Chapter Text
Mulder had been putting the final touches on the nursery the past few weeks as they were getting ready for the birth of their baby. A daughter. A sweet baby girl. Mulder couldn’t wait to spoil her. Scully, however, had been acting off in her final weeks. She told him it was simply hormones and the anxiety that came with preparing for a baby, but he sensed it was more than that.
As Scully lay next to him one night, tossing and turning, he relented. “I can feel you thinking again,” he said.
“Can’t sleep,” she muttered.
“The baby?” It was a comment and a question.
“Like father, like daughter. She’s restless, but so is her mother.”
“Tell me what’s wrong Dana,” he pressed gently.
She sighed, sensing he wouldn’t give up until he got a satisfactory answer.
“I…I’m afraid.”
Mulder moved closer, spooning her from behind as he gently moved his hand over Scully’s abdomen. “Oh? But everything is fine…we’ve had several checkups. She’s going to be fine.”
Scully closed her eyes and shifted, turning to face him. “It’s not that. I…I’ve been having these dreams, flashbacks. Of people coming to take William. When I was giving birth to him…it was terrifying. And then he was abducted by that cult. Agent Comer….when he,” her voice broke. She couldn’t finish her words and Scully had spoken so little of that time, but he knew what she was talking about. That man was part of a religious cult and had tried to kill their son. “PTSD,” Mulder whispered. “You’re suffering from PTSD, Scully. I wasn’t there during that time and I couldn’t possibly even begin to imagine…though you had more restraint than I would have had. I would have killed every last one of them for even touching him.”
Scully knew he was right. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation when Mulder had killed his own father for shooting their son. He was alive and that was enough.
“But I’m here now, Scully. The threats against us are gone and no one will take her from us, I promise,” he soothed.
“I can’t lose her…I can’t.”
Mulder reached down to palm her abdomen and Scully’s hand settled over his. The baby always seemed to be more active when she was upset, as if to reassure her. Her heart ached to meet her daughter, to hold and love her with everything she had. At the same time, she wasn’t ready to lose the bond they shared by carrying her in her womb. She was warm and safe inside of her for now.
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m scared too.”
“You’re scared, Mulder?”
Mulder sighed. “I wasn’t around long after William was born and when I came back from my abduction, you were about to pop. Just when I had gotten used to the idea of being a father, it was gone. Now we’re going to be parents in our fifties…it’s going to be quite an adjustment, a good one of course.”
Scully smiled at the memory of the way Mulder’s eyes lit up the first time he held his son. “Oh I don’t know, I think you took to it quickly in that short time.”
“That’s true, but I’m going to need to learn to figure out her needs when she cries, how to burp her, put her in a swaddle, in a carseat and later, feed her. I did manage to get the diaper thing mastered last time…but again, it was so long ago,” he grinned.
Scully smiled. “Someone’s been busy.”
“Babies are so complicated. And even more so these days if Pinterest is anything to go by.”
That earned him a raised eyebrow. “You’re on Pinterest, Mulder?”
He shrugged. “Guilty…and I may or may not have watched some how-to’s on YouTube. Sue me.”
Scully smiled, taking his hand and bringing it to settle on her belly. “As much as I appreciate your dedication Mulder, no book is going to prepare us for the journey of parenthood. My mom told me children have many was of surprising us and we just have to go with it and do the best we can. Despite everything that has happened, I know you’ll be a wonderful father.”
“Thanks, Doc.” He looked into her eyes and she rewarded him with a small smile. “I mean if we’ve fought liver eating mutants…we can do this, right?”
Scully laughed. “You’re going to give her nightmares if you tell her those stories Mulder, but yes, point taken.”
“We’re really doing this,” Mulder admonished. It had been a few months since they had found out about the baby and yet he was in awe every single day. Scully shifted so Mulder was spooned against her.
“Night Scully…night little one,” he said as he gently rubbed her belly. They both smiled, feeling a kick in response before drifting off to sleep.