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Emily coming to the office becomes a regular occurrence as well as Mulder becoming a babysitter while Scully is called away to autopsy.
"How about we get something to eat while your mom is out?" Mulder suggests knowing that Scully's multiple autopsies will keep her busy for the day. Emily gives him a huge smile as his answer. Responsibly, the man leaves a note for his partner on the door as well as a voicemail on her phone before helping Emily into her coat. Grabbing his keys, the agent takes the three year old by the hand and leads her toward the elevator. Only earning a few confused glances from other agents on the way to the parking garage, Mulder easily buckles the child into the car seat he magically acquires over the last few months and they head to the diner he, Scully, and Chloe go to almost three years ago.
Ordering their drinks, Mulder watches Emily take in her surroundings.
"What do you think?" He asks the child. She takes one more glance around and merely shrugs.
"Did you know I used to take your mom and Chloe here a lot?" Mulder asks. Emily's eyes go wide.
"Yep! Before you were born."
"You stopped?" Emily questions. Nodding, Mulder replies, "We did, but I thought we could start it again. What do you think? Us eating here together?"
A thoughtful look crosses the younger Scully's face before she nods her head in agreement. Laughing at how much Emily favors Scully, Mulder answers, "It's a deal!"
Heading back to the office an hour later, Mulder just buckles Emily in her car seat when his cell phone rings. Answering, he hears Scully on the other end.
"Hey, I got your message about you and Em. Did you have a good time?" She asks taking a much needed break from her autopsy. Shutting the passenger door, Mulder answers, "We had a really good time. We decided we should all eat at the diner again. You, me, and the girls."
"Sounds fun! Speaking of the girls, I got a call from Chloe's school about their getting out early?"
Thanking his partner once he is firmly in the driver's seat, Mulder answers, "I'll swing by and pick her up. Do you mind if I keep Emily a little while longer?"
"No," Scully answers. "Have time with the girls."
Chuckling, Mulder remarks, "You make it sound like we're married."
"To the X-Files," Scully quips before exchanging good byes and hanging up her phone. With a sigh, Scully stands up and stretches before gathering what she needs for her next autopsy.
Heading into the office later in the day, Scully immediately tries not to fall over when Emily runs up and hugs her.
"Hi, Sweetie," Scully says picking her up and hugging her. Seeing Chloe on the floor with a textbook and paper, Scully asks how the teen's homework is coming. Chloe merely groans.
"Awful! I have to know all the parts of a plant including the cell! When am I even going to use this?" She asks. Putting Emily down, the red head asks, "Do you want me to help you?"
Sighing, Chloe answers, "Sure. Dad's talking to someone important."
Looking over at Mulder who barely registers anything else going on, Scully sits down with Chloe.
"Mommy," Emily asks once her mother is next to the teenager.
"I'm helping Chloe right now. Wait just a minute," Scully remarks putting her arms out to see if her youngest merely wants to be near her. Instead of an audible reply, the red head gets a mini version of her own eyebrow raise.
"Mommy," Emily starts again. Thinking Scully will give in to Emily's pleading, Chloe begins to protest, "Mom!"
"Read off the parts of a plant," Scully states once Chloe hands over the paper with the answers, Emily deciding to take matters in her own hands.
"Petals, stalk, leaf, Mom?" Chloe begins able to see Emily reaching for the door handle. Looking up from the paper, Scully asks what is wrong. Nodding toward the three year old, Chloe watches with slight humor as the child gets in trouble.
"Where are you going?" Scully calls out causing her daughter to freeze in place.
"Bathroom," The three year old admits after turning around to face her mother. Sighing, Scully gets up from the floor to take her daughter to the bathroom.
"Keep studying," Scully demands of her oldest before taking her youngest out of the office. It is only a minute after Scully leaves, Mulder finally ends his phone call.
"Where'd Scully go?" Mulder asks feeling guilty for ignoring her.
"Taking Emily to the bathroom," Chloe answers before questioning who her father has a call with.
"Skinner," Mulder mumbles before digging for the bag of sunflower seeds he keeps hidden in his desk. Eating a few seeds, Mulder asks his daughter how her day goes.
Chloe shrugs answering, "Fine, I guess? I have a test on Friday in Science about plant, animal, and human cells."
"Do you think you're ready?" Mulder questions wanting his daughter to do well.
"I'm just having trouble with plant cells. Human is easy."
"That's what you get for spending all those hours in autopsy," Mulder teases. Offering to quiz his daughter, Chloe hands over the paper to her father before sitting in the chair across from his desk. Coming back into the room with Emily, Scully frowns a little knowing she cannot always be there for her oldest as she watches Mulder quiz the teenager. When Mulder sees Scully and Emily enter the room, he nods to them. Scully smiles a small smile before nodding toward Chloe so Mulder can finish helping her while Emily continues to talk about her day.
"Are we still on for dinner tonight?" Mulder asks once the Chloe finishes studying.
"Yeah," Emily yells excitedly while Chloe and Scully agree with her.
At the diner Mulder takes Emily to a few weeks before, the group enters and Emily and Chloe immediately make a beeline for a booth. Following behind, Scully makes sure to ask for a booster seat while Mulder heads to the table to situate everything.
Once Scully arrives and everyone is settled, they look through the menus with Scully asking Emily what she wants to eat. Just as Emily finally makes a decision, their waitress comes up to them and all but Emily is shocked to find out who she is.
"I remember you!" Their waitress exclaims, "I see you added someone else to the family. Hi, Sweetie!"
Emily smiles softly, shying away from the unknown woman. With a smile, Mulder asks how their waitress is doing.
"Doing well! I'm a grandma now, so I've been enjoying that. And you all? I haven't seen you in a long time."
"We've been pretty busy," Mulder answers easily. Nodding, their waitress smiles and gets their orders.
After dinner, Mulder and Scully head to their cars, Chloe talking with Scully about her exam with Mulder carrying a tired Emily. Scully continues to explain a couple of harder questions Chloe has while Mulder watches the pair. He cannot get over how good Scully is with Chloe sometimes. His partner and daughter have such a strong connection, he is almost sad that the four of them are not going home as a family. Scully glances over at Mulder after finishing her explanations and nods toward Emily.
"You want me to take her?" She asks walking over to him. He nods before asking Chloe, "You ready to go?"
Chloe nods before asking heading to the passenger side door of the car.
"It almost feels like a custody drop off," Mulder jokes after handing Emily over. Scully laughs uneasily before asking, "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Mulder answers, "Tomorrow."
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