Mulder's POV:

The next morning

Scully's already awake when I get out of the bed, she's sitting in a chair in the corner of the room cradling Sam in her arms, who I'm guessing woke up in dire need of being held, which in my experience she always does. I slid out from under the warm covers, "Scully. It's early. Why don't you let me take care of her and go back to bed."

"I'm awake already Mulder. You go back to bed."

I rub the sleep out of my eyes and run my hands through my hair, "I'm not going to get back to sleep Scully. We both know that."

"Your right, I suppose that I do." She sighs, "I guess we should just get the kids ready and head back home. Charlie and Anne are taking the kids to see her parents, they should be leaving soon."

"What time is it?"

"After 7. They're leaving at 8, it takes awhile to get there. She lives in West Virginia."

I nod. "Ok. I'll get dressed and get Will. He's still in his crib?"

"Yeah. Their car seats are still in my car. I'll have Charlie bring out the bassinettes while we get them ready." She stands up and walks out of the room. I throw on my jeans and shoes and walk into the guest room where Will is still sleeping. Sam wakes up early in the morning, whereas Will normally sleeps until about 8 or even sometimes after that. But, he normally has a hard time falling asleep at night, Scully has to rock him twice as long as she does Sam. I would, but I'm not very good at it, I normally wake them up further.

I carefully pick him up out of the crib and he stirs a bit, half awake, half asleep. I rock side to side and it doesn't take long before he's once again peacefully sleeping. I carry him out to Scully's car and am about to place him in his car seat when she comes up behind me.

"You're taking William so he won't have to be in the back seat."

"Ok. I don't have a car seat in my car."

"That's alright, you can take the one from mine."

I nod and place him in the car seat, then take the seat out of Scully's car and put it in the passengers seat of mine. Through the whole transaction he stays asleep. We drive in silence to the apartment complex but when I'm carrying him up to Scully's apartment he wakes up and starts wailing. Since Scully's not back yet I let myself into her apartment and set him down on his changing table. I know what this cry means, it's time he's changed.

I hate this part.

After I'm done changing him I go into the living room, sit on the couch, and bounce him on my knee. Which I've learned he loves. While I'm trying to get him to laugh Scully comes in the door carrying Sam on one hip. She sets her down in her play pin and sits down on the couch.

"I should've taken Will with me and made you take Sam."

"She cried?"

"The whole time."

I cringed, Sam had a pair of lungs on her. "Sorry. If it's any compensation I had to change Will's diaper."

She cracked a smile, "well, it does make me feel better."

"I figured as much." I smile, "so, have you called your mom?"

"No, not yet. I figured we'd tell her together. But, she'll probably be 10 times more ecstatic than Anne was."

I smiled, remembering how her sister-in-law had acted the night before. "Surprisingly, I can see that."

She laughs, something she's been doing more often lately. And for that, I'm truly grateful. "You should laugh more often Scully."

She smiles at me, "I should." She looks down at the ring on her hand, "what are we going to do about Work Mulder? How are we going to hide this? I for one want to tell anybody and everybody that I come in contact with, I was tempted to tell the woman in the gas station bathroom." She smiles, "and it's not as if they're just going to miss the rock on my hand."

"Well, I think that we should tell them and only hope they don't do anything about it."

"But you know they will."

"Not necessarily Scully, we were already closer than most partners, hell, more than any pair of partners in the whole damn FBI. I don't think much is going to change if we're married, we've basically been a couple for over 8 years, minus the fun stuff."

"Mulder." She warns.

"What? It's true."

She laughs. "Ok then, we'll tell them. But, when?"

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Scully's POV:

I called mom and asked her to come over for dinner. She obliged, thankfully, and said she would be coming around 7. So, at 5 I started to make lemon pepper chicken. I made a few sides, green beans, mac and cheese, and rolls. At 6:54 there was a knock at the door and I pulled my sleeve over my hand, covering the ring. Making sure I was holding onto the fabric I opened the door. I hugged mom and let her inside.

"Dinners almost done, I just have to take the macaroni and cheese out of the oven. Why don't you go into the living room and sit down? Mulder is in there, I think he's watching a football game. College I think."

She sighs and nods her head, "alright, if I must." She smiles and goes into the living room. I let go of my sleeve and finish up on dinner.

While I'm taking the mac and cheese out of the oven the door to the kitchen opens. I look behind me ready to see my mother, but instead see Mulder. "Something I can do you for?"

"Actually, I came in here to see if there was something that I could do for you. I'm having a hard time keeping a straight face in front of your mother. And I fear that if I stay out there any longer I'll let it slip." He smiles, "I tell you, that woman knows that something is up. I can see it in her eyes."

I laugh slightly, "ok, I guess you could make the drinks…I made tea."

He nods and grabs three cups from the cupboard, he fills them with ice and pours the drinks. "Anything else?"

"You can set the table."

He nods and disappears from the kitchen. A few minutes later he's back in. "Ok…what else?"

I shake my head, "nothing. That's all. Dinner's done."

"Ok, so when are you planning on telling her?"

"I'm not sure, sometime during dinner." I look down at the ring, "it's just going to be hard trying to hide this until then. Because if I don't she'll see it, she's not one to over look things like that." I smile, "she's a very observant person."

"Ok, so why not just tell her now?"

I think about it for a second, couldn't hurt. In fact, it could only make things better, mom was on me about marrying Mulder before we even became involved. It's not like she's going to be upset about this. "Alright. Let's tell her now."

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(still Scully's POV):

We walk out into the living room, Mulder's arm wrapped around my waist, mine around his, and mom instantly knows something's up.

"What is it?" She says with a hint of anticipation.

Since the hand my ring is on is behind Mulder's back the ring is hidden from her. "Well mom, last night something happened."

"And what is that?"

"Well, Mrs. Scully…last night, when we were at Charlie's house, I asked Scully to marry me."

"And I said yes."

She stares at us for a second, stunned, then she finally realizes what we just said and her hands fly up to her mouth. She runs up to me and wraps her arms around my neck, which requires some effort seeing as Mulder's and my arms are still entwined. So, in an attempt to make the hug a little easier I remove my arm from it's warm spot and hug her back. She lets go and--much to Mulder's surprise--engulfs Mulder in a hug.

When she lets go she looks at him with a slight smile, "it took you long enough."

Mulder chuckles, "your right." He looks at me, "I'm not sure why I didn't ask sooner."

Just then mom grabs my hand and looks at the ring, "oh, Dana, it's beautiful."

"Tell that to Mulder, he's the one who picked it out."

"Well I had a bit of help."

I'm confused by that statement, "from who?"

"Monica."

"Monica knows?"

"Well, she knows I was going to ask you, but she doesn't know I have."

It's then I realize that I left the food in the kitchen, "oh. We still haven't eaten yet. The food's going to go cold."

We're about to go into the dining room when Missy's high pitched wails enter the air, I sigh and am about to go after her when Mulder stops me with a hand on my shoulder.

"I'll go. You and your mother should talk."

I smile, "thanks."

"No problem, that's what us daddies do."

Daddy. I like that.