No spoilers! Mainly because we haven't gotten back into cases yet. Just Mulder/Scully/Chloe shenanigans.
Enjoy!
Chloe sits beside Anna determined to keep her friend awake as they study a particularly important assignment.
"You okay?" She whispers when the teacher is writing on the chalkboard again. Anna nods just before falling to sleep again. Waking with a jerk, she mumbles, "It's all Carson's fault. He won't sleep and wakes us all up. Ben even tried to sell him."
"How old is he now?" Chloe asks barely remembering the baby being born.
"A month? Mom is still half asleep most of the time."
"Girls?" Their teacher remarks causing the teenagers to look at the board. Chloe nods as she lets her friend fall back asleep.
Heading out to the car after school, Chloe immediately gets in the passenger side of the car.
"Not going to be stay around and talk to your friends today?" Mulder teases. His daughter shakes her head, knowing the sooner she packs for the weekend, the sooner she will get to see Scully. Driving away from the school, Mulder asks, his daughter how her day was.
"Pretty good, I guess. Anna kept falling asleep. Apparently Carson's been keeping them all awake," Chloe remarks adding, "Was I as annoying as Carson sounds?"
Mulder shrugs as best he can with his hands on the steering wheel.
"No more than any other baby. Mainly when you were sick. Over all, you were a pretty good baby," Mulder admits as he tries to think back to being a single parent with a teething baby.
Chloe notices her dad zoning out, and calls out to him to keep his eyes on the road.
"Thanks, Chlo," Mulder mumbles as he corrects his wheel.
Entering Scully's apartment an hour later, Chloe soon makes a beeline for her room to put her backpack down.
"She's been looking forward to this a week," Mulder remarks as he heads with his girlfriend into the kitchen. He easily spies the cupcakes sitting on the table and smiles.
"I didn't have time to make actual cupcakes," Scully sheepishly replies. Mulder shakes his head before examining the cupcake container. He grins boyishly and exclaims, "Is that Marvin the Martian?"
"I hope that's okay. I know he's not grey like all other aliens."
"It's perfect!" Mulder remarks before kissing his girlfriend on the cheek. She involuntarily grins before asking, "You ready to have a weekend to yourself?"
"Yeah. The Gunmen are coming over."
"Please don't hurt yourself?" Scully pleads knowing Mulder's history of going off on his own.
"Yes, Mom!" He teases before going to check on his daughter.
"Dad!" Chloe yells so her father will not see his present. Surrendering, Mulder walks back into the kitchen and sneaks open the plastic cupcake container. Hearing the noise, Scully demands, "Put it down."
Caught, Mulder slowly puts down the sweet and brushes any crumbs off his hands. Saddling up beside his partner, Mulder asks what she is making adding, "Please tell me it's not healthy."
Shaking her head, the red head explains, "It's steak and potatoes."
"Hey, Mom? Where can I put Dad's present?" Chloe asks as she comes into the kitchen with her gift. Nodding toward the living room as she cuts up some asparagus, Scully remarks, "Just in there."
"I wonder what it is?" Mulder muses eager to open the present.
"I have a gift for you," Scully states out of earshot from Chloe. Smiling, Mulder asks, "Yeah? Do I get it tonight?"
"Actually, you can get it now. It's in the envelope by my purse," She explains. Carefully picking up the envelope, Mulder runs his hands over it, and easily notes its weight. Looking at his girlfriend for a signal, Mulder opens the envelope and stares in shock.
"You got me a key?" He asks elated that his girlfriend will trust him so completely.
"I thought you could use your own. Besides, my locks were changed recently for security purposes."
The remainder of the night, the small family celebrates Mulder's birthday before Chloe practically pushes her father out the door to start her and Scully's Girls Weekend.
"Okay, I can see when I'm not wanted," Mulder comments before kissing his daughter and then his girlfriend good-bye. Leaving the apartment, Mulder gets to his car, excited to have a kid free weekend. Calling The Gunmen, Mulder arranges to meet them at their place instead of his.
Halfway through their game, Mulder's eyes go wide as he remarks, "I forgot to tell Scully I'd be here."
The other men snicker as Langley teases, "You've been domesticated."
"Shut up," Mulder answers as he reshuffles his cards. Soon the topic changes to the extraterrestrial and government conspiracies. The game lasts well into the morning and Mulder finds himself waking up with a bad hangover inside the Gunmen's home. After eating breakfast, all four men seem to have recuperated a little from their respective hangovers. Saying his good-byes, Mulder exits the hide out and goes to his car. Seeing his cell phone, he picks it up and calls Scully.
"How's your day been?" Mulder asks once his girlfriend picks up the phone. Scully smirks as she answers, "Fine. We were actually about to go out shopping."
"Yeah? For what?" He asks as he rummages in his car for his sunglasses. Biting her lip, Scully teases, "Wouldn't you like to know."
Noticing Chloe ask who is on the phone, the red head mouths that it is her father before handing the phone over to the teen while going to get dressed. Chloe and her father talk for about twenty minutes before she and Scully head off to the mall.
On Sunday afternoon, Mulder walks into the apartment and spies Scully sitting on the couch. She turns and smiles at him thankful he now has his own key. Not seeing his daughter, Mulder asks his girlfriend as he sits down beside her, "Did you tell her about the IVF?"
Scully shakes her head, "I decided to wait for you."
He smiles at her before Chloe comes into the living room to greet her father.
"Hi, Dad! Have a nice birthday weekend?" The teen questions. The man smiles weakly still feeling a little out of it from his poker game, but answers, "Yeah. I had a lot of fun. Um, there's actually something Scully and I want to talk to you about."
Scully motions for her daughter to take a seat on the sofa as she and Mulder sit down near her. The couple shares a look, and since it is originally Mulder's idea for this round of IVF, Scully lets him start.
"Chloe, how would you feel if Scully tried IVF again?" Mulder asks as he tries to keep his excitement at bay. Chloe looks from one parent to the other. She can tell they are excited, and merely shrugs. It is not her decision to make.
"Okay," The teen replies as her parents smile. Judging their posture and expressions, Chloe knows she makes the right choice. For as much as Anna talks about her youngest brother, the teenager debates on her long held dream of having a sibling. Then, with the age difference, she suspects her sibling will be more of something to keep her parents busy while she is gone. Either way, the expressions on the adults' faces makes her know the asking is more of a formality.
The rest of the weekend, Chloe wrestles with the idea that her parents wanting another sibling. Hearing of Anna with her youngest brother makes the teen realize that she will be on mandatory babysitting duty. More than anything, she feels as if she is going to have a replacement. Someone who will merely fill a void once she goes to college. Heading back to school on Monday, Chloe waits for the right time to ask Anna and Kyle about having such younger siblings. Alone with them during Study Hall, the teen sits between them.
"Nice to see you too?" Kyle states when his friend wedges herself as close to her friends as possible.
"I need advice," Chloe whispers before explaining her predicament.
"I don't see what's wrong with this," Anna remarks wondering how her friend can be so against a sibling. Something Chloe repeatedly says she wants whenever she comes over.
"My parents want another kid! You said the other day that your Mom doesn't get sleep," Chloe remarks before turning to Kyle, "Didn't you get mistaken for Will's dad the other day?"
Rolling his eyes, Kyle proudly replies, "Yeah, but it's only because I look older than fifteen."
Noticing Chloe's eyebrow raise, Kyle and Anna glance at each other before asking, "Are you really sure that you're jealous of a fictitious sibling?"
Tracing the writing on her current desk with her finger, Chloe finally admits, "No."
After a pause, the teen asks, "What if something happens to Mom? I mean, last time she didn't even know, but this time? What if she finds out and then something happens?"
The worried looks on her friends' faces makes her feel as if they want to institutionalize her rather than help her. Sighing, Chloe realizes they are unaware of the magnitude of this IVF treatment. Her mom only gets one more chance at having a child, and she only gets one more chance at having a sibling.
Hearing the teacher break the trio apart, the teen grabs her assigned reading book from her back pack. As she opens her book, Chloe realizes she is not jealous of a new sibling, but worried about her mom.
A few weeks later, Chloe and Mulder pack up the car to head to Teena's home. Both knowing the trip will be awkward, they plead over the phone with Scully to come with them.
"I am not coming! I have my own family, and I doubt your mother will be thrilled seeing her son's colleague tag along. She'll probably just feel sorry for me. Besides, I haven't seen my brother in almost a year! Not to mention his kids!"
Admitting defeat, the Mulders hang up the phone and head to New England.
"Mulder, Chloe!" Teena greets knowing this may be the only time she will see them this year. "How are you?"
The teen and her father share confused glances knowing Teena is being exceptionally cheerful this holiday. Quickly, they switch to smiles before regaling the matriarch with various aspects of their lives. Neither mentions Mulder dating Scully.
After dinner, Mulder hears his cell phone ring, and goes to answer it.
"Mulder, my brother found out about us," Scully whispers once her boyfriend answers the phone. "Somehow Mom let it slip, and he's been making snide side comments the whole night so far."
Knowing she just needs to vent, Mulder asks, "Where are you know?"
"In the bathroom at my mom's, but I need to get out. One person's knocked on the door already," Scully states as she switches her cell phone to her other ear.
"You think they'll ask why you've been in there so long?" Mulder teases as he pictures the lone FBI Agent of the Scully clan hiding from her military brothers. A smile creeps on his face as he imagines his girlfriend's childhood.
"No. I'm pretty sure everyone but Bill knows I'm hiding from him," The red head explains. She sighs when she realizes she misses the opportunity to hide in her mother's room and lie about taking a nap. Not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, but having no choice, Mulder tells her, "You'll have to come out eventually. Do you want me and Chloe to meet you at your apartment when we get back so you can tell us all about it?"
Having something to look forward to, Scully agrees and hangs up. Putting her phone in her pocket, Scully gets out of the bathtub and unlocks the bathroom door. With Mulder's words in her mind, the red head goes to face her family.
"Look who's come to join us!" Charlie teases from his seat on the couch. His sister rolls her eyes as Tara responds, "Don't listen to him. Now, how's Mulder been since we last saw him?"
"You've met him?" Charlie questions wanting details. Rolling her eyes, Scully asks him, "Are you sure I don't have a younger sister?"
Laughing comes from everyone else in the room as Charlie's wife Kim asks, "Is this the guy with the kid?"
Resigning herself to mockery and story telling, Scully settles in one of the chairs to explain the entire story.
Two days later, Scully opens her apartment door to find both Chloe and Mulder eager to hear her family drama from Thanksgiving.
"The excited expression I understand from the teenager, but really Mulder?" Scully teases as she lets the pair inside. Shutting the apartment door and leading them to her kitchen, Scully puts her kettle on for tea and offers them a piece of pie her mother sends her home with. Never one to turn down pie, Mulder easily accepts the offer and sits at the table waiting for his girlfriend to tell her story.
"Mom was making dinner while Kim, Tara, and I helped. Just as I took the rolls out of the oven, Mom asks why I didn't ask you to come. I told her I did, but that you were seeing your mom to which she replies, 'What is Mulder's mother like? I should meet her since you are dating her son,'" Scully begins as she watches Mulder go slack jawed at the statement.
"Just when I think I've gotten to know your mother," Mulder comments. Scully rolls her eyes as she continues, "Then Bill finds out at dinner when Kim teases me about it. I left for the bathroom right after dinner. It was like being in high school all over again!"
Hearing her boyfriend and his daughter laugh at her, Scully begins to get a little angry until Mulder states, "Hey, we're not laughing at you. Just the situation."
"You've got to admit, Mom. That's pretty funny," Chloe smirk agreeing with her father.
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