Spoiler alert: You get the famous baseball scene. You know, hips before hands?
Enjoy!
The ride back to Scully's apartment the next day stays silent. Neither Mulder nor Scully knows how to cope with the idea of getting the chance to have child, let alone letting the chance be taken from them. Pulling up to the building, Mulder asks if Scully needs any help. She shakes her head.
"I'll be fine."
"You just got out of the hospital," The man points out. Sighing, Scully answers, "For shock. I'll be fine."
"Scully," Mulder says gently reaching for her hand. Tucking her hair behind her ear, Scully asks, "Don't tell my mom? I don't want her to know about this."
Her partner nods before watching the red head exit the car and enter the building. As the weeks continue, Mulder engrosses himself in work while Scully tries to act as if nothing happens, except when she is home to wallow alone. However one Saturday after her mother coaxes her out of her apartment, Scully just sits down with her nonfat tofutti rice dreamsicle and sighs when her phone rings.
"Scully," The red head answers as her mother raises her eyebrows. "But, Mulder, I'm with my mom right now."
Sighing, Scully apologizes to her mother as she places her purse strap back over her shoulder. Trying to stay positive, Scully is surprised when Mulder is actually able to make her smile before he dashes off to talk to a lead that day. An hour later, Scully finds herself eating lunch with her mother.
"I thought you had to work?" Maggie asks once her daughter meets her at a restaurant. Scully sighs, "I did and then Mulder just left mentioning something about baseball. It's like I work with a child."
Saying the words, Scully tries not to choke up at the word child knowing her mother is unaware of the miscarriage. Instead she asks, "What did you do after I bailed?"
"Bailed?" Maggie questions with a smirk. Rolling her eyes, Scully replies, "Left. Sorry, teenager."
Her mother smiles answering, "I know. I went home and did laundry."
"Exciting," Scully answers with sarcasm. "No wonder you got me out of the house earlier."
The rest of the day, Maggie and Scully spend time together and are soon sorting through their purchases at Scully's apartment. Both in the bedroom, neither has a chance to pick up the ringing phone from the other room. Hearing her machine pick up the message, the red head rolls her eyes when she hears her partner's voice over the answering machine. Scully trades an eyebrow raise with her mother and sighs.
"Go on. I should get home anyway," Maggie answers kissing her daughter before grabbing her jacket. Scully sees her mom out before putting her own jacket on and heading out the door. Now, a little curious to see what Mulder has in store.
"'So, uh... I get this message marked "urgent" on my answering service from one Fox Mantle telling me to come down to the park for a very special very early or very late birthday present. And, Mulder... I don't see any nicely wrapped presents lying around so, what gives?'" Scully asks stepping toward the baseball field. Mulder looks over at his partner with a smile and asks, "'You've never hit a baseball, have you, Scully?'"
She watches her partner go back to playing as she replies, "'No, I guess I have, uh... found more necessary things to do with my time than'," A foul ball hits the fence as she continues, "'slap a piece of horsehide with a stick.'"
"'Get over here, Scully'," He tells her holding out the bat for her to take. Once she takes the bat, Mulder places his arms around her to help her hold the bat. Warily, Scully sardonically replies, "'This my birthday present, Mulder? You shouldn't have.'"
"'This ain't cheap. I'm paying that kid ten bucks an hour to shag balls.
Scully looks over to see the boy working the ball machine and nods toward him before hitting a ball.
"'Hey, it's not a bad piece of ash, huh?'" Mulder comments. Scully raises an eyebrow before her partner begins to coach her.
"'The bat-talking about the bat. Now, don't strangle it. You just want to shake hands with it. "Hello, Mr. Bat. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." "Oh, no, no, Ms. Scully. The pleasure's all mine."'" Mulder explains hoping to make his partner laugh. When she does, the man eases up a little before telling her, "'Okay, now, we want to... we want to go hips before hands, okay? (holds his hand a few inches from her hip) We want to stride forward and turn. That's all we're thinking about. So, we go hips... before hands, all right?'"
Gingerly, Mulder touches his partner's hip with his hands to get the stance. He is still unsure what is out of line after the miscarriage. Thankfully, Scully does not mind and is eager to learn more.
"'Okay'," She replies swinging the bat. Smiling, Mulder answers, "'One more time.'"
Touching her hips again, Mulder moves his partner's stance a little more confidently.
"'Hips... before hands, all right?'" He instructs.
"'Yeah.'"
"'What is it?'" Mulder questions to see if she remembers. Confidently, Scully answers, "'Hips before hands.'"
Speaking into her right ear, Mulder coaches, "'Right. We're going to wait on the pitch. We're going to keep our eye on the ball. Then, we're just going to make contact. We're not going to think. We're just going to let it fly, Scully, okay?'"
Scully hums a positive response.
"'Ready?'" Her partner asks eager to hit the ball. He tries to readjust their grips when there is a small struggle.
"'I'm in the middle'," Scully reminds him. She re positions her hands and grins at him. He grins back before calling out to the ball boy, "'All right, fire away, Poorboy.'"
A ball soon comes at them and is hit. A foul. Smiling, Mulder murmurs in Scully's ear, "'Ooh! That's good. All right, what you may find is you concentrate on hitting that little ball... The rest of the world just fades away- all your everyday, nagging concerns.'"
Giggling, Scully hits the ball again.
"'The ticking of your biological clock'," Mulder comments hoping he does not strike too much of a chord. She hits the ball harder this time. Deciding to to shy away from the harsh realities of life, the man states, "'How you probably couldn't afford that nice, new suede coat on a G-Woman's salary.'"
They hit the ball again. Making sure their stance is still in tact, Mulder calls out, "'How you threw away a promising career in medicine'," closer to her ear so no one can hear, he continues, "'to hunt aliens with a crackpot, albeit brilliant, partner.'"
She gives him her signature look as her partner jokes, "'Getting into the heart of a global conspiracy. Your obscenely overdue triple-X bill. Oh, I... I'm sorry, Scully. Those last two problems are mine, not yours.'"
Hitting the ball again, Scully displays a big smile as she tells her partner, "'Shut up, Mulder. I'm playing baseball.'"
He lets her continue relishing in her laughter. A few minutes later, Mulder lets his partner hit the balls herself. She needs to deal with life's struggles on her own right now. Out of breath, Scully looks over at her partner and asks how much time they have.
"Half an hour?" Mulder comments. Scully nods before asking, "Do you want to hit these last few balls with me?"
"Sure," He answers with a smile knowing that they are on good terms again. Sidling up beside her, Mulder and Scully hit the last of the baseballs. Both out of breath by the end, they let the bat fall.
"Thank- you, Mulder," Scully whispers. He can see the look in her eyes means more than just gratitude for a birthday present. Mulder smiles at his partner before pulling on her hand.
"I have another surprise," He calls out causing Scully to cock her head to the side.
"Follow me?" Mulder questions. Still on a high from her anger management relief, Scully nods.
Stepping into her apartment that night, Scully is surprised to find the lights off.
"Mulder?" Scully asks as she crosses her arms as Mulder shuts the door. Suddenly, she sees the lights turn on and a call of Surprise. Looking around, she sees Chloe, her mother, Ellen, Trent, and The Lone Gunmen.
"Happy Birthday, Mom!" Chloe calls out hugging her. Hugging her back, Scully whispers in her daughter's ear, "Thank- you, Sweetheart. But, you know it's not really my birthday."
"Yeah, well we're celebrating it anyway," Chloe grins before letting everyone else hug her guardian.
Spending the night with her family and friends, Scully laughs more than she has in weeks. Sitting at her kitchen table with everyone around her, the red head smiles as she asks, "So who's idea was this considering it's not actually my birthday?"
"Dad's," Chloe announces with a small smile. "He wanted to make you feel better after the-"
"Stay in the hospital," Mulder states not wanting his daughter to broadcast Scully's miscarriage. The red head smiles softly at her partner while trying not to see a conspiratorial grin forming on Ellen's face.
"I thought you said he was a jerk," Ellen teased. Scully merely sticks her tongue out at her friend before asking the group, "Anyone want anymore cake?"
Langley happily accepts another piece as everyone else declines. Half an hour later, Scully sees her mother out the door, followed by Ellen and Trent, and then the Gunmen. Closing the door to her apartment, the red head leans against it.
"I'll clean it up," Mulder insists as he takes out a trash bag. Shaking her head, Scully insists she help.
"Chloe, do you mind helping me wipe down the counters?" The red head calls out knowing the teenager is currently hiding in her room. A few minutes later, a pajama clad Chloe comes into the kitchen. Once everything is as clean as they want for the night, Mulder and Scully sit together on the sofa while Chloe goes back to her room.
"Thank- you," Scully whispers as she leans her head on his shoulder. Finding her hand and entwining it with his, Mulder waits for Scully to shy away. When their hands stay clasped, Mulder asks, "For what?"
"Making me feel better. I didn't mean to push you away," Scully states feeling as if she needs to tell her partner what is on her mind. Right now she is to worn out to keep up defenses. Knowing she was grieving as much as he, Mulder answers, "I pushed you away, too. Would you ever want to try again?"
Sliding her hand out of her partner's, Scully answers, "Not right now."
Mulder nods in understanding. Neither is ready to think about the other two viable ova, not for a while. Placing her head on his shoulder again, Scully snuggles into him when he wraps his arm around her. An hour later, Chloe comes out of her room to find the adults asleep on the couch. Grabbing a blanket, Chloe places it over the two before heading back to her room smiling that her parents are finally together.
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