Part VIII: Return

I woke to see a pair of small bare feet walking past my face and for a moment was confused, thinking I was eleven again and sleeping under my bed to hide from Samantha who tended to crawl in with me when she had a nightmare. Then everything snapped back and I rolled over to see Scully heading into the bathroom, moving quietly with William in her arms. "What're you doing?" I rasped, then cleared my throat and sat up. I had laid down on the floor with a pillow and blanket so I wouldn't risk rolling over on William in my sleep since he and Scully had the bed.

"Oh, Mulder, you're awake," she said, pausing. "I really wanted to take a shower and made a nest of pillows and towels for William in the bathtub so I could hear him if he woke up," she said. "But it would be better if I could leave him out here with you."

"Of course," I said, getting up with a groan. "God, I'm too damn old to be sleeping on the floor like that. The forest in Florida was more comfortable."

"How long did we sleep?" she asked with some concern, carrying William to the bed and laying him near the middle as I sat on the edge and scrubbed the sleep from my face with both hands.

"Few hours, I guess. The car's all packed except for the perishables and you were sleeping so deeply I didn't want to wake you; I figured William would do that soon enough," I smiled up at her, reaching over to pick him up. I couldn't get enough of holding him and every time I did, I was freshly amazed that this was myson, and Scully's. Ours. "Go take your shower, then I'll have mine and we'll get going."

To my delighted surprise she leaned down and kissed me, and not a friendly peck but a long, sweet lover's kiss with tongues dueling and warm breath passed back and forth. She backed off just a little, cupped the side of my face and looked into my eyes like she was going to say something, then smiled a little and turned away, going into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. I wanted to tell her how I felt about her, how I wanted us to be a family, and yet so much had come between us over the last few months that I couldn't quite bring myself to… yet.

William got one final diaper change and feeding before we left and after both of them were in the car I returned to the room one last time and left a hundred dollars on the nightstand, which I hoped would make up for the horrible mess we'd left the room in. I figured that the maid deserved it more than the manager or owner, and I left the key on the dresser before locking and closing the door behind me.

We made a slow journey back to D.C., stopping several times so Scully could use the bathroom and once in a roadside park so William could have yet another meal while sitting in the unmoving car. It was this diaper change that I got stuck with; it was the first messy one and I didn't find Scully's amusement at my disgust at all funny. Especially when she told me that she'd hoped I'd get the meconium one, which is like loose, smelly black tar and excessively gross. However I didn't really begrudge her shunting this one off on me; I was sure she'd get her share of messes over the years to come. But I didn't, of course, let her know that.

When we were just a few miles out from D.C. she called Skinner, letting him know that all was well and that we were coming in. She then called her mother, whom I could hear yelling excitedly over the phone, and finally hung up as we crossed the Potomac. "Do you think I'm doing the right thing, Mulder, bringing him back here?" she said worriedly. "They know where I live, and I may be doing nothing more than delivering both of us into danger."

"Regardless, it's not just the two of you," I told her, keeping my eyes on the road as we entered the maelstrom also known as DuPont Circle. "You're stuck with me, Scully, unless you don't want me around. Like I told you when we did the in-vitro I'm not going to be a weekend father—I want us to be a family like I've never really had. I want to make you both happy and give William a good life, a good start with two loving, caring parents. And one way or another, I will."

I glanced over to see tears streaming down her face as she gazed over at me and for a moment was horrified that I'd said something wrong. Then she said tremulously, "Try to get rid of us, Mulder. Just try."