I'm sorry this is shorter than last chapter, but it was a good ending point.
Enjoy!
A few weeks later, Scully and Mulder leave The Bureau and drive to Scully's IFV appointment. Walking into the hallway that houses the various offices and clinics, Mulder notices his partner stop short when they get to the door of Dr. Parenti's office.
"You okay?" He asks tentatively hoping she is not having second thoughts.
"What if it doesn't work," She whispers. He can hear the fear in her voice as she speaks to him and all he can do is put his arm around her and hold her close.
"Hey," He whispers, "It will."
"You don't know that."
"I didn't know if you'd come back, but you did," Mulder states. Whether about her abduction or her cancer, the red head is unsure, but quickly looks in her partner's eyes as he tells her, "Scully, this could be the chance for a miracle. Don't give up on that."
Swallowing to keep from crying, Scully merely nods and squeezes Mulder's hand. Guiding her through the office door into Dr. Parenti's waiting room, the pair sits off to the side. As he guides them, Mulder makes sure to find a corner away from the door worried that Scully will leave. He knows she likes to keep her emotions hidden, and every so often physically hides away, but her fear today shows him how much she really wants this treatment to work. Gently, he massages her hand, and he can tell she relaxes slightly.
"Dana Scully," A nurse calls out not even ten minutes after they sit down.
Mulder and Scully break their contact only for Mulder to rest his hand on the small of her back as they exit the waiting room.
"What do you want?" Mulder asks as he drives them back to work an hour later.
"Mulder, we ate at the office," Scully reminds him as she notices them pass Mulder's favorite fast food chain.
"No, with the IVF. A boy? Girl?"
"Mulder, we don't even know if it'll take."
"Yeah, but when it does," Mulder replies ever the optimist. Sighing, Scully states, "I just want healthy."
"What if it's twins?" Mulder teases. Scully rolls her eyes adding, "If we had twins, the universe would be laughing at us. Chloe's enough like you as it is."
"Yeah, this kid should be like you instead. Although, I draw the line at bee pollen when giving this kid new foods. We'll stick to the Gerber brand."
"How did the IVF go?" Chloe asks when her dad takes her back to the office later that afternoon. Turning to look at her daughter, Scully replies, "We won't know until after New Years."
"It went fine," Mulder adds putting his coat on the back of his desk chair. "Hopefully this time next year you'll have a little brother or sister."
"I'm not six, Dad. You don't have to say it like that," The teen remarks feeling a little insulted by her father's tone.
"Like what?" Mulder asks. "Can I not treat my daughter like my little girl again? That role could be filled, and then you'll miss it."
"I doubt it," Chloe states before sitting on the dilapitated couch cushion. Mulder and Scully trade glances wondering how the teen actually feels about the process.
Near Christmas, Scully asks if she can take Chloe over to her mom's.
"I don't want to interrupt any plans. It's just if the IVF actually works, I'd like Chloe to have at least one Scully Christmas sans sibling," The red head explains. Smirking at her "sans sibling" comment, Mulder consents adding, "We aren't going to my Mom's until the day after anyway. Traffic shouldn't be too bad."
Hugging her boyfriend, Scully expresses her thanks before extending the invitation to him.
"Is Bill going to be there?" Mulder questions. Scully shakes her head explaining that Bill and Tara go to Maggie's every other year for Christmas.
"So they spend Thanksgiving at your mom's one year then Christmas the next?" Mulder questions. Scully nods realizing she and Mulder may have to come up with some sort of arrangement if they do have a baby.
Instead of telling her mother that Mulder and Chloe are coming, Scully drives seperately with Chloe as Mulder holds his and his daughter's luggage in his car. Getting out of the car, Scully is only partially aware of her mother opening her front door.
"Chloe!" Maggie exclaims seeing the teenager come up her walk.
"Hi, Grandma," Chloe replies hugging her as Scully raises an eyebrow in surprise. Noticing Mulder come up behind them, Scully asks, "Were you aware that she calls my mom, Grandma?"
Shaking his head, Mulder replies, "I'm not aware of all last summer."
Scully gives her boyfriend an icy glare for reminding her of the unwanted trip down memory lane, but quickly heads into the house where her mother has hot chocolate waiting for them. Half expecting Charlie and his family, Mulder is surprised when it is only the three of them and Maggie.
"I'm sorry no one else is around right now," Maggie apologizes. "Kim and the kids came down with the flu, and couldn't make it down."
Chloe shrugs answering, "I'm used to it!"
Albeit small, the Scullys and Mulders spend the rest of the day and into the night playing games, singing carols, and opening presents. Both Mulder and Chloe revel in how different this Christmas is from Teena's. There is no obvious sadness due to Samantha's disappearance and lack of interests. Instead, Mulder begins a story about Chloe's first Christmas that even she is unaware of.
"I went up to my mom's and it was starting to snow. Now, I'm a single dad, with a crying baby in the back seat. By the time we got to my mom's I was a mess, but Chloe found something in the back seat that apparently soothed her. When I get out of the car to get her, I find my three and a half month old totally engrossed in a bow from one of presents that accidentally got stuck to her car seat. As I try to get her out of the car seat and in to see my mom who by now is coming to the door, she shrieks. My mom runs out the door and immediatly takes Chloe from me. Unfamiliar with my mom, Chloe starts screaming louder. By now a few of my mom's neighbors are peeking out their doors, and twenty minutes later, a police officer comes by the door asking about a kidnapping. I'm arms deep in luggage or presents, one when this officer shows up. He asks me questions that I am vaguely paying attention to, and somehow I spend the first night at my mom's explaining to a police officer who obviously is pretty new, that I am Chloe's dad."
"What did the officer do?" Chloe asks intrigued. Mulder shrugs answering, "Believes me, but my mom told me that her next door neighbor aplogized for months afterward."
Maggie laughs telling a story of her own about Missy putting Charlie in a box as a Christmas gift one year adding, "My Bill was oversees at the time, shipping out just after Charlie was born. I was a wreck. Needless to say, Missy was sent to the corner as I consoled a crying infant."
Scully merely smiles at the story remembering her sister and her tricks adding, "You know we used to peek at the presents, Melissa and I?"
"Oh, I know. Your giggling woke your father up a few times, but I told him to go back to sleep."
Finally having to turn in due to their early start in the morning, Mulder and Chloe head off to bed leaving Scully with her mother.
"I'm sorry you couldn't have all of us here, Mom," Scully apologizes. Shaking her head, Maggie replies, "This was perfect Dana. I wish you'd brought them over more."
Scully smiles softly answering, "Bill may have been a point of contention with that."
"Well, Bill was never known for his easy going nature, Dana. Just leave your brother to me next year."
Knowing Mulder is officially slated to come to the Scully's every year, Scully replies, "I will."
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