Special Agent Wayne Allen walked quickly through the
halls of F.B.I. headquarters. It was great to be back
here. If the interview went well, he'd be out of Omaha and back at headquarters permanently. He knew that working on a task force headed by Spooky Mulder was a calculated risk, but he figured once he was back at headquarters, he could maybe make some sort of lateral transfer.

Allen rounded the corner to the corridor where the
task force on serial killers was headquartered, and
came face to face with a person from the past.

"Dana?" he asked, amazed. "Dana Scully?"

"Yes," agreed the petite redheaded woman. She crinkled her brow, as if he were familiar but she couldn't quite remember his name.

"It's me, Wayne. Wayne Allen. We went through the
academy together, remember? My God, you're pregnant!"

"Oh. Yes, Allen, I remember you now." Scully was
confused at the man's obvious astonishment that she
was expecting a child. Granted, she herself had been
pretty darn astonished when the pregnancy test came
back positive, but her fertility problems hadn't been
common knowledge. And, yes, she was a bit old to be a
first-time mother, but in Washington, D.C. it wasn't
unheard of for career women to wait until they were
over 35 to begin a family.

Allen shook his head in slow astonishment. "You were
always the bureau's ice queen! I'd like to meet the
man with balls enough to knock *YOU* up!"

Before Scully could answer, a deep, quiet voice from
behind Allen said, "Turn around."

Without conscious thought, Allen obeyed. He found
himself looking up into the eyes of a tall,
dark-haired man of about forty. "I'm Dana's husband,"
the man said. "And you are. . .?"

"I'm Special Agent Wayne Allen. I'm here for an
interview with Fox Mulder, the Special Agent in Charge of the task force on serial killers.'

The man nodded. "This is my office, right here," he
said, reaching past Allen to unlock the door all three agents were standing in front of. "Go on in, have a seat. I need to talk with Dana for a moment, then I'll be right with you." Turning to his wife, he asked, "What did the doctor say?"

"She says everything is going fine," Scully replied
with a smile. "Mulder, you're amazing, you know that?"

"Why?" he asked, clearly perplexed.

"Because 99 men out of a hundred would have said
"Dana's *MY* wife," not "I'm Dana's husband".  It was
nice of you to phrase it that way."

"Hey, I've got no problem with being known around the
bureau as "Mister Doctor Scully". I *LIKE* being your
husband."

"Better than you liked being my partner?" she asked
with a grin.

"Well, that was nice, too. But, I have to say, this
husband deal comes with certain fringe benefits I
never got when we were just partners!"

"I love you," she said.

"I love you, too. You going home now?"

"Yeah, I think I will. There's really no reason for me to head back out to Quantico this late in the day."

"Good. Other than interviewing an agent with a bad
case of foot-in-mouth disease, I don't have much of a
workload this afternoon, so I should be home early,"
he said. Then, heedless of the other agents walking
the corridors, he bent his head and kissed her gently
on the mouth. "Bye, sweetheart. Drive carefully and
get some rest."

"Bye. Have fun with your interview."

***

Allen walked into the room and sank into a chair. He
had a feeling he'd just kissed any chance of joining
the task force goodbye. And, hell, maybe there was a
*REASON* he belonged stuck out in Omaha for the rest
of his life, rather than hobnobbing with the hotshots
here at headquarters! Because he was belatedly
remembering rumors and gossip he'd heard from other
agents over the years. "Scully's been assigned to work the X-Files with Agent Mulder; they're calling her "Mrs. Spooky" now."  "Scully was in the hospital and Mulder never left her bedside."  "Mulder was missing and Scully damn near tore the bureau apart looking for someone to help her find him." Any agent with an ounce of investigative skill might have guessed there was at least a *CHANCE* that Agent Mulder - his would-be boss - was the father of Scully's baby.

Mulder entered the room and looked at the other agent
practically cringing in the chair in front of him.
Despite Allen's rather crude comments in the corridor, the man actually had a good reputation as an agent with solid investigative skills.

As Mulder sat down, Allen cleared his throat and sat
up straighter. "Look, I want to apologize for what I
said out there in the corridor. It was both
unprofessional and just plain tacky. I was caught by
surprise, but that was no reason for rudeness."

Mulder nodded. The man's apology showed more integrity than the option of simply pretending the conversation in the hallway had never happened. Mulder knew he should let it go at that, but his curiousity got the better of him. "I accept your apology. But why were you so surprised?"
 
Allen shifted uncomfortably. "Look, I've apologized. I didn't mean to insult your wife -  or, indirectly,
you."

Mulder gave a small smile. "Well, I suppose I could
take it as a compliment. You were apparently
astonished at my ability, despite the fact that
millions of men manage to impregnate their wives every year."

Allen sighed. "It's just that, when I knew her - which was only for a few months and almost a decade ago - Scully seemed very career-oriented. I wouldn't have been surprised to come back to headquarters and find out she was an assistant director or a section chief or something. Finding out that she's in the last trimester of pregnancy. . .that just wasn't something I expected."

Mulder nodded, his emotions teetering between
amusement and anger.

***

Mulder arrived home to the aroma of a homecooked meal. That was one part of being married that still threw him for a loop sometimes. Occasionally - especially since she'd been pregnant - Scully did these absolutely retro-homemaker type things. More often, they either went out to eat or cooked dinner together.

"Smells delicious, darling," he said, bending to kiss
her ear.

"Well, it's almost ready, so go ahead and sit down."

As they were eating, Scully said, "Fox, there is one
thing the doctor told me that I didn't mention this
afternoon."

"Dana, is something wrong?" Mulder asked, a note of
panic in his voice.

"Nothing's wrong, lover," she said quickly, in a
soothing voice. "I'm fine and the baby's fine. But,
just to be on the safe side and make sure we both
*STAY* fine, the doctor wants me to make certain. .
.adjustments. . .in my lifestyle."

"Does she want you to quit work completely?" Mulder
inquired. As soon as she found out she was pregnant,
Scully had requested a reassignment to Quantico and a
restricted work week. She currently worked only 25 to
30 hours a week. The plan had been for her to continue that schedule until a week before her due date, then take a six-month maternity leave. When her six months were up, Scully planned to return to part-time employment while her mother watched the baby.

"No, work's not the problem. But we have to stop. .
.playing."

***

A few mornings later, Mulder asked, "What's on the
agenda today?"

Scully smiled. "Baby shower. Don't tell me you
forgot?"

Mulder groaned softly. "I think I deliberately blocked it off. Why did you ever agree to allow the gunmen to host a baby shower for us?"

"Frohike wanted to. He was so eager, I thought it
would be rude to tell him no. At least we got them to
agree to do it here rather than at their place."

"Is Langley actually going to leave their lair during
daylight hours? I'm beginning to think he's a vampire
who only comes out at night!"

"They all said they'd be here. Don't worry, Byers will keep them in line. And my mother will be here.
Although I have to wonder about this mystery guest she keeps hinting will be coming with her and Aunt Olive."

***

Mulder had to admit that, at least in its initial
stages, the baby shower was going better than he would have believed possible. The gunmen had arrived shortly after lunch, carrying a decorated cake from a bakery, a couple of vegetable platters from a deli and a box of decorations. While Mulder felt putting
pink-and-blue crepe paper "X"s over all their windows
was perhaps a bit extreme, he had to admit the fellows had been fairly well-behaved. For them, anyway.

Other than the gunmen, the only guests to arrive so
far were Holly and Kimberly from bureau headquarters
and Ann Palmer, a middle-aged woman who taught out at
Quantico. But Maggie and Aunt Olive should arrive soon and the festivities could begin. When the doorbell rang, Mulder wasn't totally surprised to see three figures, rather than two, hazily outlined through the frosted glass. Maggie had been hinting about another guest. 

As Mulder swung the door open to admit Maggie and
Olive he heard Scully give a squeal behind him.
"Tara??" she demanded.

"Hi, Dana," Tara Scully said as she walked in and
kissed her sister-in-law. "I hope you don't mind me
coming uninvited."

"Tara, I'm thrilled. But all the way from California?
Just for a baby shower?"

Tara smiled and shrugged. "It was Bill's idea,
actually."

"You're kidding," Mulder said.

"No," Tara shook her head. "He sort of feels like. .
.he hasn't been as supportive of your marriage as he
should be. We both felt maybe this would be a way to
mend some fences."

While Mulder was still recovering from the shock of
seeing Tara, another surprise guest arrived. It wasn't like this one hadn't been invited, but Mulder just hadn't believed he was the baby shower type.
"Skinner?" Mulder asked.

"Hello, Agent Mulder. Sorry I'm late."

***

The women guests all provided traditional gifts, like
clothing, towels, blankets and a stroller. The
gunmen's gifts had been less bizarre than Mulder
feared, although they tended toward electronics - an
intercom set-up with monitors in the nursery, the
master bedroom and the kitchen, along with a digital
camera that would allow them to take pictures of the
baby and post them to anyone they e-mailed. Scully had gotten the biggest kick out of Skinner's present
though. It was a large diaper bag monogrammed with an
"X".

"So, what are you going to name the baby?" Kimberly
asked.

"Melissa Samantha if it's a girl. William Samuel if
it's a boy," Scully replied.

"Melissa Samantha or William Samuel WHAT?" Holly
asked.

"Huh?"

"What I mean is, you and your husband have different
last names. What is the baby's last name going to be?" Holly explained.

Scully laughed. "Mulder, of course. It's funny, I
guess I must be more of a traditionalist that I
realized. While I never considered changing *MY* name
after we got married, I also honestly never even
thought of giving the baby the last name of Scully,
either!"

"I think that's probably for the best, dear," Maggie
Scully put in. "Bill already has two boys and now that Charles has announced his engagement as well, I don't think we need to rely on you to carry on the Scully family name."

"I think you better be praying for a boy," Langley put in.

"Why?" Scully asked. A son was, actually, what she
wanted, while Mulder hoped for a daughter. But what
difference did it make to Langley, of all people?

"Because, since your name will be different from the
baby's, everytime you schedule a doctor's appointment
or something, you'll have to explain your
relationship. And "Melissa Mulder's Mother" is a
mouthful!"

"You mean you don't know whether the baby's a boy or a girl yet?" Byers inquired.

"Nope," Mulder replied. "Since this will most likely
be the only child we'll ever have, Dana wanted it to
be a surprise. So she told the doctor we didn't want
to know."

"Wait a minute," Skinner said skeptically. "You have
an unwavering obsession in finding out every detail
about EVERYTHING, Mulder! And you're telling us you've really been willing to go for nine months without using available medical knowledge to discover whether your own child is a son or a daughter?"

"Yeah," Mulder answered with a grin, reaching out to
entwine Scully's fingers with his. "I've developed a
whole new perspective lately. Sometimes surprises can
be nice."

***

Several weeks later, Scully woke up feeling. . .odd.
She noticed the tremor that seemed to begin in her
back muscles and spread around to her front; an
involuntary muscle spasms that came at infrequent but
regular intervals. She checked the calendar. The first Sunday in November. Her due date. Probably just some sort of psychosymatic reaction. She was a doctor; she knew that few women ever delivered exactly on their due date. In the case of a first baby, most women went past their due dates; often by a week, sometimes by as much as two weeks. So, despite what it felt like, she assured herself that she was not in labor and went back to sleep.

By early afternoon, Mulder noticed something amiss.
"Dana, are you okay? You've got this kind of. .
.bewildered look on your face. Like you used to when I asked you to investigate an X-File that was even
weirder than usual."

"Fox, if I tell you something, will you *PROMISE* not
to start acting like Ricky Ricardo in an old "I Love
Lucy" episode?"

"You think you're in labor," he stated flatly.

"Maybe. But it could just be a false alarm."

"I'm calling the doctor anyway, Dana. You've come this far, I'm not risking everything just because you'll be embarassed if it's not the real thing. If it's not. . .well, I'm sure we won't be the first couple in history to make that mistake."

Within moments, Mulder had reached the doctor's
answering service. Because the doctor specialized in
high-risk pregnancies - and Scully's was considered
such, both because she was over the age of 35 and
because she had come close to dying from cancer
several years earlier - the doctor phoned back within
minutes. After speaking to her briefly, Scully turned
to Mulder.

"Well, she basically agreed with both of us. Said it
was most likely a false alarm, but given my medical
history, she didn't want to risk an over-the-phone
assurance of that. Wants us to meet her up the
hospital in half an hour, so she can check me out."

"Should I go ahead and grab your bag?" Mulder asked.

"Might as well, just in case. I know we promised to
call my Mom the minute we headed for the hospital, but let's wait until we know for sure, okay?"

Mulder nodded.

***

After the doctor had checked Scully out, she smiled.
"Well?" Scully asked, fully prepared to be told to go
home and wait some more.

"I would say, Dr. Scully, you're almost
preternaturally attuned to your own body."

"What does that mean?" Mulder asked.

"It means, Mr. Mulder, that your wife is in the very
early stages of labor. Most women who have never had a baby before don't even realize the process is
beginning until they're well past this point."

"So I am going to have the baby today?" Scully asked
in amazement.

The doctor smiled gently. "It's a long process, honey, and you're just beginning it. Quite possibly, the baby won't actually be born until sometime early tomorrow morning. But, yes, you're in labor."

"Mulder, call my Mom," Scully said excitedly.

***

Despite the doctor's prognosis - and Maggie Scully's
calm assurances that first labors were usually lengthy affairs - Dana progressed fairly rapidly. By early evening, she was already almost completely dilated.

"Fox?" Scully murmured as the nurse who was monitoring her contractions left the room for a moment.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"I'm not as nervous as I thought I'd be. Mostly just
excited."

"Dana, after all we've been through over the years -
all the times we've almost lost each other -  I can't
be anything BUT excited this time around. You doing
okay?"

"Yes," she replied, squeezing his hand. "Just stay
close, stay with me."

***

As the contractions increased in frequency and
intensity, Scully began to feel a desire to push. The
nurse told her to hold off, but finally the doctor
gave the okay.

Finally, at exactly 9 p.m. on the first Sunday in
November, Melissa Samantha Mulder came into the world, weighing six pounds and 12 ounces.

Mulder stared in wonder at his baby daughter. When the doctor placed her in Scully's arms, he whispered.

"Scully?"

"Mmm?" she asked gently, her eyes focused on the baby.

"Remember, all those years when we working the
X-Files, when I'd see - or think I saw - amazing
things like alien space ships and sea monsters and
stuff?"

"Of course."

"Nothing I've ever seen - nothing I ever could see -
would ever be more amazing than this."

Scully lifted her eyes from the baby for a moment, to
gaze at her misty-eyed husband.

"I love you, Mulder."

"I love you, too, Scully. And Melissa. More than I'll
ever be able to express."