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“Mommy, wake up!”
A voice was resonating in Scully’s head as she was feeling some slight shakes on her shoulders.
“Mommy, come oooooon!”
She was still half asleep as she opened her eyes slowly. She was face to face with the little light brown haired girl. Her light blue eyes were staring back at her.
“Emily… Which time is it?” Scully asked.
“I dunno, daddy told me I could wear my butterfly wings today!” The joyful child exclaimed.
“What?”
“Y’know!! Like a fairy!”
“Daddy told you that?” She asked incredulous.
“Yeahhhhh?”
Emily was now looking at her with puppy eyes, Scully could have sworn that she had the same look as Mulder. Since when had she learnt it from him? It was a mystery.
“Mommy pleeeease!” Emily pleaded.
As Scully was now slightly more awake, she was now sitting in bed and took the little girl in her arms.
“Of course you can sweetheart.” She kissed her forehead gently. “Do you want to wear them at school?” Scully asked again just to be sure.
“Yeah! I wanna be the school’s fairy!” Emily smiled.
At this moment, a man entered in the bedroom. It was Mulder. He was wearing a pink t-shirt which was rather unusual, and a pair of blue worn-out jeans. It suits him very well, Scully thought. He also had a big grin as he entered the room. She had never seen him with such a bright gaze and the most genuine smile ever. She also noticed on his ring finger the golden ring, matching the one on hers. She couldn’t help but smile as well.
“Good morning, Dana.” He said looking at her with loving eyes.
“Daddy!!”
“Hi again, Emily.” He opened his arms for her.
Emily ran towards Mulder. He lifted her in the air and had her in his arms.
“Mommy said okay!”
“I was certain she would.” Mulder winked at Scully.
“Mulder...” She faintly sighed. She was smiling again looking at her lovely family.
“Won’t our little princess look good?” He asked as Emily was still in his arms.
“Of course she will!” Scully got up to get into the group hug.
“Mommy, Daddy I won’t be a princess, I’m a fairy!!”
“Oh my bad, little fairy!” Mulder replied.
Mulder put Emily down and kissed Scully. Than he booped the little girl’s nose, which made her giggle. Everything was great, the three of them seemed blissful.
“I’m going to prepare our breakfast, I’ll let you both dress up alright?” Asked Mulder as he was already leaving the bedroom.
“Alright.”
As he left, she also went to the other room next to theirs which was Emily’s.
“Is there anything you want to wear today love?” She looked at her.
“Mommy choose! I wanna you to choose.”
Emily ran towards Scully and clang to her purple silky pyjamas. The red-headed couldn’t help but smile. She went through a lot of multicoloured pieces of clothing in the yellow wardrobe, she wondered what could make her be the best fairy. She took a little light blue dress in her hands. It was a tent dress going right above Emily’s ankles. She also took from a little box on the shelves next to the piece of furniture, some little hair clips with some little rainbow butterflies on them.
“What do you think?” Scully asked to her daughter.
“Yay I love it!! Thanks Mommy!!”
The child was doing little dances and jumped around with the dress in her hands. Even if the small dance moves she could see how she was a little Mulder. She had every mimics from him, it made Scully glad.
“Lemme change myself, come back after okie?” She asked pushing her mother out of her room.
“Okay okay, I’m going to choose my own clothes then, be good okay?”
“Okayyyy promise!” Emily waved at her. “See ya!”
This interaction made Scully chuckled. She then went to her own wardrobe. Both of Mulder’s clothes and hers were mixed together, and oddly enough, he had a big collection of shirts and t-shirts. Of course, there were a lot she had never seen him wear at all.
She sighed and took one of her own shirts. It was a white one, she had decided on wearing a pink pair of trousers, so she could match with Mulder. The idea was pleasing to her. She also put a scarf around her neck to add some fanciness and also because it had some butterflies print on it. She was now matching with the two most important of her life.
When she was done, she went back to check on Emily. She had managed to put on her dress and her clips, Dana felt very proud. It was an incredible moment for her, she truly was growing up. However, there was something she didn’t achieved to put on: the butterfly wings. She was all tangled in the straps, it made Scully smile.
“Mommy, can you help me pleeease?” She pleaded looking at her mom.
“Of course sweetie.”
Scully rushed towards her daughter and managed quickly to put everything back in order. She looked adorable. The blue dress matched with the butterfly wings, which were made to look like a morpho butterfly.
“Thanks!” Emily said as she hugged Dana.
Scully tightened the hug and then took the child by the hand.
“Let’s see daddy okay?”
“Okie!”
They went through the corridor. Scully was already able to smell food. It smelt good. As they walked nearer the kitchen, the more it smelt exquisite. Mulder had an apron on him and his back was facing them, he had a spatula in one hand and a pan in the other.
When he turned himself, both Scully and Emily couldn’t help but laugh, his face was covered in flour.
“Scrambled eggs and pancakes!” Mulder said wondering what was so funny.
“Thank you, Fox.” Dana tenderly said as she took a clean tea towel to clean up his face.
“Oh that. I might have fought a little with the pancakes.” He joked.
“What did they do daddy?” Emily wondered as she sat down on a chair.
As Dana was done cleaning up her husband, she sat down as well, she was as eager as Emily to hear Mulder’s explanation.
“Well, the flour told me they came on our planet to transform milk into water. I told them that it would never happen as I’m the guardian of this home. They went throwing flour at me, it was their little soldiers.” He started to imagine for his blue eyed audience.
“Oh no!!” Emily cried out as she was fully hooked in Mulder’s story.
“Don’t worry, I was armed of my whisk!” He pointed at the kitchen utensil on the counter. “I had friends as well! Eggs and milk! After a loooong time we finally managed to win against them! Pew pew!” He moved his spatula everywhere.
“Yay!!” The little girl clapped her hands.
“You’re incredible.” Scully added with a huge smile.
“I know.” He winked jokingly. “That’s why my dear ladies, you can eat this marvellous meal.”
Mulder put one plate in front of each of them. Emily’s had a pancake with a smile made out of blueberry jam, he knew it was his daughter’s favourite. On Scully’s, a heart was made out of raspberries. Scully held his hand and caressed it lovingly. Even when she thought she couldn’t love him more, she did.
After their meal, they both took their daughter to school. They didn’t live far away so they could walk to it. Emily was between them, holding her dad’s hand on her right side, and her mom’s hand on her left. They looked like the perfect family and it warmed up their hearts. She longed for that so much. She needed this.
Every time someone was going next to them on the path, Emily couldn’t help but tell them: “See! I’m a fairy!!”. People couldn’t help but smile at a such ingenuous little girl, especially while she was showing her little wings happily. The two FBI agents were incredibly proud of her. She was their daughter. The love of their life.
As they got near the school, Scully couldn’t help but hear noises. They seemed unreal at first and really far away. Slowly the little noises became a huge hubbub. What was it? Everything started to blur in her mind, the pink and the blue made a purple shade, all she could think of was the smiles Mulder and Emily had. Then it all faded away and became black.
When Scully opened her eyes she had a shock. She was still in her old flat. She could notice a human shape in her bedroom but it was too soon to focus yet.
“Shit, I’m sorry Scully.” Whispered a rather deep voice. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.” He added murmuring again.
“What-” Scully started in a much louder voice.
She was trying to know what was coming from her imagination and what was true. The shared house wasn’t real. As she saw Mulder struggling to put his trousers on, she noticed his lack of wedding ring. So… that wasn’t real either, thought Scully. Her thoughts were a mess as she tried her best to quickly recollect the pieces together.
“Shhh.” Mulder put his finger to his mouth. “Don’t be too loud, she’s sleeping next to you.”
Scully directly looked on her right side. There she was. Emily. Sound asleep, under the blanket. Only her small head was out of it, and she seemed to be in a really peaceful state.
“I couldn’t resolve myself to get her to her room, she was between us when I woke up.” He had a grin as he was now tying his kind of terrible looking tie on top of his light blue shirt.
Mulder came over Scully to kiss her. She kissed him back, it almost felt as if she was still in a dream, she truly had nothing to envy to what her subconscious created.
“Skinman called me so I have to get to the Bureau early. I’ll see you when you’ll be there, tell Em’ I love her alright?” He kissed Scully again.
“Alright, best of luck with Skinner, Fox.” She gently said as she didn’t want to let go of his hand.
“Love you, Dana.” He caressed her hair with his free hand before going away.
“Love you too.”
Mulder seemed truly unhappy to leave the house as well, he wanted to be as close as possible to his family. So did Scully. He reluctantly went to the front door. As she heard the door opening and closing, she got out of bed after lightly kissing the little girl’s hair. Dana could hear her small breaths, and she smiled. It was real. Their family was real. All tangible. Real.
As she opened the window sightly to bring up some fresh air in the bedroom, a small blue butterfly entered the room and stayed for a minute on Scully’s hand. A morpho butterfly. She contemplated it until it left, she finally felt happy and complete. Real life wasn’t so terrible after all.