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I thought there was no way left for them to shock me. I've seen files on spaceships, witnessed cancer cured, sat through explanations of vampires and ghosts and shapeshifters. Tolerated killer trees and kitties and baby dolls. I thought that I had heard it all.

Obviously I was wrong.

"I'm pregnant."

The words reverberate through my head, not making any sense, as if Scully had just told me she was having an alien baby. Maybe she hadn't gotten to that part yet.

No.

She looks happy. Amazed, yes. But so happy.

Radiant.

I want to know. But I'm afraid to ask who the father is. She makes no move to tell me, but her eyes explain it all. I know that she has doubts, fears. Wonders how it happened. If something new and twisted has been done to her, but underneath it all, there is pure joy.

And no matter her doubts, or mine. No matter that the chip with unexplained powers still rests in her neck. That she put her trust, her life in the hands of the Cigarette Man not so long ago. That one child has already been created and taken from her.

Beyond all this, I can tell. She believes.

She believes the baby is Mulder's.

That is all that matters.

"He'll be okay," I promise her. "We'll get him back."

She nods through the tears, reaching up to stroke her cross that isn't there.

Her eyes meet mine, and I swallow.

I know where it is. The necklace gleamed against the lights, making me stop for a moment to remember that I'd seen him wear it once before. Those seconds of hesitation turned out to be the last glimpse I had of him. When I turned around again, he was gone.

I'd lost him.

Now I realize that with its wearing, Mulder bore more than just the cross. He bore a promise. To return.

And it wasn't the work he was coming back for.

A part of me is curious. When it happened. How. If it was passionate and dramatic or just deep and sweet and honest. Part of me is mad they didn't tell me. The other half feels stupid because I didn't figure it out.

Anyone who's ever heard the old cliche, knows it's true because of Mulder and Scully. The world disappears when they are in each other's presence. Their minds work so well together. It should come as no surprise that their bodies had to follow.

Her eyes question mine, looking for hope and understanding. I'm afraid she sees pity.

I squeeze her hand and marvel that in spite of her medical training and the doctors that said it would never happen, no matter that it contradicts her own physical proof, in this miracle alone, she knows what's true. Knows what will be.

In this alone, the two of them, she believes.

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