"And this is how male parts and female parts fit perfectly together," Scully pointed to the graphic drawing of two body parts cut in half to reveal their joined insides in a sterile, educational way.

Mulder leaned closer to the book to observe the caricature of the flesh. He was intrigued. It was a point of view his videos couldn't provide.

Betty, on the other hand, was terrified.

"Is that… fucking?" she whispered in horror.

"Intercourse," Scully corrected her, making a mental note to limit her time alone with her cousins. As strict as her brother Bill was, his boys still proved to be a bad influence.

"Naked pretzel," Mulder offered. "Hanky Panky. Wild thing."

"You are not helping," Scully scolded him.

"Hey, what do I know?" he raised his palms in surrender.

Meanwhile, Betty was still trying to process the information.

"It all means fuc… I mean sex?"

"Yes, sex," Scully sighed. "This is what sex is."

She wanted to find a better word, but it all sounded either too clinical or too vulgar. Or even too… Cheesy?

"Love making," Mulder tried again.

Scully licked her lips nervously. From his mouth, it didn't sound as cheesy. It sounded mysterious. Tempting. Dangerous…

"Let's learn about childbirth now," she tried to turn the page, but Mulder covered her hand with his, stopping her.

"Let's not," he suggested. "You've traumatized our daughter enough for one evening."

"She needs to learn all this," Scully insisted.

"Agreed, but I don't think she's ready."

"Mulder…"

"Scully, if you flip that page now, I don't think we'll ever get grandchildren."

"Fine," Scully sighed. She turned to Betty. "Do you have any questions?"

Betty's eyes were glued to the picture. "Does it hurt?"

"Um…" Scully was lost on words. She didn't want to scare Betty, but she didn't want to deceive her either. Losing a virginity suddenly seemed like a wrong topic to discuss in front of Mulder. Not that she was doing a great job with the topics so far…

"You can stop it," Mulder chipped in. "If it hurts, if you're uncomfortable, if you change your mind for any reason, you always have the right to stop it. You only do it if you want it, if you're ready, when you're an adult. It's not for children."

His voice was very serious, deep, almost dark.

"Nobody has the right to touch you there, it's a serious crime, and you know what you have to do if anybody tries?"

"Call you," Betty sniffed. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. "Or mom. Or the police. Tell everything… Don't be ashamed…"

She was sobbing now, scared of the changes in her father's energy. The rage was boiling inside him, barely contained.

Scully grabbed his arm with one hand, pulling Betty into a hug with the other.

"She knows all this Mulder. You're scaring her."

He opened his mouth to protest, but the rage left him as quickly as it appeared, leaving behind just a battered emptiness.

"I just want… I need her to know how to protect herself."

"She knows," Scully whispered. "She knows…"

Self-defense. Consent. Communication skills. Basic profiling. Emergency numbers. Escaping techniques. Surviving skills. Thinking outside of the box. Keeping calm. Problem solving. Negotiating.

All that and so much more Mulder kept drilling into his daughter's head almost from the moment she was born. He would die for her, that wasn't a question, but he couldn't keep her glued to himself forever. He knew one day she would start searching for her own path in life, and he had no right to interfere with that. She was her own person, and eventually she will find herself in situations in which she'll only have herself to lean on. Mulder just wanted her to be prepared.

"It's ok," Scully assured her. "You'll understand when you grow up."

"Do all the grown-ups do it?" Betty wanted to know.

Mulder chuckled, but didn't say anything. He was waiting for the answer as anxiously as Betty.

"No," Scully answered after thinking for a moment, receiving another chuckle from Mulder. "There are asexual adults, which means they are not interested in sex. There are people who choose not to, for various reasons. Some people may have health problems that would make it difficult, if not impossible to engage in sexual activities."

"Some are just too afraid, or damaged," Mulder said quietly, looking at the floor.

Scully glanced at him curiously, wondering if having this kind of conversation was too soon for both her child and her partner. Mulder's reactions were all over the place, from childish giddiness to deep despair in a matter of seconds.

"Some are too ugly?" Betty mused. "Like Carlo. No one will ever want to have sex with him."

"No!" Scully scolded her. "No one is too ugly."

"But what about-?"

"No!"

She closed the book. "Enough for today!"

Nobody moved.

"Mom?"

"Mhm?"

"Why is dad sad?"

"Mulder?" Scully placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ok?"

He nodded, unconvincingly.

"No one is too damaged either," Scully said gently, running her hand up and down his back. She planted a kiss on his cheek, then turned to Betty. "Go get ready for grandma!"

"Ok," Betty readily jumped off the couch. Choosing what to wear was one her favorite activities. She happily went to her room, leaving Mulder and Scully in heavy silence.

"You don't have to come with us," Scully offered. "We can meet here, or at your place, when I drop her off."

"No, I'll go with you," he insisted.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah… Yeah, go get ready."

An hour later, they arrived at grandma's Maggie house.

"Right on time," she greeted them warmly. "I just finished the first batch of cookies."

"Chocolate chip?" Betty's eyes grew wide.

"Chocolate chip," Maggie confirmed. "Warm and delicious!"

"Yes!" Betty threw the coat at her and run towards kitchen.

"Hey!" Scully run after her. "Not before dinner!"

Left alone at the door, Mulder and Maggie awkwardly smiled at each other.

"How are you, Mrs. Scully?"

"I'm fine, thank you, Fox. How are you doing?"

"Fine, thank you."

Maggie looked behind her shoulder, then stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

"Listen, Fox," she said conspiratorially. "I love my granddaughter and she's always welcome in my house, but I know how Dana gets… unstoppable when she sets her mind to something. If you need more space, if she's going too fast… I can tell her that I can't babysit so often. Or over night."

"I… um… hm…" Mulder was at lose with words. "Thank you, but… I… Um… can deal with Dana. But if Betty is too much…"

"Never!" Maggie assured him. "She can move in with me tomorrow, as far as I'm concerned."

"Well," Mulder chuckled. "I wouldn't go that far."

He wondered if Betty would try to explain reproductive organs and their purpose to her grandma.

The door opened again and Scully emerged from the house.

"Don't let her have cookies before dinner," she warned her mother.

"Oh, I wasn't going to. Not more than one or two, at least."

"Mom!"

"Ok, ok. Don't worry. You just enjoy your dinner with this handsome boy."

"Bye mom," Scully kissed her on the cheek, then turned to Mulder. "Let's go, my handsome boy."

They went to a small and cozy Italian restaurant. They ate in silence, Mulder a huge pizza and Scully a big plate of pasta. The food didn't taste as good as it looked, and the atmosphere between them was more tense and awkward than either of them wanted for a date.

"Penny for your thoughts," Scully finally said, not looking at him. She was preoccupied with a tangled mess of spaghetti on her plate. They were greasy and overcooked. She pushed the plate away and started cutting herself a piece of Mulder's pizza.

"What if I am too damaged?" Mulder finally asked, making Scully wish she'd kept that penny. Making her wish she had a sex-talk with Betty without him present.

"What if I am?" she countered.

"You're not," Mulder was certain.

"You don't know that," Scully shrugged. "Not even I know that. I know intimacy could trigger more repressed memories in you, and we've learned to deal with that, but there are things that I don't remember, horrible things about my abduction… What if some of that comes back to me? The torture, the experiments, I don't even know what to expect, how to prepare."

"I often wonder, Scully, if I would be happier not remembering. And I don't have the answer. Maybe it doesn't make a difference at all."

She took another piece of his pizza. It tasted like cardboard, but she was hungry. Mulder took a bite of her pasta and decided to finish the whole plate.

Scully wondered how he could eat that much and remain in good shape. She wondered if it would all catch up on him, as he gets older. How big could his belly grow? How long until all of his hair is grey? Will he even have much hair left?

Did she want to stick around and find out?

Yes.

More than anything.

"What about your thoughts?" Mulder asked after finishing both meals.

"Hm?"

"Your penny. For my thoughts. I'm giving it back. For your thoughts."

Scully chuckled. "That's hard to follow."

Waiter approached them and started picking up the dishes, offering desserts.

"No, thank you," Mulder and Scully quickly responded in unison.

They swiftly left the restaurant and took a mindless stroll. Scully fished out four of her mother's cookies from her purse and shared them with Mulder.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close. It wasn't a good date. They were both anxious and distracted, their bellies unsettled from questionable food.

It didn't matter much. They were together. They had the night for themselves, first night in the same bed, with Betty away for a sleepover at her grandma's.

The night that could make them.

The night that could break them.