8.
The last few days felt unreal, Mulder thought as he put some dishes away. The children had appeared so unexpectedly it felt like one minute they weren't there, and the next minute he and Scully had a little family all for themselves.
And Scully. Mulder still couldn't believe they were getting married. He tried to ignore the fact that Scully only saw it as a marriage of convenience between two friends. A little voice of concern niggled at him when he allowed himself to think too hard about the upcoming marriage, suggesting that maybe he wouldn't be able to keep up the pretence of it being purely convenience.
He'd loved Scully for a long time now – she was more important to him than anything, and the last thing he wanted to do was scare her away or damage their friendship by admitting that he was in love with her and would she mind if it were a real marriage instead of just a marriage of convenience?
Mulder snorted, wiping the last soap suds out of the sink and rinsing the rag under the faucet.
"I didn't realise how domesticated you were," Scully murmured. He turned to find her leaning against the doorjamb, watching him with her blue eyes. She looked more relaxed than he'd seen her in… well, forever, really. This Scully, the one who wore jeans and soft sweaters and a smile on her lips was miles away from the women in four inch heels brandishing a scalpel and a scowl. He kinda liked the change, and wondered if maybe it wouldn't be more appropriate to call her Dana.
"Do I have something on my face?" she asked, lifting her eyebrows in slight concern.
"No," Mulder said, smiling. "I was just thinking how different this all is."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, Friday we bought breakfast at the coffee shop and were running around collecting what we needed for our meeting with Skinner. The closest thing to domesticity that I came to that day was throwing my shirt in the laundry hamper at the end of the day."
"You have a laundry hamper?" she teased him, grinning.
"I do have some domestic skills, Scully," he told her haughtily. "Where are the kids?"
"Lucy is settling down for a nap, and Mom's pulled out some of Bill and Charlie's old things. Jacob is currently being thrilled to pieces with navy boats and toy tanks."
Mulder smiled at the mental picture. "We'll have to visit a toy store," he said, adding it to his mental list.
Scully moved into the room and perched herself on the kitchen table, her feet swinging a few inches above the ground. Recognising the thoughtful look in her eye, Mulder leant back against the benches he'd just cleaned and waited for her to say what was on her mind.
"Are you going to be happy, Mulder?" she asked finally.
Mulder sighed, staring at her small white sneakers swinging gently back and forth. How could he tell her that of course he'd be happy, because he was going to be married to her. And, of course, the kids. For someone who'd lived such an unusual life, and been so unconventional, he was beginning to crave everything labelled 'normal'. After all, if so many people lived normal lives and were happy, normal lives had to have something going for them, right?
"Why do you keep asking me that, Scully?" he asked instead. "I'm capable of making my own decisions and having my own motives for doing things. I've told you, I want to do this. I want to live a normal life. I want to step back and relax and enjoy life again, not keep peering into the shadows and searching for monsters."
"You say that now, Mulder, but I know you. You won't be satisfied with flying a desk or cleaning diapers for the rest of your life."
"Lucy's only going to be in diapers for a few more years, Scully, that's hardly the rest of my life," he reminded her.
"Mulder," she sighed.
She wasn't going to accept it, he realized finally. Scully was too methodical and needed too much proof about everything to actually be happy and trust him when he said something. "Could you believe me this once?" he asked her quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"You always doubt, Scully, and you won't believe without proof. Could I ask you this once to take a leap of faith, and trust me to know my own mind? To stop questioning me on a decision I've tried to explain to you several times already?"
She still looked doubtful. Mulder closed his eyes; maybe he should just come clean and tell her the truth – that he wanted her forever, which is why he'd be happy no matter what.
"Scully," he said, stepping into the V of her legs and framing her face with his hands. "I want this," he whispered staring into her blue eyes. They were as beautiful as ever, and still clouded with confusion and doubt.
Doubt.
"Are you beginning to change your mind?" he asked, his thumbs moving over her skin.
"No," she breathed, staring at him. "I just don't want you to realize this is a mistake and then hate me later on for asking you to do this."
"It was my choice," he reminded her huskily.
At some point, her hands had risen to his waist and her fingers were now tangled in the material of his shirt. "Okay," she said, nodding. "I trust you, Mulder."
"Good," he smiled, pressing a kiss to her forehead and wrapping his arms around her. Trust was a step in the right direction, he thought, nuzzling his nose against her hair. Maybe it would take baby-steps, but he'd keep at it.
After all, three days ago he was hardly likely to be standing between Scully's legs and hugging her, was he? Much less have stolen all the kisses he'd managed this weekend. He grinned to himself as the doorbell rang once again – maybe he'd make it his mission to see how many kisses and cuddles and smiles he could steal from Scully. Maybe she'd get so used to them, she'd just slip into love with him without realizing, and then she wouldn't be scared away.
"I'll get it," he said, pulling away from her with a smile. "It's probably the social worker this time."
---
Alice introduced the agency worker as Tom Billings. Tom Billings reminded Mulder of Byers, but while Byers was fairly naïve and always saw the good in people, Tom Billings had sharp blue eyes that darted around the room quickly, noting everything and everyone. Mulder didn't like Tom Billings – he thought Tom looked look hard and sharp and jaded to do any good working in the adoption area.
"Let's take a seat," Tom said after shaking hands with Mulder and Scully. "Now, I understand from Alice that you've currently got temporary custody of the children."
"That's right," Mulder said, wrapping his fingers around Scully's hand.
Tom nodded. "Well, that will make no difference to the adoption process. You will still have to be screened, interviewed and go through all the normal procedures. We don't make special allowances just because you're FBI."
"We never asked for special allowances," Scully pointed out.
"We also don't normally give people custody of the children until they've been through the screening process, however things have obviously been done differently this time so we'll have to work around it."
Mulder clenched his jaw; he really didn't like Tom Billings.
"What do we need to do, Mr. Billings?" Scully asked. To anyone who didn't know her, her voice sounded calm. Pleasant, even. Mulder, however, knew Scully, and even if the others couldn't he could feel the anger in her voice as clearly as if she'd yelled. He squeezed her hand gently, and absently stroked at it with his thumb, trying to soothe her. An usual day indeed, he thought to himself, when he was the one calming Scully down.
"Get married," Tom Billings said bluntly. "Normally we wouldn't even consider your application or send an agency employee out for an interview if you weren't married. You'll need to get married before this can progress any further. And, of course, having a permanent house where the children can be comfortable would be a good idea too."
"We're going to look for a house this afternoon," Mulder said calmly, "and we plan to pick up a marriage license at the same time."
Tom billings moved his wire rimmed glasses down his nose and peered at Mulder over the top of the lenses. "Yes, there is that consideration too," he murmured. "I hope you can produce several very good and very convincing character witnesses, because I'm inclined to believe this little charade is nothing more than a marriage of convenience."
"It isn't," Mulder snapped.
"Easy, Mulder," Scully said, her hand now soothing him. "It's okay, we were told about this, remember?"
"Here's a list of things we need as part of your application. They include blood tests, character references, your current financial state, written references and the like. You'll find a detailed list which summarizes everything in there, and it will also give you an idea of what the interviews are like."
"Thank you," Scully said, accepting the small folder Tom Billings held out.
"Until you're married and have a house to live in, I'm afraid there's not a lot more I can do for you at the moment. As I said, we expect you to go through this application process completely, and that means meeting all the requirements."
Tom and Alice left fairly soon after; Alice with an apologetic smile on her face.
"I wonder why he's in the adoption agency," Scully said, closing the door as their guests left.
"Who knows," Mulder muttered, scowling. "He's not going to make it easy for us, Scully."
"Since when has anything ever been easy for us?" she asked dryly.
"True."
"Get your coat on, Mulder, we've got a busy day ahead of us. I'll go and get Jacob – Mom said she'd watch Lucy for us today."
Mulder obeyed and ten minutes later he, Scully and Jacob were on their way.
---
Thank you so much for all the reviews – I'm absolutely stunned at how many people are commenting on this fic! I'm trying hard to keep Mulder & Scully in character while I write this, but given this isn't a casefile I'm having to guess at how Mulder and Scully will act and react to events.
Also, I apologize for getting "Americanisms" wrong – I'm not actually from the US of A, so you'll just have to bear with dodgy spelling and slightly wrong terms for things. I'm trying to keep the fic "American" in terminology, but it's easy to slip up – particularly with spelling because my fingers are so used to adding those extra 'u's!
I'm so happy you guys are liking the kids too – they're lots of fun to write and they might inadvertently put Mulder & Scully in a few confusing and embarrassing situations in the future!
Thanks for all the support, and please keep the reviews coming with suggestions and ideas
(a suggestion for a better name would be adored – I really don't like this one's title!)
Cheers!