Chapter Text
One… Two…Three…Four… Five. Five red circles around the dates in her diary, today she adds another. Six. She’s now on day six since her period was due. It wasn’t uncommon for her period to be late now and then: a day or two during exam time, that one time she was floored for a week with the flu, but six? Something is wrong. She slams her diary closed, throwing it into her backpack with a sense of urgency before getting up and making her way downstairs. She is slipping on her boots, lost in her train of thought, when she realised her mother is talking to her.
“Dana? Honey did you hear what I said?”
“I.. uh, no sorry mom. I was just thinking… I need to drop some things off to Mulder..”
“At 8am on a Saturday?”
“Yeah?” She says, more of a question than a statement.
“Oh.. those concert tickets go on sale this afternoon don’t they? Neveah, Narnia…”
Her eyes light up at this, while it is a true statement, she can use it as an excuse “Nirvana mom..” she chuckles slightly “Yeah… we’re going to try and get some tickets, so we gotta leave early”
“Of course. I just thought you would have had a bit of a longer lie in this morning. I heard you up and down at the bathroom last night a lot. Are you feeling alright?”
“Yeah.. yeah yeah, I’m fine. Just drank a bit too much water before bed is all…” She smiles.
Maggie looks at her, not completely convinced, but decides to not press her further. “Alright honey, as long as you’re sure. Just make sure you’re home tonight by 8 alright? Your fathers ship is due to dock around 8/8:30, so he should get here for 9. I want everyone home to surprise him”
“Of course mom, I won’t be late! I promise” she says, throwing her backpack over her shoulder. She leans in to give her mom a hug and kiss on the cheek before heading out of the front door.
“Have fun!” yelled Maggie, shaking her head “Kids today and their concerts”
After a 20-minute walk, she makes it to his house, standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up to the porch. She’s been in and out of this house more times than she can count in the past year, but now, she can’t bring herself to even walk up the stairs. She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes ‘You can do this..” she repeats to herself. She makes it up the stairs, to the front porch. As her fingers hover over the doorbell, she swallows hard pressing it quickly. She knows he is home alone today, it’s Friday. His mom will be with his sister at her dance class and his dad will be on his way to work.
What feels like minutes pass by with no answer, so she presses the doorbell again. “Come on Mulder” She mumbles under her breath while pressing the bell for a third time. Finally he appears opening the door, half asleep with his hair dishevelled in only a pair of boxers.
“Hey…” he yawns “why so early? Tickets don’t go on sale till 12:30”
She swallows “I need to talk to you about something”
He stands aside holding the door open just enough for her to walk under his arm and into the living room. It’s at this moment he realises she is serious “Is everything alright? You look a little pale.. I mean paler than usual… not that you look bad pale or anything…” He mumbles “Sorry…you know what I mean right?”
She smiles half heartedly “I know Mulder… I just…we, um…” She sighs looking down at her hands, which are visibly shaking “I don’t know how to tell you this..”
Mulder, now slightly panicking, moves over to her taking her hands in his “What is it?”
She swallows, looking up to him quickly with tears in her eyes. She puts her head down again “I…”
He lets go of her hands, putting one of his on her chin gently pushing it up to look at her face, his eyes searching hers. “Dana, what is it…whatever it is, I’ll fix it…”
“I’m late..” She says, her tears finally spilling over.
“For what?” his brows furrow, clearly confused.
“My period, it’s late…I think I might be pregnant Mulder”
He steps back slightly “How… how late are you?”
“6 days” she says looking down again
“That can happen though right, you can be late for a few days… for some other reason?”
“Yes, but I’ve never been this late before. I’ve been really tired lately and I’ve been feeling incredibly sick to my stomach…”
“How… we only did it once, we were careful…I used a condom”
“They don’t always work Mulder.. it could have split or there was a small hole in it…”
“Shit…” He sits down on the sofa, his head in his hands. She stands in front of him with her arms folded “Yeah, shit…”
“Have you taken a test?”
“No, not yet. I need to get one from the store, but I’ve been too afraid to. You know my mom is friends with that lady cashier”
“Yeah I know..” he nods “I’ll get you a test.. I’ll go right now”
He jumps from the sofa, running upstairs to his bedroom to throw on some clothes. When he gets back downstairs Scully has sat down where he was sitting, her head in her hands, her shoulders moving with every sob. He sits down on his knees in front of her. “Scully?”.
She lifts her head, her eyes blood shot “I’m scared…”
“I know honey, I know… I’m going right now and I’ll be back so fast I promise” He kisses her forehead, practically running out of the front door.
While he is gone, Scully makes her way up to his bedroom. She sits on his bed looking around his room, all things that are Fox Mulder. Space posters, his telescope, his CD player, all her favourite band CD’s in a pile beside it. This is where it happened, the moment they took that leap in their relationship. It started as a kiss, a small chaste kiss while she was looking out at the stars through his telescope, Sonic Youth was playing quietly through the speaker. She smiles at the memory. They both lost their virginity that night ‘now I’m paying the price’ she thinks to herself. She sighs laying back on the bed ‘I can’t have a baby, I’m 16 I’m not ready for this…what does Mulder think.. he’s going to leave me…’
“Scully!”
He’s back.
“I’m up here!”
The sound of Mulders feet on the hardwood become louder as he gets closer to his bedroom. He ducks his head through the door, beet red and sweating, waving the plastic bag with the test in it. She jumps up, taking the bag from him and heading into the bathroom locking the door behind her.
“I’ll just uh.. wait here outside alright?” he questions, slumping down on the floor, his back pressed against the wall.
“Yeah…I’ll be out in a minute” She answers, taking the test from the box before reading over the instructions.
After a couple of minutes, he hears the toilet flush. Lifting his head to look at the bathroom door. It clicks open, with her emerging with the pregnancy test wrapped up in some tissue. She sits down beside him putting the test between them on the floor. “
Two more minutes…” She says, looking at her watch.
He nods “I’m sorry Scully…”
“Why are you sorry?” She asks, staring directly ahead of her, unable to look him in the eye.
“For this… I shouldn’t have…”
She shrugs “We can’t do anything about it now”
“I know” he swallows hard.
“One minute” she looks at her watch again
“No matter what this says Scully… pregnant or not pregnant…I’ll stand by you all the way”
She nods, biting her lower lip in attempt to not cry. They remain in silence for the next minute.
“Is that time?” he asks
“Y-yes…” She nods quickly. Both of them sitting up straight looking down at the test in the tissue. She takes a deep breath, moving the tissue out of the wat. They both see it.
Two thick blue lines staring back at them in the small plastic window.