Doggett thanked the waiter as he brought a bottle of wine to the table. They were still waiting on their dinners, but felt it was ok to have a drink before they ate. Doggett stared at the shiny red liquid in his wineglass, that brought cherries strongly to his mind, for a moment and waited while the man poured Reyes'.

When the waiter left, Doggett gave Reyes a winsome smile. "I'm no psychic, but I bet our young Kreskin had a lovely chat with you about love in the past week or so."

Reyes nearly choked on her sip of wine. "Yes..."

"He's a sneak, but we have to give him credit for being clever. He made me do some serious thinking, how about you?"

"It was food for thought." Reyes admitted.

"So where does that leave us? I...I don't want to follow Mulder and Scully's lead. I count them among my closest friends, and respect them very much, but proper role models when it comes to admitting your feelings they aren't. They wasted seven years because they were at a stalemate, and I can't do that without going crazy." Doggett finishes, looking her in the eyes.

"I don't think I could endure keeping quiet about what my heart feels for that long, either, John." Reyes answers quietly.

"So where does that leave us?" Doggett asked, glaring up at the waiter who chose that very moment to return with their dinners.

"I guess that leaves us in the position to be up front with our feelings." Reyes said, also giving the waiter a look that could kill. Finally the man took the hint and busied himself by checking on another table.

"In that case," Doggett said, reaching into his jacket for an object he concealed within his hand. "I will be painfully honest. I love you, and nothing would make me happier than having you as my wife." He opened his hand to reveal a small box covered in black velvet. "Will you marry me?"

Reyes looked from his hopeful face, to the jewelry box which bore a tasteful diamond ring, and back to his face again. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. In the end she opted for neither. "John...yes, I'll marry you." She answered in a shaky voice.

As if by cue, a trio of violin players came over and began playing for the happy couple. Doggett immediately tipped them ten dollars to go pester someone else. "Monica, I'm so glad...We can do this any way you want to. If you want to take a year or so to plan something big, I'm fine with that. Or if you'd like to do something small, that's ok too."

A smile twitched at the corner of Reyes' mouth. "I don't want to take forever to plan this, John. In fact, given our erstwhile assignment, I can think of only one day that would be appropriate for our wedding."

Doggett, still riding high on elation, didn't quite grasp what she meant. " When?" He asked innocently.

"The thirty-first of October." Reyes replied with a naughty grin.

Doggett stifled his laugh. "Everyone will love that. A black and orange wedding." He said, already imagining the ribbing he'd take from Mulder.

"Black maybe, orange no." Reyes laughed throatily. "Well...maybe for the reception." The rest of the night flew by in a flash for the happy couple as they discussed the plans for their wedding.

**

Scully wasn't quite sure why Reyes insisted on taking her to lunch, but her guilt about leaving Mulder home alone with the kids on a Sunday obliterated most of her curiosity by the time she joined Reyes in the delicatessen. She did notice right away, however, that Reyes was in a damned good mood. If it hadn't been for her clear speech, Scully might have wondered if the other woman had been drinking before she got there.

Reyes had already claimed their customary booth by the time Scully came in, which made Scully suspicious. It was the same booth they'd last discussed Mulder and Doggett's frustrating habit of keeping secrets.

Scully sat across from Reyes as they ate their sandwiches and talked about the kids. A piece of lettuce worked its way out of Scully's sandwich and fell to her plate.

"I can't believe you'd come to a delicatessen and order a vegetarian selection." Reyes teased her.

Scully shrugged. "Mulder does a lot of the cooking, and Mulder's specialty is meat. I try to avoid it when I'm out so my arteries get a break. Did I tell you that William learned a new word this week?"

"No, what word?"

"Movie." Scully said, rolling her eyes. "At least he doesn't have his daddy's tastes in movies." She added with a raise of her eyebrow.

Reyes lowered her voice, "So...what did he do with those things?" She asked in a conspiratorial tone, thinking of all she'd been told about Mulder's "collection."

"He sold them on e-bay, believe it or not, and made a couple thousand off of them. Back before he was abducted." Scully told Reyes, who laughed. "I took it as a compliment."

Reyes continued to laugh for a moment before asking, "And how's Emily?"

"Mulder took her to the elementary school last week to register her. Can you believe she's going to start fourth grade in a week? She won't even be eight until the second of November." Scully answered with pride.

"Sure, I can believe it, Dana." Reyes said with a smile. "She takes after her mother. I'm sure that William will turn out to be brilliant too."

"I don't know that I'd say I'm all that smart..." Scully demurred.

"Don't be modest." Reyes admonished her. "If you can't take a friend's word for it, trust Mulder's taste. You know he would never settle for a woman who couldn't match his genius."

That gave Scully pause for thought. Reyes declaration made her think of the two women she'd met of the few Mulder had ever been involved with before her. Phoebe Green, and Diana Fowley. Both of the women, whom Scully had disliked on sight, had been as intellectually gifted as they were cold. Before Scully got any deeper into that line of thinking, she realized that Reyes had discovered a very clever way to stall mentioning whatever it was that had prompted her to want to have lunch with Scully. So," Scully said briskly as she picked up the second half of her sandwich. "I've taken up enough of lunch talking about my little darlings, and my not-so-little darling. What's new with you?"

A slight flush appeared on Reyes' cheeks. "John gave me something last night..." She say shyly, bringing her hand up from where it had been resting on the seat.

Scully looked at the ring on her friend's finger and did something out of character for her- she squealed in girlish delight. "You're engaged?!"

"As of last night." Reyes confirmed.

"Wow, that's fantastic!" Scully exclaimed.

"I'm glad you think so, because I have a favor to ask of you. Would you be my maid of honor?"

"Of course I will." Scully said with a broad smile.

"And could Emily be the flower girl?" Reyes asked coaxingly.

"I have no objections, but you'll probably want to ask her yourself."

"Oh, of course." Reyes agreed. "There is one other thing I should mention..."

"What's that?" Scully asked.

"We're talking about an October wedding date. This October, that is." Reyes added to clarify. Scully nodded encouragingly. "The last day of October."

Scully's jaw dropped for a few seconds, then she collected herself. "I guess Halloween is oddly appropriate." She tried to say with a straight face.

Reyes smirked. "Given the date, I'll understand if you can't be my maid of honor."

"Why would the date make a difference?" Scully asked in confusion.

"I'm just trying to say that John and I will totally understand if you and Fox want to make it a double ceremony. It might be nice to share the spotlight that way." Reyes answered with an evil grin.

"Perish the thought! Why is there a conspiracy to get Mulder and I to get hitched?" Scully complained.

"Be careful, you've even using the 'c' word like he does. You can't get much more compatible than that." Reyes teased, but made an effort to stop laughing when she noticed Scully seemed to be sizing up her chips for their aerodynamic potential.

**

Emily ran down to the kitchen and threw her arms around Scully, who was about to head out the door. Scully took a step backwards to keep being knocked over, and looked down at her daughter. "You're up early. Couldn't sleep?"

"I wanted to give you a hug before you left for work." Emily explained.

"Are you nervous about starting a new school?" Scully asked, figuring that a little chat to calm the girl's worries was a worthwhile reason for being a few minutes late for work.

"A little." Emily confessed. "It's going to be a whole new school an' Brian won't be there like he's always been. Georgie didn't go to school with us, 'cause he was too little, but Brian was always down the hall."

Scully looked at the morose expression on the girl's face, and decided to break the promise she and Mulder made each other. He'll understand, she thought. I hope. "Emily, you know how the boys come over a lot because they don't live too far away?"

"Yes."

"Well, when they decide which school you go to, they decide by where you live."

Emily gave her a puzzled look. "So?"

Scully smiled. "Honey, what that means is that they live in the same school district, so they'll be in the same school as you. Or, actually, Georgie will be in the same school as you, since his Mom said they put him right into second grade after doing placement tests, and Brian will be in the middle school next door. You'll probably see him at recess, though, since the two schools share the same playground. Brian's mom said that you and Georgie can go to his home this afternoon."

"Oh wow!" Emily exclaimed, dancing around. "That is so cool!"

Mulder came into the room that moment, yawning. He looked at the excited child, then over to Scully, who gave him an apologetic look. "Mulder, if you'd seen the look-"

He smiled at her. "Don't worry about it, I probably would have done the same thing." Scully kissed him on the cheek.

"Bye Mom!" Emily called as Scully left. Then she looked over at Mulder. " Are you and Will going to be lonely?"

Mulder assumed a sad expression. "We'll miss you very much. But we'll find ways to fill our empty hours before you come back and fill the void in our day." He said gravely as he put bread in the toaster.

"Mulder! You're so silly." Emily laughed.

"Will and I will miss you, but we'll be fine. You can have fun at school without worrying about us, ok?"

"Ok."

"Good. You pick out some cereal for breakfast, and I'll get myself, and your brother, dressed so I can bring you to school." Mulder said, as he pulled the toast out of the toaster and buttered it for her.

"What about the milk?" Emily asked.

Mulder grinned. "Pick quick, and I'll pour it for you."

Emily ran to the pantry and grabbed a box of Count Chocula. "Breakfast of Champions." Mulder said with a shake of his head, not surprised that she picked out the only sugared cereal that Scully would allow in the house. Mulder had always wondered why Scully made that particular exception, given she didn't believe in vampires, chocolate sucking ones or otherwise. Everyone has their quirks, he thought, checking the count's picture for buckteeth.