February 14th, 1995

6:30pm

Even before Scully opens her eyes, she's deep in thought, thinking about something that has been on her mind a lot the last couple of days.

She used to hate Valentine's day.

When she and Missy were just little girls, they would argue every holiday about whether or not the holiday was romantic, or stupid. She, of course, thought the latter, but Missy - filled with the arrogant sureness born of being two years older- would insist that it was a day filled with love and romance. These arguments never ended with either of them convinced of anything new.

All of which served to make her reluctant to pick Valentine's day as their wedding day, but Mulder seemed so charmed by the idea, so she gave in. And now it's an entire year later.

It startles her a little to hear her sister's voice. "Is she awake?"

"No...she decided she needed a nap after work. You know how tired being pregnant makes women at the beginning." Mulder seems to be trying to keep his voice low, but Scully can hear clearly, so they must be in the next room.

"From observation, yes." Melissa's voice floats back. "She must enjoy being pregnant as much as mom did to have another one so soon."

For a second Scully hears Page fussing, but before she decides to get up it stops abruptly. "Well, I hope she doesn't hate it, anyway. I think it's worth it, but she's the one who has to lug the little monsters around so..."

"You're not a monster, are you Page? Nooo..." Scully smiles, picturing her sister making faces for the baby. There's a gurgle in reply. "I'll bring this one back by before you leave for work tomorrow. We're going to let Daddy get on with his plans, yes we are!"

"I really appreciate this, Missy. Now if only she stays asleep until I'm done..."

Melissa chuckles. "I bet you'll have to wake her. If I recall, there's few things my sister likes to do more than sleep." Scully pouts in the dark room. "Congratulations, Fox. Who knew my little sister would actually find her match?"

"Bye. Bye baby, be good for your auntie."

The door closes, and Scully stretches. She has no idea what Mulder has planned, but she doesn't want to ruin it, so she curls back up, resting her hands on her belly. It's too soon to feel anything from inside, but it's comforting, since it reminds her that the baby is there. Sleep soon reclaims her.

When she wakes up again, she sees than about an hour has passed. She'd been having a dream, something about Mulder and the kids a couple of years into the future. It had been strange, but kind of nice too, so she was reluctant to let it go.

"You're awake."

"Yeah...guess I was really tired."

"That's ok." He leans down and kisses her forehead. "Why don't you get dressed? I made dinner."

He's turning on the cd player as she comes into the room, fully dressed.

Come to my window

Crawl inside, wait by the light

of the moon

Come to my window

I'll be home soon

"It's been a whole year, can you believe it?" He tickles her nose with a long stem rose she didn't even know he was holding. She smiles, but pulls away. "Do you regret that moment of insanity, Scully?"

I would dial the numbers

Just to listen to your breath

I would stand inside my hell

And hold the hand of death

You don't know how far I'd go

To ease this precious ache

You don't know how much I'd give

Or how much I can take

Just to reach you

Just to reach you

Just to reach you

"What moment of insanity is that, Mulder?"

"Actually, I'm not sure. Maybe it's the moment you stepped into the basement office and didn't run away screaming. Or when you visited me a few days after New years, and didn't pull away when you could have. Or when you said you'd marry me."

Come to my window

Crawl inside, wait by the light

of the moon

Come to my window

I'll be home soon

Keeping my eyes open

I cannot afford to sleep

Giving away promises

I know that I can't keep

Nothing fills the blackness

That has seeped into my chest

I need you in my blood

I am forsaking all the rest

She pretends to consider this for a moment. "Nope, I don't regret any of those moments. Not a bit."

Just to reach you

Just to reach you

Oh to reach you

"Ah, I see. Then we're talking about years of insanity, then, not just a moment. Though it obviously dove headfirst into sheer madness a year ago."

"You're right, Mulder. I am crazy. Crazy in love." It sounds silly to her ears as she says it, but his face lights up, so she knows it was an okay thing to say.

"Good, since that makes two of us." He pulls a small box out of his pocket. "This is a small thing, but I want you to always remember that you have my heart."

Come to my window

Crawl inside, wait by the light

of the moon

Come to my window

I'll be home soon

I don't care what they think

I don't care what they say

What do they know about this

love anyway?

Inside the box is a silver necklace with a heart-shaped locket. She fumbles with the clasp for a moment, and he takes it from her, handing it back open. There's a tiny picture inside of the two of them at their wedding reception. "Oh, Mulder..." Her eyes brighten with unshed tears.

He decides that means she likes it, and he suddenly becomes embarrassed. "Come on, let's eat before it gets cold. You know I'm not a great chef, but I asked my mom for a few recipes than even I can't screw up. Oh, and I got us sparkling grape juice, since we can't have alcohol this year." The words leave his mouth in a nervous rush.

Come...

Come to my window

I'll be home

Come to my window

Crawl inside, wait by the light

of the moon

Come to my window

I'll be home soon

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" she asks, throwing both arms around his neck.

"Something terrible, I'm sure," he jokes, but she doesn't mind. She needs to get his gift too, but it can wait. Being in his arms is what she wants most of all.

I'll be home soon

I'll be home

I'll be home

I'm coming home

*a/n "Come to my Window" by Melissa Etheridge

Late February 1995

Scully wonders what the hell she was thinking when she decided to bring Page along for the case. Oh yes, something silly about visiting the zoo, how that might be educational and entertaining. Yeah, sure, right. Instead, it's become another case of "When Hysterics Attacks," featuring uncommunicative zookeepers, wild-eyed witnesses and now this. I'm sorry, Page, she murmurs inside, I really wanted you to have some fun. And once we solve the case, we'll go through the zoo like regular tourists, she promises her child, pointing out the animals and resisting the urge to lock Mulder up with them.

In the meantime, she really hates the way this so-called animal liberator, Kyle Lang, is practically smirking at her, as if being a mother makes her less of an FBI agent. Scully simmers inwardly as she pats Page absently on the back, wondering if her husband is as oblivious as he pretends. "Whatever Willa Ambrose's intentions, she's too preoccupied to really know how Meecham operates." The scruffy man folds his arms, and gives Mulder a look that infuriates the redhead.

"Preoccupied with what?" Scully asks coldly as her husband crosses his own arms and leans back.

The activist sighs, then condescends to answer. "A lawsuit she's fighting against the Malawi government over a lowland gorilla named Sophie. Willa rescued her from a North African customs house ten years ago. Raised her like a child. Now the Malawi government wants her back." He sets his jaw, clearly unhappy with the disclosure.

"Will they win?" she asks.

The man is now on fire, in his element, baby or no baby in the room. "This is a perfect example of man's imperialism over the animal kingdom - this craven impulse to turn animals into objects for our own selfish pleasure." He stalks the room, as if ready to turn the agents into new converts.

Scully shifts Page to her other shoulder. "I thought you said she rescued this gorilla."

Lang sneers. "Yeah, rescued her so she could spend a life behind bars. Her obligation should have been to return the gorilla to the wild. All animals should run free." He waves his arms to illustrate.

"Even if that means trampling a man to death?" she asks, raises her eyebrow.

"Maybe he should have gotten out of the way," Lang answers obstinately.

"I'm sure he would have if he'd seen it coming," Mulder says, ignoring the question on his wife's face. "Thanks for your time, sir, and we'll get back to you soon." On their way out, they notice a video camera on the shelf, but say nothing until they're out of sight and sound from the animal rights leader. "It's all happening at the zoo, Scully," Mulder grins, and pats his daughter fondly on the head. "Isn't that right, Page?"

Scully is not amused. "Well, we found our suspects," she says, relieved that things are taking a turn for the better, and, who knows, they might even have a pleasant day at the zoo. Yeah, right.

They continue exchanging theories, which quickly deteriorates into an argument, and finally she snaps, "Fine, you know what?"

"What?" Mulder says in the same "I'm going to humor my pregnant wife" tone he's been using for their argument. He's surprised when she practically throws their daughter into his arms, followed by the blanket and the bottle.

"You take Page, follow whatever insane ideas you have. I'm going to stake out W.A.O. and get things done right."

"Scully!" He calls out, but she's already turned her back on him. With the abrupt change of bodies, Page hiccups, then starts to cry. "Aw, sorry, honey, Mommy just got mad at me," he says in a reassuring voice, bouncing her in his arms. "But we'll be okay. We're gonna be just like Batman and Robin, Page, fighting crime with the help of some shadowy informants." His daughter looks up at him, her sobs slowing down to a sniffly inhale. He grins, a goofy look on his face. " The Mulder charm never fails."

He could almost swear she raised her eyebrow just like her mommy for an instant.

At a local Xerox shop, Mulder opens up communication once he gets Page settled in her baby seat. "Hey, guys, try to keep it down for the kid's sake," he says, putting a finger to his lips as two of the three conspiracy theorists show up onscreen.

The short balding man sighs dramatically, wiggling his fingers at the sleeping baby. "She could've been mine," He murmurs as his compatriot suppresses an eye roll. With a glare at the real father, he asks, "So what are you doing in potato country, Mulder?"

"I'm in the town of Fairfield." He grins. "What do you know about it?"

"They have a little zoo there. Lots of strange lore - animals escaping, disappearing without a trace," Byers says in a faintly interested tone.

Mulder leans forward. "Any idea why?"

Frohike stares at him suspiciously. "You're not far from the Mountain Home Air Base. Major UFO hot spot."

The man in the business suit gives him a glance, then adds, "Weird fact, Mulder. No animal at Fairfield Zoo has ever brought a pregnancy to term."

"Not a cub or a chick," Frohike chimes in.

"The woman who runs the zoo has a gorilla that knows sign language - supposedly with a vocabulary of 1,000 words," Byers continues, "a remarkable accomplishment-"

His praise is cut off by Mulder's cell phone, and Frohike steps closer to the camera. "If that's the lovely Agent Scully, let her know I'm willing to look after Page if you're ever out of the picture."

Mulder grins and shakes his head. "Mulder," he answers in a hushed voice.

"Mulder, it's me. I was right. I just followed the kid from the W.A.O. to the zoo. He's just about to make it over the fence," she says, excited, but keeping her volume down.

"I'll be right there, Scully," he says, and hangs up. Then he shrugs at the two Gunmen before bending down to pick up his daughter. "Shhhh, shhhh," he says, "we gotta give Mommy some backup." Jostled from her nap, she starts to wail wholeheartedly.

"Good luck, Mulder." Byers grins and Frohike merely shakes his head as they sign off.

"Yeah," Mulder sighs, trying in vain to calm her down, then gives up as he hauls ass to the car.

Later, Mulder, Scully and their daughter walk into a dark room labeled "Sick Animal - Restricted" led by an agitated naturalist. "About six weeks ago I had to take Sophie out of her public habitat," Willa Ambrose says, sitting on her haunches as she looks at the caged gorilla. "She'd become so withdrawn and depressed, she'd curl into a ball in the corner of her cage and just shiver."

"Did you ask her why?" Mulder asks, looking from the woman to the animal.

"All the time," Ambrose says, still facing the gorilla.

"What'd she say?"

"'Light afraid.' Literally, she's afraid of the light," she says, standing and facing the agents.

"She speaks to you?" Scully asks, both eyebrows up.

The naturalist nods briskly. "Over 600 words using American sign language. She understands over a thousand. I'll show you her vocabulary list," she says, going over to her desk.

Scully steps closer to her partner. "Is this who you wanted to talk to?" she asks, letting one eyebrow drop.

Now he nods. "It's basic investigative procedure, Agent Scully - interview all possible witnesses." He looks down to the baby strapped to his chest. "Got that?"

Scully is about to retort when Ambrose comes back, handing them a paper. "Gorillas are highly sensitive creatures, and Sophie's use of language skills makes her even more so," she says.

"Why would she be afraid of the light?" Scully frowns.

"Well, you've obviously heard about the trouble with the Malawi government. There's a chance that Sophie could be taken away from me, and I think that she knows that," she says, but Scully isn't quite satisfied with the answer.

Page gurgles and waves at the drawings on the wall, and Mulder nods. "Are these Sophie's?" he asks, wondering if Page will have Mulder-leaps like her dear old dad. Ambrose nods briefly. "What do you think they mean?"

"Well, until recently Sophie desperately wanted a baby," she says, turning to look at the scribbles. "The brown object in the center," she points to one of the drawings, "is her expression of that."

"Have you tried to mate her?" he asks, and now Scully looks at him, wondering where he's going with this.

Ambrose sighs, looking at the moaning gorilla. "We were looking for a partner but under these stressful conditions I didn't want to put her through it."

For a moment, he thinks of Scully and the stressful situations he's put her through, pregnant or otherwise. "Do you have a veterinary facility here?" he asks, shoving the guilt to the back of his mind. Again, Ambrose nods, so he goes on. "All right, this may seem like a rather strange request, but it might help explain what's been going on here." He spins to his wife. "I'm gonna need your help on this, too, Scully." He grins, and she gives him a "What the hell are you getting us into now?" look, but says nothing.

And about an hour later, Scully voices her question, if not her recurring doubts about his sanity. "I hope you know what you're getting us into, Mulder," she says, as they stand on a scaffold overlooking Ambrose hacking into the remains of Ganesha the elephant. She's wearing a hardhat with a flashlight, as well as gloves and coveralls, while her husband is still in a suit with a baby strapped to his chest.

"Don't worry about it." He nods, then tilts his head down, "Look, Page, Mommy's gonna bungee jump into elephant guts and hack into it. Can you say 'elephant'?"

She glares at him. "Mommy's gonna hack into Daddy if he doesn't watch out," she says sweetly to her daughter, ignoring the look of mock horror on his face. Tilting her hardhat back, she kisses her baby's forehead. " and if Daddy continues to be an ass, Mommy's gonna make his life hell, yes, I will."

From below, Ambrose calls out, "Okay, the elephant's cavity is clear. I'm ready for you!"

"Saved by the bellow," Mulder mumbles under a grin, "do your thing, G-Woman."

She glares, but doesn't want Page to hear certain words, and turns away in a huff. Rather than bungee jump, however, Scully makes her way down the scaffolding slowly until her feet are solidly planted on firm elephant innards. Ew. Helpfully, Ambrose hands over the butcher knife. "Thanks," Scully nods, making her way through elephant guts, no, they're the rib cage, lungs, heart, intestinal tract... Dammit Mulder. I hate you.

Overhead, Mulder sits down on the scaffold and says, "I've been told there's never been a successful pregnancy at the Fairfield Zoo."

"Sounds like you've been talking to Kyle Lang." Ambrose makes a sour face.

As his wife disappears from sight, boldly going where no man's gone before, he asks, "Is it true?"

"Yes," Ambrose finally says. "But I don't think for the reasons Kyle claims - not because Ed Meecham has done anything to these animals."

"Why, then?" Mulder asks.

"Because bringing a pregnancy to term in captivity is always difficult." She sighs noisily.

"But a perfect failure rate?" He frowns.

"I know," Ambrose says impatiently. "It's one of the things I was determined to change when I came to the zoo."

"Was an attempt ever made to mate Ganesha?" Mulder asks, swinging his long legs. Page also swings her own legs, and fortunately, doesn't kick as hard as her mother does.

"No," she says, shaking her head. "Mating an elephant out of the wild is rarely successful. There have only been six elephants born in captivity over the last ten years."

Scully emerges with a nasty bit of business in her hands. Ambrose looks at it, then tells her, "It's uterine tissue, but I'm not clear on what you expect to find."

From a pocket in her coveralls, Scully produces a magnifying glass and is inspecting it. Then she squints up at Mulder with an accusatory look. "You're right, Mulder. The signs in the uterus and ovaries are unmistakable."

"What did you find?" Ambrose is curious, and steps closer to the redhead.

She looks at the woman. "Ganesha was pregnant."

"What are you talking about?" Ambrose stares at her.

" There's evidence of hyperplasia and the corpus luteum is ruptured," Scully says calmly, thinking, there's got to be a reasonable explanation for this. There has to be. Perhaps someone with W.A.O. introduced artificial insemination to Ganesha, or Ambrose had incomplete records, or....

"We never," The naturalist stops, shaking her head stubbornly. "That's not possible." She frowns.

"Neither is an invisible elephant," Mulder comments.

No comments from the peanut gallery, Scully is also frowning, looking at the tissue in her hand. She almost feels sorry for the zookeeper as the taller woman stares at the exposed elephant's innards with disbelief. "What is going on here?" Ambrose wonders aloud, voicing the very same thing Scully has thought over and over every since working with Mulder.

"Whatever it is it's been going on for some time, and I think you'll find evidence of the same thing when your tiger returns," Mulder says from above.

Later, after Ambrose has been fired by the board of directors, Mulder confronts her with information about the tiger's pregnancy. Page is back on his chest after a diaper change and bottle feed, and her mood is significantly brighter than the woman facing him. If her disbelief with that fact hasn't been enough, he adds, "What do you know about alien abduction?"

She laughs, the first reaction that comes to mind. "You're ... you're ... you're kidding me." He gives her his patented poker stares. "You think these animals were taken aboard some spaceship?"

"I don't know where they're being taken but there's obviously some problem getting them back. Due to what is probably an astrological variation, a trouble with the time-space continuum - these animals that are being taken from locked cages are being returned roughly two miles west-southwest of the zoo," he says, delivering his theory as if it's gospel truth.

She scoffs, "Aliens impregnating zoo animals? I didn't realize FBI agents read tabloids."

He shakes his head, smiling. "Aliens are also harvesting the embryos."

Ambrose is staring at him like maybe *he's* the one that should be in the tabloids. "Why?"

He shrugs, and Page giggles. "Maybe their own Noah's ark? To preserve the DNA of these animals that we're depleting to extinction." He holds out his hands. "Whatever it is, that's probably the reason why you've never had a successful birth at this facility."

"I think that's the most ridiculous thing I've heard," she says, unsmiling.

Mulder nods. "I understand that you might think it's ridiculous. Maybe you should ask Sophie."

"You think this is what she's so afraid of?" Ambrose asks, clearly humoring him.

But he doesn't care. He knows about the aliens' callous disregard for human life, how they'd harvest and engulf it as only unfeeling parasites would, but there's something seriously weird about impregnating animals. Or maybe we're just animals to them, he thinks, and suppresses a shudder. "I believe she's pregnant, and she's afraid of them coming for her baby."

In front of Sophie's cage, Ambrose leans forward and signs to the gorilla as she speaks, "Sophie, come here. I want to ask you a question. It's okay, Sophie. Come here."

Sophie seems to be waving wildly, and Mulder wishes he'd brushed up on ESL as well as Espanol. "What'd she say?" In front of him, Page gurgles, her eyes wide on the hairy creature behind bars.

Ambrose turns to face him. "She says, 'man - hurt baby.' She thinks you are going to hurt her or the baby." She frowns at Page before turning back to the gorilla. "Sophie ..." She signs again, "man, here to help you. They want to know about your baby."

Mulder squats down, as if it would ease the fears of a gorilla of unknown intelligence. "Can I ask her a question?" he says, as Page waves to Sophie.

Ambrose nods. "Go ahead."

"Ask her if she wants to leave here."

"Sophie," She repeats, signing, "do you want to leave here?" After a pause while the animal communicates with her hands, Ambrose translates, " She says 'light afraid.' "Not looking back, she signs again, "Sophie, what are you afraid of? Tell me."

"What did she say?" Mulder squints at the gorilla, then the woman.

She turns around, a frown on her face. " She said, 'baby go flying light.' "

Mulder protectively puts a hand over his daughter, and is surprised to see Sophie protectively holding her stomach before doing more hand waving. She knows, he thinks, she really knows. But before he can say the words, Scully comes in with a warning, followed by the deputy himself.

Later, nursing a helluva headache, Mulder sits in the back seat with Page and her baby seat, with Scully driving and Willa Ambrose practically biting her fingernails off. They make their way through a herd of police cars, flashing lights, curious bystanders and all.

"Where is she?" Ambrose practically mauls an officer.

"Over there." He points, and quickly straightens out his uniform when she lets go.

As she runs off, Scully, baby in arms, asks, "What happened here?"

Relieved to see she's more stable than the previous woman, the officer replies, "Animal got hit by a car. Ran off in the field."

With the barest of glances at each other, Mulder and Scully run after Ambrose across the field. They find her, cradling the dead animal in her arms, as a mother would her child. "Sophie," the naturalist cries, rocking back and forth, "no, oh, Sophie, no, no...." She lays her head on Sophie's, continuing to sob.

Wordlessly, Scully holds Page closer, and Mulder wraps his arms around them both. None of them turn away, but stand silent as witness to a loss that could have, or might have, been prevented.

Less than a week later, Scully looks up from her reading to hear Page gurgling happily. "Page?" she asks, smiling as she takes off her reading glasses. "Whatchya doing, honey?" Thankful for a break from reading about animal insemination, she stands and stretches, and walks over to the crib.

The baby continues to smile, and waves her hands. "What's that, Page? What's that?" She smiles back at her daughter, and waves. Page drools, still repeating the hand motions. She tries to imitate her daughter's gestures, since it's really nothing like a wave, or a clap, it's something else...

And then she remembers and opens her laptop. Quickly, she types in a few words, then scrolls through her options. After some time of staring at various images, she finds what she needs. "Love," she reads, "baby."

Dialing familiar numbers, she smiles when he picks up. "Mulder, you'll never guess what Page's first words are. Yes, plural," She nods, watching her daughter repeat the signs. "I think she picked it up from Sophie."