" What's with all the shouting?" Gibson complained when he walked into the house.
Doggett and Reyes looked puzzled for a second because they hadn't been talking, then realized what the teenager meant. " Sorry, we're excited." Doggett apologized.
" I guess! Our team won by 6 points, by the way." He added in an offhand manner. " So, twins, huh? That's pretty cool."
" Are you sure you're going to like having two little girls chase you around?" Reyes teased.
" As long as they're not like Scully's daughter." Gibson said wryly, thinking about how the little girl half his age enjoyed bossing him around.
" Awww, how could Monica's little girls be anything but sweet?" Doggett asked, giving Reyes an innocent look.
" Right." The boy grinned.
" What do you say to going with me to pick up another crib?" Doggett asked him.
" Now?" Gibson asked, thinking that he hadn't eaten yet. Not to mention the other crib was still in a box in the hall closet.
" No time like the present. After dinner first, though." Doggett added. He didn't have to read the boy's mind to know that he was probably starving.
" You've got a deal." Gibson said, wishing hard that neither of the little girls was like Emily. Not that she was a bad kid, but... if not, there was always college to escape to.
A small voice at Mulder's elbow piped up. "Daddy, read me story." Mulder smiled down at his small son, and turned off the TV.
"What should we read?" Mulder asked him.
Instead of answering, William dashed out of room. He soon returned clutching a colorful book. "Click clack moo!"
Mulder approved of the choice. There was something deeply funny about the most unorwellian farmyard revolt. Mulder thought of himself as one of the cows, and Scully as the duck. He never decided who the farmer was, since the man wasn't as evil as the syndicate or the grays. Not that he would ever say that aloud, people already thought he was strange enough.
William clambered onto Mulder's lap, and Mulder let him open the book himself. He had been trying to teach the little boy the importance of being gentle with books, and so far had mixed results. This time, however, William got the book open without damaging the pages in any way. However, it wasn't the first page he opened to. Mulder didn't mind, they had a game to play before starting the story anyway.
Mulder's big finger pointed at a tree. " House?"
" No! Tree!"
He pointed to a cow. " Cat?"
" Cow!" William shrieked happily.
" Dirt?"
" No, Daddy, it's grass!" William corrected with a giggle.
Scully didn't like the game. She told Mulder that it might mislead the child. Mulder, who reminded her of something he rarely did- that he had a degree in psychology while she didn't- pointed out that small children love to be teachers. Correcting his father's "mistakes" was a good way to help the boy cement the new vocabulary in his mind. While she still didn't like the game, she had to admit that William loved it, and it did seem to help him remember what to call things. He also seemed to talk a lot more than most little boys his age.
Eventually they got tired of naming things, so William leaned back against Mulder's chest as he listened to his father read his current favorite story.
Reyes dropped three thick books on a desk when she got back from her lunch break. "Lunch is just too short for running errands." She commented to Mulder, who was already back to work after eating at his desk. He seemed engrossed in writing up the report for the case he and Scully had solved the day before, but he wasn't. It was sulkyness, not diligence, that had him in the office- Scully had left him a note that morning saying it was his turn to write up the report, and that she was going to do the preliminary interview with the police also working on their next case by herself. He paused his frequent mutterings of "I can't believe she ditched me," to acknowledge Reyes' presence. "Three books of baby names? You're never going to narrow it down to one choice before the baby is born." He said. He only half-regretted missing out on the name picking business before William's birth.
"Well, we do have to pick two names." She said lightly.
"Oh, a middle name. I'd forgotten that."
She shook her head. "Four names, actually, if we're talking first and middle."
Mulder looked at her, wondering if she meant that they needed to pick a set of boy's names and girl's names because they didn't want to know what they were having in advance, but there was something about her expression that made him think that wasn't what she meant. "You don't mean you're having twins, do you?" He asked, expecting her to laugh, though not meanly, at him.
Instead she nodded happily. "Twin girls."
"Wow, congratulations! Does Scully know yet?"
"No, not yet. I'll probably tell her later today."
Mulder grinned. "I'm touched that you told me first."
"Sure, we're friends too, right?"
"Right." He agreed, realizing that it was true. "So... you're not going to name them after female relatives? That's the easiest way, if the one to produce the most arguments." He thought it was nice that his and Scully's dads both were Williams so all the angst had been avoided.
"I don't think so. I'm sort of fond of that trend to give little girls last names a first names."
Mulder wrinkled his nose, wondering what was wrong with more traditional girls' names like Monica and Dana. "Just don't give either of them your maiden name as her first name. Reyes would be a strange name for a little girl. And if anyone would know how it feels to grow up with a strange name..."
They both chuckled, and failed to realize that Skinner was in the hall outside the office.