4.

Mulder had barely knocked on Mrs. Scully's front door when the woman herself pulled it open and stepped onto the front step, almost bowling Mulder over.

"Fox!" she exclaimed, obviously surprised by his presence on her doorstep. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were standing right there!"

"Apparently not," Mulder said, smiling at her. "Dana is here, isn't she?" he asked politely, stepping aside so the older woman could walk down her steps without having to worry about knocking him over.

"Oh yes," Mrs. Scully nodded, a small smile touching her lips. It wasn't a believable smile though, Mulder thought, and felt another dart of apprehension shiver through him. "She's inside, Fox, just head on in. She's expecting you."

Mulder smiled his thanks and went inside as told by Mrs. Scully. He found Scully in the sitting room, lost in thought and apparently oblivious to his presence in the house. Pausing, Mulder took the opportunity to study her, feeling the bite of anxiety inside him soften somewhat as he gazed at her.

She was curled up on the sofa, shoes abandoned haphazardly in a way he'd come to recognise as Scully's sole concession to messiness. Her arms were wrapped loosely around her legs and her head rested comfortably against the backrest. A dreamy, thoughtful smile tugged at her lips and her eyes were far, far away. She looked small and tiny and decidedly unlike his usual business-like Scully.

"Scully." The word, a familiar name on his lips, caught the silk of her attention and she snapped her gaze to his face, the dreamer's eyes cast away in favour of her usual directness.

"You're early, Mulder," she said, uncurling herself and surreptitiously slipping her feet back into her pumps. Mulder wished she'd stayed curled up; it made her look soft and beautiful, like a woman ready to smile and kiss her love when he came home from work.

Perhaps, Mulder thought ruefully, it was better that she sat up straight and put her shoes back on – that way he wouldn't let his imagination run away with him while she tried to talk to him.

"It wasn't like I had a busy afternoon ahead of me," Mulder pointed out, settling himself on an armchair, still watching her. "Your mother almost ran me over on her way out."

"She went to buy some more milk and some baby food; she wasn't expecting me to turn up with two small children out of the blue."

"Where are the children?" he asked.

"Having a nap. They had a long, hard night, and I'm letting them sleep for a while."

A smile tugged at her lips, but there was a wariness in her expression. He wasn't used to seeing that her eyes when she spoke to him; its presence unnerved him now, and the anxiety rose again as sharply as before.

"What did you want to see me for?" he asked, biting the bit.

She sighed, and chewed on her lips, her brow creasing with small furrows of concentration. Her blue eyes dropped from his and focused on a spot in the carpet he couldn't see. "I asked you before, a few years ago, to be a character witness for me when I wanted to adopt," she said quietly, her voice low.

Mulder closed his eyes; he'd known it would come to this. The minute she'd wanted to take the children home with her, he'd known. Scully got clucky and loved children, but she'd never ever crossed boundaries of professionalism and formed attachments to children the way she had with these two. "You want to adopt the Logans," he said quietly, opening his eyes again.

She nodded, still not looking at him.

"You're going to leave the X Files," he continued, quietly. "Possibly even the Bureau. Is that really what you want, Scully? You want to leave me so badly?"

"I don't want to leave you, Mulder," she protested quickly, her eyes meeting his defiantly. "It's not you, and please don't think this is my way of telling you I don't want to see you again." A funny smile tugged at her lips, but she hid it quickly. Still, its momentary presence intrigued and confused Mulder, and he waited for her to continue.

"You know I want children, Mulder," she said finally. "I've wanted children for a long time, and you know I can't have them myself."

It was a knowledge that hurt Mulder deeply, and he nodded, trying to keep the guilt from his eyes for her sake.

"I thought Emily was my last chance of having my own child. She wasn't," Scully said simply.

"Why these children?" Mulder wanted to know. "Why now?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, to be honest. I just… I don't like the thought of not always being there for them," she said finally.

"When did you decide this?" Mulder asked finally.

"Not long ago," Scully admitted. "Less than an hour ago, actually." The abruptness surprised him; he'd known what Scully was planning, no matter how subconsciously, the minute she'd voiced her desire, but for her to have confirmed that decision so quickly absolutely stunned him. Scully wasn't given to rashness or impulsiveness usually; careful weighing of options was her standard.

Then again, he mused, several times over the years she'd caught him completely off guard with unexpected decisions made at the drop of a hat. Perhaps, he thought, there was a devil of impulsiveness inside Scully that even her strict control couldn't quite keep reigned in. The thought made him smile, and she looked at him curiously.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm just not used to you making such big decisions so quickly," he said honestly, meeting her gaze squarely. "If you want me as a character witness again for you, Scully, you know I wouldn't hesitate."

"Even if it means my leaving the X Files or the Bureau?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. "If it's what you want, Scully, I'll help you get it anyway you want."

Again, that small, quivery little smile lurked around her lips. "Are you certain you mean that, Mulder?" she asked finally, her gaze skittering away from his.

"Of course," he told her honestly. "You know I'd do anything for you."

"You shouldn't say things like that, Mulder, unless you really mean it. You never know what someone might take it in their head to ask you to do," she warned him.

"What's the worse you could ask me to do?" he asked lightly.

"Marry me," she said simply.

He stared at her. "What?"

She licked her lips, her eyes refusing to meet his. "I spoke with Alice this afternoon, the social worker from this morning, remember? And she said that if I wanted to stand a chance in hell of getting the children I needed to be in a stable, long term relationship, and it had better get to the marriage stage really quickly because in the eyes of the law a de facto relationship won't help me based on my past history with the adoption services and-"

"Scully," he interrupted her babble, holding up a hand. "Slow down, I can't follow what you're saying."

"I tried to adopt once before, Mulder, and you know what the judge said," she whispered. "A single woman with a dangerous career doesn't look good as a prospective parent. Especially, when I've already tried to adopt and almost had the application rejected."

"You don't know they would have refused to let you adopt Emily," Mulder pointed out.

She smiled, but it wasn't a bitter expression as it might have been a few days ago. "I know as well as you do, Mulder, that I wouldn't have succeeded in getting Emily."

Mulder didn't like to agree with her, because he knew it had to hurt her to know that she would have been denied her own daughter.

"So you want me to marry you so you can adopt the children," Mulder simplified.

She nodded. "I know it's asking a lot of you, Mulder, and I won't blame if you say no, but I need to be able to prove to the judge that my husband is someone I've been involved with for a long time in a stable relationship, and I need my character witnesses to support that story."

Husband. Wife. Marry Scully. The words played around in his mind, dredging forth images of daydreams where Scully wore a white dress and smiled at him lovingly. Silly fantasies he'd tried to convince himself he'd never really had or entertained, even though the idea of making Scully his was something he'd played with for a long, long time.

"Mulder?"

"You want to lie to the judge, our friends and your family?" he asked her, finally catching her gaze with his.

She smiled ruefully, looking guilty. "It doesn't sound very good when you phrase it like that," she admitted.

"I just want to make sure you know what you're doing," Mulder told her. "What will you do in a few years time if you decide you don't want to be married to me? Or you made a mistake adopting?"

"Why does everything think I'll decide I've made a mistake?" she demanded suddenly. "Do you think I'm making a mistake, Mulder?"

"I can't tell you that, Scully," he said reasonably. "You're the only one who can decide that. I just don't want you to regret giving up your career."

"I won't."

"So… being married," he said casually, still holding her gaze. "What do we have to do?"

"You'll do it then?" she asked, almost disbelieving.

"I told you I'd do anything for you, Scully," he pointed out.

"But marriage is… it's a commitment I can't expect of you, Mulder. What if you fall in love with someone, and you're tied down to me when you don't want to be?"

"That won't happen," Mulder said firmly, trying not to smile.

"You can't know that."

"Yes, I can," he said. "How about you? What if you meet someone and suddenly I'm in the way?"

"That won't happen," Scully said promptly.

Mulder raised an eyebrow, and Scully giggled nervously.

"So, Scully, are we engaged?"

She looked uncertain. "I think so," she said finally. "Mulder… you don't have to do this."

"I know," he said quietly, standing up and moving over to sit beside her on the sofa. Her hand, when he took it in his, was small and cool, her skin soft and pale. "Scully, this is a big decision for you too, and I don't want you to regret making it tomorrow morning. I'm going to go now, and give you some time to really think it through."

"What about you?" Scully, squeezing her fingers tightly with his.

"Same applies to me," he said, even though he knew his mind was already made up. Not like there had even been much to consider, he mused silently.

"What about the children?" she asked. "Do you even want children?"

Mulder smiled. "I've thought about having children," he admitted. She looked surprised by the confession. Mulder lifted his free hand to her face and tucked a stray auburn lock behind her ear, surprising her even more. "You're not the only one that sometimes has daydreams of white picket fences and dogs and Saturday morning soccer games," he told her gently.

"You never said anything," Scully said quietly.

He shrugged. "You never asked."

"I should have," she whispered.

"As much as I would have liked children, they were only a bonus," Mulder admitted. "If I fell in love, and we couldn't have children or the woman I loved didn't want children, I'd be okay with that too."

"What if you find her?" Scully pressed. "What if you find the woman you love in the future?"

He'd already found her, Mulder thought, smiling. "I don't think I'll find another woman to love," he said honestly.

Scully nodded, her eyes grave. "If you're sure, Mulder."

"I am," he said. "I care about you more than anyone else, Scully, and I'll happily marry you if it means you get what you want."

"Thank you," she whispered.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and tucked her against him for a hug. "And," he pointed out, "I get to have the kids and the Saturday morning soccer games too this way."

She chuckled against him, wriggling as she kicked off her shoes and then curled up against him on the sofa. He held her for a while longer, until they heard the sound of Mrs. Scully's car in the driveway.

"See you tomorrow," he said, pulling away and standing up.

There was a softness in her eyes he wasn't used to seeing there, but found he liked a lot. If Mrs. Scully hadn't appeared in the doorway, her arms laden with grocery bags, he might even have tempted fate and kissed Scully on the lips.

Instead, he helped Mrs. Scully with her shopping and said goodbye to both woman, stepping into the brisk fall afternoon with a smile on his lips and a spring in his step.

He was going to marry Scully, and even if she didn't love him yet, there were ways and means of winning a woman over, especially if she had his ring on her finger.

Ring, he thought suddenly, he had to get her an engagement ring!

---

Lots more to come – I promise. Will update soon!