The next morning...
Sitting down on the ground, Mulder couldn't help but stress over the tension that was now residing on Scully's face. He knew full well that he had been the one to put it there. It would have been wrong to not tell her, no matter how awful he felt about it.
She was hiding it well. He knew that. However, that did not mean that he couldn't see it. She was putting on a brave face for her family. She did surprise him, though, when she decided to push her small pregnant form off of the wall by the tree and walked toward him. Stopping in front of him, she- not so gently- nudged his feet apart with her ankle sock-clad foot. She plopped down in between his legs, pulling his arms around her torso with her own. She rested their hands criss-cross over her stomach and leaned her head back to rest comfortably in the crook of his neck.
Mulder leaned his mouth against her ear. "All cozy and snug there, Scully?"
"Mmmmhm." She hummed back at him, her eyes tracking her niece and nephew as they opened up present after present. "Look, Mulder." She nodded at Charlie, who had just newly arrived that morning with his wife and kids. "That's gonna be us soon."
He looked down at her face and saw the small tilt of her lips. She was happy for the moment. Good. "Sure will be, honey." He leaned closer again. "I can't wait." He said it like it was a secret.
Scully sighed. "Man, I wish I could have coffee."
"You tired?" He didn't even need to ask. She tossed and turned almost all night, only settling down into a deep sleep when she finally gave in and climbed on top of him. It had to have been at least three am by then.
"I'm a 'lil sleepy," she breathed back at him.
"Think you can stay awake until you open your present? Then you can take a nap..."
"Hmmmm'kay."
Mulder looked up at Maggie. "Maggie? Do you think you can grab that small red package and the manila envelope from under the tree?"
"M'wait!" Scully snagged her mom's attention as she walked over to the tree. "Mom, grab Mulder's too, please."
Maggie meandered back other, dodging all of the colored paper that littered the floor. "Here you go." She smiled sweetly at them.
"Thank you," they both stated in unison, before looking at each other in surprise.
Maggie chuckled at them and went to sit back down.
"Mulder, open yours first..." She dropped her head against his shoulder.
Ripping open the paper of his medium size box and setting it on top of her stomach, Mulder quickly realized that it was from a department store. Opening the white box and sifting through the tissue paper, Mulder pulled out three inoffensive ties and a pair of alien head cufflinks. They were grey. A smile lit up Mulder's face. "Scuh-uully," he clucked happily. He set the box down next to him and snuggled into her neck, arms tightening around the space between her belly and her breasts. "Thank you." He pressed a kiss under her ear. "I love them."
"My turn?" Scully's eyes lit up like those of a child. She loved presents.
Mulder laughed at her excitement and gave her the go ahead.
She tore through her wrapping paper quickly, leaving the manila folder for last. When she realized what she was holding, she gasped, drawing the attention of her family around her. "Mulder," she trilled. "You didn't..."
He tapped the jewelry box. "Just open it."
Scully flipped the lid open. "Oh, my God! Mulder!" Inside of the jewelry box was a pair of emerald earrings. The emeralds were natural and hung in a drop shape off of the studs. The stud itself was covered in small diamonds. "Mulder!" she repeated again. "They're gorgeous!"
"I figured they'd go well with your hair and your coloring…"
"Thank you, Mulder! I don't know what else to say..." Her voice dropped down to a hushed tone.
"Well, don't say thank you quite yet. I'm going to take you out somewhere really nice for your birthday and you can wear them for me." He reached over and pulled the envelope onto her lap. "Open this one now."
"Okay. You hold these for me, then."
"You got it, Doc." Mulder held his breath as Scully pulled out a stack of legal papers and began to read.
"Mulder, what is-" She sucked in a harsh breath.
"I wanted to add you all of my bank accounts and trusts… and I made a savings account for the baby… and any other babies that we may have." He paused at the sight of a tear running down Scully's cheek. "Hey, hey, now." He swiped it away gently with his thumb. "Was it too much? I can go back in and change it to whatever you want."
"No. No. No," she rushed out hurriedly, sitting up in his arms so she could turn to look at him better. "It's perfect." She moved forward to place a gentle kiss to his bottom lip. "I love the idea. It's not too much… I'm just overwhelmed. These are happy tears. I promise." She looked through the papers again. "You really made savings accounts for our future kids?"
Mulder nodded at her. "I figured we could save it to pay for their college… If we ever run short on money or if one of us decided to stop working, what I have in my savings and trusts will be more than enough to keep us comfortable."
"You're serious?"
"Dead serious, Scully. We can do whatever we want, whenever we want. All that I have is yours."
"Oh, Mulder." Scully wrapped her arms around his neck as tight as she could with her belly standing in their way. "Thank you. I love you." She spoke quietly into his hair.
He rubbed slow circles into her back, glad to have gotten her mind off of Pfaster and onto the future- their future. "I love you, too."
