"Thank you for coming with me," Mulder says as the
plane begins to ascend. "I thought the danger to
Scully was too great for her to accompany me, but she
didn't want me going alone."

"You do realize this is your last chance, don't you,
Mulder? Unless we find some overwhelming proof that
these abductions are due to alien intervention, the
X-Files are going to be shut down again. Probably
permanently this time."

He shrugs. "It doesn't matter. I just want to get this one wrapped up."

I stare at him. The X-Files have been Mulder's
personal quest for almost a decade. Now he's suddenly
decided it doesn't matter if they remain open or not?
Rather than go into that, however, I ask another
question that has been plaguing my mind. "Where the
hell were you two all day yesterday, anyway? I checked with the airlines; you were on a flight from Portland to Dulles that arrived day before yesterday. Yet all day yesterday you weren't in the office and you weren't answering your cell phones or your home
phones."

Mulder sighs and looks out the window. "Uh, yeah, we
were meaning to tell you about that. Honestly, as soon as Scully came in, we meant to go straight up to your office and inform you. Unfortunantly, you came down to the basement with Ratboy and his girlfriend before Scully arrived."

"I'm listening," I say.

Mulder takes a deep breath and replies, "Scully and I
got married yesterday afternoon."

"What?"

"We got married," Mulder repeats.

"Why wasn't I invited?" I ask. Okay, in the history of my convoluted relationship with the X-Files agents, that has to be the stupidest question I've ever asked. I realize that as soon as the words are out of my mouth but, damn it, I'm hurt. They're my friends. I thought I was their friend. It seems the least they could have done was invited me to their wedding.

"It was kind of spur-of-the-moment," Mulder answers.
"I mean it wasn't spur-of-the moment, we've been
engaged for a couple of months, but. . .I'm not making much sense, am I?"

"About as much as you usually do," I reply dryly. "Why don't you start from the beginning?"

"The beginning probably would have been when she
walked into my office almost seven years ago and I
fell completely, totally, irrevocably head-over-heels
in love with her," Mulder says. "However, it took her
quite a while to reach that same point in her feelings about me. After years of dancing around our feelings, we finally consumated our relationship a few months ago."

"A few months ago?" I echo, astonished. "I thought the two of you had been lovers for years."

Mulder grins. "I know. We were both well aware of what everybody else in the bureau perceived our
relationship to be. God knows, I wished the rumors
were true. But, like I said, it took Scully a lot
longer to reach that level than it took me. Anyway, I
asked her to marry me the morning after we first made
love. She accepted my proposal, but not my suggestion
that we run off to a Justice of the Peace that very
afternoon. Scully's Catholic, she wanted a church
wedding. I didn't have major league objections to
waiting a few months, so we began the process. Getting married in the Catholic church, I've discovered, is a time-consuming process. We've spent the past few weeks going to pre-marital counseling sessions and stuff like that. Our original intent was to get married sometime next month, whenever her brothers could get shore leave and come to the Washington area. We weren't going to have a big wedding, but we did plan on inviting you and Kimberly, plus the guys and some of Scully's other relatives. Instead, we got married yesterday afternoon; the only people there were me, Scully, the priest, Maggie and the gunmen."

"Why the rush?"

"Look, I'll tell you, but will you promise not to
mention it to Scully? Because, if I'm wrong, it would
only cause her a lot of heartbreak. And it sounds kind of stupid, really."

"I'm listening."

Mulder looks out the window again and says quietly, "I think it's possible that Scully's pregnant."

I give a grunt. "Moving up the wedding because you got your fiancee pregnant isn't a 'stupid' reason, Agent Mulder. It's a damned good one. I should know. I was born seven months after my parents got married. The official family line is that I was a premature baby, but as soon as I was mature enough to view my parents as sexual beings, rather than just 'Mom and Dad' I was able to understand what had happened."

"Yeah, but Scully's not supposed to be able to
conceive. At least not normally. Maybe with in vitro
fertilization or something."

"Miracles happen, Mulder."

***

Later that night, as we walk through the woods, he
turns to me and says, "I've got a bad feeling about
this."

"One of your infamous hunches, Agent Mulder?"

"Look, Skinner, if anything. . .happens to me, you'll
look after Scully and the baby, won't you? I mean, if
there is a baby?"

"Of course, Mulder. You have my word on that. But
Scully will have my hide if I let anything happen to
you, so I think it will be better if I just watch your back and return you to her in one piece."

***

Early the next morning, I stumble into her hospital
room. I've got to tell her. But when I begin,
haltingly, to explain, she shakes her head, "I already know," she whispers.

"I'll find him," I assure her.

Then, when she reveals her secret to me, I reply,
"Mulder told me about the wedding. Do you want me to
keep that to myself, as well?"

"If you don't mind. Just until we find him. Nobody
will believe I can search for him objectively if they
know we're married."

I nod. For years, they've had a quest - to find the
truth, to discover what happened to his sister and to
her during her abduction. Now I have one - to reunite
their family.