"Shit! I cannot *believe* this!" Special Agent Fox
Mulder shouted as he went over the forensic reports.
"The moron who pretends to be a coroner in this
backwater town didn't run the tests I asked for. They
call in a special F.B.I. task force, then they won't
even run the tests we need to determine the killer's
identity!"

Mulder kicked over a trash can on his way out.

"Looks like Mulder is in full "Spooky" mode," Tom
Colton commented.

"Colton, the man's under a lot of stress," snapped
Agent Guilbeau. "Unless you have a suggestion to make
that could help us all out here, just keep your mouth
shut."

"I've got a suggestion," Special Agent Andrew Chan
volunteered. "Let's find him a pathologist he can
trust."

***

Late in the afternoon of the same day, Mulder stormed
back into the coroner's office.

"I hope to God whoever is doing the autopsy on THIS
victim isn't going to screw things up," he shouted.

"I think I can handle it," a soft voice said dryly
from behind him.

"Scully?!?" Mulder turned in amazement to stare at his wife. "What are you doing here?"

"Skinner got a call - well, he got several calls
- from members of your team. They said the case was
proceeding slowly due to foul-ups in the local labs.
Asked Skinner if he couldn't free up one of the bureau pathologists to come down here and perform the
autopsy."

"Fuck the autopsy," Mulder murmured, drawing his wife
into his arms. It was amazing the way his emotions had down a complete, 180-degree turnaround over the last ten seconds. Less than a minute ago, he'd practically been ready to commit murder. Now his body was primed for a far friendly activity.

"Sounds kinky, Mulder," Scully replied, snuggling
closer. "I'd much rather just *do* the autopsy, and
fuck you."

Mulder lowered his mouth to hers for a kiss. Long,
slow and deep.  When they finally came up for air, he
framed her face with his hands and peppered it with
kisses. "I've missed you so much," he whispered.

"I know. Me, too."

Mulder lowered his hands to her hips, then bent his
knees and swung her up onto a nearby counter. "I want
you right here, Scully. Right now."

"Mulder, no," she said.

"Yes, Scully," he replied, reaching under the loose
fitting scrubs she was wearing to caress her breasts.

"Fox, NO!! The baby. . .we might. . ."

Oh, shit! Mulder thought, his hands going still as he
rested his forehead against Scully's. The baby. The
miracle we thought would never occur. The whole reason Scully's back at Quantico instead of out in the field with me.

"I'm sorry, Dana. I forgot for a minute. Did the
doctor say we can't?" Damn! he thought. Scully was
barely into her fifth month of pregnancy. If they had
to quit having sex for the duration of the pregnancy,
probably followed by at least six weeks of celibacy
after the birth, he was looking at six very long
months of very cold showers, But it would be worth it, he reminded himself. He'd never seen Scully so happy as she had been in the months since she'd found out she was pregnant. She practically glowed. And, he
reminded himself dryly, it's not like I haven't
endured periods of celibacy that last lasted a LOT
longer than six months.

"She didn't exactly say we couldn't, Mulder, but she
said to be careful. While she didn't come right out
and *say* it, I think that means no
up-against-the-wall sex! Think beds, Mulder. Big beds
with lots of room to manuver and lots of nice, soft
pillows."

"Okay," he replied.

"Why don't you let me do the autopsy? The sooner I get started, the sooner I'll be finished."

"That's my Scully," he murmured. "Always the logical
one."

"Logical, hell!" she replied, biting his neck. "I just want to get this out of the way so we can get back to the hotel!"

"You coming on to me, Scully?"

Scully whimpered. Mulder grinned. That was a sure sign of arousal from her. Tilting back her head, he looked into her eyes and said, "I love you."

"I love you, too, Mulder."

They kissed gently, then he reluctantly removed his
arms. "I'll be just down the hall in an interrogation
room they're letting us use as a profiling center.
Come get me when you find something. Or if you need
anything."

"I will. Get out of here, Mulder, while I can still
concentrate on work."

***

Hours later, Scully stood under the soothing spray of
a warm shower. The water felt good, slowly easing the
kinks out of her knotted muscles. Of course, what
would feel even better would be if Mulder were here to give her one of those amazing back rubs with his big, incredibly gentle hands!

Scully had just stepped out of the shower when she
heard the door to the room open. "Scully? You here?"

"In here, Mulder," she answered, hoping he didn't have half his profiling team with him. Especially as she now realized the hotel towel was inadequate to cover her pregnant body.

"Can I come in?"

"I'm just coming out," she said. After poking her head out to assure herself that he was, indeed, alone, she exited the bathroom.

Mulder let out a low wolf-whistle.

"Let me get something on."

"Don't. Please? Stay like this."

"Mul-der!" she said rolling her eyes slightly.

"Scully, if you don't want to, we don't have to. I
know you're probably tired. I just want to look at
you. Please?"

"On one condition," she said, dropping the towel and
sauntering over to the bed.

"Sure. What?"

"You, too. I'm not going to parade around naked, like
some sort of harem girl, while you remained fully
clothed. If I'm not going to wear anything, neither
are you! Equal partners, remember, Mulder?"

Mulder nodded and quickly stripped down to his heather gray boxer-briefs, then started to join her on the bed. "I'm naked, Mulder," she pointed out. "You're not."

"This is sort of embarassing," he murmured, pulling
off his briefs to reveal an impressive erection.

"Embarassing, Mulder? I would think this," she reached out and gently tickled his arousal, "would be the sort of thing most men would brag about!"

"I just don't want you to think that's all I ever
think about!"

Scully smiled and handed him and small jar. "Here. Why don't you put some of this on my belly and thighs. It's supposed to prevent stretch marks."

Mulder dipped his fingers into the jar, then began
applying the cream to his wife's skin in slow, smooth
strokes. "You're so beautiful," he whispered.

"Thank you. I know it sounds vain, but. . .I think so, too. I've never liked the way I looked before. But now, when I catch sight of myself in a mirror, my face glowing, my body swelling with our baby. . .I think I'm beautiful."

"You are. You always were. But even more so now."

As Mulder smoothed his hand over her belly he felt a
movement. He stared at his wife, eyes wide with
wonder.  "Dana? Did I just feel the baby kick?"

"Yes," she replied with a smile.

Without warning, Mulder felt his eyes began to tear
up. "Dana, that's so. . .that's just so amazing!" He
blinked back the tears.

"It is, isn't it, Fox? It's okay to cry. I do
sometimes. Just with the. . .the wonder of it all."

"I'm okay now," he murmured, bending his mouth to hers for a soft, sweet kiss. "I guess it's amazing for everybody, but especially for us, after all we've been through."

"I agree. Fox, if you don't want to make love right
now, I understand. For a lot of men. . .feeling the
baby move. . .it's wonderful, but it's not exactly
erotic."

"I'd still like to. I've missed you. But only if
*YOU'RE* really in the mood and if you're sure it
won't hurt the baby."

"I want to. I've missed you, too. We won't hurt the
baby; not as long as you do *EXACTLY* what I say," she purred.

Hot damn! he thought as his cock twitched with
excitement. Take-charge Scully!

"What should I do?"

"Sit up, back against the headboard, with your legs
stretched out in front of you."

He complied and she straddled him, settling down on
his legs with their eyes level. "Now kiss me."

They kissed for a long time. First mouth-to-mouth,
then he began moving his lips over her skin, kissing
her neck, her shoulders, her eyes, her breasts. She
let her hands wander, caressing his back, his chest,
his face, his biceps. Eventually, she said, "Fox, I'm
ready."

"Okay, I await further instructions."

She giggled and nipped gently at the juncture of his
neck and shoulder in response to his teasing tone.
"Put your hands on my bottom and kind of help me. .
.manuver."

"Gladly!"

Dana used one hand to guide him into her heat, with
the other braced on his broad shoulder for balance.
Slowly, she sank onto him. "Oh God, Mulder! I think
I'm going to come right now!" She did, convulsing on
him and sighing with pleasure.

Eventually, she opened her eyes and smiled gently at
him, a blush creeping over her porcelain skin. "Wow!
That was wonderful, but also sort of. . .embarassing.
Isn't it supposed to be men who have that problem?"

He chuckled gently. "I'd hardly call it a problem,
Dana. I've never seen you so responsive! Is it being
pregnant or because you missed me?"

"A little bit of both, probably."

Mulder began to move within her in smooth strokes.
Entwining their hands, he used his arm muscles to
gently push her up and down.  He tried to make it
last, savoring the feeling of being back inside her
after their separation. Just as he could feel his
orgasm about to explode, he shifted his hands to her
hips and held her steady.

Scully smiled as she watched the colors shift in his
eyes and listened to his moan of release. Then she
slid off and cuddled up beside him.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

They kissed again, then Mulder asked, "Do you want
something to eat? We could call room service. I
honestly had intentions of taking you out to dinner
when I first walked in, but then you were in the
shower and I got kind of, um," he grinned at her,
"distracted."

"No thanks. I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat, Scully."

"I want to go to sleep. I've been eating fine. Mostly
I've been going over to Mom's for dinner. Except one
evening the guys wanted to take me out to dinner. I
haven't been sleeping well, though."

"Me neither. Is it your medical opinion that insomnia
is contagious?"

"Mulder, when it comes to us, EVERYTHING is
contagious!  Paranoia, religious beliefs, dreams, a
desire to eat sunflower seeds. . .you name it."

"Where did the guys take you to eat and how are they
doing?"

"They took me to Red Lobster and they're doing fine.
Except Langley was nervous."

"Langley's always nervous. He's more paranoid than me, even."

"No, I think he was specifically nervous of being
around a pregnant woman. He seemed to think I might
spontaneously give birth right there in the
restaurant, even though I'm barely at the halfway
point of my pregnancy."

Mulder chuckled. "How about Byers?"

"He was great. He's got all those sisters, you know,
and they're always having babies, so he wanted to
discuss every aspect of the pregnancy with me in great detail."

"And Frohike?"

"Wonderful. I think he thinks he's about to become a
grandfather or something. He wants," she paused to
yawn, "to have a baby shower for us."

"Aren't baby showers just for women?"

"Not always, anymore. Nowadays sometimes people have
couple showers."

"Could we invite Skinner?"

"I guess so. Why?"

"Because I could take pictures and then, if he ever
gave me any grief, I could threaten to have the
pictures published in the bureau newsletter with the
caption "A.D. Skinner attends a baby shower."

Scully giggled. "You're weird, Mulder."

"You're just now coming to that conclusion, Scully?"

She didn't answer, only closed her eyes and snuggled
closer. They were in an unfamiliar hotel in a strange
city, but she was in his arms again. She was home.

***

Mulder awoke the next morning with a grin on his face. He felt energized and ready to work. Scully was in bed with him and on the case with him. Life didn't get any better than this.

"Where you going?" she murmured sleepily as he slipped out of bed.

"Out for a run. You go back to sleep."

An hour later, a freshly showered and shaved Mulder
met several members of his team in the hotel dining
room.

"You know, Spooky, when most men show up with a smile
on their face like that it means they just got laid!
But with you, I'm betting it's because you got a
complete forensic analysis of the data," Colton said.

"I'm betting he got both," Chan said dryly. "And
provided by the same person."

"You know, Chan," Mulder said, "you're ability to draw logical conclusions from relevant data is a real boon to the team professionally. But when you apply those same skills to my personal life, it's kind of a pain in the ass." Actually, Mulder was more amused than annoyed by the younger man's observation. He had
become something of a mentor to Chan in the months
they'd worked together.

"When did she get here?" Chan asked.

"Who are we talking about?" Colton inquired.

"Me, I presume," said Scully, sliding into the booth
beside Mulder.

"I thought you were going to sleep in," Mulder said.

"I was, but then I thought I'd better come down to
make sure no psychologists were misinterpreting my
scientific data."

The waitress showed up to take their orders. Scully
only wanted a glass of skim milk. She couldn't face a
plate of food in front of her this early in the
morning.

More members of the team drifted in. For the most
part, they greeted Scully with little surprise,
accepting her presence as a natural part of the
investigation. She explained her data and made sure
the other agents understood its implications.

"Any questions?" Scully inquired.

"Um, one, but it's not really about the case," said
Briggs the only other female agent present.

"That's okay," Scully said. She wondered if the woman
was going to bring up the breach of protocol involved
in a married couple working on the same investigative
team.

"Why did you just eat Agent Mulder's breakfast?
Wouldn't he buy you one of your own?"

Scully glanced over at her husband's plate. There were only a few crumbs left. Vaguely, she realized that while she was talking she'd reached over and helped herself to a piece of toast. Then some hash browns. Then. . .shoot, she *had* eaten his entire breakfast!

"It's, er, kind of hard to explain," Scully said.

"It has to do with you being pregnant, doesn't it?"
said Agent Guilbeau gently. The middle-aged black man
was the only member of the team who had children. "My
wife was the same way when she was carrying our
children. She couldn't stand for food to actually be
placed right in front of her first thing in the
morning. I learned that the only way to get her to eat was to let her nibble off whatever I was having. Which meant I had to eat healthy!"

***

Later that afternoon, Scully was taking a nap. She got tired easily these days and the knowledge that she and Mulder were in the same town was soothing to her. She had just drifted off, however, when he came into the room.

Mulder paused at the sight of his sleeping wife, torn.

The husband in him wanted to lay down and snuggle up
beside her or, at the very least, gently brush her
cheek with a kiss and let her go on sleeping. But the
agent in him desperately needed her advice.

"Scully?" he whispered, trailing his fingers down her
cheek.

"Mmm! Later, okay, Mulder? I love you, but I'm too
sleepy right now."

Mulder chuckled. "Not that, sweetheart. I need you to
take a look at some data for me."

"Huh?  Oh, yeah! I forgot I'm down here to work, not
to play." She sat up and pushed an errant strand of
hair behind her ear.

"Can you come down to the lab with me?"

"Sure. Just let me go to the bathroom."

Mulder waited for her, practically twitching with
excitement. He felt good about his work again in a way he hadn't during the past weeks.

Scully went over the data with a fine tooth comb. She
and Mulder batted theories back and forth for hours,
at one point yelling at each other when his
psychological profile didn't match up with her
scientific analysis. Finally, around midnight, they
got it. Their eyes locked and they began practically
babbling, finishing each other's sentence as the
stumbled hastily to what was, finally, the only
possible solution.

"And it's enough evidence to make a conviction stick?" Mulder asked.

"It's enough for a warrant. You can conduct a search
when you make the arrest," she replied. "If we find so much as a tiny trace of any of the victims presence in his apartment, that will clench it."

"Okay. Let me talk to the locals, see if we can get a
judge who'll issue us a warrant at this hour.
Meantime, I'll tell Chan and Briggs not to let the guy out of their sight."

"What about me?"

"I'll drop you back at the hotel on the way to meet
the judge, Scully. You need to sleep."

"Mulder, I want to be in on the arrest. It was my
analysis that led to the breakthrough."

"No, Scully. It's too dangerous."

"Mulder, I don't need you to baby me! It won't be any
more dangerous than for me than it is for you."

"You're being there would make it more dangerous for
me, Scully."

"How so?" she inquired, with a sceptically raised
eyebrow.

"Scully, what's standard procedure when one agent sees another agent is about to get shot?"

"To shove them down," she said.

"Do you actually think I'd do that to you? In your
condition? I'd either step in front of you, which
would mean taking the bullet myself, or simply shoot
the guy, which would mean a disciplinary hearing on
excessive use of force."

Scully sighed. Mulder was right. The baby had to be
the first concern, for both of them. "I hate it when
you get to be the logical one," she grumbled.

Mulder gave her a smug smirk, which softened into a
gentle smile when he saw the tears glistening in her
eyes. "I'll be okay, Dana."

"It's just. . .nobody else can watch your back the way I can."

"I know. But it'll work out okay."

"You take stupid risks sometimes, Mulder."

"Not anymore. I promise."

"I love you."

"I love you, too. And you," he said, resting his hand
gently on her softly swollen belly. "Now, let's get
both of you back to the hotel where you can get some
rest."

"Yes, Daddy," Scully said with a teasing smile.

***

Several days later, Mulder met with his team back at
their office at bureau headquarters.

"Outstanding job, everybody, on the recent case,"
Mulder said. "Each and every one of you really put
forth a team effort and it worked. The case went like
clockwork. The guy is now off the streets and facing a lifetime stay in a maximum security federal
penitentiary. Congratulations, agents."

"Agent Mulder, could we, er, make a request?" Agent
Guilbeau said. "I'm speaking on behalf of the whole
team."

"Certainly, Guilbeau. What is it?"

"It concerns Agent Scully," Guilbeau said slowly, as
if at a loss of how to proceed.

"Agent Scully's autopsy and lab analysis were crucial
to solving the case," Mulder put in quickly. If the
other agents objected to him bringing his wife in on
the case, he supposed they had a valid point. But he
absolutely refused to have Scully's professional
reputation tarnished in anyway.

"We realize that. Is there anyway she could be
assigned to the team permanently?" Guilbeau asked. "Or at least semi-permanently? So that she could come with us the next time we have an out-of-town assignment?"

Mulder was suprised. This was almost the exact
opposite of what he had been expecting. "Nobody. .
.minded her working with us?"

"Minded?" echoed Guilbeau. "It was wonderful.  It
would have taken another two weeks of legwork to come
up with the clues she was able to find in less than 48 hours in the lab. Obviously, we need our own forensics expert on the team and she would seem to be the logical choice. Not only that, once she was there you were, er. . ."

"What Guilbeau is too tactful to come right out and
say," Colton interjected, "is that Agent Scully's
presence changed you from a complete jerk who almost
led to all seven us resigning from the task force,
into a hardworking but basically normal human being!"

Mulder grinned. "That's why she was assigned to work
with me in the first place, years ago. To keep me
acting like a basically normal human being, instead of the bureau's poster boy for insanity."

"So she could work with us again?" Briggs inquired.

"There are problems with a married couple working on
the same task force," Mulder said.

"The two of you worked the X-Files together for nearly a year after you got married," Chan pointed out.

"Yes, but the X-Files were an independent
investigative unit. Look, agents, don't mistake me on
this. I would love to have Scully on the team! I'm
pretty sure she'd love it, too. But does everybody
realize it would create an uneven playing field for
the rest of you? I'd give Scully's opinion more weight than anyone else's. And, push come to shove, if we were in a dangerous situation, I'd make sure she was in the safest position."

"That's understandable," Guilbeau said. "We'd still
like her on the team."

Mulder smiled and said, "Tell you what. Let me talk to Scully tonight. In the meantime, if anybody has a
problem with it, you need to go by Skinner's office
sometime in the next couple of days and let him know.
This won't work unless everyone's in favor of it. You
can voice your objections to Skinner; I won't ever
know which team members were against it. I'll go talk
to him near the end of the week."

***

Mulder arrived home early that evening, but Scully's
car was already in the driveway. She usually finished
up at Quantico mid-afternoon, then came home to take a nap. She was only working part-time due to the
high-risk nature of her pregnancy. Mulder was carrying a bouquet of flowers, which he placed in a vase. The fact that Scully hadn't called out a greeting to him suggested that she was asleep.

Climbing the stairs, he found her napping on their
bed. He quickly began stripping off his own clothes.

"Mulder? What are you doing?" Scully asked sleepily as she rolled over to look at him.

"Fixing to break one of the cardinal rules of the
bureau. I'm going to sexually harrass another agent."

"Oh, goody! How?"

Mulder chuckled and lay down beside her. "I'm going to offer you a position on my team in exchange for sexual favors."

"What position?"

"I guess whichever one you think would put the least
pressure on the baby."

Scully burst into laughter. "I didn't mean what sexual position, Fox! I meant what position on the team?"

He grinned and ran his hand up her thigh. "Forensics
liason. Actually it was the other team members' idea."

"Really?"

"Yes. Not only did they appreciate the analysis you
did of the evidence, they appreciated the effect you
had on me. The impression I got was that they seemed
to think you've saved me and made me a whole person."

"I always get nervous when you say that."

"Why?"

"Because I worry that I'm going to get stung by a bee
and wake up in Anarctica. Which, in and of itself, was pretty much par for the course while we were working on the X-Files. But it meant I didn't get to kiss you, and that pissed me off!"

Mulder smiled at her and lowered his mouth 'til their
lips met. Then he jerked back and said, "Ouch! I think something stung me!"

"That's *NOT* funny, Mulder!"

Mulder lowered his mouth again, this time kissing her
gently. When they came up for air, she tugged his head back down and began a leisurely exploration of his mouth with her tongue. He reciprocated.

"I've got a good idea for a position," she murmured a
few minutes later.

"You don't like the idea of forensics liason?"

"That's not the kind of position I'm talking about,
Fox," she purred.

"I'm all ears."

"Really?" she inquired, stroking him gently. "Feels to me you're more like all cock!"

"Dana ,if you don't quit talking dirty, I'm going to
come right in your hand!"

"Well, we don't want that. At least not yet. Later on
in the pregnancy, you might have to settle for a hand
job. Fuck me while you can."

"Day-na!" he groaned.

She rolled onto her side, facing away from him.. "Lift my leg up over yours and. . .OH! Yeah, Fox!"

He took his time, rocking slowly into her, stroking
her, teasing her, making her moan, moving his mouth
seductively across the nape of her neck and her
shoulders. Finally, she climaxed in a starburst of
sensation and the feeling of her pulsating around him
drew him over the edge as well.

Her last act before falling into a contented sleep was to turn in his arms so they were face to face once again and murmur drowsily, "I'll take the position. Even if you don't pay me, it's worth it for the fringe benefits alone."