Part 2
Scully paused outside the door to Mulder's hospital room, hesitating over whether or not to go inside. Her mind replayed the scene in Skinner's office earlier that day and the words Skinner had said: "The doctors say his memory could return at any time or not at all. No one really knows any more than Mulder does at this point. I'm sorry, Agent Scully." He went on to tell her that the doctors wanted to see her. They felt that, as Mulder's partner of seven years, she might have a positive influence on the progress he made.
The doctor confirmed what Skinner had already told her and then asked if she might be willing to take some time out from her busy schedule to spend time with Mulder. That's what brought her back to the room from which she had fled in tears the day before.
Inside, she could hear Mulder talking to himself, repeating his name-his full name-to himself as if testing the way it sounded on his ears. The sound of him saying "Hello, I'm Fox Mulder," in a cheerful-yet-robotic voice nearly broke her heart. Part of her wanted to turn and run, but her heart refused to give up on him. They'd been through so much already. Surely a little thing like amnesia wouldn't keep them apart for long.
*x*x*x*x*
"My name is Fox-" a knock on his hospital room door stopped the man who was now coming to know himself as Fox Mulder in mid-sentence. "Come in," he called out.
"Hi. Care for some company?" It was the redhead from yesterday. The Scully-woman.
"Oh, hi!" Mulder exclaimed. "Yeah, no problem." She came in and he noticed her rounded belly for the first time. He puzzled over it for a few minutes, and then said, "You're having a baby."
Scully nodded, and Mulder smiled. "I'm due in a few weeks. You you missed a lot while you were gone," she told him.
His smile faded slightly and then rebounded as he said. "Your husband must be very proud of the baby. Do I know him?"
Scully gasped, and Mulder's smile vanished. "I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"
"No no, you didn't," she assured him.
"Good," he beamed. "I was hoping to apologize for making you cry yesterday. You're too pretty to be crying."
"Oh you don't have to apologize, Mulder. It's not your fault that you don't remember me," Scully told him.
"But I want to. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Mulder" she began.
"Please, call me Fox," he corrected her. "We were partners; we should be on a first name basis by now."
"Okay, Mul-Fox." Scully replied. The man on the bed seemed not to notice the increasingly troubled expression on her face.
"What should I call you?" he asked.
"You usually call me Scully," she offered. When he frowned, she added, "Dana."
"Dana" Mulder tasted the name on his tongue. It sounded beautiful, like the woman before him. He smiled; being with this woman made him feel like smiling, even if he didn't know why.
"How long have we known each other, Dana?" he asked, still testing the way her name sounded.
"We were partners for seven years before before you" her voice choked.
"Before I got sick?" Mulder asked. He didn't know much about what had really happened to him, and the doctors weren't forthcoming. Scully hesitated before nodding. He wanted to ask her more, but before could, a doctor came in, shooing her out.