a/n: thank you for all of the lovely reviews. a special thanks goes out to AmorFati32. if you haven't read her story then you are severely missing out.

February 18, 2001

Megan couldn't help wiggling in her place seated between Scully's feet, an anticipation like she'd never felt before surging through her body. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been to a birthday party, much less her own brother's. And it was at an arcade too. Megan had definitely never been to an arcade.

"You have to hold still if you want this to look nice," Scully told the girl, referring to the French braid she was constructing down one side of her head. She'd already done one, but trying to make the second one look exactly like the first was the real challenge.

"When do we get to leave?" she asked for the thirtieth time that day.

"What time did I tell you earlier?"

"When the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the three."

"Yup. And what time is that?"

"I don't know, I can't tell time," Megan said honestly, causing Scully to sigh. They'd been trying to tackle time-telling, both Zach and Megan, but sometimes it was hard to get through to the little girl. She had such a short attention span sometimes, almost skipping through life from one daydream to another. It was one of the things Scully loved most about her. And it was often the most difficult challenge for her to overcome.

"You have fifteen minutes. Do you think your brother is ready yet?"

"I dunno. He went to ask Mulder if he could smell like a man," she giggled, obviously repeating what she'd heard earlier.

"Oh God," Scully sighed.

Just after she was done uttering that, Mulder and Zach walked out into the living room looking eerily similar. Good thing she was tying the elastic around Megan's hair, otherwise she would have dropped the whole project once she started laughing.

"You're twins."

"Do you like my hair Dana?" Zach asked. It was hard, when he walked over to her and put his head on her arm, to not run her fingers through his hair, but it was gently spiked with gel and she figured Zach and Mulder both would get mad at her if she messed it up.

"You definitely don't look like a little boy anymore."

"I'm nine now," Zach said matter-of-factly.

"Alright. You can wear your hair like that. But no tattoos, okay?" Zach scrunched up his face in confusion, but let Scully kiss his cheek. She would have normally pulled him close and done her best to never let him go, but, as much as she hated to act this way, she had tried not to have the kids too close her stomach. At almost three months along, Scully was starting to show. Depending on what clothes she wore, her tiny baby bump was distinguishable, but that was not what she was worried about. Her abdomen was rounded and firming up, and she didn't want Zach or Megan feeling it and finding out before she and Mulder had had a chance to sit down with them and explain everything. They had no idea how they were going to react, and they wanted to have the most control over the situation as was possible. During her first trimester, Scully wanted to avoid telling the children because she felt that due to her age and the nature of her previous infertility that she was a high-risk pregnancy, and if anything had happened during that time she didn't want Zach and Megan to have to deal with another loss. But now that she was nearing her second trimester and every single extremely attentive doctor's visit had assured Scully that her baby was normal and healthy, both she and Mulder felt it was time to tell them.

And they would.

But not that day. It was Zach's ninth birthday party. It was his day. The first of the kids' birthdays they would be celebrating with Mulder and Scully. Three weeks ago, when Mulder had asked what Zach wanted to do for his birthday, the little boy was stumped. He was a nine-year-old boy, and he had no idea what went on at birthday parties. Mulder and Scully had helped him decide on an arcade/indoor playground venue near their home and had even let him invite his classmates from school. Zach seemed very laid back about the whole affair, but both adults knew that once he got there, he would be a little overwhelmed with it all. Hopefully, in a good way.

Scully's brothers and their families were also coming in for Zach's birthday. It had fallen in a convenient space of time where both of them were on shore leave. Since they'd already be at Maggie's visiting for the rest of the week, both Bill and Charlie had agreed to come to the party. Well, Scully was confident that Charlie had. Her mother had probably said a few things to Bill, which she was sure he rebutted before eventually giving in if only to show up to chastise her for her decisions. She couldn't think about that, though. It had been a long time since she'd seen her nephews and Mulder had never met Charlie and Scully just couldn't help but think that this was her chance to show her family that she could have a family too. That thought alone made her smile.

"Daydreaming?" Mulder waved his hand in front of Scully's face. He almost regretted it, as she had developed a faraway smile, but they needed to get going if they were going to make their debut as birthday party parents on time.

"Dreaming…" she quickly chuckled. No. It wasn't dreaming. And if it was, she didn't ever want to wake up.

XXX

"Thank you so much for coming. Zach, can you come say goodbye to Kyle?" Three hours later, Mulder was herding children back to their arriving parents, thankful that his supply of sugar-high third graders was diminishing. Not that it hadn't been a great party. On the contrary, Mulder felt that he and Scully had thrown a birthday party to rival the best of them. They'd paid a lot of money to rent out the place and make sure all the arcade games were paid for, but they were the highlight of the night and it made Zach happy so it was worth it. Then, the kids had been stuffed with pizza and cake, Zach got to open his presents (where he'd made out like a bandit, in Mulder's opinion), and it was back to the games. He let Megan beat him at air hockey, and she was still reeling about her win.

Charlie Scully turned out to be the exact opposite of Bill, a funny, laid-back guy that Mulder instantly got along with. He and his wife, Michelle, had two boys who were older than Zach, but it didn't seem to matter. They were very nice to him and Mulder was very grateful. Even Bill had been on his best behavior, if Mulder counted not speaking to him as good behavior. He was aware of Mulder's new relationship with his sister, but he knew from the shouts coming from their bedroom the night Scully called and invited him to the arcade that he had plenty to object about. But if being non-vocal was the best Bill could do, Mulder would take it.

"And Sarah and Katelynn's ride is here too, come say thank you," Mulder called. These were the last kids left and yes, it was Zach's first birthday party and it would have been hard to tear any kid away from his new presents, but he still needed to be gracious, particularly considering that none of these kids had known him eight months ago and yet they were still very nice.

Taking care of cleanup were Scully, Tara, Maggie, and Bill. The venue had assured Scully that she didn't need to worry about the mess—that cleaning was part of the services they got when they rented the place—but she'd still felt bad about all the chaos seventeen children had caused and was going around with a garbage bag.

"Wow, Dana, motherhood suits you," Tara commented, making Scully blush.

"Yeah, I'm already getting gray hairs."

"No, I mean it. You just look so… healthy," Tara tried. "You're happy. You're practically radiating. You look better than I've seen you look in so so long."

Bill's ears perked up at his wife's words. She'd nailed it. Something did seem different about his sister. He racked his eyes up and down her body. But it wasn't until she turned to the side that he put his finger on it.

"Oh my God," he stared in horror. It couldn't be. They'd said it was impossible. "You're pregnant."

"Bill," Tara almost laughed, "don't be rude."

"Dana, why don't you pull that jacket tighter around your middle?"

"Bill, why don't you shut the hell up?" Scully remarked, making sure no children were around to hear her.

"Oh my God. Don't tell me your pregnant with that bastard's baby! Don't tell me he's saddling you with another kid!"

"Bill!" Tara exclaimed, horrified at her husband's words. He would be too, if he were able to think even a little bit clearly. That was impossible, though, as far as Dana and Mulder were concerned. Ever since Dana's battle with cancer, everyone knew Bill had a chip on his shoulder when it came to that man and his sister.

"No, Tara, don't you see what's happening? He's trapping her," at this point, Mulder was aware of what was going on in the dining area and was obviously listening, "with all of these kids. How'd you knock her up, Obi Wan? Did you ask your 'friends' for help? The same ones responsible for that chip in the back of her neck and keeping her glued to your side for the rest of her life? How can she go from being barren to being pregnant with your child in just a few years?"

Mulder wanted to hit him. He'd been inching closer throughout Bill's whole tirade and his face was just… there and the look in his eyes dared Mulder to. But just when he thought he couldn't hold back any longer, he saw Scully's face scrunch up out of the corner of his eye. He'd never seen anyone's words hurt her to the point of breaking down before, and like a magnet, he was immediately at her side. But she pushed him away, instead rushing off to the bathroom by herself.

Leaving a very confused Zach and Megan in her wake.