"Agent Reyes, could I see you in my office?" Skinner's voice asked through the phone.

"Of course, sir." Reyes said, hanging up. Scully gave her a "what did you do?" look, but Reyes could only shrug. She didn't know.

When she got to his office, Skinner had his glasses off and was massaging his temples. An AD with a headache was no joy to speak to, so it made her hesitant. "Sir?" Her voice sounded timid to her own ears, and she hated it.

Skinner put his glasses back on before talking to her. "Shut the door and have a seat." He said flatly.

"Have I done something wrong?"

"I'm just going to be blunt, agent. A couple of days ago I overheard you and agent Mulder talking. Am I correct to interpret what was said to mean that you're having twins?"

"Yes, sir. John and I only found out a few days ago." She was puzzled as to why her admission put such a dark look on his face.

"I was almost certain of that, so I've been thinking through my decision since then. I wish you had thought to inform me as soon as you knew." Skinner told her. She didn't think from his tone that she's merely hurt his feelings by not telling him immediately. "Given this development, your leave will begin as of Monday."

"Sir! We agreed that I wouldn't go on leave until my eighth month." Reyes protested.

"That was when we thought you were carrying just one baby." Skinner barked. "Twins change things significantly. It's a higher-risk pregnancy than we thought initially."

"Scully's pregnancy was high-risk and-"

"And she ended up in the hospital more than once." Skinner interrupted grumpily. "I will not allow another agent to her to put herself or her unborn offspring at risk."

"But-"

"There will be three agents in the office, so you shouldn't feel guilty about taking the time off to take care of yourself and your babies. Your place in this office will be waiting here for you once your maternity leave is over." Skinner said firmly.

As much as she didn't want to listen, she knew there was validity to his concerns; no matter how careful she thought she'd be, Scully's problems were proof of the unforeseen cropping up. "Yes sir." She said resignedly.

"Maybe you can take up a hobby. God knows you won't have time for one after the twins are born." He said with a faint smile.

"If there's nothing else..." She ventured. He dismissed her with a nod of his head.

"Do you mind me asking what that was about?" Scully asked when Reyes returned.

Reyes sighed. "My maternity leave starts Monday."

Scully looked like she wasn't surprised. "I'm sorry it's starting sooner than you wanted."

"It's ok. Everything he said made sense."

"Maybe the extra time off will turn out to be what you wanted after all, you'll see." Reyes wasn't convinced. It was a lot of hours to suddenly have to fill.

A week into Reyes' leave, which seemed to be going well despite her pouting a little about being bored, Doggett woke up to the sound of snuffling. He couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from, until he noticed that the door to their bedroom was open. He walked out in the hall and saw that Reyes was sitting on the top of the stairs, leaning against the railing and crying. She didn't seem hurt or sick, so he sat down next to her and threaded one arm around her waist.

" I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." She said, brushing tears off her cheeks.

" It's ok. What's wrong?"

" You'll just think I'm being silly." She muttered, looking away.

" No I won't." He declared stoutly.

" I was reading one of those baby books we bought, the section on twins. It said that the tendency to have twins often runs in families."

" And?" Doggett asked, puzzled about what would be so upsetting about that.

" I don't know anything about my family! Some where out there I have a mother, grandmother, maybe aunts or even sisters, and I don't know a damn thing about them. They could all be happy and healthy, and glad that I'm not with them. Or they could all be dead. And if they're dead, I wouldn't even know what from. What if they had some sort of disease and I pass it along to our girls?" She sniffed and Doggett rubbed her back.

" Have you ever tried to find your mom?" Doggett asked quietly.

" Once. I was eighteen, and I had wanted to for years, but I didn't want to hurt Mama and Papa so I never asked them if I could. So I waited until I was in college. But the person who was going to look into it for me wanted a lot more money than I could afford."

" We make more money now." Doggett pointed out.

" You think I should try to find her?" Reyes said, surprise winning out over sadness on her face.

" I think that it will make you worry about the babies less, you should do it."

Reyes didn't say anything, she just put her head on his shoulder.