This was created out of response to a prompt on Twitter. And this is a one-shot. There will be no further additions.
Disclaimer: I own only what details I make up.
Ever since Mulder's return from 'The Great Beyond,' as he called it, he'd finally taken to sleeping well.
And put it aptly… he even found it jarring. At times.
Mulder had been cursed with permanent insomnia for decades. Ever since the vanishing of Samantha.
It had dissipated somewhat over the years, thanks to Scully's influence. But… It had never gone away. Not altogether.
Until…
It started to. All on its own.
Good sleep brought peace to Mulder.
Especially because when he saw Scully now, he was able to reach out. Touch her. See her. Hold her. Feel her.
For... every last day away from her had been utter hell.
Especially in Arizona. For the UFO—his prison—had been so close to where Scully had stood that night. Watching this play out had been its own hell.
Mulder had cried for his partner, yelled, screamed at the top of his voice in a prayer most loud that Scully would walk just a few yards further. So she could realize the craft was there. Feel it. Because her vision was deprived of it. Cruelly.
What the two of them would later call a metaphysical connection had already brought her to a seemingly random patch of desert. In the dark.
For... What else could it have been?
Upon explaining this all to Scully, Mulder had wept in open relief by the end.
Why?
Because his other half had agreed. With no hesitation.
Terrifically, wonderfully swollen with child that Special Agent Doctor Dana Katherine Scully was, she then sat with Mulder. Also without hesitation.
Scully also held him. Consoled him. Kissed him. Intimately. Reminded him of what kind touches were. To chase away all the memories of the horrific touches he'd endured in their time apart.
Scully also whispered kind words to him. Hopes. Promises.
A vow that she would love him, and only him. For the rest of their lives.
And… This had all happened in the middle of Scully's living room floor.
She made no complaint. Just looked after him. Like a wife.
But Mulder made it up to her later on. In many ways.
Scully had fallen asleep that night with her back perfectly flesh against Mulder's front. And in his warm hold.
More thankful than ever for his warmth. His falling and rising chest. His arm draped over her middle. His hand splayed protectively on her distended middle, inside which their miracle child lay fast asleep.
Not ready for the world to intrude.
All of that had only been a few days past Mulder's being released from the hospital, post recovery.
Now…
The closer time drew to Scully's due date, the more insanity and miraculous happenings were suggested of their child. A fun time it was not.
Mulder also found himself spending much more time at Apartment 35 of 31750 West 53rd Road. Scully's place. Their little refuge.
But… Whether it be pretend… Or even reality… Mulder and Scully were once again together.
For them… This was all that mattered.
But Scully slept fitfully tonight.
One of her more horrific memories had returned to her.
In slumber.
And… Of all cases…
It was the one that had taken her to the lost village, north of Sugarville… Otherwise known as the place where the slug-worshipping cult lived.
Monsters.
In one of the most horrible violations ever of her body, Scully had been forced to play living host to a parasitic organism that could only be described as an overgrown slug creature.
For her to play the part, the villagers had allowed the creature to enter her body. Despite the protestations. And her proclamation of being pregnant.
This last part had been more like an added benefit. On the villagers' part.
And… It would be a long, long time before Scully forgot the feeling of being tied to that bed. Stomach-down. Moaning in discomfort. Powerless. Weeping in worry over the health and safety of her very tiny unborn child. For the first time in her life, Scully had finally understood just what 'mother bear' instinct was.
But…
She would also never forget the moment that Doggett found her.
After hours of searching. And persistence.
A sudden thud on the floor behind Scully told her that Doggett had successfully rendered the room guard unconscious, ending their brief struggle. No person in Special Agent John Jay Doggett's way stood a chance. Ever.
Doggett approached his partner's bed. Before stopping. His hesitancy meant he had seen it. Tonight's mayhem epicenter.
Confusion became Doggett. "What in the hell…? Agent Scully…"
But all the woman could do was moan even more. Her present condition: borderline excruciatingly awful.
"God almighty." Doggett murmured. "Agent Scully…"
Her savior finally found his wits as he hurried forward and lowered the cloth gag. At last.
Fresh air burned Scully's lungs as she coughed, gagged, and sputtered. Tried to swiftly right herself.
Burning hot tears fell down her face. "Agent Doggett—get me the hell out of here."
He undid her bindings. Helped her to stand.
With some trepidation, Doggett said, "Can you walk?"
"I… don't know." she admitted after an infinitesimal pause. "How far is your car?"
"It's about half a mile up the road."
But that won't do, Scully thought. "I know something closer."
Doggett picked Scully up, carrying her bridal-style, away from her prison chamber of a bedroom. She told him all about the great big bus that she had seen the members of this community's members riding in from the highway on. Just hours earlier. The first thread of this mystery.
And Scully was vaguely away of Doggett setting her down on a seat near him. Or the man removing his jacket.
But Scully did connect the dots when she saw Doggett slide under the big steering wheel up front.
"Can you hot-wire it?" Scully wanted to know.
In a tone of (self-reassuring) machismo, Doggett answered, "'Can I hot-wire it'? Gone in sixty-seconds, Jack. I'm gonna strand these lunatics."
But at that moment, Scully moaned more. It was her loudest yet.
The slug-thing was well on the move. Upward. In her spine.
Now Doggett was beginning to really panic. "Agent Scully, talk me!"
But the doctor was in tears of her own extreme panic.
"You gotta cut it out! Cut it out!"
Scully's breath did a very nasty hitch when she felt the organism speed up.
"Oh… Oh… Now it's going to my brain…"
The discomfort-conveying moan that Scully made this time was incredibly primal.
But she did not care.
All she could think about was fighting against the body-invader so she would live to see her child.
"CUT IT OUT OF ME NOW!"
Desperate, Scully clamped one hand over the back of her neck.
Evil would not prevail. It couldn't.
Scully was only vaguely aware of the initial removal. And of the creature's execution.
By the time that Mister Milsap's quiet disappointment rent the air, Scully was close to passing out.
From the relief of being free. Overall pain. Her adrenaline crash. It was overwhelming her. Literally.
Her last conscious memory from that night was of Doggett. As he spirited her away.
Promising her that she could rest. Because it was all over. She was finally safe.
Back in the present, Scully woke abruptly. Great relief swept over her frame when she saw that Mulder was yet asleep. Dreaming.
But then Scully was brought back to reality. Even more.
In thinking that it was playtime, her child chose that moment to use their limbs to test the ever-limited confines of their home. Sinking every ounce of their weight on to their mother's bladder in the process.
Groaning softly, Scully threw back the blankets and forced herself out of bed. Easier said than done.
"You win." Scully whispered into the still of the apartment. "Come on, kid. Mommy is already stepping on the gas. Just for you."
One completed trip to the lavatory later, Scully heaved a massive sigh.
Her offspring was wide awake. Trying (and failing) to get comfortable. It was nights like now where Scully was sure her little one had inherited Mulder's pesky insomnia.
The only real remedy?
To sit on the couch as she talked to the little one. Sang to them. Rubbed her middle. Whatever it took to coax her child back to slumber.
Padding over to the front room now, Scully turned up the heat on her thermostat before turning on a lamp and parking herself on the couch. It was cold outside. Even for spring. It had also been raining for days. She would be unsurprised if it started up again soon.
Meanwhile… Mulder awoke suddenly in the darkened bedroom. Checked the time.
Twenty-one minutes past eleven.
He and Scully had gone to bed early. It was a long day of putting the baby's nursery together. But they'd completed it. And to celebrate? Take-out for dinner.
And the cherry on top? Making love (quite carefully) an hour before bed.
Glancing around, Mulder found Scully's half of the bed was empty.
And then he spotted the lit living room lamp. Scully was awake. No doubt because their child had chosen to test their stretching skills. Yet again.
Mulder decided to check on his other half.
But he held back any Weisenheimer comments as he took heed of the recently-adjusted thermostat.
Scully got touchy whenever there was any cold weather. But it had been so for years now.
Antarctica was to blame in that department.
Mulder found Scully on the couch.
Even from behind, he could see that she was yet in what she'd worn to bed (a tank-top that only just covered her breasts and a pair of maternity shorts). But he also saw Scully sit up straighter as she registered her presence.
Then… A startling detail caught Mulder's attention as he walked behind the couch.
And this detail… It was new.
Scully's fiery locks were tied back, out of the way. Her hair was thick. And heavy. Or… So she had told Mulder once.
Mulder had noticed a new something on the back of Scully's neck tonight.
And he became overcome by curiosity about it.
For he knew every inch of Scully's body. This could be attributed to all the harm fallen upon it over the years during the course of their fieldwork. Knowing of each other's bodies reached the peak when they grew to know each other. In the biblical sense.
What Mulder had noticed tonight was a scar on the back of Scully's neck. Alarmingly close to her head.
Just how had it been acquired?
Scully couldn't see the scar, for obvious reasons. But she was absolutely aware of it. Every passing day.
"The pain left. A long time ago." Scully reached out behind her. "Give me your hand."
Mulder obliged.
Scully pressed her soulmate's digits to her scar.
The audible hitching of Mulder's breath told Scully that her other half was very surprised to find that the scar was raised. Coarse.
When Scully dropped her hand, Mulder delicately traced his fingertips against the scar. Pressed feather-light kisses to it. Such as she did to his own scars. Often.
Mulder finally spoke. "What happened here, Dana? It looks bad."
She sighed again. "It was, Fox. It really was. Uh… The baby and I almost lost our lives. In the middle of nowhere Utah."
Mulder sat with Scully at once. He wasn't even aware of how fast he'd moved.
Scully was dressed exactly how Mulder had posited. Under normal circumstances, he would have initiated testing the waters with at least some heavy petting. All the wound-up hormones in Scully's body meant that (these days), she didn't often turn down the chance to play.
But… The look on Scully's face now…
Mulder said gently, "Talk to me. Please, Dana. What happened in Utah?"
And the whole story came out.
Mulder made no interruption. (Even though he loved that she was consistently using his actual name) He took in every last detail. Despite it all being on the horrific side of incredible.
"The last thing I remember from the night-of, was John carrying me away. To safety. Away from that village."
Scully paused momentarily to arch her back to accommodate they baby when they performed an extra big stretch.
"On the day I got out of the hospital, I apologized to John for holding him at bay. And for not telling him where I'd gone." Scully sighed when the baby settled again. "John accepted my apology. The two of us have been working on actual friendship ever since."
Ballad completed, Scully looked to Mulder. Expectant now.
"Are you angry?"
Mulder bleated in genuine surprise, "What? At you? Literally not at all."
"But why? If I'd been upfront that day, I wouldn't have that ugly garish mark on my neck. And… I wouldn't have put our child in such grave harm."
Scully used her balled-up fists to swipe at her tears wanting to spill over at any moment.
"Those bastards heard me beg. Saw me. Literally held me in place. And they still violated me, anyway. I was… Their holiest of saviors. My pregnancy just excited them."
Fresh tears cascaded down Scully's face. Faster and faster. She couldn't stop them. Even if she'd tried.
Guilt.
Scully was feeling and expressing an extreme amount of guilt.
Effortlessly, Mulder pulled Scully into his lap. Held her close.
After a few moments even, Scully pulled back her tank-top so her bump was on display. The only person she tolerated it being touched by was Mulder.
And he was free to do it whenever he wished.
But to him, there was just something quite special about being invited. Always.
And Mulder knew that it was for quiet moments like these that he wanted to spend the rest of his with Special Agent Doctor Dana Katherine Scully. Grow old with her. In some fashion. Or another.
So Mulder just worked on helping their child fall asleep, chuckling when the little one only responded by sharply jabbing him with an elbow.
But Scully quietly murmured apologies for it. Unable to hold back a small titter of her own as she cleaned herself up. Both she and the baby were yet getting used to Mulder's presence at late hours.
When Scully had finally settled, she made herself more comfortable. And Mulder held her. Lovingly. With great intimacy.
"Dana, listen to me. What's past is past. I do want to go back so I can deal some justice to those people. But I can't. So I won't."
Mulder pressed a few soft kisses to Scully's brow.
"I will forgive you for anything you do. Ever. What matters is that you made it out alive, and that both you and our child survived. I can't begin to imagine what that ordeal was like. Or how much of your soul you left behind there. Is this what woke you up tonight?"
"Mhm." Scully's voice was very soft. "The memory came to me in a vivid dream just now."
Mulder now pulled a nearby blanket over them when he saw Scully shiver. "Now you've survived to tell the tale because your calvary arrived when it did. I'm only mad at the bastards who did you wrong. No one else. Blaming yourself is not necessary. I promise you that."
A great weight lifted from Scully's shoulders at her companion's words.
And she whispered to him, "Thank you, Fox. I love you."
He kissed her, knowing that she loved it when he did. "You are most welcome. I love you, too. And only you. Always have. Always will. For the rest of my life. Again."
Mulder could actually get away with saying things like this last part because he technically had come back from the dead.
"Also," he lovingly traced the scar on the back of his partner's neck once more. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Loved. Known. The only one whom I've given my entire soul and my entire being to. All of your scars and marks are what make up who you are. I love each and every one. So never would I ever want you to change. Or ask you to."
"Thank you, Fox. Thank you."
Scully leaned against him. Wrapped her arms around him in a heartfelt hug.
"You know... Even for all the grief, and all the horrors, I would do it all again."
Mulder nodded in agreement. "So would I."
He then moved one of his hands downwards on her body. In an act of quite intimate contact.
Now it was Scully's whose breath hitched. But in a beautiful way.
Mulder had slipped a hand in between her thighs. To let her know he was nearby.
As much as Scully liked to initiate this kind of contact, so too did Mulder.
They played around. Happily. Frequently.
But at other moments, private contact such as this… It was their own kind of connectivity. A different kind of love-making.
These moments only came about when they were alone together, in her home. Or his.
Being themselves: two people who constantly fought insurmountable astronomical odds to be together. And love each other. Endlessly.
As Mulder moved his hand a dash higher, the sound Scully made now was one of both desire and contentment. But she let her other half continue. In more ways than one.
"Dana, you are my best friend. The absolute love of my life. I will follow you anywhere, just like you've been doing so with me for all these years. Hell… I'd marry you in an hour. Or in the morning. Next week? Next month, next year? Whatever you wanted."
Scully's heart took a nosedive of surprise.
The two of them privately enjoyed how often they were mistaken for a married couple. So much so that they sometimes discussed what it (marriage) would be like. In truth.
But they always arrived back at the same point.
Scully blew out a breath when her soulmate began to apply lovingly gentle ministrations even higher.
"Fox, my heart is overflowing when I'm with you. And I know you feel the same way about me. But… I had something of a new epiphany while you were away."
"Oh?" he said curiously. "What was it?"
"You and I have loved each other… pretty much forever at this point. In other lifetimes. Across reality, space, time. Do you deny any of that?"
Mulder shook his head. "No. I don't."
"Then this is going to sound very… un-Catholic of me, but… What you and I have… I don't think we need a piece of paper to officiate. Our souls are going to be together. For eternity. Always. That's more than enough for me."
If at all possible, Mulder then experienced the biggest rush of love he'd ever felt towards the woman in his arms.
He loved her. She loved him. And they acted on these feelings. Often.
But some things about their lives together (if that's what this bond of theirs could be called) were happening out of order, as it was just the universe's way. Meaning… Mulder completely understood what a big deal it was for Scully to even be this forward. He felt proud.
"It's also more than enough for me." he told her. "I completely agree with you."
"Then," Scully pressed such a kiss to Mulder's throat that there was no mistaking her primal claim of him. "When you say you'd follow me, how far will you go?"
"Literally anywhere." Mulder told as she proceeded to plant a smaller flurry of kisses to the same spot. "Why? Got something in mind?"
"Mhm. I'm not ready to give up city life or whatever just yet, but what if… In a decade or so… The two of us find a place that's just ours? Maybe out in the countryside? We can call it 'The Unremarkable House.' Or something of the like."
Mulder made a musing sound that meant he was thoroughly considering the proposition. "I really like what you're saying. But what made your mind go to 'The Unremarkable House'?"
"I'd like to think by then, we'll be ready for a chapter of life that will be wonderful and unremarkable and ordinary, all at the same time." Scully told him. "Fox… You're the only one I could grow old with. No one else."
"You are the only person whom I could grow old with. And I've known that for a very long time now."
Mulder sighed contently when Scully's kiss flurry increased. But he cleared his throat so his body didn't betray him. Blindside the moment.
"It's definitely settled: when we're older, we'll find some kind of little countryside paradise." he declared. "Our wonderfully unremarkable house."
But Scully could only nod as she curled back up against Mulder.
One last thought was frantically swirling around in her brain. And… It was huge.
She only spoke when she started tracing a pattern in the fabric of the old familiar Knicks jersey he was wearing.
"Unless the universe gives us another child while we're at The Unremarkable House… I don't want another one. I mean it. And… I won't pretend that the child we have now is anything short of miraculous… Or that circumstances odder than what we're used to have been happening since I learned of this pregnancy…"
"But…?" Mulder prompted when he realized that Scully was headed down a rabbit trail.
"But," Scully sighed shakily. "A different nightmare of mine is for something to happen to the child I'm carrying now, and then for that same harm to fall to a future sibling… Or... even something happening to me. Fox, I couldn't bear it. Not at all. And…"
But now Scully's words trailed off as her face flushed red.
"Tell me whatever you want." Mulder planted a kiss to Scully's crown. "I support you."
"It just feels like another turn in this weird war we're in is around the corner." Scully found herself confessing. "Am I afraid? Yes. But I am confident. We have each other and the network of allies we've cultivated. Still… I don't want to press our luck where another child is concerned. Not unless we get our Unremarkable House miracle."
"Dana, it's like I said already: I completely support you. Your dreams. Your wishes. All of it. No more children—unless we get that miracle when we're older—is absolutely something I can live with."
He wiped Scully's newest round of tears when he felt them land on his shirt.
"Your sanity is important to me. And so is your health. Growing old with you in The Unremarkable House? It sounds completely perfect. I will be there for you. And for whatever the future has for our child growing inside you right now."
Scully moved herself into a sitting position so she could finally be level with Mulder. "Does any of what I told you just now make me an awful person?"
Mulder said firmly, "Not in any way. Those thoughts make you human."
But before Scully could formulate a response, there sounded from outside a tremendous downpour of rain. It was as if the heavens had opened up just in time to underscore Mulder's point.
But then the moment truly caught up with Scully.
She remained in Mulder's lap. Comfortable. Blissed.
But… The way his fingers were moving…
"Fox, if you keep this up…" Scully threw off the blanket as her legs involuntarily spread wider as if by their own accord.
"Come on." Mulder tapped Scully's arms. "Let's go back to bed."
The couple cleaned up.
Double-checked the front door locks.
Shut off the light. Crawled back in their bed.
But Scully was now minus her lower garments.
Truly understanding now, Mulder went back to his ministrations from before. But ramped them up.
All while whispering to Scully his words of love. Adoration. Loyalty. Promises and hopes for the future. And Mulder meant every word.
In the following blissful aftershock, Scully was euphoric in her joy.
And thankful for everything that made her truly happy… Which included the man in bed with her.
However… It soon became apparent that while tiredness was catching up with Mulder, he had an 'issue' of his own.
But Scully gave him the mercy he deserved.
So she freed Mulder from his boxers, completely, before moving closer to him. Spooning.
As they had been when they'd fallen asleep together.
"Hold me." she murmured to him. "I want to feel you. Fox, I need to. And I already know that you desire the same."
Gently, slowly, he slipped his manhood between her thighs. Held her. As if absolutely nothing else in the universe mattered just then.
And Mulder grinned to himself when Scully shuddered pleasurably at the feeling of the night's most intimate act.
But… Scully's contented sighs also told him that she was equally sated—and as equally sleepy—as he was.
Fun would be had. Another time.
Now… It was time for slumber. Again.
This was enough.
He called out in to the dark, "Dana?"
"Yes, Fox?" she responded.
"I love you. And I would do it all again, for as many times as it took, because it led us to this perfect moment." he planted a kiss to her neck scar and nuzzled the spot. "You are the truest love of my life."
Scully's heart fluttered both at his words, and at the feeling of the baby finally settling in for slumber.
"You are and always will be the greatest love of my life. I love you with every part of me. I've known since the first time I saw you. Nothing else will ever change that. Or ever can. I will follow you. Anywhere."
Now the lovers murmured their good-nights to each other.
And Scully's previous guilt over the Utah Incident?
Finally gone. For good.
done
