From: leighchristine@hotmail.com   
      
   TITLE: About a Boy   
   AUTHOR: Christine Leigh   
   E-MAIL: leighchristine@hotmail.com   
   RATING: PG   
   CATEGORY: V   
   KEYWORDS: MSR   
   SPOILERS: "Requiem" through "Three Words."   
      
   SUMMARY: Season eight.  Missing scene from "Three   
   Words."  Continuation of the conversation in Mulder's   
   apartment after he first comes home.   
      
   DISCLAIMER: All characters are the products of Chris   
   Carter. They also belong to Ten-Thirteen Productions and   
   the Fox Network. No copyright infringement intended.  Two   
   lines of dialogue are verbatim from "Three Words."   
      
      
   About a Boy   
   By Christine Leigh   
      
   "Mulder..."   
      
   "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be cold or ungrateful. I just... I   
   have no idea where I fit in. Right now. I just, uh... I'm having   
   a little trouble processing everything."   
      
   Then a silence descends.  It is not one of their patented ones   
   where communication continues even though their voices   
   are still.  This is different.  He can't remember the last time   
   that neither knew what to say to the other, and the   
   strangeness is throwing him to a place he doesn't want to be.   
   He has experienced enough strangeness to last five lifetimes,   
   and he craves the familiar.  That craving suddenly takes a   
   desperate turn, and he moves from his perch on the desk to   
   sit on the couch.   
      
   "Mulder, I don't want to give you the wrong impression."   
      
   He motions to her to come sit and watches as she lowers   
   herself as gracefully as a nearly eight-months pregnant   
   woman can.   
      
   "Are you doing all right, Scully?"   
      
   "Yes, I'm fine."   
      
   "What about..."   
      
   "That's what I meant--we're fine."   
      
   He takes a deep breath.  Everything she has been to him she   
   is still.  That, Mulder doesn't question.  "Good.  I didn't   
   mean to interrupt before."  He can see that she is mulling   
   over whether to continue.  He isn't sure he is ready to hear   
   this, but uncertainty is worse.  "Scully, whatever you were   
   going to say, please, as long as you want to say it, don't hold   
   back.  I'm listening."  She nods, and then before speaking   
   moves so that they are almost next to each other.  Then she   
   takes his hand in hers.   
      
   "Mulder, the day I learned I was pregnant I cried harder than   
   I ever before have in my life.  First,  for joy, and then in   
   despair.  This was in the space of about two hours."  She   
   pauses and closes her eyes for a second or two.  No good,   
   Skinner is still there; Mulder is not.  It's a waking nightmare   
   that won't go away, even now that Mulder *is* here.  She   
   looks at him, and resumes.  "Do you remember the dizzy   
   spells I had in Bellefleur?"   
      
   "Yes."  His voice was faint.   
      
   "After you left with Skinner to go back, I had another one.  It   
   was much more severe than the others, and I was admitted to   
   the hospital for tests.  They ran a battery, but in the end the   
   only thing wrong with me was that I was pregnant."   
      
   Mulder looks up from their hands and meets her gaze.   
      
   "I don't know..."   
      
   "What to say?"  Scully nearly laughs.  However hysterical, it   
   feels good.   
      
   "How, Scully?"   
      
   "How, Mulder?"  She smiles.  Another time and another   
   place, and the innuendo would have been difficult to keep   
   pace with.  Robbed of a so-called normal life, she has vowed   
   not to let anything more be taken from her, and smiling is   
   the first step toward achieving that promise.  Still, her voice   
   cracks a little when she speaks.  "Well, a man once told me   
   that even educated M.D.s do it."   
      
   He is dazed and confused.  Nothing new there.  Them.  A   
   baby.  New, definitely.  This baby is theirs.  How?  No, he   
   mustn't utter that word again, at least not at the moment.   
   Scully conceived a child naturally.  With him.  Happy?  Yes,   
   he is.  He thinks.  Is she?  They'd never talked about it   
   before.  There was no need; it wasn't part of their realm.   
   They are both alive and together, and she is carrying his   
   child.  An hour ago he was a stranger, but now for the first   
   time since awakening he feels as though he has really   
   returned.  To life, and to them.  The new them, that would   
   be--a three-them instead of a two.  Without thinking about   
   it, Mulder removes the hand Scully has been holding and raises   
   it to cup her cheek.  So soft and warm.  So home.  Yes, this is   
   home.  For once life is biting him in the ass with good news.   
      
   "Us?"   
      
   "Yes, Mulder, us.  I don't know why and neither do my   
   doctors, but I want to believe that it's meant to be."   
      
   "I guess it must be."   
      
   "Mulder, I know this is a lot for you to take in.  Are you all   
   right?   
      
   "Yes.  I'm just...just, I guess amazed might be a good word."   
      
   "It is."  Now she can feel the tears coming, but they are of   
   joy.   
      
   "Come here, Scully."  He holds his arms out, and she goes   
   straight into them, and to the embrace she had thought never   
   to know again.  They hold each other, gently rocking for a   
   few minutes.  There is so much to be said, but that will come   
   later.  Now they are having a reunion--a reunion of the   
   tangible.  In experiencing the touch of each other again, the   
   simple fact that their hearts had never been apart is   
   underscored.  They pull away from each other only enough   
   to do what they have not yet, and as their lips meet for the   
   first time since they'd said good-bye before he'd left that   
   night so long ago, promises fill the silence around them.   
   There is one more thing, however, that occurs to Mulder   
   and he is almost shy about it, but cannot stop himself from   
   asking.   
      
   "Scully, do you know, uh, that is assuming you want to   
   know, maybe you don't...but if you do, do you know?"   
      
   "We're having a boy, Mulder."   
      
   He ducks his head, rather like a boy himself, and then raises   
   it and smiles wide.   
      
   "A boy."   
      
      
   - end  -   
      
      
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