Hanging up his scarf and coat, Doggett was already talking to Reyes before the front door was entirely closed. " You wouldn't believe the nutcase I talked today. I swear it's Mulder's fault that we have to investigate any crank with a story about a talking pet..." He drifted off when he realized that she was staring at him. " But we can talk about that later. How'd your doctor's appointment go?"

" You know how we said we might like to try for another baby someday?" She asked.

Something in his belly twisted, and he wondered if she was trying to find a gentle way to break the news that there was something wrong with this baby to him. " Yeah..." He tried to keep his voice steady.

She smiled weakly. " Well...it's going to be a lot sooner than we thought. The doctor did an ultra sound because he was concerned that the baby was too big, and surprise! We're going to have twins."

Doggett's jaw dropped, and his mind was flooded with relief. " Twins?! You're sure?"

" I'm sure."

" Wow! That's fantastic!"

" It kind of is, isn't it?" She asked tentatively.

" Boys or girls?" Doggett asked eagerly. " Or is going to be one of each?"

" I don't know. I didn't ask." Reyes admitted sheepishly. " I was so flustered by the idea of there being twins and we hadn't even discussed if we wanted to know the gender..." She glanced sadly at the clock. " I don't think anyone will be there now."

" Well, there's no harm in trying." Doggett smiled, reaching for the phone. He looked at the list of numbers by the phone and quickly dialed. " You don't mind, right?" She shook her head. To his surprise, someone answered. " Hi, this is John Doggett. My wife Monica came in today and found out that we're having twins, but she was too flustered to ask their genders..." Doggett paused for a moment and spoke to Reyes. " Do you have your card on you? They want to know your patient ID number." She fished it out of her purse and handed it over.

Doggett read off the number and waited. " That would be great." He listened. " You're sure? Thanks a lot. Bye. " He was looking very happy when he hung up the phone.

" Well?"

" The nurse says people who say they don't want to know usually change their minds when they get home, so she wasn't surprised to hear from us."

Reyes gave him an expectant look, and when he didn't say anything threw a dish towel at him. " Out with it John, the suspense is killing me."

" And here I thought you didn't want to know." Doggett drawled, ducking out of her reach.

" John!"

" Ok, ok." He laughed. " In a few short months, will be the proud parents of two bouncing baby......girls."

" Two girls?" Reyes said sounding awed.

" Two girls." He replied with a foolish grin.

He hadn't been entirely truthful when he'd answered Mulder and Scully's question with "doesn't matter as long as it's healthy," since he really had had his heart set on having a daughter. He hadn't even told Reyes that because he knew she'd know that it was because girls wouldn't remind him as much of his lost son. The idea of twin girls thrilled him beyond reason, which he happily told his wife as he wrapped his arms around her.

That night...

Emily put down her cup and gave Scully a curious look. They were having a Mother-daughter dinner in honor of the good grade Emily got on her science project. They were having sandwiches in an upscale deli which Emily had discovered she liked better than the seldom allowed fast-food places.

Scully endure approximately thirty seconds worth of scrutiny before saying anything. " Did you want to tell me something?" She prompted.

The little blond head shook. " I wanted to ask you something."

Scully resisted the urge to argue about semantics. Emily might not be Mulder's natural child, but she acted like it at times. " What did you want to ask me?"

" I wanted to ask you about babies, like Reyes' baby." The girl confessed shyly.

Scully looked around the busy place and resisted a sigh. It wasn't where she would have picked to continue the lecture series on the birds and the bees. " Ask anything you want."

" The baby is going to be Reyes and Doggett's baby, and it's growing in her tummy, right?"

" Inside an organ called a uterus, yes."

" And William grew in yours, right?"

" Right." Scully said, beginning to sense the direction the conversation was taking.

" But not all babies grow in their moms?" Emily asked, looking puzzled. " because I didn't."

The question reminded Scully that although her daughter was very bright, she was only eight years old. Furthermore, Doctor Calderon and his staff had been shockingly remiss in regards to giving the children even the most basic information about human reproduction. They probably were worried that it would lead to the types of questions Emily now had. " Do you remember when we talked about how babies are usually made?"

" With ovens and stern?"

" Cells called ovum and sperm, right. Like I told you then, the ovum come from the mommies and the sperm from the daddies. Usually when a baby is made it happens inside a mother's body, but it doesn't have to."

" Oh..."

" Have you ever heard of a 'test-tube baby'?"

Emily's eyes got wide. " I grew in a test tube?"

" No, not exactly." Scully grinned at her. " What happens is they put those cells from the mom and dad together in a little glass dish for a few minutes, and once a baby starts and is still too little to see without a microscope, they can put it in a woman's body to grow."

" The mom's body."

" Well, it can be the mom, or it could be another lady all together. Which is what happened with you. They call that woman who helps out a 'surrogate mother' because she's not the baby's real mom, but she let the baby grow inside of her like other mothers do."

" She must have been a nice lady."

" I bet she was. I don't know who she was though."

" Are there lots of kids like me?" Emily asked, suddenly looking anxious.

" Not a real lot, but there are quite a few. Your friends Brian and Georgie, for example."

" Oh good." Emily said, then impulsively gave Scully a hug. All she wanted was a reassurance that she was normal. At least that's all she wanted for the moment.

Scully hugged her back, wondering how long she and Mulder would be able to keep her real father's identity a secret. They promised him they'd wait until he was ready, but it probably would come up sooner than any of them would like.