"You're going to wear a tread into the floor." I said watching Mulder pace in front of me as I sat on a very uncomfortable hospital waiting room chair.

"They said they'd have an update in an hour. Has it been an hour?"

I checked my watch, "It's been two."

Mulder groaned and started his pacing again.

"Please sit down!" I pleaded after he passed me for a fifth time fearing I would throw up from the motion alone.

Mulder must have realized what he was doing and eventually sat in the chair to the right of me. Sighing, loudly, he looked up then over at me, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." I replied, more concerned for the man who we found unconscious and pinned under a couple of cars was feeling.

"Are you sure? When did you last eat?"

"I don't remember." I honestly replied, "I'll get something later."

Mulder pulled his phone out of his pocket, "It's after midnight."

"Later." I said rubbing my temples, "Once we know he's ok." The pain of guilt taking over all of my own needs.

"It's been a long day."

I really wished he'd stop talking.

"Shit…" he mumbled.

"What?" I continued to rub my temples with my eyes closed, but knew I had to reply to his …statement.

"We were supposed to be in New York City right now."

Now I groaned. The events of the day making me completely forget the spur of the moment take the day off of work for a long weekend we had planned a few days earlier. "And there's three hundred dollars I'm now out."

"I'll call the hotel. Tell them the truth. Maybe they'll reverse it."

I shrugged, my eyes still closed with my fingers on my forehead, "There's not much compassion in the world anymore."

"It's worth a shot at least." He said before leaving me to make his probably useless phone call.

"Ms. Scully." I heard a woman's voice next to me.

I opened my eyes to see a young black woman wearing blue scrubs looking down at me as she held a clipboard, "I apologize for not getting back to you sooner."

"Just let me know he's ok."

She nodded, "Mr. Skinner has a few broken ribs as well as a broken leg, but we expect him to make a full recovery; thankfully the paramedics got to him before he lost any more blood."

"Can we see him?"

"Not at this time. He's in a lot of pain and we'd really like him to get his rest. Will you be staying in town?"

I nodded, "We don't have any other plans at this time."

She nodded, "I have your number and I'll give you a call when I believe he will be able to accept visitors. Should be tomorrow or the day after." She smiled and walked away just as Mulder was returning.

"So?" I asked as he was shoving his phone in his pocket.

"Say what you want about New Yorkers but give them a sob story about your boss being run over and they let you off the hook. I told them we'll be sure to come up another time."

"That's a relief. The doctor said that he has some broken ribs and a broken leg but should make a full recovery and will give us a call when he can have visitors."

"So, we might as well find a place to stay for the night…or two...or.."

"I'm sadly certain Kersh wants us out of the bureau. For good this time."

"For once I actually agree with the man on something." Mulder said leading me out of the emergency room waiting area.

Demanding I get some kind of nourishment, we stopped at the only place open after midnight, McDonalds, and I sat and ate French fries in Mulder's mid-life crisis Mustang while he drove around looking for a hotel that looked suitable for the night. Settling on a Holiday Inn that looked fairly empty I finished off the fried potato goodness and followed my partner into the lobby where a tired man named Gavin stood before a computer rubbing his eyes.

"Can I help you?" he yawned while running his hands through his obviously unwashed chestnut brown hair.

"We need a room…" he looked to me for a second…"rooms?"

I rolled my eyes and looked to Gavin, "Do you have A room available?" I asked putting all the emphasis on the A. We could share a bed. We had since my condo nearly exploded.

Gavin hit – and I mean hit – some keys on the keyboard, "We have a king-sized bed on the first floor with an outside entrance."

"That's fine." Mulder pulled out his wallet and handed the young man a credit card.

Gavin took it then narrowed his eyes on Mulder, "Dude, is that blood?"

The night had become such a blur even I didn't realize Mulder had red spots all over his jacket.

"Really nasty game of paintball." He replied, then looked at me and shook his head in his 'I don't want to talk about it' way of ending subjects.

I nodded, Gavin shrugged and ran his credit card before handing the card back to Mulder along with two room keys, "112" he said pointing to the left, "There's an open parking spot right in front."

We both thanked Gavin before leaving the lobby and getting back into Mulder's car to drive twenty feet and part directly in front of room 112.

The hotel room reminded me of the ones from the early 80s, and I feared the bedspread was just as old as I ripped it off the bed and tossed it on the floor. The blanket and sheets and least looked washed in the last decade.

"I really want to wash…everything…off of me, so I'm going to take a quick shower." Mulder said pulling off his coat and throwing it across the room where it landed in the open closet with the mirror doors.

I nodded in understanding and pulled off my own coat as he walked into the bathroom and closed the door. I pulled my phone out of my pocket for the first time in hours to see four missed calls. One from the hotel in New York City and three from Mulder from over six hours earlier…. which felt like a lifetime ago.

I was placing my coat on the back of a chair when the shower stopped and moments later Mulder exited the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist "The Holiday Inn in Norfolk does not provide robes." He said running another towel through his wet hair, "Just warning you."

"I just want to sleep." I replied sitting on the edge of the bed to remove my shoes and socks before removing the rest of my clothing and folding it up before placing it on the chair with my coat. Wearing only a bra and panties I turned to face my partner whose eyes quickly moved to my slightly swollen abdomen, "Don't stare." I said sharply before getting under the covers of the bed, "Please."

He nodded and turned off the lights before getting into the bed as well turning onto his side to face me. The moonlight coming through the curtains giving us enough light to see one another, but also enough dark to sleep, "How far along?" was the first question he asked.

"Thirteen weeks." I replied.

"How long have you known?"

"One week." I replied, "Only one."

Mulder licked his lips and sighed, "Which explains the impromptu long weekend in New York."

"I wanted to make it special." I sighed, "I had it all planned out. A nice dinner, a walk around central park and then…" I sighed again and repositioned myself closer to him…for warmth, "Just never turns out the way I plan. At least you're still here."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"That's not what I meant." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before continuing, "I'm scared."

"Me too."

"At least we're on the same page."

Licking my lips, I moved even closer to him, inviting him to wrap his arms around me and let me know everything would be ok.

I wanted to believe him.

My stomach churning awakened me from a very deep slumber. It wasn't hunger pains and it wasn't nausea. I wasn't familiar with this feeling, but now I was awake and as I sat up in the foreign bed I realized I was alone. Even though I knew he wouldn't dare do it – especially now – the instant fear I had been deserted came over me. My eyes began to tear up as I got out of the bed and looked around the dark room. The bathroom was dark and empty and his car keys were missing from the small dining table he had tossed them on only hours earlier. Paranoia plagued me as I grabbed my coat, the second key card still in the pocket and put the coat over my partially naked body to see if his car was still in front of the door.

Upon opening the front door my fears eased away seeing his car looking right at me, but where was he?

I stepped out for a moment to look around the parking lot and my eyes stopped on the man sitting in the aluminum chair in front of the window of the motel room. Fully clothed with a brown bottle in his hand. Every question I had was stupid, at least in my head it was, so I pulled my coat tighter around my body and sat down in the chair next to his.

"Where did you find beer?" I felt wasn't as stupid as all my other questions.

"It's Root Beer. Unfortunately, you can't find real beer in this state at three am. I tried. So, I'm trying to pretend this is real beer." He took a sip and sighed, "Not happening." He placed the bottle on the small table between the two chairs and looked over at me as I looked at him, "Why are you up?"

"I think my stomach is objecting to eating my weight in fried food only a few hours ago. I'd ask you the same question, but I probably already know the answer."

"It's been a very long twenty-four hours." He sighed, picked up the bottle, chugged it and then scowled, "Very long."

I nodded and sighed as well, "I know…"

"How are we going to do this?" he asked in a very blunt way.

"Do what?" I replied, confused to what he was referring to.

"This…" he said nodding at me, "Am I in the picture at all?"

"Of course, you are. Why would you think differently?" I was honestly insulted and hurt by such a statement. "I already made my decision that I want you in my life. That hasn't changed. Why would I have booked an expensive weekend in New York City if I didn't?" my defensives may have been a bit high at this moment.

"Just making sure." He replied

I shook my head, "I can't believe you-"my rant cut off when I turned to scold him again and noticed a small velvet box on the table between us, "What the hell is that?"

"What the hell do you think it is?" he gave a small smile and grabbed the bottle to finish off whatever was left of the non-alcoholic beverage.

"It can't be what I think it is."

"You won't know until you open it."

My fingers shaking more than they should have, I reached for the small box and brought it to my lap. Holding it with both hands I slowly pulled the top from the bottom and felt like my heart would stop from the sight of it. I wasn't that familiar with jewelry, let alone rings, but what was in front of me looked like the kind of ring girls dreamed about. The diamond was large and round and sparkled under the dim motel outside lighting. There were two smaller diamonds on either side of the large diamond on the gold band. I really wasn't sure what to do or say and as it was at this point I felt incapable of speaking.

"You have to say something." Mulder broke my mental silence.

"Aren't you supposed to?" I replied back and looked over at him knowing he was probably afraid, but I didn't want him to be, "You already did the hard part."

"Buying that wasn't the hard part." He replied obviously swallowing the large lump in his throat, "I've had that ring for seventeen years…."

"Oh…"I looked back down at the ring.

"It's not like I haven't asked before, but you always said that it wasn't the right time. I got that out of the safety deposit box last week. Once you said we should go away for the weekend I assumed this had to be the right time." He sighed, loudly, "the everything went to hell."

"As it usually does every time we try to find any shred of happiness."

"Maybe that's a sign too. Everything with my father, everything with William. Maybe everything happened so we could start over. Reborn and all that religious stuff…maybe that's why…"

"I'm fifty-four and three months pregnant?"

"You're the one who believes in signs."

I looked back at the ring and bit my lower lip. "I believe in us." I looked back at him, "Even in the worst of times I always believed in that."

"Me too." He said standing up and walking over and taking the ring out of my hands before kneeling before me as he never had before. Yes, he had asked me to marry him on numerous occasions. Generally, when he was drunk, drugged, lonely or during or after sex, but as he kneeled down before me, his tired face showing so much pain and anguish from the events of the previous day I could see that maybe this finally was the right time. At three am, in a motel parking lot after one of the absolute worst days of our lives maybe putting this ring on my finger would give him back something he lost the night before. Hope.

He took my hands in his and just looked at me, as if he was looking at me for the first time. He seemed to be searching for the right words, I gently squeezed his hands in an effort to get him to say something. So many women dream of the day they're proposed to, at this point I just wanted it over with.

"Dana…" he finally got out, but after thirty seconds or so no other words followed.

"Fox…" I replied in hopes some levity would get him to relax.

He smiled, a true smile I hadn't see in over twenty-four hours. He then nodded and looked down, "I deserved that."

"Mulder, how long have we been together?"

"Longer than Justin Bieber has been alive."

"Aside from the fact it worries me you even know that, think about everything we've gone through. All of it. Even the memories we'd much rather forget. Think about closing the book on all of that and starting a new one. We may be older, a little rustier, but I believe now that this miracle happened for a reason. To prove how very much we belong together. To prove we are going to be ok."

Mulder nodded, "I've always known that."

"Then say what you need to say."

Taking a deep breath, he squeezed my hands and focused his eyes on mine, "Dana Katherine Scully, will you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me? Will you state before a priest or rabbi or Elvis Presley impersonator that you will stand by me in sickness and in health and every time the Knicks don't make the playoffs?"

"Keep going..." I noted that he still hadn't asked the actual question. The question he had asked so many times before in jest or in excitement…but why couldn't he ask it now?

Nodding he adjusted himself on his knee, groaning a bit as he picked up the box and presented it to me in the classic way while seeming to read my face searching for an answer before he asked. I gave him a smile and just mouthed 'I won't say no this time.'

Smiling he kneeled straighter and just let out, "Will you marry me?"

There it was. He had asked it so many times before, but this time it felt real. It felt right.

"Yes." I said emphatically.

As if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders he took the ring out of the velvet box and placed it on my left finger. It fit perfectly. It felt strange, but also felt true. Like it should have been on my finger for the last seventeen years.

Even though the timing felt off, it was also the first step we needed in starting over with our lives. Together.