpered, burying her head back in her pillow, feeling the dip of the bed as Mulder sat down next to her.

"Come on, don't wanna be late for your first class now," he reminded her. It was officially the day that college started for her. Her medical career started with an organic chemistry class at 7:30 in the morning. She had four classes that day. She wouldn't be home until around 5:00 that night.

She checked the clock. 6:00. As in A.M. Although that wasn't a particularly early hour for Scully, she was extremely tired. She had been nervous all night.

"What if I don't know anything, Mulder?" she had worried to him at dinner.

"Ha, don't make me laugh, Scully. You're smart. And they accepted you, remember? That means you must know something!" he had told her.

"But what if everyone else knows ten times more?"

"I'm pretty sure that won't happen."

"But what if it does?"

"Scullyyyy," he had smiled, shoving a bread roll in her open mouth. This started a small food fight between them, and soon the spaghetti they had been having that night had ended up all over them. Will stared at them, amazed and slightly confused. Dinner was almost over, and they had more food in their hair than he did. When they went to go wash up, Mulder had let her take a shower while he changed and settled Will. He was so good to her. She came to wonder how she ever did anything without him around.

"Go get Mommy, Will," Mulder tried to say quietly, but his laughs were preventing discreetness. Before Scully knew it, she felt something small (about the size of a 7-month-old baby) land on her back. Her son crawled all the way up to her shoulders, trying to find her face through the pillow and her familiar red hair. He found Mommy when he stuffed his head under the pillow, then placed sloppy baby kisses all over her cheeks.

"Oh no, Will!" Scully laughed, pulling them both out from their plushy confines. The baby laughed in excitement when she rested him on her feet then propelled him upwards in an "airplane." It was such a joy for Scully, knowing that she could make her baby happy with simple gestures and nurturing, maybe even a funny face here or there. When she had first decided to keep him, her mother had told her how demanding babies were. Not to go against her mother, but Scully had found that her baby was far less demanding than most people. And a whole lot more fun to be around.

"And the airplane comes in for a landing… safe with Mommy," she smiled, sitting up and cuddling her son to her chest. He clasped her shirt in his hands, burying his face in her so that it looked like he was inhaling her scent. Scully could have died right at that moment and would have died a happy woman.

"I love you, Willy," she whispered into his hair before kissing him on the head. Mulder's heart could not help but swell at the scene. She and her son were beautiful to watch. He regretted, at that moment, that Scully had to get up and get ready for classes, because he just wanted to observe the two all day.

"Mama," Will said in a small, uncertain voice. Scully and Mulder could not believe what had just happened. The baby had just uttered his first word. Right there, in the only bed that fit in their one-bedroom dorm, William Scully had snuggled up to his mother and called her name. He seemed unaware of it at first, but the two adults were overjoyed. He chewed on his own finger when Mulder lifted him up in the air.

"What was that, Baby?" Scully asked, tears welling up in her eyes. This would be the first time in a long time that she would cry tears of joy. The baby was silent.

"Come on Will, who's that?" Mulder asked, putting his hand on Scully's shoulder. The little boy in his lap had a look on his face that said, "You know. You don't need me to tell you." But Mulder had a way of communicating with the kid. His eyes persisted.

"Mama," Will said again, this time reaching for her.

"Oh my God," was all "Mama" was able to say. Mulder smiled so big his face hurt.

"Yeah, Buddy. That's your Mama," he said, kissing William then handing him over to Scully. She rocked and hugged and smothered her baby with kisses, all the while telling him how much she loved him and how happy he made her. Mulder had never given any thought to being a father before, but a few days with Will and Scully had made him think about it a lot. Yeah, Diana and Phoebe both had always said babies were too much work. Too much time, too much money, too much attention. Basically (though they didn't say this), too much love. But Mulder considered that all that time and effort put in to raising a child must be reciprocated with moments like these, though. First words. First steps. Seeing yourself in another human being. Being a father had never crossed his mind before, but now it was all he could think about.

"Come on Sweetie," Scully said after awhile, getting up off the bed, "we have to go eat breakfast. Then you get to go to daycare!" she tried to sound happy, but he knew that she didn't want to put her son in daycare.

"Scully," he blurted out, stopping her before she got to the door of her bedroom, "don't get him ready for daycare. I'll watch him."

"Don't you have class today?" she asked him.

"Yeah, at like 8:00 tonight. And no class tomorrow. And then the same thing after that. Basically, Scully, it'd be a waste to put Will in daycare. Not when I can take care of him here just fine."

"Mulder, I don't know."

"Why not? He loves me. He's a great kid."

"He's a great kid when he's not crying."

"I've heard him cry, remember? I can get him to stop, you know that."

"I don't know what you do, Mulder, but what if that doesn't work? What if you can't get him to stop crying, or you don't know what's wrong with him or something like that? Have you ever baby-sat before?"

Wrong question to ask.

"I'm sorry, Mulder. I didn't mean it like that. It's just… you don't have a lot of experience with children."

"Please, Scully, it would really mean a lot to me. Besides, you trust me over those people that run the university daycare, right?"

"Yes, Mulder, I trust you more than those people who run the university daycare," Scully pretended to recite, knowing she had gotten herself backed up into a corner, figuratively and literally. Mulder moved closer to her and put his arm on the wall beside her head.

"Does that mean I can be the official baby-sitter?" he asked in a low voice that made the hairs on the back of her head stand up.

"Yeah, Mulder, I guess you can be official baby-sitter," she whispered.

"Awesome," he smiled, unaware that getting a baby-sitting job would make him so happy.

They spent the majority of the rest of their morning going over phone numbers, the feeding schedule, the nap schedule, diaper changes, clothes changes, where she kept his things, what to do in case of an emergency (including the Heimlich), techniques she used for different situations, and stuff like that. Mulder, surprisingly, wasn't overwhelmed. All that kept running through his brain was the fact that he was going to spend a whole day with William. Maybe he'd teach the baby how to say his name.

"Oh, and Mulder," Scully said right before she was out the door. Mulder practically had to push her through it, otherwise she'd be late for her first class.

"What now?" he asked. It took her a minute to prose what she was trying to say.

"Diana…" was all she got out.

"Say no more, Scully. We will have no problems with Diana," he swore to her. She smiled, glad she didn't have to try and phrase her thought.

"Then that's it. Give me a kiss, Little Guy," she cooed to Will. He giggled when she pressed her lips to his forehead and responded with a slobbery one of his own. "You be good for Mulder, okay? I love you."

"We'll see you later. Don't worry about us," Mulder reminded her. It was almost like a promise.

"I'll try. But Mulder, he's the only son I've got," she said, being half silly and half serious.

"I will take very good care of him. Go now… go get your medical license," he told her, and before she turned around, he snuck a kiss off her cheek as well.

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