Hi everyone! I'm soooo sorry for the delay, but I've been busy, and plus this part never satisfied me enough to post it! Anyway, here I am now. This third and final part deals with what happens after My Struggle II, or what I'd like to see in s11 but will never happen. Also, I tried to keep this as medically accurate as possible, but there might be some mistakes.
One more thing: for some reason, I wrote a lot about William, about him as a character and about his reunion with M&S. If you're not interested in this, if you're just here for the MSR part, I made it easy for your, just read from 'xx' to 'xx'.
Well enjoy, and thanks for reading :)
Part III
Scully knew perfectly well that if there was one person in this world who could track down William in time, that would be Monica. Working with the devil has its advantages. Scully trusts her former friend enough to believe she will safely take William to her.
It was Monica who helped her give birth to him, it was Monica whose shoulder she cried on after signing the adoption papers. Scully knows in her heart that Monica might have changed sides now, but she would never hurt William.
As a matter of fact, Monica said she already knew where he was, had known for a while. She just needed a few of hours.
It's still night outside. Mulder lies in a hospital bed, drifting in and out of consciousness, and Scully's next to him, holding his hand. She gave him fluids and the only cure they have so far for this virus, but ultimately she's just praying God to let him survive long enough so that he can get the treatment.
Her phones buzzes in her pocket. It's Monica.
"He's with me. We'll be there by morning," the brunette says.
"Did you get an adult's consent for the procedure?"
"Yes, I've got everything."
"Okay… please get here as quickly as you can."
When Scully hangs up, a few tears stream down her cheeks, a mix of different emotions making their way into her mind and heart.
She has dreamed for fourteen years to see her son again, and in a couple of hours it will be a reality. A part of her could almost say she's happy.
The other part is worried sick about Mulder. Even if he survives until the transplant, there's no way to be sure this will eventually work.
She can only start chemotherapy on him and pray for the best.
"He's coming, Mulder… our baby, William… we found him, he's coming here…" she whispers to his ear, laying down next to him with her head on his chest, like so many times in the past.
He mumbles their son's name before he completely loses consciousness again.
Monica called her again half an hour ago, explaining all the details. His name is William Van de Kamp, he lives in Casper, Wyoming. His parents are both dead. His aunt is the one who gave the consent for the procedure, she's sick too but very early on, so her chances are good. She even wanted to come to DC, but the on call doctor forbade her to leave the hospital. Then he has another uncle, who lives in Amsterdam. He has no other living relatives.
Monica told Scully that William already knew that he was adopted. She explained him his story, how he was born and why he was given up, and the current situation.
"I told him who you are, and what he needs to do, so once we get there you can start collecting the stem cells immediately," Monica said, then she hung up.
Scully is on the roof of the hospital when the helicopter approaches, the sun is rising behind the skyscrapers. She doesn't want to know how Monica managed to get an helicopter.
The older woman steps out of the vehicle first, and Scully can feel her heart hammering in her chest. Her son is here, she's going to see him again after so many years of being apart.
And suddenly, there he is, a thin boy with brown hair and a pale complexion. She can't see the details of his face yet. She only sees that he's shorter than Monica, he wears a hoodie, loose jeans and red sneakers, and he has a backpack on his shoulder. He's lanky, his limbs painfully long, but as he gets closer, she can see his face is still that of a child, with round cheeks and big eyes.
He's as tall as her, maybe a couple of inches shorter, but then again, she's wearing heels. Her eyes study him, frenetically searching for something familiar, something that proves her that this boy truly is her son, because right now, he could be anyone. The only confirmation she finds is the fact that he has blue eyes, like hers, and she wonders if it's stupid to expect a teenager to have anything in common with a year-old baby.
"William, this is Dana," Monica says.
He only says "hi", running a hand through his hair. He's not smiling and his voice is weird, not that of a child anymore, but not that of a young man either. The oddness of the early teenage years, she thinks.
She wants to wrap her arms around him and hold him tight, telling him how much she's always loved him and how much she missed him, how much she's thought of him every single day of her life since he was given up for adoption.
She doesn't. She doesn't want to scare him just yet. And Mulder is still lying on a fine line between life and death. She just can't waste any time.
She smiles at him, although he's still not smiling back, and they shake hands. His skin is soft and his hand is not much bigger than hers, not at all in fact.
Scully explained him the procedure. She only spoke as a doctor, completely omitting any personal detail, it was just about the stem cell collection and his prognosis afterwards.
During the surgery she sat in the OR gallery, and she heard him scream in pain, in spite of the local anaesthesia. It was the worst sound she ever heard, and she immediately left, almost regretting having put her baby through such pain.
The stem collection was successful though, medically speaking.
She spent the following couple of hours between Mulder's room and the lab, where Einstein and other doctors were trying to develop as many vaccine doses as possible, and starting to deliver it to New York, Philadelphia and other cities via helicopter.
Now William's sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed, under pain medications, with Scully sitting on the chair next to him, watching him intently. Now that he's so close to her, she can see how much they look alike. He has her nose, her cheekbones, her chin.
The only thing of Mulder she can see in him is the colour of his hair, and maybe his lips, though not quite. William doesn't have Mulder's pouty lower lip. Plus, William's hair is sort of curly. At first she wondered where he got that from, but tears welled up in her eyes as she found her answer. Maggie's hair looked exactly like that. Missy's too.
Scully wonders what his smile looks like. He still hasn't smiled once, not that he has any reason to, but a part of her expected him to be at least a little happy that they met, that he met his birth mother. Instead he never even really looked at her, at least not while she could notice. He was always cold, distant, just nodding here and there to acknowledge her words. If she wasn't sure he agreed to this procedure, she would think he was forced to come here.
She wants to stroke his hair, hold his hand, everything that a mother would do in this situation, but once again all she can do is watch.
His eyes flutter open after a while, he looks around the room until his gaze lands on her.
"I was hoping it was all a nightmare," he whispers, and closes his eyes again.
She hates that her son connects her face to such a dark moment of his young life.
"Hey, you're awake! How are you feeling?" she asks.
He shrugs, without saying a word.
"Are you… uhm, are you in pain?" she asks again, the uncertainty clear in her voice.
He shrugs again.
She has no idea how to react to his indifference. She expected him to be curious about his origins, to have loads of questions for her. Or she expected him to be sad, and in need of a warm hug.
This indifference, she didn't expect.
"Uhm, Will, I-"
"William," he corrects her. His eyes are now open and fixed on the ceiling.
"William," she repeats, "I just want you to know that I'm very sorry for your family, and I would like to thank you very much for agreeing on doing this."
"Whatever."
She's grateful that he's not looking at her, or he would see her eyes glisten with tears. She reminds herself that not only is he a teenager, but he's also going through what is likely to be the worst day of his life.
It's okay that he's acting like that, Dana. He's suffering. You need to be patient.
She blink back her tears and prays he can't hear the lump in her throat. "You know, if you need anything, you can jus-"
"Can you leave me alone?"
If he'd punched her right in the face it would have hurt less.
"What?" she asks, pretending she hasn't heard.
"I said, can you leave me alone? I want to call my aunt," he spits harshly, and this time, all she can do is leave, muttering something about checking on Mulder.
She does visit him in his room, although he's not actually there. He was put in a pharmacological coma to allow his body to rest before the transplant, the following morning.
She wants to touch him, and kiss him, but all her body except her eyes is covered up with surgical clothes. The chemotherapy is destroying his immune system, so she can only look at him and talk to him. She tells him how much she looks forward to him being okay again, to making love to him. Screw couples therapy, she should have followed her heart, knowing way too well they wouldn't have all the time in the world.
Then, she tells him about William.
"I don't know what to do with him Mulder… he keeps pushing me away… it-it feels like I'm hitting a wall… what am I supposed to do?" she weeps, squeezing his hand.
She just knows she has to try harder, and not give up. He's her son after all.
About an hour later, she walks in front of William's room and notices that he's playing with his phone. She walks in, waving a bag of Skittles. She knows a mother shouldn't get her kid candies when he's in the hospital, but she's so desperate for him to talk to her, to give her a chance, that she would do anything.
"I brought you something, I thought you'd fancy a snack," she says, walking closer and sitting on the chair next to his bed again.
He quickly glances at the little red bag before returning his attentions to the phone in his hands, his fingers typing something. "I don't like those."
The hopeful look in her eyes disappears immediately. "Oh, okay, right… I can get you something else," she offers.
This time, he just ignores her completely. Not even a shrug.
She has to fight her instinct to scream in frustration and disappointment, mixed with the disillusion of realising she doesn't know how to handle her own son.
"How long do I have to stay here?" he asks suddenly.
The only question he's asked her so far is one that implies he doesn't like her company. As if that wasn't clear already.
She finds herself almost glad that at least he spoke to her.
"They'll probably keep you here overnight, just to make sure everything is alright… ideally you should rest for the 24 hours following the surgery."
A day. A day is what she has to learn something about her son, maybe even bond with him.
However in that moment, as if fate had decided to play a mean trick on her, a nurse comes into William's room.
"William Van De Kamp? You're discharged. You're free to go," she says.
Scully's heart jumps up in her throat. This can't be it. The time with her son can't be over already. They didn't even have an actual conversation yet. She hasn't even seen him smile.
Tears well up in her eyes. "What? Already?" she asks the nurse.
"I'm sorry Dr Scully, but we need the room for sick patients… He looks good. His last tests are good. He can go. He just needs to be careful for a few days, and we can provide him with pain killers in case he's still in pain tonight."
With that, the nurse leaves the room.
And as Scully notices the little smile on William's lips, she gives up. That's how it ends.
She never believed she would see her son again, but in those few times in which she let herself dream of a potential reunion, she always imagined that they would bond, catch up for the time lost. They would hug, and talk, and learn things about each other. In some of her wildest dreams, he even recognised her.
Reality just turned out to be so meanly different. Maybe it was the circumstances, or his age, or something she did or didn't do, or maybe all of these things combined made their short time together meaningless and unpleasant. As if the memories of leaving him behind at the adoption agency weren't painful enough.
She tries to look at the bright side. At least she met him, she saw he's fine. He's not an alien, he's a normal boy. He's even a bit of a brat, like any teenager is expected to be, her mind adds.
If this is all she gets, she'll cherish it for the rest of her life just like she cherishes the memory of that baby in a funny hat with bunny ears.
"So? I can go home, right?" he asks. It's the first time she catches him look at her.
She takes a deep breath. The doctor and the mother in her are refusing to let him go like that.
She only lets the first one speak. "William, as a medical doctor, I insist that you should rest some more… I don't think facing a long journey right now is a good idea…"
She's not even done with the sentence that he's rolling his eyes.
"I'm only concerned about your well-being," she continues, "I know how you feel, I know you miss your family, but-"
"Now you think you know how I feel?!" he's suddenly snapping, his eyes on hers and flashing with rage, "you don't know anything about me, anything! You didn't just lose your family, you don't know how I feel!"
He crosses his arms to his chest and rolls on his side, so that she faces his back. "Go away!" he barks.
She sighs. She may as well speak to him. She has nothing to lose. If this is the last conversation she has with him, at least he knows how she feels.
"My mother died two weeks ago… a heart attack," she starts, "you think a person in her 50s should be ready to lose a parent, because that's how things are, that's the circle of life, you should have learnt it by the time you're 50… but no matter how old you are, you're never ready to lose your mum."
She doesn't know if he's listening, if he's interested, but he's not complaining aloud. He's silent, still. She goes on.
"I lost my dad too, when I was 30… and then two years later I lost my sister, Melissa… I called her Missy. She was shot in my apartment by people who were waiting for me… to kill me."
Tears are once again pricking her eyes, but she doesn't care anymore.
"And then…" she adds, hearing her own voice quiver, "then I lost you. You were my miracle, I loved you more than anything in this world, more than life itself and I had to give you up. So I think I can imagine what you're going through right now, and believe me when I say I know you miss your family… but I still believe it would be safer if you stayed here until tomorrow."
She gets up from the chair, sniffling. "However, right now I'm not your doctor, nor any kind of legal guardian, and you were officially discharged… so if you want to go home, I'll arrange that for you."
She heads towards the door, her own arms wrapped around herself for comfort, when his voice reaches her from behind.
"If I decided to stay, where would that be? They said they need the room."
His tone is calm now. She wasn't expecting to hear his voice at all, let alone a genuine question regarding the chance to stay in DC, instead of going home.
Not caring about her wet eyes or her probably shaky voice, she turns around, glad to see she's not facing his back anymore.
"You would need to come home with me… I don't live very far from here, I think that would be the best option."
His eyes shift quickly between her and his hands on his lap, still holding his phone. "Okay, I'll stay," he whispers.
She can't believe her ears.
After checking on Mulder one last time, she drives home with William. Although he still hasn't said a word, she can sense his attitude is different. She has no real hopes though. They'll probably watch some TV in silence, or he'll spend the whole evening on his iPad. And tomorrow he'll be gone forever. She's starting to accept it, so that she won't be too sad or disappointed when it happens.
Her eyes are on the road, but sometimes she lets herself glance at him sitting in the passenger seat. He's been biting his nails since they left the hospital.
They're almost home when he calls her.
"Dana?"
It's the first time he says her name. "Yes?"
"How is… uhm, what's his name again?"
She can't help smiling at his sudden interest. Don't get your hopes up, Dana. "Fox Mulder."
"Right, how's Fox doing?"
"He's okay… he's resting. We'll do the transplant tomorrow morning," she replies.
She sees him nod with the corner of her eyes, before he falls silent again.
Once home, she introduces him to Daggoo. However, William doesn't seem too excited about it, he just pets the dog a few seconds before standing up again.
She wonders if he doesn't like dogs, or if there's something else going on.
When she heads to the kitchen to check if there's anything edible she can cook, he follows her, standing around at distance, looking at his phone or pretending to, while he keeps biting his nails.
She knows she might be completely wrong, but she has a feeling that he's trying to get her attention somehow, trying to tell her something.
Before leaving the hospital, she decided she was going to leave him some space. If he ever wanted to, he would come to her, talk to her, otherwise she would leave him alone.
She wonders if that's exactly what he's trying to do.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly approaches him. He's frozen on the spot, staring at his feet.
"William?" she asks carefully. "Is everything okay?"
She's completely taken aback when he slightly shakes his head.
"I'm sorry," he starts, his voice little and almost inaudible, "for what I said… I wasn't very nice to you."
Her lips curl up in a smile, as she realises they might be taking a step forward, and she tells him the only thing she can think of. "It's okay… it's understandable, you're going through a lot, you-you lost your parents, you came here, you-"
Suddenly, he's crying right in front of her, and she finally sees him for who he is behind his deceivingly tall body - nothing but a scared child.
"I just…" he weeps, "my mum and dad just died, and-and I didn't want new ones…"
His voice becomes fainter and fainter while he speaks. Instinctively she pulls him into a tight hug, forgetting all the anger, the fear, the disappointment, only wanting to comfort him.
"No William, it's not like that," she says sweetly, while he keeps crying against her shoulder, "your mum and dad will always be your mum and dad, okay? No one is replacing them, ever."
He nods, sniffling, as she feels her shirt wetting up with his tears.
"Fox and I, we are…" she wants to continue, but suddenly words are failing her. She pulls away just a little, finding herself facing his puffy wet eyes, and snot pooled above his upper lip. She lifts her hands to his red face to dry some tears from his cheeks.
"We are whatever you want us to be, alright? You decide, baby… there's no replacing anyone, there will never be," she says eventually, her eyes fixed on his, two identical shades of blue, making sure he understood her point. And that she understood it too.
She'll never be William Scully's mother ever again, because this is not William Scully anymore. William Scully ceased to exist on a warm spring morning in 2002. This is William Van De Kamp.
And she honestly can't believe how much she's looking forward to getting to know him. And maybe, one day, be his mother, if he wants to.
"It's up to you, okay? It's all up to you," she repeats once more, and this time he nods. She finds herself nodding with him.
Then all of a sudden he's wrapping his long arms around her once more, burying his head on her shoulder, and she lets him, soothingly rubbing his back. He's not really crying anymore, but she can still feel some random hiccups shake his body.
If this is what he needs from her right now, to just be held, she's very glad to help him. She remembers the last time she held him, when he wasn't even a year old and he fitted perfectly in her arms. In some ways, she can't help thinking with a smile, he still fits, just differently.
"Dana?" he whispers after a minute against her shoulder, the sound muffled by her now soaked shirt, "it's not true that I don't like Skittles, I do."
She lets out a relieved laugh, steaming off a lot of tension. She's quite sure he's laughing too, just a little.
"Good thing I still have them in my bag if you want them later," she says, and they part. His cheeks are still wet and he keeps sniffling, but there's a little smile now painted on his lips.
As to prove a point, she notices his smile doesn't quite look like hers, nor Mulder's. That's a brand new smile, she thinks, that's William's smile.
She loves it.
"I'm going to make some dinner now, do you like Mac and Cheese?" she asks as he blows his nose, and she's relieved when he nods, since that's the only thing she has at the moment.
Much to her surprise, things go way better after that. While Scully cooks dinner, William plays with Daggoo a few minutes, until his back starts to hurt again. He sits down on the couch, and they eat there, spending half of the time trying to get Daggoo to eat his own dinner next to the coffee table instead of the Mac and Cheese in their plates.
For Scully that's a chance to hear William laugh. It immediately becomes her favourite sound. Afterwards they decide to watch something, and while exchanging various opinions on airing programs and Netflix options, she finds out he watches a lot of TV series.
"My favourite's Game of Thrones… it's lit," he says.
She doesn't watch it, but she's heard of it, not only for the expertise of the cast. "Are you sure… I mean, doesn't it have… uhm, scenes, in it… that aren't really…?"
He's already shrugging. "It's not like I'm twelve, I'm fifteen… and so far I've aced all my biology tests."
She's not sure he's making a good point, but she lets it go. Soon she discovers he even watches The Big Bang Theory. She figures they've found common ground, judging by the grin appearing on his face. She's loving that smile a little more every second.
"Who's your favourite?" he asks.
"I like Sheldon."
He rolls his eyes. "That's so mainstream!"
"Well, who do you like?"
He grins. "I'm team Koothrappali."
She tells him she missed the previous week episode, since she was at the movies, and he says he missed it too because he was finishing some homework.
"We can watch it now, if you want," he proposes.
They do.
Later on, when the pain in his lower back grows a little sharper, he decides to lay down in bed. Her bed, since it's the only one in the house. She'll take the couch.
After they say goodnight and agreed on a wake up time, she takes Daggoo for a very short walk around the block. Then she wears her pyjamas and she lays down in the living room, with Daggoo between her side and the back seat of the couch, and she calls the hospital to see how Mulder is doing. She sighs in relief when the on call nurse tells her he's stable.
She's just hung up the phone when William's head pops from behind the bedroom door.
"Is everything okay?" she asks.
He shakes his head timidly. "Do you have a pain killer or something?"
"Yeah, sure… lay back down, I'll bring it to you."
She sits on the edge of the bed while he drinks his paracetamol, then he hands her back the empty glass, thanking her. She's going to say goodnight again and leave when he calls her.
"Dana?"
She sits back.
"I just wanted to say thank you, for… uhm," he starts nervously, "for the dinner… and for having me over…"
His cheeks are coloured in bright red now.
She smiles. "It was my pleasure. I've always wanted to get to know you."
A moment of silence falls on them, in which she wonders if her words made him uncomfortable.
"Hey, I have some pictures in my phone… of me, you know… of Wyoming… if you want to see them?" he asks then. "Unless you were going to sleep."
Well, she was planning to sleep. A part from a couple of naps, she's been up for 36 hours, she's exhausted.
But her son wants to show her some pictures of his life, and she thinks she'll sleep tomorrow, once he's gone, possibly forever.
"I'd love to."
This is how Scully discovers some bits of William's life, sitting next to him on her bed with her back against the pillow, the room only lit up by the dim light on the nightstand and the brighter one of his phone.
She learns his best friend's name is Samuel, that they're like brothers and that since they met in third grade they've done everything together. She learns that William used to live in a farm before that, but that his parents had to sell it and find a job in the city after the economic crisis hit them in 2008. She learns that he doesn't mind living in the city, he likes it in fact, he's just a bike ride from school and everyone.
"You know what's weird, Sam's father lives here in Washington," he adds, smirking at the oddity of it all.
She learns the names of his squad, as he calls it. Other than himself and Samuel, there's Jared, Finn, Colin and Luke.
"No girls?" she asks him.
He blushes violently. "Uhm, no… no girls."
She learns that he's a bit of a nerd, although she suspected this already, that he likes videogames and sci-fi stuff, and that he's not really good at sports, although he does enjoy playing basketball with his friends in the big park right behind his school. She learns that he loves running, that he even runs pretty fast and that he's a member of the school athletics team.
She learns he's close to his Dutch cousins, as he calls them, Dennis and Judith, and that last summer he was allowed to visit them in Amsterdam by himself, for two weeks. She learns that he's trying to learn Dutch, but that so far he can only order a coke at the restaurant.
Languages might not be his strong suit, but, she learns, he's good at math and wants to go to med school. She feels a urge of pride when he says that, although she knows she has nothing to do with that.
"Or if that doesn't work out, I want to be a pastry chef," he adds. She laughs a little at that.
"What, my cheesecake is the best!" he protests, playfully sticking out his tongue.
"I believe you," she says, still giggling.
She learns that her son is in fact not a brat at all. He's a clever, fun, interesting young person.
He keeps showing her more pictures of his friends until suddenly one of him and his parents next to the Christmas tree appears on the screen. He freezes for a moment. She glances at him, seeing him bite his lower lip.
"These… these are my parents," he says, his voice painfully shaky, "my mum Cynthia and my dad Peter."
Staring at the picture, she can only feel admiration for these two wonderful people who raised and loved her boy for fourteen years.
"You're a beautiful family," she says sweetly. He nods, and she realises he's crying when he removes a hand from the phone to wipe away some tears on his cheeks.
She gently rests a hand on his shoulder in comfort, and suddenly he's shifting closer to her and leaning his head on her shoulder.
"I miss them," he whispers.
She remembers when he used to cry as a baby, and all she had to do was pick him up and rock him around until he stopped or fell asleep. If she raised him, she would know what to do now. Instead she has to improvise.
Tentatively she wraps her arm around his shoulders, pulling him a little closer, until the messy mop of his hair is tickling her jaw. Since he doesn't move, she dares a little more, lifting her hand until she's delicately stroking his curls.
He doesn't pull away. If anything, she has the impression that he just snuggled a little more into her.
"I know," she says, "and I wish I could tell you that it gets better, but it never really does… you'll always miss them, some days a bit more, some days a little less."
He sniffles, and wipes his nose with the back of his hand.
"But it's also true that they never really leave you," she continues, "every time you think of them, every time you remember the happy moments you shared together, they're alive again."
It's what her mother told her when Scully was six and her grandpa died. Every time she loses someone, that speech replays in her mind.
She knows for sure she said the right thing when he starts swiping the pictures again, finding a whole series of Christmas and Thanksgiving photos, and he starts telling her a few stories about his family. The gingerbread house they used to build. The Christmas gospels in front of the local church on Christmas Eve. The Black Friday shopping tour with his mum. The typical Dutch cookies he baked with his dad every year for Thanksgiving. The family trip to the ice rink. And his favourite part, the snowball fight after the first snow.
She listens to every story carefully, cherishing it as if she'd lived it herself. She will recall his words, later on, once she's alone, and she will grieve all the little things she's missed, feeling a pang of regret because she wasn't there with him, she hasn't watched him grow up. But right now, she's too busy memorising the texture of his hair under her hand, his accent, the shape of his fingers and nails swiping the pictures on the phone. She's busy focusing on the fact that right now William's here, in her arms, he's talking to her and letting her stroke his hair, something she never thought would happen ever again. She needs to memorise every single detail of him, to learn as much as she can about him, in case this is the last time she sees him for fourteen more years.
She has all the time in the world to think about what she missed.
When the family series is over and his friends appear again on the screen, he looks up at her. "Do you have any pictures? I mean, of me… of us?"
"I do actually… wait a second, I'll get them."
A feeling of cold and void hits her as she has to leave their warm embrace to get a small shoes box in her closet.
After giving William up, she burnt all the pictures she had of him, except the one in her desk drawer, and donated all the clothes to a local charity, for safety reasons. Then she begged her mum to do the same, but Scully found out last weekend that Maggie had kept a few pictures.
When she's back in her bedroom with the box, he's with Daggoo, who must have been woken up by the noise. She sits back in bed, repressing a disappointed sigh as she realises that William isn't going to lay his head on her shoulder again.
In the first picture, she's pregnant, in her old apartment. Then there's one of William playing during bath time.
He giggles. "Wait."
He grabs his phone and takes a picture of the old photo of himself.
"You can have the original if you like it," she suggests.
He shrugs. "I wanted it on the phone. It works for a good throwback Thursday."
He saves the pic, then looks up at Scully. "Are you on Instagram?"
"No," she replies, shaking her head, "only Facebook."
William makes a disappointed face. "Instagram's cooler… Snapchat too. You post pics and stuff… you should get them… so that, you know, we can follow each other."
Scully swears she has tears in her eyes again, and this time, they're joyful tears, as her heart swells in her chest. Her son, whom she's met again after fourteen years, has just hinted at the fact that he may want to keep in touch with her.
Albeit sad and full of concerns, this day's turning out to be a great one.
"I'll download them tomorrow," she only says, before showing him other pictures, trying to get her emotions back under control.
In one, his first Halloween, he's dressed up as a pumpkin. Maggie made the costume, she tells him. Then there are about ten pictures of his Christening, with all the family, a lot of just him and Scully.
"I'm afraid that's it," she tells him, "it was part of the plan to keep you as safe as possible."
"Is it true that I had superpowers? Monica told me that I could move stuff with my mind," he says.
She tells him his story in detail, how his superpowers were dangerous, how he was kidnapped once and she was lucky to find him. She tells him why Mulder is in none of the pictures.
"That's him, right?" William asks then, pointing at the photo on Scully's nightstand.
She nods, handing him the frame, watching as he studies it intently.
"Do you think I can meet him tomorrow?" he asks, yawning. He's visibly tired, and she more than him.
"We put him in a coma to allow his body to rest before the transplant, but you can meet him if you want to."
He nods.
They say goodnight after that. She wishes for a moment that she could kiss his forehead, or tuck him in, but she doesn't dare.
Standing in the doorway, she calls Daggoo to follow her into the living room. He only barks once but doesn't move from the bed.
"Can he stay here?" William asks, scratching Daggoo's ears.
She nods, wishing she could take a picture of her boy and her dog together, as she closes the door.
When Scully's alarm goes off the morning after, her very first thought is that everything was yet another dream, beautifully detailed, but simply not real, like the dreams she's had regularly for fourteen years. Then after a few seconds, she hears the toilet flush and realises she really slept on the couch. This time, it wasn't a dream.
William meets Mulder briefly before the transplant, just to say hi. She watches the interaction from outside, wondering what is going on in William's head, and wishing Mulder was awake to meet his son.
The procedure starts at 10 am. Nothing goes wrong, but she knows it will take a while to see whether it worked or not.
She has lunch with William before Monica comes with the helicopter to take him back to Wyoming. Scully hands him her phone, telling him to download whatever he wants. In less than twenty minutes, and danakscully are following each other on every possible platform. Then she befriends him on Facebook, although he rolls his eyes saying that Facebook is uncool.
To initiate her to Instagram, they take a selfie, and he shows her how to use the filters and upload it. She couldn't care less about the social networks, she's just happy that they have a picture together, and while William's using the restroom, she makes sure it ends up on both her lock screen and home screen.
Scully hugs her son one last time when the helicopter arrives, she tells him to be careful, and that she will miss him.
"Can I visit you guys, once Fox is feeling better?" he asks.
This time, a tear of joy manages to break the barrier of her eyes. "You can visit anytime you want, for as long as you want."
xx
That evening, Mulder finally wakes up. His immune system is still non-existent, so she's wearing mask, gloves, and a surgical scrub, but nothing in the world can prevent her from hugging him and resting her head on his shoulder.
"I love you… I love you…" she whispers over and over again.
He's weak, but he manages to wrap his arms around her, pulling her closer. She leans her forehead on his cheek, and repeatedly blinks her eyes, so that he can feel the fluttering of her eyelashes on his skin. It's the closest thing to a kiss she can think of. He turns his head slightly and brushes his dry lips against her forehead.
She rests her head on his shoulder again, and stays there until he drifts off to sleep.
"Are you waiting for someone, Agent Mulder?" she asks, stepping inside his hospital room, the white mask still covering her face.
He's sitting on his bed, with his back against the pillow and his laptop on his knees. He grins. "Look who's here, our world saviour, Dr Dana Scully!"
She walks towards him and wraps her arms around him.
"Are you taking me home?" he asks with a hopeful look in his eyes.
She sighs. "Not yet… your blood cell count is still too low."
He pouts a little. He can't wait to get out of this germ-free room and go home. But at least now Scully's here with him.
The day after his transplant, she had to leave to travel around the country to distribute the vaccine and talk to selected doctors about it, just to be prepared in the event of new cases. The epidemics made a lot of victims, especially in the rural States where it took longer to deliver the vaccine, but it wasn't the apocalyptic disaster it looked like in the beginning. Overall, most people were saved, reducing the real victims to a small percentage.
She had to stay away from Mulder almost ten days, but she called him every night to check on his progress, sighing in relief every time he picked up the phone and told her he was doing well.
"You still have to tell me everything about William," he says.
And she does, after she sits down next to him, and his head is on her shoulder. She talks about William's life, the things he told her, how they definitely got off on the wrong foot but ended up bonding. She shows Mulder some photos of William from his Instagram page, and that selfie they took during lunch.
Mulder looks up at her. Although her mouth is hidden, her eyes are sparkling with the most beautiful smile he's ever seen. "I can't remember the last time I've seen you so happy," he whispers.
"I just… I still can't believe that I found him… that he's okay… that we get along," she says.
He slides upwards, until his face is next to hers, and he nuzzles her cheek. "I wish I'd met him too."
"Let's send him a snap," she proposes.
After explaining Mulder what a snap is, they take a selfie and she types 'look who's feeling better' as a caption, before sending it.
Mulder snuggles more into her, his arms possessively wrapped around her waist. "Can I kiss you?"
She shakes her head. "You're under immunosuppressant… it's not safe. There's a reason I'm wearing this mask."
He knew that already, he just wanted confirmation.
A buzz from her phone catches their attention just a few seconds later.
"William replied," she says, holding her phone so that both of them can see.
As she opens it, she immediately realises it's a short video. William's face appears on the screen. He seems to be on a bus, and he has big green headphones covering his ears.
"Hey Fox, what's up?"
Then, the screen turns black, before automatically going back to the main chat page.
Mulder still stares at the phone, his eyes glistening with tears of wonder, as he finally understands why Scully's so happy.
"Was that… was that our kid?" he asks, unable to swallow the unexpected lump in his throat.
She glances at him, easily reading the emotions clouding his mind and eyes. They're the same she herself felt when she first saw him step down from the helicopter, and that she somehow still feels every time he texts her.
"Yes, that's him," she replies.
"We made him, together, you and me, we made him."
"Yes we did."
As her words sink down on him, Mulder can't believe his son is not a memory frozen in time anymore, one of a two-day-old baby fuzzing in his arms as he lulled him to sleep. William is real now, he has a face and a voice, and they might even meet one day.
It's a sudden awareness that makes him grin and almost burst into giggles.
"I still think he looks a lot like Skinner," he says.
She laughs.
Finally after five weeks of hospital, he's allowed to go home. They choose her apartment for the moment, because it's closer to the hospital in case of emergencies. He knows he'll have to undergo daily checks for the 100 days following the transplant, wear a mask in public, and be extra careful should he notice any unusual symptom, but mainly, he's happy he won't be confined in a hospital room anymore.
Overall he feels good. He has moments in which he's so tired he can barely stand, but otherwise he's doing fine. Mentally, he has good days and bad days, but Scully knows it's completely normal after such a trauma.
She draws him a hot bath once they get home, watches him as he undresses and helps him step inside the tub, as he lays his body down in the bubbly water.
"I forgot how good this felt," he whispers, resting his head back on the edge of the tub.
She runs a hand through his hair. Considered his age, she's surprised his hair didn't fall off. "Do you want company in there?"
He glances at her quickly before lowering his eyes. "I don't… I don't think I can handle a lot of physical activity right now."
"We don't have to do anything you don't feel ready to do."
A thankful smile makes its way on his face. "Then be my guest."
She removes her clothes, feeling his eyes on her as she gradually bares her body in front of him. She steps inside the tub, sitting behind him. He slides down until his head is resting on her chest.
"Much better," he says with a smirk.
Her arms wrap around him and her fingers trace the edges of the scars left on his chest by the virus, her hands rubbing in a slow massage, his chest hair scratching her palm. He tries not to focus on the soothing sensation, on the happiness of being finally home with her, and not worry about the fact that she's naked, her breasts are pressed against his back, and he feels absolutely nothing. Not even a hint of erection.
"It's normal," she whispers to his ear, as if she could read his mind, "a part of your body was chemically destroyed and replaced… your testosterone level was swinging a lot in the last couple of weeks. It takes a while to adjust."
She kisses his temple, softly and at the same time lingering there, to make sure he feels all her love. She's not going anywhere this time. Her mouth travels lower, reaching his cheek, as he turns to meet her.
And suddenly, their lips meet, tentatively at first, then gradually increasing the pressure. He's the first who deepens the kiss even more, exploring her mouth with his tongue in a sensual massage. Her taste, the way her hands cup his nape to hold him close, the friction of their skin together, all these things remind him that he's alive, once again, and that he's desperately in love with this incredible woman.
"What would I do without you?" he asks, his lips still moving on hers.
"You would have died twenty years ago," she jokes, and she kisses him again.
The following day he feels better, less weak. They even go for a walk with Daggoo. That night, he can't even wait to get in bed that he's already kissing her. She's brushing her teeth, and her hair is tied up in a messy bun that leaves her neck exposed.
He places a tiny, tentative kiss where her neck meets her shoulder, just to test her reaction. She smiles at him in the mirror, but doesn't say anything. He repeats his action, brushing his lips against her sensitive skin all the way up to her ear, and smirks when he notices the goosebumps appearing on her exposed arm.
He lets her go when she bends over to spit in the sink and rinse her mouth with some water, but then he immediately hugs her again, his chest pressing against her back.
"Is it too early?" he asks.
"No, but I need you to be sure you want it."
"I do… I want it. I want you, I want to-"
She cuts him off by spinning around in his arms and pressing her lips on his. It's immediately a deep kiss, a loving one, a game of teeth and tongues, before he takes her hands and leads her to their bed.
Every fibre of her being wants to be his tonight, to feel him inside her, to be one with him again. They undresses each other slowly, rediscovering those bodies they used to know as well as their own. They remember the first times they made love, how good they looked. Her breasts were firm and supple, his muscles were carved in marble. Now, more than ten years later, there's a lot more sagging in both of them, but growing old together is a privilege they wouldn't trade for anything else.
She touches him with a passion that makes his knees wobble. She remembers the spots that make him whimper and those that make him groan. His hands work on her too, on her hips, on her thighs, squeezing her buttocks, as he kisses her neck and chest with reverence.
"You're so beautiful, Scully," he whispers before closing his mouth around her erect nipple, and she gasps, softly, almost afraid to break the spell, arching her back into his devoted mouth.
How he managed to live without hearing those sounds, he can't say.
He kisses his way from one breast to the other, and then down her belly, nuzzling and biting softly, but she stops him before he can reach his goal.
"No, wait."
He looks up. "You don't want me to…?"
"No…" she breathes, her cheeks flushed with desire, "I need you inside me. Now."
It's an offer he just can't refuse. She rolls him under her, straddling his hips, and their feral lips meet again. She moans in his mouth when his fingers sneak between them and find her wet centre, gently circling her clit, making sure she's as ready for him as he is for her.
"We need a condom… first drawer," she breathes between kisses, removing his hand from her swollen flesh.
"When did you get condoms?"
She smirks. "Last week… when I learnt you'd be home soon."
He hands her a condom and she rolls him slowly down his throbbing cock, before guiding it to her entrance.
They're both breathless when he's finally buried inside her, where he belongs. Her hips undulate on him as they find their rhythm again, a slow, perfect pace, and he pulls her down against him to kiss her for all he's worth.
When the passion takes over and she can feel her orgasm build in her core, she pulls up and speeds up her movements, and he meets every one of them, thrusting into her, one hand gripping on her hips, and the other kneading her breasts and rolling her nipples between his thumb and forefinger. Her head falls back and her pace becomes irregular when he starts hitting that one spot inside of her, again and again.
He knows her well enough to understand when her orgasm is close, and as much as he wishes this would last forever, his own peak is close too, and he doesn't think he can hold off. His fingers leave her nipples and reach down to her clit, stroking it until she whimpers his name and her walls clamp down on him. He comes too with two more thrusts, spilling his pleasure inside the condom and welcoming her in his arms as she comes down from her peak.
They remain in each other's arms for what feels like hours, kissing and cuddling, and he whispers in her ear how much he missed her and how good it feels to be finally reunited.
"I was wondering… do you still think we need therapy?" he asks her.
"Do you?"
He nods. "Yeah. I liked the idea, I think it would do us good."
"Then I'm calling tomorrow to book a session."
They kiss again, as he traces her spine with his fingertips.
"You know," he says, "I haven't been with anyone in these years. Only you."
She smiles tenderly, and kisses his cheek.
"Have you?" he asks, concerned with the fact that she didn't agree with him in the first place. This time, she captures his lips with hers, gently sucking on his lower lip, but he soon breaks the kiss.
"You have," he states, defeated, prompting her to roll away from him. She doesn't move.
"It was just once, two years ago," she says, running a hand through his hair, "and before you get all jealous or ask me for the details, you need to know that it was terrible and that you don't want to hear about it."
He seems to think about it for a second. "Terrible, huh?"
"Awful, embarrassing."
Although he is jealous, because he just can't bear the thought of her with another guy, he's also just a little curious. An amused smirk appears on his lips. "If it was embarrassing I might want to hear about it."
Sighing, she rolls away until she's lying next to him, the duvet covering them both to their chests. She tells him how she decided to download Tinder, one lonely night, after she read an online article about how great it is for casual sex. She was going through some dark days, and she was seeking a new experience, a thrill, anything, just like that time in which she ended up getting a tattoo, but she doesn't mention this part to Mulder. Anyway, she accidentally messed up her age range setting and she was matched to this young man, aged 26,cute face.
"I was a little reluctant at first, because of the age difference, but he seemed very sweet and charming, you know, so I thought 'fuck it', men do it all the time! We arranged a meeting for the following evening…" she continues, glancing at Mulder randomly to check his reactions. He looked entertained by her story.
"…I quickly found out that the 'younger man experience', as he put it, also entails lack of skills."
Mulder is giggling already, and she playfully slaps his arm. A second later, she's giggling too. "He couldn't find my clit… seriously, he had no clue."
"Wait, you said he was 26… people can be pretty experienced at 26."
She blushes a little, and hides her face on his shoulder so that he won't notice. "After the performance I pretended to have forgotten his age, so I asked him how old he was… and he said, I quote, 'I'll be 20 in November'."
He laughs, pulling her face to him to teasingly kiss her. "Come on, nothing to get sued for… it's not like he was seventeen. He was nineteen! You're good."
She tries to not burst into laughter while shooting him a killer look. "Shut up, Mulder."
"Hey, since we are in confession mood, I bought a Fleshlight last year," he says, relieving some of her embarrassment.
"Nice, how is it?"
"Oddly realistic," he replies, "but not as easy to clean as it's advertised."
Her giggles are muffled by his lips on hers, and his tongue sensually exploring her mouth. He realises that if he were healthy and maybe a bit younger, probably at this point he would be ready to go again. Instead he still needs some time.
"Speaking of vaginas," she whispers, interrupting the kiss, "you still want to go down on me?"
His eyes darken with lust, and envy because she's ready to go again already. "Now?"
"Yes."
"I'm on my way."
He kisses away her mischievous smirk, and then licks his way down her body, stopping to suckle on her nipples and enjoy her satisfied sighs.
"Wait… wait a second," she says. She reaches her second drawer, pulls out a red box and hands him a dental dam.
He wiggles his eyebrows. "You want to play dentist?"
She chuckles, while he positions the latex between her thighs.
Before making her come, he drives her crazy pretending he can't find her clit.
"Dana, Fox, I'll be using your first names if it's okay with you, and I would like you to use mine. It helps create an atmosphere of open communication," the therapist, Dr Mills, tells them.
Sitting on a blue couch across from her, they both nod.
"Before we start, I need to collect some general information on your relationship… you can think of it as a timeline, is that okay?"
They nod again.
"Great. Let's start from the beginning, when did you meet?"
They look at each other to decide who's going to speak. Scully starts. "We met 23 years ago… in 1993… we were assigned to work together."
"Were you romantically involved from the beginning?" Dr Mills asks.
Mulder has to bite back a laughter. "No," he says, "at first we were work partners…"
"Friends," intervenes Scully.
"Yes, friends," Mulder agrees, "good friends."
Dr Mills nods, writing down their answers. "Do you still work together?"
"Yes," they both say.
"Although I'm not actually working at the moment," Mulder adds, "still recovering."
"When did you become romantically involved?"
"It took a while," Mulder replies, "we got together in… uhm, it was 2000, wasn't it?"
"Yes, 2000," Scully confirms, "we were together from 2000 to 2013. And then we got back together again about two months ago."
"Okay, so your relationship ended in 2013 after thirteen years. Was it a joint decision to split up?" Dr Mills ask, still noting down the information.
"No, it was my choice, I left," Scully says.
The therapist nods. "Okay… we will deeply explore the reasons behind Dana's choice during our sessions, but first I have a few more questions for you. Did you ever get married?"
They both shake their heads, and Mulder voices a "no".
"What about your living arrangements?"
"We bought a house together in 2002, and lived there together until Dana left," Mulder explains, "I kept living there alone while she rented an apartment during our separation."
"We're living together in my apartment at the moment, it's closer to the hospital," Scully adds, "but we'll probably move back to our house once he's fully recovered."
Dr Mills nods. "That's good. Do you have children?"
"Uhm," Scully starts, "actually, we-"
"Yes, we do," Mulder interrupts her, "we have a son, William. He's fif- well, almost fifteen."
Scully can't help smiling at the pride and awe in Mulder's voice. And he hasn't even met him yet.
The therapist glances at her, a bit confused. "Dana, were you going to say something?"
"Uhm, William doesn't live with us… it's complicated," Scully replies.
Dr Mills nods, a bit confused. "Okay, we'll get back to this later. Now, how is your sex life? Would you say you're satisfied with it?"
They glance at each other.
"I, uhm," Mulder starts, "I… I've been experiencing some… some problems…"
"Erectile dysfunction," Scully says as the doctor in her takes over, "which is a known side effect of stem cells transplants… he has good days and bad days."
Mulder blushes violently, mentally thanking the surgical mask for partially covering it.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Fox," Dr Mills says, as Scully's hand reaches his on the couch and squeezes it. They talked about it a lot at home. He knows it's very likely temporary, and she keeps repeating him that the good days are very good, but his male ego has a hard time accepting it.
Dr Mills glances at her notes one last time. "Okay, one last questions before we start: why did you decide to come here?"
"We made some mistakes, in our past," he says.
"A lot of mistakes," she adds, "but we don't want to repeat them."
They squeeze hands again.
Dr Mills gives them a warm smile. "I think it's a great place to start."
xx
She's home from work unusually early on a Thursday evening. Mulder's sitting on the couch with Daggoo, watching some TV.
"You're home early," he states, turning off the TV. As he looks at her, he realises there's something going on. She's still standing on the doorway, biting her lower lip in a vain attempt at hiding a smile. Daggoo wiggles his tail and runs towards her, or at least that's what Mulder thought. Instead, the dog crosses the threshold into the hallway, and she doesn't seem to mind.
"S-Scully, Daggoo just…"
"I have a surprise for you," she just says, ignoring his remark.
"A surprise, huh?"
"Well, two actually."
His grin grows wider.
"First," she begins, "Skinner said you can go back to work next week. No field trips of course, but you can sit in your office and follow cases from there."
"Oh thank God!" he exclaims. It's been three months from his transplant, and roughly two since he left the hospital, and he's never been more bored in his life. He can't go to crowded places – no malls, no supermarkets, nothing. He can't do too much physical exercise, just the daily walk with Daggoo. He can only watch TV or his laptop, and he was really looking forward to going back to work. "Whatever the next surprise is, Scully, I doubt it can beat this one."
In that moment, she steps away from the door, and William makes his entrance carrying Daggoo in his arms.
"Hi," he says shyly.
Mulder swears his heart has stopped.
"He's staying with us until Tuesday," Scully says, proudly glancing at her boy.
"My aunt's birthday present," William adds.
Mulder heard their words but he's not sure they fully registered in his brain. Today is the 19th of May, he thinks, tomorrow is William's birthday. He stares at his son, studying that boy that looks so much like the woman he loves, the miracle of their love that was eventually returned to them. He stands up and reaches out to his son to shake his hand, as Daggoo jumps out of William's embrace and runs to the kitchen.
"It's nice to meet you, Fox," he says.
Mulder has mentally prepared for this moment since he first watched that short video, and in spite of this he doesn't know what to say, so he blurts out the first thing he can think of.
"Hi William… uh, thank you for saving my life."
The boy shrugs. "No biggie."
They both shove their hands in their pockets, not quite sure what to do next. Scully senses the hesitation and immediately intervenes.
"So, who's hungry?" she asks.
They have dinner together, and Mulder thinks he should have expected this. Scully bought a bed last week, to put it in her office, the second room of the apartment, saying she would use it as a couch, or 'in case we have guests'.
He attentively watches their interactions, their complicity, the way they talk to each other as if they'd known each other forever. They have, sort of, he thinks. They alternate jokes and serious talk. William hugs her from behind once, making fun of her because without her heels, he's taller than her. Some time later, she grabs his face and presses a kiss on top of his head, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Mulder watches, mostly. When he talks to William, it's nothing but questions and short answers.
Later that night, in bed, she reassures Mulder that things weren't good between her and William too at the very beginning, and that he doesn't have to worry. She explains that the kind of relationship she has now with William hasn't just appeared out of nowhere, it's the result of months of hard work. She reminds Mulder of all the TV series she's been picking up so that they have more topics in common, of all the YouTube videos of athletics she watched so that she understands how everything works, all the Buzzfeed quizzes she had to take just because he sent her the link. She tiptoed in his life as a friend, not as a mother figure.
"When did you have the confirmation you were doing the right thing?" Mulder asks.
She smiles. "The C-, remember?"
William called her one afternoon after he got a C- in a math test for which he thought he studied hard enough to get the usual A. He was sad and disappointed, and Scully was the first person he called while walking home from school. She knew then, that they were going in the right direction. As a matter of fact, they only grew closer after that episode.
Mulder thanks her, hoping in his heart that soon he'll be able to hug his son too without uneasiness.
Then she kisses him softly, brushing her lips on his. She's happy. She knows it's temporary, she knows William doesn't actually live with them, but she's determined to enjoy the feeling until it lasts. She kisses Mulder more deeply, roaming his chest with her hands, before lowering her mouth to his neck.
That's when he stops her.
"Scully, no, wait…" he whispers.
"What?" she asks, lifting her face off his neck.
"Not tonight…" he replies.
She's a little disappointed, but doesn't question him further. Lately his good days have been way more frequent than his bad days, but he's still not fully himself yet. However, he continues.
"…William's in the next room!"
At this point, she laughs. "And?"
"And we can't have sex with him sleeping in the next room!"
She thinks he's joking at first, but as he keeps talking she understands he's not. "What if he hears us? Or what if he needs something and comes in?!"
No matter how much she tells him that they'll be silent, and that there's no reason why he should come in ("he's not a toddler, he's fifteen!"), and that parents obviously have sex with their children in the house all the time, she still can't get him to change his mind. He's a little freaked out, and she finds it adorable, though a little sexually frustrating. She eventually respects his paranoia and kisses him goodnight with an amused smirk on her lips.
The three of them spend a nice weekend together. They go sightseeing in Washington, they watch movies, they play games. William bakes his 'traditional Cheesecake A La William', as he calls it, and Scully has to admit it's really delicious.
It's the first birthday Mulder and Scully spend with their own son, and the happiness is so overwhelming that they can't even begin to describe it.
The best surprise, however, comes the last evening, right when they're getting ready to say goodbye. William approaches them, before dinner, tells them he has something to ask. He fidgets with his hands and his cheeks are red as rubies.
He tells them his friend Sam is currently staying at a family friend's, but that he'll be moving to DC at the end of the school year to live with his father, after his mother's death during the epidemics.
William stops, his eyes glued to the table, hoping he doesn't need to speak any further. Scully thinks she understood what he wanted to ask, but she knows it would be too good to be true. He needs to say the words.
"Will?" she prompts him softly.
He bites his nails. "I mean… I do love my aunt, she's okay… but when Sam leaves, I… uhm, I mean, if I lived here, I could still hang out with him... he's my best friend… and I would live with you guys… you're very cool, I would… I would like to live here with you."
Mulder is in shock, his mouth hanging open, his eyes jarred. Scully is shocked too, but she manages to speak. "You… you want to live here with us?" she asks, for confirmation. She thinks this is a dream and she's going to wake up soon.
"Uhm… yes… if it's okay with you guys."
His blue eyes shift quickly between Mulder and Scully, studying their reaction, trying to elicit something out of them, any kind of feedback. However, they're both still, silent, utterly incredulous.
"You-you don't have to say anything now," William continues tentatively, "I know it would be a huge change… that was just an idea, you know… you can say no…"
"Will, we…" Scully starts.
"I mean, I know I'm not very tidy… but-but I can work on that!" William says. "And I bake cakes… and my mum taught me how to use a washing machine, so I can do that too, and…"
He's interrupted by Mulder's loud laughter. "You don't need to sell yourself, Will!"
Scully's lips are crooked in a wide grin, her eyes wet with tears. "This is your home too," she says, "of course you can live here if you want to."
"I can?" William asks, as if he couldn't believe it. The cheerful "Yeah" he gets as an answer erases his doubts in a second.
"What does your aunt say about this?" Scully asks. She desperately wants to reach her son and squeeze him in a tight hug, but she needs to be sure this isn't just a teenager dream.
"She said she wants to talk to you to discuss this… but that she understands, and that she's happy if I'm happy, whatever I choose."
As they both go hug their son, Mulder and Scully know they'll probably pinpoint this day as the best of their lives.
They're so happy that, that same night, she even manages to seduce Mulder. They make love in silence, half dressed, just in case. He's as alert as an owl, he stiffens every single time he hears the faintest sound. With the continuous distraction, it takes ages for him to come, but she tries to look at the bright side. At least she had time to come twice.
"You made the right call," he whispers afterwards, as they lie next to each other.
"What?"
"I don't… I don't think I've ever said this, but giving William up was the right thing to do. You made the right call."
Her lips curl up in a smile. She spent years regretting her decision every single day, wishing she could go back and keep him with her instead of driving him to the adoption agency. She would hate herself at times, for treating him like trash.
"I know," she whispers. Now that she met him, she knows for sure that giving him up was probably the best choice she's ever made. He spent his childhood free from every danger, like every child should be. He had the chance to discover his passions and talents, and to nurture them. He grew up safe, happy, healthy, loved, exactly what she'd wanted for him all along.
As much as she would have liked to watch him grow, she knows she couldn't have provided any of it. And now, if everything goes as planned, they'll finally get to be a family.
It was all in God's plan, she thinks.
"He's amazing," Mulder says.
"He is, isn't he?" she agrees.
They kiss each other goodnight.
The summer sky is tear, blue, not even a cloud in sight. Scully's standing on the porch, Mulder's hand squeezing hers. Both their hearts are hammering against their chests.
The day has finally come. William is arriving, and he won't be leaving any time soon. From today on, he will be living with them.
After thorough thinking, they both resigned from the X-files, deciding they were done risking their lives on a daily basis. Mulder accepted a teaching job at Quantico, although he still collaborates with agents Einstein and Miller when they need help solving cases.
Scully resumed her career in the medical field. After she created the vaccine, hospitals all over the country fought to have her working for them, but she eventually returned to her old hospital in DC. It was also the one offering the highest salary.
During couples therapy they talked a lot about this new, long-awaited shift in their lives.
They know being parents of a teenager isn't always going to be easy, and that some legal technicalities still need to be sorted out, but they're ready, for everything.
The excitement they're both feeling is even taking over the sad awareness of what they've lost. They'll always know what could have been, but the joy of what is going to be is so overwhelming that everything else just doesn't really matter.
They're ready to be a family of three.
A few minutes later, a black car approaches their house. William waves at them from the passenger's seat.
They grin.