I moved in a couple of days later, and was I ever glad to be out of that horrible hotel. Well, it wasn't that horrible, it was fairly nice for a hotel, but it was a hotel, not a home. It didn't take much to move in, since it was a partially furnished apartment. The only major things I had to buy were a crib and a changing table.

The baby furniture was being delivered when Scully arrived - with William. I tried to be casual about their appearance, though I'd been hoping to see her ever since I left a message with my new address. I'm not sure if I pulled it off or not, since I was really happy to see my son, and I'm sure it showed.

Scully seemed a little shy all of the sudden, so she spoke to William before she spoke to me. "Hey Will, here's your Daddy. Remember I said we were going to see him?"

William, for his part, just stared at me wide-eyed. Since the word "daddy" seemed to mean something to him, it made me wonder if she talked about me to him while I was gone. I really hope she had.

I crouched down to see him better. "Hi, William."

"Hi." He parroted, looking far less shy than Scully.

"How about you and your mom come inside?"

He nodded, and Scully carried him in. Evie was asleep in the baby carrier, and she didn't seem too uncomfortable there, though I was determined to get the crib together as soon as possible.

William could walk, I realized, as he rushed towards Evie. "Baby!" he crowed, just like in my, um, daydream. I guessed it wasn't too strange, since most small children were fascinated by those younger than them.

"Do you like the baby, Will?" Scully asked, a decidedly different response than my daydream.

Instead of answering, William offered a big grin.

"That looks like a yes." I ventured.

"I think you're right." She said, as we watched him pat Evie's feet. This woke her up, and she gave him an unfocused glance, but didn't cry. "Do you need some help putting the crib together?"

"I'd love the help. I'm not too mechanically inclined, which, as you know, is why I never wanted to go to those team-builder seminars."

"Funny." She said as I dragged the box into Evie's new room. "I thought I recalled something about a severe hemorrhoidal condition."

"It would have been a pain in the ass."

She chuckled, and that put me a little more at ease. It was a few minutes before we started on the crib, since she wanted to go out to her car for William's playpen - which I was more than a little surprised she'd brought. How long a visit had she counted on? - and I had to man-handle the parts out of the box. Once Will was properly imprisoned, and I'd finished cursing the thick cardboard under my breath, we were able to begin our project.

I'll admit, it was really nice to be working on something with Scully again, even if it was merely putting together some baby furniture, not something like an interesting case. It made me feel lonely, though, since I knew that it couldn't last.

***

Or I thought I did.

"So you're really going to do this." She said.

"Do what?"

She waved her hand about, I think to indicate the apartment. "Move in here, raise Evie as your own."

"Yes." Did she think it'd had been a whim?

"Even if I don't fit into the plan."

"Well, I'd like for you to, but if you can't handle it, I'm willing to let you go. I don't want to, but..." I trailed off, trying to think of what to say. "She needs me more than you do."

"More than William does?" There was no edge to her voice, which I found curious.

"William has you, and... you're a lot to have."

For a second I thought she was going to cry. "Thank you, Mulder."

"For what?" I was truly puzzled.

"I thought...you would use Evie's helplessness as a way to get what you want."

"I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"I thought you were going to blackmail me, maybe. Say you couldn't keep her if you didn't have help, and if I didn't agree to help it'd be my fault you had to give her to someone who might let something bad happen to her."

I blinked. That was certainly nothing that'd ever crossed my mind. "I wouldn't do that."

"I know, it's just... We think strange things sometimes, do you know what I mean?"

God did I ever. "Yeah."

"At first I thought you were crazy to want to keep this baby, but I think I understand. I wanted Emily too right after I met her, even though it might not have been the best thing-"

"It would have."

"-and she wasn't much more 'mine' to begin with than Evie is yours. I just mean I can understand the desire to make a child who has no one yours."

"Ok." I waited for her to continue that line of thought, but she didn't.

We finished putting the crib together, and as I struggled to get the sheet on, she surprised me with a kiss on the cheek. "You're a good man, Mulder."

Before I could think of a coherent response, she and William were gone.