Title: Baby Plans
Author: Kristen
E-mail: Cookie8302@aol.com
Category: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Keywords: MSM, Skinner/Maggie, Babyfic
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own these 
characters. I'm just borrowing them
Summary: The woman are pregnant, and the 
men deal with it in ways no one will 
suspect.

Chapter One

It's funny how your life can change in an 
instant, for better or for worse. One 
morning in late February, Walter Skinner 
found out just how swiftly this can 
occur. He found out just how rapidly the 
earth balance can shift, changing your 
life one way or another. He was seated at 
his fiancee's kitchen table that morning, 
enjoying a cup of coffee and some 
homemade pancakes. He loved spending his 
mornings with her, eating well and 
feeling happy before he started his day, 
be it a weekend as it was now or a 
workday. Maggie was beaming as she moved 
about her kitchen serving him.
"Walt, I have something to tell you about 
Dana. I know she hasn't even told Fox 
yet, so don't say anything, but, oh, 
Walter, I had to tell someone or I'd 
burst," Maggie gushed.
Skinner smiled. He adored seeing that 
look on Maggie's face. 
 
"Well, for God's sake, Margaret what is 
it? She isn't sick or you wouldn't be 
this happy." 
 
"Walt, our daughter is going to have a 
baby. We're going to have a 
grandchild." Lately when referring to her 
youngest child, Maggie had taken to 
saying "our daughter." She realized the 
special protective love Walt had for her 
baby girl. 
 
"Margaret, you all ready have 
grandchildren. Between Bill Jr. and 
Charlie, you have six," he said, not 
correcting her that Dana was not his real 
daughter. It felt like it was true. He 
should share Maggie's elation, but 
knowing of Mulder's feeling on that very 
subject colored his reaction to the news. 
 
"I know, but, she's my baby, my daughter. 
My baby's having a baby. It's different 
to be the mother of the mother." She 
beamed and gave him a quick kiss on the 
top of his head. He smiled. 
 
"And she didn't tell Mulder?" 
"Nope, only her mother. But I couldn't 
keep it a secret. Well, I could from Fox, 
but Dana is so much like your daughter 
now, it wouldn't seem right not to tell 
her father." 
 
"I take it I can't tell Mulder." Walter 
really felt Mulder should know. Judging 
from the discussion he had with him the 
other day, he knew the surprise would not 
go over well. 
 
"I would hope that you wouldn't even let 
Dana know I told you. She'd have my head. 
She's going to have us over for dinner 
tonight to tell us and Fox together. I 
just wanted to share it with you. That's 
what I love about this relationship. I 
have someone to share things with." 
 
"Maggie, come here a minute. Sit. Mulder 
and I had a beer last Friday and he and I 
got to talking about family. And he's not 
all that keen on starting one." He felt 
forewarned was forearmed. Fox Mulder was 
not a family man he was too dedicated to 
the X-files.
"Well, that's because he's no in the 
position for it to matter. No man as 
involved in his work as Fox really thinks 
about family until it's time to."
Maggie, the optimist, Skinner thought. 
 
"Well, maybe Mulder isn't ready to start 
a family with Dana. Actually, he told me 
he never even thought about it, but if it 
were to come up, no, he's not ready to 
start family. Mulder isn't one to mince 
words, Margaret." 
 
"Well, maybe he's not ready now, but he 
will be. As soon as Dana tells him, he's 
going to be a daddy, his heart will just 
melt. I know I've been there. Bill was 
not at all ready for Bill Jr. But he 
dealt with and loved every minute. Fox 
will feel the same way. I mean how would 
you feel if I told you I was going to 
have a baby?" 
 
"I'd think it was time for the second 
coming...no, seriously, Maggs, I'd think 
it was great. I happen to want to be a 
grandfather, I've always wanted children. 
I'm just not sure that Mulder does. But 
we aren't talking about me and you. We're 
talking about Mulder and Dana."
"Actually we are talking about me and 
you. I wasn't going to tell you. I wanted 
to wait, but well, I have to tell you 
something. I was going to wait until 
tonight, and I know you probably won't 
believe me, but I'm pregnant. You're 
going to be a father.
Walter said nothing. He just stared at 
Maggie, a blank expression on his face. 
If she were ten years younger, he'd be 
delighted with the news that he was to be 
a father, but this, a baby at fifty-
three, was far too big a risk.
Maggie took in the expression on his 
face. It showed nothing. He just said 
he'd be happy with the news, yet he just 
stared. 
 
"Well, Walter, say something. Are you 
happy?" She moved closer to embrace him. 
 
"Um, surprised is more the word for it, 
Maggie," he said pulling away, 
straightening his tie. 
 
"Oh, I know it's a shock, darling, but 
there are worse surprises, right?" 
 
What was she thinking? Nothing could be 
worse than this. "Wrong. Margaret, you 
are fifty-two, almost fifty-three years 
old. It is impossible for you to be 
pregnant. It just can't happen." 
 
"Well, it did happen, and you did have a 
part in it, you just remember that," she 
started clearing the dishes. "I think it 
happened around the twelfth of last 
month; making me, effectively six weeks 
pregnant. Although I'm not really all 
that regular since I started the change, 
the doctor figures that is about right." 
 
"Six weeks. That's it. Oh Lord, then it's 
not too late," he sighed with relief. Six 
weeks she could get an abortion. She'd be 
safe. 
 
"Not too late to do what? Walter Skinner, 
if..." 
 
"Face facts, Margaret. You may have been 
able to conceive this child, but you'll 
never be able to carry it to term. It may 
be biologically possible to conceive it; 
but you'll never physically be able to 
complete the race." He hardened his tone 
to hide the plethora of emotions running 
through his mind. 
 
"Women much older than me have had 
healthy babies, Walt. I'm going to be 
monitored very closely and have all the 
tests, it's all going to be fine, you'll 
see." She sensed his fear and tried to 
reassure him, making light of the 
situation.
"I doubt it. This pregnancy, it's..."She 
cut him off again, reading his mind. 
 
"Oh, God, Walt, don't go all Fox Mulder 
on me. This is a perfectly natural, 
normal and God-willing healthy pregnancy 
and to be honest, I'm thrilled at the 
idea of a fifth baby and honored to be 
giving you you're first one. You just 
said you'd be happy with this news." 
 
"Ten years ago, I'd be happy. Now, I'm 
appalled. I don't want you to have the 
baby, Maggie. While I'd love a child of 
my own, I don't want to lose you because 
of that. I love you too much to do 
that to you. I care too much for you to 
take such an enormous risk." 
 
"And I love you, Walter; enough that I 
want to take this risk. I want to give 
you a baby, and I'm not getting an 
abortion." 
 
"Margaret, I'll be happy with you. And, 
I'll be happy with Mulder and Dana's 
child, a grandchild. Dana is enough 
daughter, and believe me, Mulder is 
enough son, to satisfy me." He changed 
his tactic; perhaps sweet talk...She spoke 
again.
"We can't undo this, Walter. I'm 
pregnant, and the only way this baby is 
coming out is if I miscarry it or I give 
birth to it. There will be no abortion! 
If you really don't want this child, I 
suggest you get down on your knees and 
pray that I lose it!" She was angry, but 
he wouldn't, he couldn't waver.
"Well, I guess it's settled then, isn't 
it. You're going to do what you 
want, no matter what I have to say about, 
and no matter what you're other children 
will have to say about it. Or do they all 
ready know. Am I the only one in the 
dark? Please let me be the first to 
know?" 
 
"No one knows about this but you. I 
didn't want to take the spotlight away 
from Dana. And I didn't want to upset 
her; she's having her own pregnancy. This 
will shock everyone, but you'll all have 
to cope with it." She turned back to her 
dishes.
Angrily, Walter sighed and rose from the 
table. "I'll see you at Fox and Dana's 
tonight. There's no reason to ruin this 
moment for her. Maybe by then, when you 
seen how happy she is, you'll reconsider 
risking you're life and just be there for 
the children you all ready have. I have 
to go." 
 
Before Maggie even had the chance to 
respond, he kissed her cheek and 
walked out the door. She turned back to 
her dishes, her shoulders slumped, as 
tears streamed from her eyes and made 
ripples in the soapy water. 
 
Walter got in his car and drove through 
town. No particular destination in mind. 
He could go to the office, but the last 
thing he needed was more stress. His head 
all ready ached from it. No, he'd just 
drive. The car seemed to steer itself 
until he ended up at Mulder's place. 
Mulder's car was in the driveway and 
Scully would not be home for an hour or 
so, so he pulled in behind it. He needed 
to talk, to another man. Was he being 
unreasonable about this? If anyone would 
set him on the straight and narrow, it 
would be Mulder. He was a pain and they 
almost never agreed, but he was fair and 
honest and had the answers. 
 
Mulder had never hesitated to be blunt 
with him, even before he had married 
Scully and they had become "family". He 
would tell him the truth. 
 
Fox Mulder was startled to see his 
father-in-law-to-be at his door nearly 
six hours early for the dinner party 
Scully had insisted on throwing, but he 
smiled when he opened the door. 
 
"Come on in, Sir." Mulder looked relaxed 
in his jeans and shirt. He seemed another 
person at home. 
 
"Fox, when we're on matters like this, 
it's Walter or Walt or Dad, shit, I don't 
care," he said as he sat down heavily, 
"You aren't going to believe this." He 
was never one to beat around the bush. 
 
Mulder smiled and brought him a beer. 
"Me, not believe something? Come on, try 
me. What's wrong?" 
 
"Sit." 
 
He sat, "What is it? Is something wrong? 
Is Scully sick? Is Mom sick? I 
know neither one has been filled with 
energy lately, but Scully said 
that...oh, God what's wrong?"
He should have known Mulder would freak, 
he should have said this better. 
 
"No one's sick, Mulder, relax. At least 
not physically, but Maggie has 
definitely lost her senses." 
 
"What does that mean?" He didn't want to 
take sides in Skinner's woman troubles. 
 
"Fox, she's pregnant." There, Walter, 
plain and simple. 
 
"Who? Scully? No, it can't be, we're not 
ready yet." Mulder brushed it off 
 
"Mulder, not Scully, well, I don't know. 
Maggie is pregnant. She's having a baby." 
Skinner watches Mulder's face go from 
fear to shock to surprise. Then he began 
to chuckle. 
 
"Oh, man. She's too old. That was a good 
one. There's no way." Mulder realized 
Skinner wasn't laughing. 
 
"Obviously not. She said she's been to 
the doctor, it's confirmed. She's 
pregnant. And I don't have clue one what 
to do about it." He leaned forward and 
put his face in his hands. 
 
"What's she going to do about it?" Mulder 
asked him, all ready knowing what she 
wouldn't do about it. 
 
"She's adamant on having it. She's 
ecstatic, Mulder." Skinner took a long 
sip of his beer. 
 
"And you?" 
 
"I told her I didn't want it, not if 
means her life is in danger. I don't need 
a child, I only need her. I've lost too 
much to lose this."
Mulder could sense Skinner's pain. He'd 
nearly lost his first wife in childbirth 
and that baby had died. Now for him to 
have his beloved Maggie at risk, he 
couldn't reconcile it. 
 
"You said this to her?" If he had, Mulder 
surmised, it wouldn't have gone over 
well. 
 
"Pretty much, yeah." 
 
"And she said?" 
 
"No, Walter, I'm not getting an 
abortion." 
 
"And you said?" 
 
"I'll see you later, maybe by then you'd 
have come to your senses. Then I left and 
came here. I knew you'd get it, you 
know?" 
 
"Oh, no. You shouldn't have left you 
know. You have to work this out." 
 
"Yeah." He sounded defeated. Mulder 
touched him gently. 
 
"Oh, no. She's probably pretty upset." 
 
"She's upset. What about me? I only said 
that because I love her, I don't want to 
see her hurt, either if she has the baby 
and can't handle it or if she loses it. 
She so wants this baby. She wants it for 
me. If she thinks I don't and loses it, 
she won't feel like she let me down." It 
sounded stupid even to his ears. 
 
"But instead of her feeling like she 
pleased you, she feels like your 
love is conditioned on her being perfect. 
If she can't have this baby, 
she'll feel degraded somehow, all women 
do, and she'll need you. Mom, will not 
abort this baby. She doesn't believe in 
it, but she may will herself to lose it 
or she may leave you. She must feel 
disgraced anyway at being unmarried and 
pregnant at her age. 
 
"Oh, God, Fox. I want this child, I do, 
but I don't want to lose Margaret. She's 
all I have, and I'm not willing to 
sacrifice her for my happiness." 
 
"That's not true, you know. Dana and I, 
we'll be here, good or bad." 
 
"I know. I just can't accept the 
pregnancy, Fox. I can't." 
 
"Maybe you need time to think about it; 
to adjust. This is not something that 
happens every day. Go out to the gym, I 
know that's how you work through things, 
relax a bit, come and have dinner, and 
then address the problem after you've 
calmed down a bit. There' nothing you can 
do this wound up, and Mom is probably so 
mad, she won't listen to you now anyway. 
But think about it either she has this 
baby with you by her side, and you might 
lose her or you leave or continue to 
insist on abortion and you will lose her. 
The decisions clear to me. Think about 
it. And don't work yourself up." 
 
Impulsively, Walter embraced the younger 
man, "Thanks, Fox. I know there was a 
reason I didn't fire you years ago." 
 
"No problem. I'll see you later. And try 
to be on time, I don't want Byers and his 
current squeeze to be the first ones 
here. His girlfriends are usually a 
little scary." Mulder smiled glad to see 
some of the tension melt away. 
 
"No problem. Do you have any idea why 
Scully is having this shindig?" 
 
"Not a clue. Impulse I think. Want to 
play homemaker. Now get, I'll see you 
later." 
 
Walter felt a little bit better after his 
talk with Mulder, but he still had a lot 
to think about before he saw Maggie at 
dinner that night. And by the time the 
day was over, Mulder would have a lot to 
think about as well. Walter did take 
Mulder's advice and work out. Then he 
showered at his own apartment. By that 
time he had to leave for Baltimore to get 
Maggie. She was still mad at him and they 
didn't speak in the car.
The living room in the Mulder house was 
filled with people by the time they 
arrived. If Walter hadn't told Mulder 
what had happened between him and Maggie, 
it would have been impossible for him to 
see that. Walter had his arm around her 
shoulders and she had hers around his 
waist. 
 
"Mom, Walter, you remember the guys. 
Frohike and Langley. And this is Molly 
Weston and her husband George our 
neighbors across the street. This is 
Margaret Scully, Dana's mom, and her 
fiance, Assistant Director Walter 
Skinner. He's our supervisor at the 
Bureau." Mulder introduced everyone with 
a polite smile.
"Oh, God bless you," Molly quipped. 
 
The couples shook hands warmly and 
exchanged smiles. Molly leaned in near 
Maggie and whispered, "Do you have any 
idea what this is all about?" 
 
"I don't know for sure," she fibbed, "But 
I have an idea. I hope Dana 
doesn't wait all night to let us know." 
 
Meanwhile, Walter asked Mulder "Is 
everyone here? Where's the guy in the 
suit?" 
 
"Oh, Byers?" asked Frohike, "He's..." 
 
The door opened and Byers entered 
accompanied by Kimberly, Skinner's 
secretary. The shock that registered on 
his bosses face was something for the 
record books, and similar to the look 
Mulder imagined him having when Maggie 
announced she was pregnant with his 
child. Skinner approached Kim and asked 
pointedly. 
 
"Kim? You're dating this man?" 
 
"Yes, Sir. I know I should have said 
something, but, well, I wanted this to be 
a surprise. Nice to see you again, Mrs. 
Scully." 
 
When Dana heard Kim's voice and her 
mother's she knew that all of her guests 
had finally arrived. She could hardly 
contain her excitement another minute, 
but she didn't want to indicate to Mulder 
that anything truly special was going on. 
Normally, this was not the kind of thing 
she'd reveal with a bunch of strangers 
around before telling Mulder, but given 
what she knew about his feeling of 
becoming a dad, she thought this 
gathering for the best. Perhaps, by the 
time it ended, he'd realized that her 
pregnancy was a blessing. He'd been after 
her for two days to tell him what this 
dinner was about. She'd said it was just 
a get together, oh, if he only knew. 
 
"Dana? Honey, are you in here?" her mom 
called. Scully was at the stove, 
stirring her sauce. 
 
"Yeah, mom. Hi, I am so excited. I can't 
wait to tell Mulder and everyone. This is 
so perfect. Mulder and I are having a 
baby. I haven't been this happy since my 
wedding day." Dana was beaming, she was 
the picture of radiant expectant 
motherhood. 
 
"I know, baby, and I'm happy for you. I 
really am." Dana could tell that there 
was more to her mother's mood than that. 
 
"What's wrong, Mom?" 
 
"Oh, it's nothing. Walt and I had a 
little argument, it's over now. I can't 
wait to see the look on Fox's face. When 
are you going to tell everyone?" She 
hoped it was soon. She and Walter needed 
to talk. 
 
"I thought we'd eat first, why?"
"I won't be able to eat, Dana. I could 
hardly contain myself in there."
Just then Mulder entered to ask, "Scully, 
when can we eat. Everyone's starving out 
here."
"One minute, Honey," she called from the 
kitchen. With a glance at her Mom she 
left and headed to the parlor. All eyes 
were on her as she stood next to Mulder 
and spoke. She fidgeted a bit then 
studied her shoes.
"Um, actually before we do that, I have 
something I want to tell everyone. The 
real reason that I wanted to have 
everyone over today is that I have 
something I need to tell everyone and I 
wanted everyone that was special in my 
life to be here when I did it." 
 
Mulder's face fell and he reached out to 
hold her, as if he didn't hear her words, 
"Oh, God, I knew something was wrong. I 
knew it, I could feel it. Honey, what 
ever it is, we'll beat it, I know it. 
 
"Mulder, now calm down. There's nothing 
to worry about. This is not bad 
news; this is good, no great news. 
Mulder, everyone, we're going to have a 
baby."
Chapter Two 
 
Shouts and cheers of joy arose from the 
crowd gathered in the Mulder's living 
room. Maggie rushed forward to hug her 
daughter as if she was just hearing the 
news this minute. Walter's gaze fell on 
Mulder, who was staring at his wife with 
his mouth hanging open. Dana was being 
passed from her mother's embrace into 
that of the Gunmen, first to Byers, then 
to Frohike, who held her a little too 
close for Fox's taste, and finally to 
Langley. Before he knew it she was 
standing in front of him and he opened 
her arms to receive his protective 
fatherly hug, which he topped off with a 
gentle kiss on the top of her head. His 
eyes caught Maggie's across the room and 
he saw the pure joy in her gaze. He knew 
they still had a few things to work out, 
and they still 
had some things to talk about, but he 
felt they'd be okay. 
 
"Well, Mulder, what do you think?" Scully 
asked expectantly. 
 
"I think that this is a real surprise, 
and we are most certainly not ready for 
this. We just got married; we're so not 
ready for a baby. We never even talked 
about this and you just went right ahead 
and did it." He yelled at her. He was 
angry. 
 
The joy in the room was quickly killed by 
the tension arising between the host 
couple. 
 
"Well, I didn't do it by myself, Fox," 
Dana returned, hands going to her hips, 
eye brows arching. 
 
"No, that's right, she didn't. You both 
created this miracle and you both deserve 
the utmost in congratulations," said 
Maggie, hugging her son-in-law and trying 
to calm him down, so he would not 
embarrass her daughter or 
himself. 
 
Mulder relented for now but Walter could 
sense that the discussion over the 
pregnancy was not over. 
 
The rest of the evening progressed 
uneventfully, with the Gunmen teasing 
Mulder about the old "ball and chain" the 
real thing now, and the women gushing 
over Scully talking about what she hoped 
the baby would be, if she wanted to know 
the sex before hand, and if she was 
thinking of any names in particular. She 
was so happy that day, only Mulder's 
reaction had dulled it a little. They 
were ready for this baby, although they 
hadn't discussed it, they were ready she 
knew it. They loved each other, they made 
a decent living, they were ready. Now she 
only had to help Mulder believe it. 
 
Maggie, Kim, and she cleaned up the 
supper dishes while Molly set out the 
dessert she brought over. When Dana went 
upstairs to the bathroom, Kimberly 
questioned Maggie. 
 
"Mrs. Scully..."
"Maggie," she corrected smiling.
"Maggie, I hope I'm not being 
presumptuous here, but I'm worried about 
you. You look so worn, no offense or 
anything." 
 
"Since we're in the business of keeping 
secrets, I'm going to let you in on one. 
Dana," she said, as she approached from 
the stairs, "I want to tell you this too, 
but it's a secret for now. I'm pregnant 
too."
Dana gasped and stared at her mother, 
blue eyes wide with fear and disbelief. 
If she hadn't seen her fair share of 
strange occurrences during her time on 
the X-files she'd have laughed at her and 
insisted that it had to be a joke. Yet 
something in her mother's demeanor and in 
Skinner's face since arriving at the 
party told her that her mother was 
telling the truth.
"Oh, Mom. What are you going to do?" she 
asked, her voice filled with concern. Her 
mother was too old to have a child. She 
was in her fifties. Women did not have 
babies in their fifties.
"What do you mean, what am I going to do? 
I'm going to have a baby, that what I'm 
going to do. You're starting to sound 
like Walter." Maggie brushed off her 
daughter's concern.
Kimberly had felt the tension in the room 
increase a degree and quietly excused 
herself to help Molly serve dessert. She 
eyed Skinner and sent him a silent 
message with her eyes that the "jig" was 
up and the news was out about Maggie's 
pregnancy. As subtly as possible Skinner 
rose and joined his lover and her 
daughter in the kitchen. 
"Well, Walter's a reasonable man. If he 
has reservations about this then..."
"Walter's only a reasonable man when he 
agrees with you. If you wanted to run off 
somewhere with Fox and he said no, you'd 
be witching about it for weeks. 
Complaining and whining about how unfair 
he is, but now when he agrees with you 
well..."
"Margaret." Skinner's voice came clearly 
through the doorway, cutting her off. 
"Dana and I love you; we only want what 
is best for you and your health. Don't be 
angry with her. She is in a delicate way 
herself and neither of you should be 
getting overly upset. Now, there is a 
party going on outside and unless you 
want this family's private business all 
over the neighborhood and the FBI by 
tomorrow morning, I suggest you both cool 
it and rejoin the guests."
On that note, he turned around and left 
the room.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I just don't want 
anything to happen to you. I love you and 
so does Walter. Just please promise me 
you'll consider the consequences before 
you make any final decisions about this 
pregnancy."
Dana's voice was filled with emotion and 
Maggie realized she was only speaking out 
of love, yet her mind was all ready made 
up. "Dana, the decision is all ready 
made. I'm sorry if you can't accept that, 
I'm even sorrier if Walter, this baby's 
own father can't, but there is no other 
choice for me. I'm pregnant and whatever 
happens now is out of my hands. I 
appreciate your concern and I love you 
for it, but please, let me handle this in 
my own way."
Dana Scully always knew when she was 
defeated, like right now. Her mother was 
not going to go against her principles no 
matter how reasonable the argument in 
favor of that. She accepted her mother's 
offered embrace with resignation and went 
to rejoin the party.

Chapter Three

It had been a few weeks since the dinner 
party at the Mulder house, and Dana and 
Margaret's shocking announcements. Doubt 
still weighed heavily on the four 
expectant parents, with Mulder still 
highly resentful of Dana's pregnancy and 
Walter's fear preventing him from being 
happy about Maggie's. It seems that 
couples had almost joined forces against 
each other. Dana and Walter stood firm in 
their mutual opposing of 
Maggie's pregnancy, and while Maggie 
didn't oppose her daughter's condition, 
she claimed she understood Mulder's 
feelings and tried to support him as well 
as her daughter. The entire situation 
spelled disaster and finally came to a 
head one spring day in April. 
 
Scully and her mother were now thirteen 
and twelve weeks pregnant 
respectively, and both were now free of 
the troubling morning sickness that had 
gripped both mother and daughter for over 
a month. It was the day of Scully's three 
month check up and an uneasy feeling in 
the pit of his stomach brought the 
stepfather to be to her office. 
 
Walter Skinner hadn't been feeling right 
for weeks, either he was troubled with 
indigestion, heartburn, or some other 
stress related ailment, possibly even an 
attack of angie, but this feeling was 
different. It was the kind of feeling he 
always had when someone he cared about 
was hurt or sick or threatened in some 
way. He knew that if 
he didn't check on his "daughter" he'd 
never get any of his work done, so he 
strolled down to the X-files office to 
find her seated at Mulder's desk, tears 
streaming down her cheeks, her forehead 
delicately placed on one hand. 
 
Walter was careful in his approach so as 
not to startle her and upset her further. 
Upset was not healthy for her or for her 
unborn child. 
 
"Dana?" he asked gently, "Dana, what is 
it?" he pried, placing a consoling hand 
on her down turned shoulder. "Is 
something wrong with Mulder? Or the 
baby?" 
 
At the mention of her unborn babe, Dana 
erupted into a fit of uncontrollable, 
heart wrenching sobs, and practically 
jumped into Walter's strong waiting 
arms. She was shaking so violently that 
he feared she'd fall if he released 
his grip on her even a little. He'd never 
seen her this way. In the year that he'd 
been seeing Maggie, he'd seen Dana at 
some of her most vulnerable moments, 
something must be very wrong. Yet, he 
knew that trying to find out what would 
be futile until she had cried herself out 
and once again had control of her 
emotions. His only course of action would 
be to hold and calm her. 
 
"Ssh. Hush now, sweetheart," he cajoled, 
"Whatever it is it can't be so bad 
that we can't work it out. I'm here now, 
and I'm never going to let 
anything hurt you. Calm yourself, now," 
he said in a soft, fatherly voice as 
he rocked her and stroked her hair, and 
waited for her sobs to quiet and her 
shuddering to stop. 
 
He held her as tight as he could without 
hurting her and continued to stroke 
her hair and cradle her to his chest. She 
seems so small and weak at this 
moment, so much like her mother and yet 
so unlike her as well. 
 
Finally, his soft comforting words and 
gestures penetrated Dana's 
consciousness and she let out a shaky 
sigh, pulling out of his embrace and 
looking up at him. She expected to see 
disdain and anger there, but what she 
did see almost caused her to melt into 
tears again, his intent dark gaze was 
three parts concern and one part 
tenderness. She needed that, she needed 
that so much. 
 
Walter pulled out his handkerchief and 
blotted the tears away from hers eyes 
himself, as if she were a little girl. 
She finally spoke when he was finished, 
"I'm sorry," she said. It was a whisper. 
 
"There is nothing for you to be sorry 
about. Now, tell me what this is 
about. Nothing gets you that upset." 
 
"It's silly." 
 
"If it makes you cry it can't be silly, 
honey. Now tell me what it is." He 
stepped back and held her gaze. His 
strong hands remained on his shoulders. 
 
"I can't do this," she whispered, her 
head bowed. 
 
"Do what?" he asked confused. 
 
"You're my boss," she gestured at him. 
"It's awkward." She was embarrassed even 
after all they'd been through. 
 
"I'm not only your boss, Dana. I'm the 
man who is going to marry your 
mother. You can talk to me, you can trust 
me," he assured her. 
 
"Can we go somewhere and do this? I don't 
want Mulder to know how upset I 
was." She needed him, he could sense it. 
 
"Of course we can. Get a jacket and I'll 
buy you something to eat. You're 
still too thin for a pregnant woman." 
 
Dana smiled lightly and followed Walter 
to a small cafe he frequented. The 
same cafe in fact where he'd been shot in 
eight months ago for looking into 
Melissa's death. 
 
After ordering himself a coffee and Dana 
lemonade, Walter began to probe 
again. 
 
"Tell me what happened. Is the baby okay? 
Are you all right?" 
 
"The baby is fine. I'm fine. I went to 
the doctor today, that's how I know that. 
And well, this is the silly part. Dr. 
Ragner said that today was the day to see 
the baby and she asked if I wanted to 
wait for Mulder, but I knew he didn't 
want to come. I asked him to come 
with me this morning and he said, 'You 
don't care about what I think, so why 
should I?' He didn't even want to see his 
baby for the first time," she said her 
voice breaking again, "I thought for sure 
he would have changed his mind by now." 
 
"Then I thought about what we've been 
doing to Mom. And how she is scared 
that she won't be able to carry this baby 
and how she is going through that 
all alone because neither one of us will 
support her. I don't want mom to 
see your baby all alone next week."
Skinner didn't answer. He tried but found 
he couldn't. He felt like his tie was 
choking him and he couldn't get enough 
air. Dana looked up at Walter and noticed 
how pale he'd 
become and how much he was perspiring. 
He'd loosened his tie and was massaging 
his arm. 
 
"Walter? Sir? Are you all right?" she 
asked, recognizing his symptoms for 
what they were. Walter Skinner was 
showing all the signs of a heart attack. 
 
No answer was forthcoming, at least not 
in spoken form. Instead, her answer 
came when her stepfather to be collapsed 
to the table with a sickening thud.

Chapter 4

In the years that Dana had known her 
husband, she spent her fair share of 
time in hospitals. Mulder's been shot, 
stabbed, and even poisoned, but never 
had a situation occurred when his own 
body betrayed him completely. When he 
was shot or injured by some other evil 
force, she had someone to lash out at, 
someone to hold accountable. In Walter's 
case however, that wasn't' true. 
His current condition was the result of 
his own body's betrayal and she had no 
one to blame for that, no one but 
herself. 
 
As soon as she saw Walter collapse she 
called the ambulance and began CPR. 
The realization that her stepfather and 
boss had a severe cardiac episode 
never fully penetrated until she arrived 
at the hospital and called her 
husband. 
 
Mulder had reacted in much the same way 
she did. Action first, shock and 
disbelief secondary. His immediate 
thought, as Dana's had been, was of 
Maggie and the unborn child she and 
Walter shared, and had volunteered to go 
to Baltimore and pick up his mother-in-
law, so Dana could focus on getting 
information from the doctors. 
 
By the time Mulder arrived with her 
mother, Dana had been allowed into the ER 
exam room to be with Walter while the 
doctors waited for X-rays and blood 
test results. It was clear by his color 
and breathing and EKG that he had a 
cardiac episode of some kind and had yet 
to regain consciousness. She held 
his hand close to her chest, whispering 
for him to think of her mom and his 
child, and about the grandchild that was 
coming. She whispered how she knew 
he was strong and could survive anything 
and they were all going to be here 
for him, her mom, Mulder, herself, and 
everyone else he cared about and had 
touched. By the time Mulder and her mom 
entered the cubical, she had her 
forehead pressed to his chest, shoulders 
quaking with the force of her sobs. 
 
"Dana?" Maggie's voice was laced with 
shock and terror, 
"Tell me he's not dead. Please." 
 
She lifted her head and looked at her 
mother's tear stained, ashen face and 
shuttered, "No, Mom. He's alive. He's 
unconscious and the doctors are 
waiting for the test results. They 
believe he had a massive coronary 
episode," she said trying to don her 
doctor's hat and regain her composure. 
 
"How serious? Does he need surgery?" 
asked Mulder. 
 
"No one knows yet, the doctors are still 
waiting on the tests. His pressure 
was really high when he came in and 
they're trying to reduce it to prevent 
stroke." 
 
"Oh, God," gasped Maggie, stumbling back 
into Mulder's strength. 
 
"Mom," Mulder said, "Mom, take it easy. 
Take a breath. Come sit here next to 
Walter. Talk to him." 
 
Carefully, Fox led his distraught mother-
in-law to her fiancee's bedside and 
helped her sit. 
 
"Walt, I'm here, now. We all are. Fox and 
Dana, and our little one and our 
grandchild." 
 
Looking at her mom, tenderly cradling the 
hand of the man she loved, suddenly 
proved too much for Dana's fragile 
control, and with a sob, she bolted from 
the room. 
 
Mulder's own mind was in turmoil as well. 
His boss and lately very dear 
friend and father figure was in serious 
condition, the mother-in-law that he 
loved more than his own mother was 
distraught and in the early stages of 
shock. And his wife, whom he'd not 
exactly been attentive to lately, had 
just 
escaped the sick room her emotions almost 
completely out of control. How 
much of that was stress and fear over 
Walter and how much of it was pregnancy 
hormones he didn't know. What he did know 
was Dana needed him. Walt had 
Maggie, Maggie had her faith, but Dana, 
who'd been battling issues over God 
for most of the time she'd been on the X-
files was lost and had nothing. She 
needed to know that in spite of his 
doubts about becoming a parent she had 
him. 
 
He nodded in Maggie's direction so that 
she would know he was going to see 
about Dana and looked out in the hallway 
for his wife. He didn't have to 
look far; she was just down the corridor, 
leaning against the wall for much 
needed support. Fox came up behind her 
and placed gentle hands on her 
shoulders, squeezing lightly. 
 
"Come on," he commanded gently, "Come on. 
Look at me." 
 
She turned in his arms and pressed her 
body into his and cried. She let him 
hold her and rock her and whisper calming 
words in her ear. When she stopped 
her crying she pulled her head back and 
looked at him. 
 
"It's all my fault," she said shakily. 
 
"Oh, Angel. No, this isn't your fault. 
How could you think of this as your 
fault?" He pulled her closer to him again 
and kissed her hair. 
 
"Because I was telling him, never mind. I 
was talking to him, telling him 
not to make Mom see the baby all alone, 
and the next thing I know, he 
collapsed on the table." 
 
"Oh, Dana. That was today wasn't it? The 
ultrasound was today. Did Walter 
go with you?" 
 
"No, Mulder!" she yelled all of a sudden, 
pushing him off of her. "No one came with 
me, I was all alone, and I didn't want 
that for my mother. You should have been 
there! 
Like it or not, Fox, this is your child! 
Yours. We made this child together, 
out of love, and you of all people should 
know what it's like to not be 
wanted by the one person that should love 
you and want you the most. Don't do 
that to this baby, Fox, and don't do that 
to me. I made it clear that night 
at our house that I had no problem 
raising this baby on my own. Either you 
accept the baby as part of me and our 
marriage, or you don't accept me or the 
marriage. The choice is yours, but I 
refuse to put myself through another 
day like this one, hoping you'd show up 
and see that little person on the 
monitor and fall instantly in love." 
 
"I am in love, Dana, with you. I love 
you..."His voice cracked with emotion. 
 
"You can't possibly love me and still 
cause me this kind of pain. In order for 
you to love me you have to love all the 
things about me. I'm pregnant, Mulder, 
and this is your child. It is part of me, 
and if you love me, you have to love this 
baby too. We're a package deal, we're 
cheap, but we come together. The choice 
is yours." 
 
Mulder watched as Scully turned on her 
heel and headed to the entrance to the 
cubical to join her mother's vigil. Just 
then Mulder saw the doctor heading 
in and walked down to join them and lend 
his support in case the news was not 
good. 
 
"Mrs. Mulder, Mrs. Scully, I'm Dr. 
Sklodonski, the doctor that treated and 
admitted the Assistant Director. The 
blood tests have come back and 
indicate that the Assistant Director 
indeed had a massive heart attack. We 
are going to need to perform a triple 
bypass as soon as he's stable. He's 
had a heart condition for years; in fact, 
it's a surprise it didn't come to 
this before now." 
 
"Years? How come he never mentioned it to 
me? How come he never let me care 
for him?" Maggie was stunned that he kept 
such a secret. 
 
"Walter is a very private person, Mom. He 
didn't want a nursemaid. When can 
he have the procedure, Dr. Sklodonski?" 
 
"As soon as his pressure remains in 
normal levels for a period of 24 hours. 
He cannot afford his pressure to spike on 
the table. He'll stroke out."
The room hushed at the doctor's words. 
The situation was serious and all they 
could do was wait and watch until the 
AD's condition improved.

Chapter Five

Two days later, Mulder came into the 
hospital flanked by Byers and Kimberly. 
The AD's blood pressure had stabilized, 
but had not dropped to a safe enough 
level for the doctors to operate. Byers 
had managed to keep Kim away from 
the hospital those first few days, but 
today, she had insisted on going to 
see her boss and offering her support to 
his fiancee. 
 
Kim understood some of what Maggie was 
feeling, the fear associated with not 
knowing if a loved one would live. She'd 
felt that same fear once herself, when 
her Dad was ill. Unfortunately, the 
outcome was not positive.
 
They entered Skinner's ICU room to find 
the bed made and Maggie sitting 
beside it sobbing brokenly in her 
daughter's arms. Dana was not shedding 
any 
tears herself, but everyone in the room 
could sense her tension. 
 
"Mom? Dana? What happened? Where's 
Walter?" Mulder approached in a rush, his 
heart in his mouth. 
 
Dana turned to face him and spoke the 
first words she'd said to him in days, 
"He's in surgery. They couldn't wait any 
longer; they had to do the bypass 
immediately. His pressure is still high, 
and the risks are monumental, but 
they were out of options. They couldn't 
wait any longer." 
 
She said that in such a detached manner, 
with such scientific coldness, but 
Mulder could hear the fear she masked. 
Maggie shuddered against her and 
Mulder moved to put his arm around her on 
the other side. He took care to 
touch Dana's hand with his as he consoled 
his mother-in-law, and for the 
first time in two days, she did not 
recoil at his touch. Byers took Kim in 
his arms and held her, although she did 
not fully understand why everyone was 
so upset, not hearing the original 
prognosis. 
 
"Did Dr. Sklodonski give you odds?" 
Mulder asked. 
 
"He has about a 50/50 chance of having a 
stroke on the table. There's about 
a 30% chance he won't survive at all," 
again, she kept her voice emotionless and 
detached. 
 
"What is going on? I don't understand," 
Kim said.
 
"Walter has to have open heart surgery, 
but his blood pressure is so high that 
the risk of stroke associated with any 
heart surgery is almost tripled, as is 
his chance of dying. We could get lucky 
and there could be no adverse after 
effects at all or we could be unlucky and 
the damage could be extensive. No one 
knows," Maggie supplied, trying to 
compose herself. 
 
"How long will he be in surgery?" This 
from Byers. 
 
"This type of surgery usually takes about 
seven hours. Then we'll know what the 
situation is. Now, if everyone will 
excuse me for a minute..."Scully informed 
them before rising and running down the 
hall to the chapel. Kim followed suit, 
sensing that she was going to need 
someone to talk things over with. 
 
"Are you going to be all right, Mom?" 
Mulder asked concerned.
"We're going to be fine. We're all going 
to be just fine. Now I think my daughter 
needs me, since she obviously isn't 
getting any support from you." Maggie had 
sensed the tension between her daughter 
and son-in-law. She knew the baby had 
been a point of contention but enough was 
enough. She was getting fed up with this 
petty foolishness. Her daughter needed 
support, she needed reassurance, and all 
Mulder seemed to be giving her was grief. 
 
Mulder sat heavily in the chair that 
Maggie had just vacated placing his head 
in his hands. 
 
"You want to tell me what that was about? 
Usually, as soon as Scully sneezes wrong 
you're all over her, you drive her crazy. 
Now, she's obviously upset, she's 
pregnant and you know that being upset is 
not good for the baby. So what gives?" 
Byers the ever wise man spoke up. 
 
"Scully isn't talking to me. She thinks I 
don't want the baby." Mulder answered, 
dejected. He'd changed his mind, but the 
court was closed and not hearing any 
appeals. 
 
"Well, you don't. The first thing you 
said when Scully told you she was 
pregnant was we are not ready for this 
baby. You never even though about the 
other possibilities, about how wonderful 
this child is going to be. Hopefully, he 
or she will have your height and Scully's 
hair, your determination and Scully's 
reason, your spirit and Scully's drive. 
This kid is going to be the best of the 
both of you and the worse of the both of 
you. This baby is something you did 
together, a person you created together. 
Now if you've reconsidered this thing, 
you better go after her and start eating 
some serious crow, because you are going 
to lose Scully and the baby if you 
don't." Byers had always longed for a 
child ever since he'd held his newborn 
niece and since Kim had accepted his 
marriage proposal last week, for the 
first time he had hope that one day he'd 
have one.
 
"That's a little out of character for 
you, man. Since when were you so wise 
about stuff like this. Byers, it's not 
that I don't want the baby, I've gotten 
over that moment of insanity, it's that 
my whole life is going to change; I have 
some doubts and fears about that."
"Oh, sure, you have plenty of doubts and 
fears. But there's one thing that out 
weighs all of that. You love Dana and 
don't want to spend your life without 
her. So you have to love all of her, and 
that includes the little person inside 
and the extra thirty pounds that comes 
with that," he said with a smile, "Now, 
if you have changed that stubborn mind of 
yours, you'd better..." 
 
Mulder leapt out of his chair before 
Byers finished his speech and ran to the 
chapel. He saw Dana there lighting a 
candle with her Mom and Kim. When they 
finished he heard Dana start to speak to 
her mom and Kim. He stood in the back, 
waiting and listening. 
 
"I just don't understand how he can't 
want this child. It's part of him and me 
and everything that we have. Walter I can 
understand, that's fear not indifference, 
he scared of losing you and of not being 
there for the child later in life, but 
Mulder and I, we're young and those 
things don't matter." 
 
"You're wrong, Scully," he said 
approaching her. "You are so wrong. I am 
petrified of losing you and of not being 
a good father and of something 
happening to one or both of us and the 
baby having no one. But I realize 
that all of those things are just silly 
fears, and that I want you and I love 
you and I want this baby. I want him to 
be the best and the worst parts of 
us. I want him to be truly ours, parts of 
you and parts of me. He'll 
really be ours Scully. I want him, I want 
to love him, and I do. I love 
you. Please forgive me." 
 
Scully's eyes were filled with tears as 
she took his face between her hands, 
"No forgiveness is involved. It was a 
simple miscommunication. Neither one of 
us was really listening to what the other 
was saying. I love you Fox." 
 
"I love you, too, Dana." 
 
Fox held his wife for a long moment, 
kissing her hair, knowing that no matter 
what happened in the next seven hours, 
they would have each other to lean on.
They left the chapel a bit later and 
tried to eat. Dana and Maggie forced some 
fruit and Mulder part of a cheese steak. 
Finally after what seemed like seven days 
instead of seven hours the doctor 
approached. 
 
"Mrs. Scully, Mr. and Mrs. Mulder?" The 
doctor acknowledged the three of them. 
 
"I have some good news and some bad 
news." He scanned the room and listened 
to the silence that surrounded the cold, 
white room. 
 
"Mr. Skinner is stable. We have completed 
the operation and it appears to 
have been a success. We have every reason 
to hope that Mr. Skinner will make 
a complete recovery." 
 
The whole room breathed a sigh of release 
as Maggie turned to her daughter 
and embraced her and accepted the 
strength she offered. 
 
"But..." The doctor continued. 
 
"He will have to receive physical therapy 
for at least 3 months to get him 
walking again. The heart attack and 
surgery has left him very weak. He's 
not paralyzed, it's not a like a stroke, 
it's just the amount of bed rest he's 
going to need in the next few weeks will 
deteriorate his legs muscles and 
even the therapy we'll be giving him in 
bed here will not be enough. It will 
be awhile before he's doing much under 
his own power. He'll need rest and 
some intense care at first, but he will 
get better. This is really minimal 
compared to the amount of damage that 
would remain with a stroke. This may 
bring some awkwardness, but you'll work 
through it. He's a very lucky man." 
 
"Can I see him?" Maggie asked shaking; 
one hand placed over her stomach, as 
if to protect her unborn child from the 
news, as if to reassure it and herself 
that Walter would make it. 
 
"He's still unconscious, but I can let 
you see him for a few minutes. Mr. 
and Mrs. Mulder, you can see him when 
Mrs. Scully is finished." 
 
Maggie walked down the hall to Walter's 
room. He looked so vulnerable in the 
bed. Fox and Dana just watched her, and 
then Dana turned and buried her face in 
Fox's shoulder. 
 
"This is going to be so hard on her. 
She's shouldn't be having a baby at her 
age, but since she is, he shouldn't be 
doing this to her." 
 
"Whoa, now wait a minute. He didn't do 
this, Dana. No one did, it's no 
one's fault." 
 
"I know that, but it's so unfair, he's so 
healthy and now..." 
 
"Now, it's going to take a little time, 
but he'll be good as new. Dana, you 
know this, it's in your head. You're a 
doctor; you know that things could 
have been a lot worse. He could have had 
a stroke, he could be permanently 
disabled. He's just a little weak now and 
needs rest." 
 
"I'm sorry, Mulder. It's the hormones, I 
sometimes feel like I can't stop 
crying. I can't deal with things as well 
as I used to, " she sniffed and blushed a 
bit. 
 
Mulder held her a little closer and 
kissed her hair. 
 
"Let's sit down and wait for your mom to 
come out. She's going to need us a 
even more now." 
 
Maggie walked to Walter's bedside. He 
looked like he was asleep. Not at all 
like he'd just defied the odds and 
survived a serious operation relatively 
unscathed, or like he would be facing 
months of therapy and rehab. She took his 
hand and placed a kiss on his knuckles. 
 
"Hey, sweetheart. I'm here, and it looks 
like you're going to be all right. 
I can't tell you how happy that makes me; 
I can't tell you how happy I am 
that our baby will know her daddy, even 
if you aren't really ready to accept 
her yet." 
 
"Fox, he finally came around to Dana and 
the baby. He's ecstatic now and when 
he really gets used to the idea, he's 
going to be impossible. There won't be 
a book unread or a possibility 
unexplored. It'll drive Dana crazy." 
 
"Mulder always did drive Dana crazy. 
Let's just hope he doesn't take us 
along for the ride..." Walter said 
weakly, not opening his eyes, but 
squeezing her hand 
 
"Walt, are you all right. How do you 
feel?" 
 
"Like my head weighs too much for my 
body. My chest hurts." He had no power in 
his voice, no strength at all. 
 
"I know, sweetheart, and it will for 
awhile. Just try and relax. Do you 
want an extra pillow? Are you warm 
enough?" 
 
"Yes, Maggie, you don't have to fuss. How 
am I? What did the doctor say?" He was 
concerned for himself but more so for her 
and the baby. If he were very sick... 
 
"Well, he said that you are going to be 
fine but it's going to take some time 
for you to recover. You're heart 
condition and the surgery has left you 
very 
weak. You are going to need a lot of care 
at first, but you'll be as good as 
new. You should even be able to go back 
to work in a few months." 
 
"Care? What kind of care?" He didn't like 
the sound of that. 
 
"Well, I don't know, at first you'll have 
to stay in bed most of the time. 
And later, I suppose just whatever help 
you need with whatever is hard for 
you. And I'm going to make sure you are 
cared for, I lost one man I loved to 
a bad heart, I don't want to lose another 
one." She massaged his knuckles and felt 
him relaxing a bit at his prognosis. 
 
"So I'll be in the hospital?" He hoped 
the answer was yes, she didn't need the 
hassle. 
 
"No, I'll take care of you at home," she 
told him, giggling like she saw something 
funny. 
 
"I don't think that's such a good idea. 
What about you and the baby. You 
need rest; you don't need to keep after 
me. You have someone even more 
precious to take care of. Our little girl 
or little boy needs you to be 
healthy, I can take care of myself," he 
protested trying to sit up, but not 
having the strength. 
 
"No, it's seems quite obvious that you 
can't. You can't even sit up by 
yourself. You are going to have to let me 
help you. I love you, and I'm 
going to be there for you. Now, I know 
Dana and Fox want to see you before 
the doctor kicks us out for you to rest, 
so I'll get them. I love you so much, 
Walt." 
 
"I love you too, Maggie." He meant it. 
Hopefully, Mulder and Scully would see it 
his way, if he couldn't care for himself. 
 
Maggie went down the corridor where her 
daughter and son-in-law were waiting. 
They went back to Walter's room and saw 
that familiar, determined AD look on 
his features, Mulder and Scully exchanged 
looks. 
 
"Hello, Sir. How are you feeling?" Scully 
asked in a voice she could have used on 
peds patients. 
 
"Very worried and frustrated. Tell me 
Scully was your grandmother as 
stubborn as you and your mother? Because 
if she was, I hope this baby's a boy. 
Let me put this plainly, I don't want 
your mother to take care of me, it's 
not fair to her, having a baby and having 
to do everything for me. I wanted 
to ask, could I stay at your place just 
for awhile? I realize that Dana is 
pregnant too but your place is bigger and 
I can hire a nurse..."his voice 
trailed off as exhaustion seemed to 
overtake him. 
 
"All right, Sir, you can stay with us. 
You are all ready overdoing it, rest 
now," said Scully, kissing his head 
before she and Mulder left the room. 
 
"Your mom is really going to hate this 
idea. She's like the Red Cross, the 
United Nations and the good fairy all 
rolled into one." Mulder quipped. He knew 
Skinner was right, it would be easier. 
 
"Well, which one of us is going to tell 
her?" Dana asked, knowing Mulder was 
right. 
 
"Tell me what?" asked Maggie who had 
walked over to them, a snickers bar in 
each hand, "Here, not healthy but it'll 
hold us over until dinner. Tell me 
what? Walter's not worse or anything is 
he?" She felt her heart rate quicken with 
worry. 
 
"Um, no, Mom, listen," Mulder began, "He 
has asked Scully and I to oversee 
his recovery. It's not something he wants 
to burden you with." 
 
"It's not a burden, I love him, and I 
want to do this for him." She put it 
simply. Her mind was made up. 
 
"I know Mom, but, Walter doesn't want 
that and we have to honor his wishes. 
And Scully is a doctor and she could help 
him on a deeper lever than you or 
even I could. Now, let's go home and 
we'll see if we can talk to him 
tomorrow." Mulder wanted to keep her 
calm, and he hoped Skinner would agree to 
let Maggie help out with his recovery, 
but for now, they both needed to rest. 
 
Maggie let Fox lead her out of the 
hospital and insisted on sitting in the 
back seat on the way home; so that her 
daughter and son would not see the 
pain she held in her eyes or discover the 
rejection she felt in her heart.
That night, Mulder held Scully closer 
than he had in a long time. He felt 
awful for the things he'd said to her 
when she first announced she was 
expecting a child. Scully sensed her 
husband was still distressed about 
something, so she rolled over onto her 
side to meet his hazel gaze, "What is it, 
Mulder?"
"I'm just so damned sorry, Scully. I 
didn't mean to hurt your feelings about 
the baby, it's just that..." he trailed 
off, and she raised her eyebrow at him.
"What, Honey?" she questioned.
"It's just that I'm so scared that 
something is going to happen to you. If 
something did, I'd never live throught 
it..."
"Mulder," she cut him off.
"It's true, Dana. You complete me. You 
are my entire life and without you in it, 
it's not worth anything. It's not worth 
living."
Scully smiled a tiny smile and reached 
out to caress his cheek, "Fox, I 
understand you're frightened, but, 
Sweetie, I need you with me now, not 
against me, I need your support and your 
love. I hate it when we fight, Fox and I 
was so scared that you'd decide you 
really didn't want me and the baby 
anymore."
Mulder tightened his grip on Scully and 
kissed her with fierce passion, "I'm so 
sorry I made you feel that way. Please, 
my love, forgive me?" he asked.
"I all ready have, Fox. Now, if you 
don't want me to angry with you all over 
again, you'll hold me tonight while I get 
some sleep. I need to get to the 
hospital early tomorrow otherwise Mom 
will be there by herself and with Walter 
still so weak..."
"It kind of makes you think, doesn't it?" 
Mulder asked as he held her tighter, 
"about what's important."
"It most certainly does," she whispered. 
"I just hope that Skinner decided to let 
Mom take care of him, it will break her 
heart if he persists with this 
foolishness." Mulder nodded against his 
hair and placed a kiss there. "I love 
you, Scully," he said after a moment of 
silence.
"And I love you, Mulder," she whispered 
drowsily, falling asleep in his arms.

Chapter 6

As it happened, Skinner didn't change his 
mind. He was adamant about not burdening 
Maggie. He moved in with Scully and 
Mulder and at first required help with 
everything from going to the bathroom to 
shaving. He improved slowly but surely 
and after two months was taking daily 
walks with Mulder. Maggie came every day 
to help, but Walter sent her home every 
night. They had very little time to 
themselves. One day in mid- June, Mulder 
and Scully decided it was time for them 
to have a little time alone, so Mulder 
treated Scully to dinner at her favorite 
restaurant, leaving Maggie to tend to 
Walter. That would be good deed ended in 
disaster.
Skinner had taken his daily walk with 
Mulder and had returned tired and more 
winded than usual. He was feeling his 
age and condition more than he had felt 
it in weeks. Maggie was in the ladies' 
room when Mulder and Scully left. 
Skinner was half sitting, half lying on 
the couch when Maggie came down from the 
bathroom. She'd heard Fox and Dana 
leave, and was personally glad for this 
time alone with Walter. She only wished 
that he...no, Maggie don't get on that 
again, you'll just end you arguing with 
him. 
 
He looked a bit tired and pale today and 
she couldn't help worrying about him, 
though she'd try not to let it show. He 
appeared to be sleeping when she got into 
the parlor, but turned his head and 
smiled at her, "Hey," and pulled himself 
fully into the sitting position. 
 
"Hey honey, how are you feeling"? 
 
"I'm all right. A bit worn from keeping 
up with Rocket Man Mulder out there, but 
all in all not bad," he told her raising 
his arm so she'd come sit beside him. 
Maggie smiled glad that he was almost 
back to his normal self though still was 
a little concerned as he was extreamly 
pale. "Hmmm. Would you like me to make 
some homemade soup?" 
 
"Nah," he shook his head, "I'm not 
hungry. Just come and sit beside me a 
moment," he whispered, closing his eyes 
again. 
 
"Okay but are you sure"? she asked, 
sweetly, he really should eat something. 
 
"Margaret, what did we talk about just 
yesterday? I'm fine, if I'm hungry, I'll 
ask for something to eat." 
 
Margaret let that go and cuddled up 
against him, her head against his 
shoulder. He'd gained some of the weight 
back, but the muscle tone in his 
shoulders was still not as it had once 
been. She loved him so much and it 
scared her to death that she'd nearly 
lost him, the same way that she had lost 
Bill. A small grunt of discomfort and a 
slight shiver from Skinner caught her 
attention and she sat up straight, "What? 
What is it"? 
 
Skinner shifted uncomfortablely, "A 
little pain, that's all." 
 
"Where? Where does it hurt"? She soothed. 
 
 "My chest, Maggie. I had heart 
surgery, where do you think it hurts?" 
Then, "I'm sorry, Baby, I didn't mean to 
snap." 
 
"It's okay" Maggie replied a little put 
out. 
 
"No, it's not.I'm sorry I upset you," he 
told her, "All I seem to do lately is 
upset you." 
 
"It's okay really. I understand what 
you're going through," she told him 
gently, he looked even paler. 
 
"You have no idea, Maggie," he told her, 
grunting a bit again, placing his hand to 
his chest. 
 
"Well then describe it to me, describe 
the pain," she instructed, wanting to 
know, wanting to help. 
 
 "It's not the pain, Maggie, it's being 
so...it's having to...it's relying on you 
for everything when you are in no 
condition to deal with something like 
this." 
 
"But i like to help" 
 
"I don't need your help, Maggie, not at 
the expense of the baby," he said 
stiffly, leaning on his cane attempting 
to rise from the sofa. 
 
"I'm not trying to take away you 
independance Walter" 
 
"I know that, Love, but you can't take 
care of me all the time, you have to take 
care of yourself now, and our little boy 
or girl. That's what's important." 
 
She sub-conciusly touched her stomach and 
gently sighed. "What's the matter?" he 
asked, stopping on his way to the kitchen 
to give her his attention. 
 
"It's just. I feel that you're slipping 
away from me," she mumbled to her 
stomach. 
 
Skinner decided to ignore his pain and 
headed back to his lover on the couch, 
"Maggie, I'm not slipping away from you, 
I'm trying to protect you. I love you, 
Sweetheart and I love the baby and, 
Maggie you aren't twenty anymore, neither 
of us is and," he bit his lip, "I 
just...if something happened to you, I 
don't know what I'd do." 
 
"Walter, i don't need coddling," she 
insisted. 
 
"Yes, Maggie you do. Look at you, you 
are exhausted, your ankles are swollen, I 
know your blood pressure is high, you 
need to take care of yourself now. I can 
take care..." he stopped midsentence to 
catch his breath. 
 
"Walter?" 
 
He breathed a bit faster, the pain from 
the scar burning, his chest aching, "I 
can take care of myself he finished, 
rising up from his crouch and making his 
way to the kitchen for his meds. 
 
"No you can't" 
 
"Excuse me?" he raised his voice and his 
eyebrow pausing again. 
 
"You can't take care of yourself" 
 
"What do you mean? I can't take care of 
myself! I'm doing it now aren't I?" 
 
"No you can't take care of yourself. 
You're still sick and weak and"... 
 
"You're right, I am sick, I'm sick of you 
treating me like an invalid. I had a 
heart attack, I'll live..." 
 
"Yeah today you will" 
 
"Maggie, look. I don't feel well, I'm 
tired. I'd like to take my medicine and 
take a rest, but I can't do that if I 
know you are going to sit in that chair 
and fret and fuss. That is bad for my 
heart." 
 
"Well why don't you rest and I get the 
meds"? She asked exasperated 
 
"No, not if you're going to make a big 
deal out of it. You need your rest as 
well." 
 
"For gods sake Walter! Do you see Fox 
fussing over dana? No" 
 
"Dana is not fifty-two years old, 
Margaret." he shot back. 
 
"I'm fifty-one" 
 
"Still, it is very dangerous to have a 
baby at your age. You could die, the 
baby could die, and if that happens..." 
 
"Oh for gods sake Walter. You think i 
don't know that"? 
 
"Then please, Maggie, take care of 
yourself and our child, the baby is 
helpless. I'm not. If we are going to 
be married, you have to learn to listen 
to me." 
 
"I do listen to you" 
 
"No you don't. If you did you'd have 
gone home and rested when I asked you. I 
don't need you here, Margaret. I love 
you and I love spending time with you, 
but if you insist on continuing to 
smother me like, this, I can't take it 
Maggie. I can't take worrying about 
you." 
 
Maggie struggled to remain calm, she 
didn't want to excite Walter and she 
didn't want to excite herself for in 
doing so, she'd only end up exciting 
Walter, so instead she launched another 
query that had been haunting her mind. 
"Well then Walter, tell me this. Why 
didn't you tell me about the last attack? 
Were you afrraid what i would say"? 
 
"Maggie, we'd just begun dating when I 
had the first heart attack. I wasn't 
that serious and I knew that you'd lost 
your Bill to a bad heart and...damn it 
Maggie, I loved you too much to risk 
losing you." 
 
"Walter, please don't bring Bill into 
this," she pleaded, tears welling in her 
blue eyes. 
 
"He's an issue here, Maggie. Oh, Honey, 
please don't cry," he pleaded, seeing the 
tears start to fall. "I'm only trying to 
protect you, there are a lot of things I 
can't tell you, just for that reason." 
 
"Well for gods sake honey! If i'm you 
rwife and you can't tell me things, then 
i see this engagement going nowehere"! 
 
"Margaret, please, you know in my job, 
just like in Dana's, there are things 
that are confidential," Skinner told her, 
feeling in his gut where this was headed 
and feeling powerless to stop it. 
 
"Oh please Walter, now who's not 
listening! I'm not talking about your 
work. I'm talking about you! Your life, 
your health, your worries, your fears. 
I'm never a part of any of it"! 
 
"You don't need to be exposed to that, 
don't you understand. I can't let you 
see that side of me. You know who I am, 
but if you know what I've done, I'd lose 
you Maggie, I know I would." 
 
Tears were beginning to form in his brown 
eyes, and he studied the floor so that 
she wouldn't see them. He had lost her, 
in that one sentence, he knew she'd leave 
him. It was just a question of when. 
 
"Walter i do want to know all those 
things, In marriage, you're not suppsed 
to keep any secrets. Now I understand, 
in your line of work, there are secrets 
to keep, but your personal life, married 
people, people in love share all of those 
things, my love." 
 
"Maggie, some things...there are things 
that I haven't told anyone, can't tell 
anyone. I have a hard enough time 
excepting them myself. I never even told 
Sharon." Skinner once again, raised his 
hand to his chest and gently massaged the 
area where the pain was increasing. He 
was exhausted and moved to a chair and 
sat down heavily. 
 
"Okay for the third time Walt. If we 
cannot communicate in this relationship, 
then I see it going nowhere," she told 
him, ignoring the signal whistles in her 
head telling her he was truly not feeling 
well. 
 
He looked up at her, his face stoic, eyes 
red and burning with unshed tears, "What 
are you saying Maggie? Spell it out." 
 
"I'm saying that if we cannot talk, then 
there's no point to continuing this 
engagement." She said it firmly, 
definitively as she slid the diamond off 
her finger and placed it on the polished 
wood table in front of him. She said 
nothing else, she just took a deep breath 
and left him, alone, in the room.
Skinner asked for her the day and Scully 
finding her mother's absence strange had 
obligingly called her. She didn't answer 
so Scully drove over to her apartment.
"Mom! Mom, are you home?" Dana called as 
she entered her family home with the key 
her Mom gave her many years ago. 
 
"I'm in the attic, Dana. Come up and see 
what I found." 
 
Dana climbed the winding stairs slowly 
careful of her now rounding stomach. 
Maggie was seated on the floor amidst 
baby clothes and toys, smiling, if a bit 
forlornly at the memories the items 
brought back to her. She should be 
sharing this with Walter, but instead, 
his stubbornness and her pride had caused 
them to separate before their child was 
given life. 
 
"What are you doing up here? Walter's 
been asking for you and I've been calling 
you for hours. You had us so worried." 
Scully sighed. It wasn't like her mother 
to be like this. 
 
"Oh, now he's asking for me. He didn't 
get enough of berating me the other day 
for not taking care of myself and his 
baby. Every day since he's been out of 
the hospital it's been, Fox and Dana can 
handle it, Maggie. You don't have to do 
that, Maggie!" She slowly let out her 
breath. 
 
"I love him and I need to take care of 
him for myself, for my own peace of 
mind." 
 
"Mom. I know but this is just his way of 
doing things. You know that, just like 
you knew it was Mulder's weird way of 
protecting himself by rejecting the baby 
in the beginning. He hates being weak 
and helpless and at least for the last 
two months, he was." 
 
"Dana, I don't know what to do. I feel 
so confused. I know I shouldn't be upset 
with him, he's been through so much and 
he's still so ill. I shouldn't be 
reacting like this, but I can't help it, 
I'm just so angry at him!" 
 
"Mom," Dana said, gently, putting her 
arms around her mother. "I only want to 
say this once; you are not behaving like 
yourself. Maybe its hormones, maybe its 
the stress of pregnancy this late in 
life, maybe you just don't love Walter 
the way you thought you did, but Mom, 
what you are doing, the anger, the 
hostility, it's killing him." 
 
"I love him, Dana, it's not anger or 
hostility, it's...it's..." 
 
"Fear? Mom, are you afraid Walter's 
going to die, like Daddy?" 
 
"Your father never had a chance to 
recover from his heart attack, he just 
died and I couldn't take care of him or 
tell him I loved him and that I'd miss 
him, and I suppose that I'm afraid 
Walter's going to get worse and I won't 
be able to tell him how I feel." Margaret 
stifled a sob as she thought of her late 
husband. Suddenly it all made sense to 
Scully, she could help now. 
 
"Then let's go over to my house and you 
can tell him. Go to him and tell him, you 
love him, you want to be there for him, 
it hurts you when he shuts you out, and 
that you're afraid to lose him." 
 
"I can't do that. He can't handle that 
stress, he needs..."Dana cut her off. 
 
"He doesn't need to be coddled or treated 
like a child. He just needs to be loved." 
 
Maggie's face suddenly shifted as she 
faced her only daughter. "Oh, Dana, what 
have I done? How could I have been so 
cruel? I yelled at him and told him that 
if I wasn't good enough to take care of 
him, then I guess I wasn't good enough to 
be his wife. I gave him back the ring." 
 
"Is that what happened last night? I knew 
he wasn't as well as he'd been, but I had 
no idea that the two of you had a fight 
like that." 
 
"Was he sick last night? He didn't seem 
to be himself, but I thought that was 
just because he was angry." Maggie 
suddenly felt sick and clammy. Had she 
caused Walter to take a down slide in his 
progress? 
 
"He was downhearted; I think would be the 
word. He didn't want to eat and he 
didn't come out of his room like he 
usually does. I thought he was tired, he 
does tire very easily. Oh, Mom, I'm 
sorry. But hey! Mulder and I fight all of 
the time and we're still together." She 
added as if that was some form of 
consolation. 
 
"Thank you for your fine example sweetie 
but you are not as sorry as I am Dana, 
about last night, about everything that's 
happened. I was so angry with you and Fox 
for taking Walter's side and even angrier 
at him for..." 
 
"Mom, tell you what, let's go over to my 
house, you and Walter can talk and then 
we'll all eat together, like a family 
should." 
 
Margaret dried her eyes and got up off 
the floor, it was then that she noticed 
the small bulge in her daughter's belly, 
telling the world of her condition. 
 
"Oh, honey, look, you're really starting 
to show. Sure you aren't farther along 
than five months?" 
 
"Yes, Mom. Now if only I could feel more 
than a flutter, I'd like one honest to 
goodness kick. Let's go, you and Walter 
have a lot to talk about." 
 
Scully took her mothers arm and helped 
her downstairs. 
 
"Ow! Jesus." Scully rubbed her stomach 
over the small bulge. 
 
"Are you all right?" Asked her mother. 
 
"Yeah. The baby just kicked, hard," she 
laughed.
 
"Well, then looks like you got what you 
asked for doesn't it?" Her mother 
replied, more tartly than intended. Off 
the look on her daughters face she softly 
amended the sharp retort. 
 
"Hormones." As a means of explanation. 
 
Scully smiled and led her mother to the 
car out on the drive. 
 
While Scully was in charge of talking 
sense in to her mother, Mulder was left 
in charge of Walter. The two men walked 
in silence around the Mulder's block. 
Walking was supposed to be good for 
Walter, but even short, slow strolls 
sapped his strength. Today was worse 
than yesterday, today they had to stop 
several times for Walter to take a break 
and he complained more of pain and 
tiredness. 
 
"Walter, you have to have a twenty minute 
walk twice a day. We've only been out 
here five minutes, usually I have to drag 
you back in. What's going on?" Mulder 
was worried, but he let it go. Walter's 
face was pale as Mulder studied it, but 
he let that go too. 
 
"She gave me back the ring," Walter said 
softly, pain in his voice. 
 
"What? Mom did that?" 
 
"Yeah, she doesn't want to marry me." 
 
"She's just upset, the pregnancy hormones 
are wreaking havoc on her personality, I 
know all too well," Mulder tried to make 
light of the situation, Scully could be 
unreasonable on a good day, more than 
likely Maggie was the same way. 
 
"Scully driving you a little crazy?" 
Walter asked, his step swaying a bit. He 
slowed down. 
 
"She's doing that nesting thing, she 
keeps cleaning, and then I can't find 
anything. I don't care if she cleans the 
house, but not the study or the office. 
Those are Fox Mulder's private domains." 
 
"If you said that to Scully I'm surprised 
you still have the equipment to make 
babies with," Walter quipped, he knew 
Scully's temper. Maggie had the same 
one. 
 
"Yeah, well, you have to grin and bear 
it, it's only supposed to last two 
months." 
 
"So, really Walter, what is going on with 
you and Mom? I understand you didn't 
want to burden her 24 hours a day at 
first, with the baby and everything, but 
she's probably hurting that you don't 
want to lean on her. I know how hurt 
Scully was after I got back from Alaska 
and didn't want her to see me..." 
 
"I told her that I wanted to give her 
time to take care of herself and my 
little one. The last thing I need is her 
getting sick or hurt or anything. I told 
her you and Dana could handle it and that 
she didn't have to do so much for me." 
 
"And what she heard was I don't need you 
and I don't want you, and probably in the 
hormone enraged brain of hers, I don't 
love you." 
 
"Oh, Fox, do you really think she thinks 
that," he said, stopping for a minute to 
look at Fox, "I have to..." 
 
Just as he said that he felt his legs go 
out from under him and Fox's arm support 
him, "You okay, Walt? Want to rest?" 
Mulder asked, helping him sit on a porch 
step. 
 
"Just a minute..." he was gasping and his 
color was draining from his face, leaning 
heavily on his son in law. 
 
"Walter, breathe slowly. Sit down on the 
step. Are you in any pain?" Mulder asked 
worriedly. 
 
Walter nodded and indicated his chest. 
 
"Can't breathe," he wheezed, lips turning 
blue and his head lolling from side to 
side. 
 
"Relax, Dad, I'm going to call 
911," Mulder said gently, a hand on 
Walter's shoulder. 
 
"Maggie, please, call Maggie..." His 
voice was weak, he was pleading with him, 
tears of pain in his eyes. 
 
"I will. Ambulance first hold on, look 
at me..." 
 
"911 emergency, may I help you?" 
 
 
"Yes, this is Special Agent Fox Mulder; I 
have an emergency at 413 West Carter 
Road. The Assistant Director is having a 
heart attack. He's just had a heart 
attack two months ago and is having 
shortness of breath, fatigue, weakness in 
his legs, and chest pain. He had open 
heart surgery, "he explained, trying to 
remain calm. 
 
"Agent Mulder, an ambulance is en route. 
Now keep him relaxed, lay him down and 
elevate his legs," the operator directed. 
 
Mulder followed the instruction and was 
relieved to hear sirens approaching at a 
rapid pace. 
 
"Dad, the ambulance is here? Walter? 
Sir?" Mulder was screaming, trying to 
get an answer from his boss and soon to 
be father-in-law. 
 
The only word Skinner uttered, in his 
last grip on consciousness was Maggie. 
 
Meanwhile, Dana and her Mom reached the 
house and found it empty. 
 
"Mulder and Walter must be out on their 
walk. I swear Mulder gets a real kick 
out of that time together. I know they 
talk about me and "hormones" but it's 
worth it to see Mulder have a father 
figure. He needs that to be a good dad, 
I mean, grandpa and Daddy had a great 
relationship, and Daddy and the boys. I 
wanted that for Fox and hopefully, he'll 
get that from Walter." There was 
unmistakable hope in Dana's voice and 
Maggie smiled. She and her daughter were 
too very lucky women. 
 
Suddenly, the color drained from Maggie's 
face and she stumbled. 
 
"Mom," Dana rushed to her mother's side, 
"are you all right? What's wrong?" 
 
"There's nothing wrong. Not with me. 
It's Walter, something's happened?" 
Maggie was scared; she could feel her 
body grow cold, just like, just like... 
Just like it had when Bill died.
"All right, Mom. Come over here and sit 
down. If Mulder and Walter aren't back 
in ten minutes, I'll go out and drive 
along their route and see if I can find 
them." Dana kept her voice even, but she 
knew that if her mother was having one of 
her "feelings" she had a good chance of 
being on target. She knew about Duane 
Barry, and about her feelings for Fox. 
The excitement though was not something 
that Walter would want Maggie to feel. 
 
"Dana, I know you don't believe me, that 
I can feel these things, but..." 
 
Just then, the phone rang cutting Maggie 
off. She lunged for it and picked it up. 
 
"Hello, Mulder residence," she said 
anxiously. 
 
"Mom, good there you are. I need to talk 
to Dana for a second first..." 
 
"Fox, is something wrong with Walter? 
Tell me, please, I need to know." 
 
Her tone begged him; she had tears in her 
voice, tears of real genuine fear. He 
had to tell her where they were. 
 
"Mom, listen carefully, Walter and I are 
at the hospital. He had another heart 
attack we think, he had pain and weakness 
while we were walking. Dr. Sklodonski is 
in with him. He was calling for you 
until he became unconscious." 
 
"Oh, God, tell me, is it..." 
 
"I don't know, Mom. Listen, the doctor 
is coming out, have Dana drive you and 
meet us here," he instructed in a no 
nonsense voice before hanging up. 
 
Maggie rose on shaky legs and looked at 
her daughter. "Dana that was Fox. We 
have to get to the hospital, Walter, 
he's...he's sicker, or, I have to get to 
him." Maggie was becoming agitated and 
worried. 
 
"All right, Mom. Put your jacket on and 
I'll take you there right now. Try and 
calm down, this excitement is not good 
for the baby." 
 
Maggie took a few deep breaths and 
quickly followed Dana out the door, 
leaving the tea mugs on the table, still 
brewing, abandoned and forgotten in their 
state of panic. 
 
The twenty minute drive to the hospital 
took only ten and felt like fifty. Dana 
let Maggie out first, and then went 
around to Visitor's Parking. She knew 
how upset her mother was and that wasn't 
likely to change until she got to Walter. 
 
Maggie practically ran down the hallway 
until she saw Fox sitting with Dr. 
Sklodonski and another young girl she 
didn't know. They all had a serious look 
on their face, and Maggie got a cold, 
sinking feeling in her stomach. 
 
"Ah, Mrs. Scully," Dr. Edward Sklodonski 
said as he rose from his seat and shook 
her hand, "Where is Dr. Mulder?" 
 
"I'm here," Dana called out, approaching 
the quartet seated on the uncomfortable 
waiting room chairs. "Please, tell me, 
how's Walter?" 
 
"Well, he had an anxiety attack. 
Normally, we'd just prescribed rest and 
tell him to reduce stress, however, with 
his heart all ready weakened, and attack 
put more strain on the muscle and caused 
a second attack. And to add flame to the 
fire, his blood pressure spiked to 
unparallel levels and he..." 
 
"No!" Maggie cried out, covering her 
mouth with a shaking hand. "He can't be! 
 I never told him I was..." 
 
"Mrs. Scully," Dr. Sklondonski said, 
patting her knee, "He's not dead, he's 
still with us. What I was trying to say 
is, the spike in blood pressure cause him 
to suffer a stroke. This young lady is 
Dr. Lisa Wallace, she's a neurologist in 
charge of Walter's case, Lisa." 
 
"Thank you, Ed," the young blonde said, 
as she turned to look directly at Dana 
Mulder, "Dr. Mulder, I presume?" 
 
"Yes, I'm Dr. Dana Mulder, and this is my 
mother, Margaret Scully. She is AD 
Skinner's fiancee." 
 
"Mrs. Scully, the Assistant Director has 
had a stroke that primarily affects the 
speech area resulting in a condition know 
as aphasia. He is also having difficulty 
chewing and swallowing, a condition known 
as dysphasia. There also appears to be 
some signs of left hemiplegia, causing 
numbness and loss of motor function on 
the left side of his body. There is a 
small bit of good news from the initial 
exam; he has some tingling on the left 
side of his body and a little movement in 
his left hand, not much. But there is 
some hope. 
 
"I have an outline procedure that I like 
to follow..." 
 
"Dr. Wallace," Mulder cut her off, "With 
all due respect, this is a little much 
for my mother-in-law to take in with her 
being pregnant and all. Why don't we 
hold off on the course of treatment 
options until she's had a chance to see 
for herself that he's alive and as well 
as can be expected." Mulder had set his 
arm around Maggie's shoulder and held her 
close when he felt her shudder. 
 
"This is all my fault. I can't believe I 
did that to him, I can't believe I hurt 
him like that. That was so inconsiderate 
of me, how could I?" Maggie lamented, 
burying her head in her son-in-law's 
shoulder. 
 
"Mom," Dana said, touching her mother's 
shoulder, "This could have happened 
anywhere, fight or no fight. Just be 
thankful it happened when someone was 
around to call the ambulance. Do you 
think you could...?" 
 
Before Dana could finish talking, she was 
interrupted by a young candy striper that 
had come from Walter's room. 
 
"Dr. Sklodonski, the stroke in 405 is 
mumbling something. I can't quite make 
it out but it sounds like a name." 
 
"Mrs. Scully, would you like to see 
Walter now, because if what Katie told me 
is correct, he wants to see you." 
 
"How could he after what I did to him?" 
she sobbed. 
 
"He loves you, Mom. You'll make him 
better," Fox assured her, "Come on." 
 
Dr. Sklodonski followed the trio to the 
room. He was aware of the range of 
emotions that could be experienced when a 
family member saw a stroke victim for the 
first time. 
 
Walter was hooked to more tubes and 
machines than he had been after the heart 
attack. There were not only the 
pulsometer and heart monitor on him, but 
now an EEG as well. His eyes were open 
and locked on Maggie when he saw her. 
She moved to the right side of the bed so 
she could hold him hand and have him feel 
her love. 
 
"Hi, sweetheart. How are you feeling."? 
 
"Like shit," he thought to himself. All 
he could manage out loud was, "MMM..." 
 
"Yes, darling. I'm here, I'm here. I 
love you, so much Walter. I want to be 
your wife, and I can't wait to have your 
child. He or she is growing every day, 
and he or she can't wait to see you, 
Daddy." 
 
"LLL...ovvv... ooo, ttt.ooo," he managed 
with great effort. 
 
"I thought the doctor said he couldn't 
speak," Maggie asked her eyes glowing. 
 
"Mrs. Scully, this particular speech area 
is responsible for the formation of 
words, not the retrieval of words. The 
facial paralysis doesn't make it any 
easier for him. He knows what he wants to 
say, he just can't say it. He may not be 
able to write either, we'll see about 
that. Encourage him to use his speech. 
He may slur and stammer, but you'll have 
to be patient with him." 
 
Skinner was lying there listening to the 
doctor talk around him. It was 
frustrating, he could still think, damn 
it! 
 
"Mmmmm...eerrr, ooo." 
 
"I know, darling. Dr. Sklodonski, please 
inform Walter of Dr. Wallace's 
prognosis." 
 
"Well, Mr. Skinner, you may have problems 
swallowing and chewing, and also walking 
and maintaining balance. With work 
however you will be able to walk again 
and live a normal life with the lovely 
Mrs. Scully and your baby." 
 
Dana and Fox had remained silent 
throughout, watching the AD struggle to 
speak and cope with his disabilities. 
They watched Maggie hold his hand and 
kiss the palm and murmur of her love for 
him. This information was coming all at 
once and he needed her now. 
 
Tears coursed down their cheeks as he 
uttered to her that he loved her too. He 
motioned to Mulder to come closer and 
mumbled the word "pocket." 
 
Mulder went into the AD's pocket and 
pulled out a small diamond ring. He'd 
carried it with him, to keep her close to 
him even when they were driven apart by 
their differences. He put it in the AD's 
right hand so he could put it on Maggie's 
finger. 
 
"Mmm...aaree, eee," he asked, love 
shining in the depths of his eyes. 
 
"Yes, oh, yes," she said, smiling and 
returning his love tenfold.
Three weeks later, Walter Skinner left 
Northeast Georgetown Hospital his 
doting fiancee at his side. As per Dr. 
Wallace's prognosis, his speech and 
swallowing remained affected, and his 
left side retained some residual 
paralysis. He had almost full use of his 
left leg, with the use of a brace 
and four-legged cane, but his arm hung 
mostly useless at his side. His 
speaking had cleared significantly since 
the first week he was in the 
hospital, but certain sounds or long 
complicated words were still stuttered 
or slurred, mostly the one with -th or -
sh sounds. If he was tired or upset 
about something, all of his deficits were 
more pronounced making it difficult 
for him to hide his feelings from Maggie. 
 
Maggie had been wonderful through out the 
whole thing. While the stroke had 
been a major health setback, it had done 
wonders for their relationship. 
Skinner had allowed her to give in to her 
caretaker tendencies and she'd 
blossomed. He watched her unfold like a 
flower offering him support and 
tender loving care. He hated doing it, 
but she seemed less tired and 
stressed since she took over his care 
than when he was staying with Mulder 
and Scully. 
 
Now she stood nestled against his right 
side, her arm around his waist while 
offering him support disguised as 
affection. They were waiting for Fox and 
Dana to come and get them from the 
hospital. They were going to have lunch 
and discuss their wedding, something 
Walter had insisted on doing in the near 
future. He wanted Maggie to be a Skinner 
before their baby was born. It was 
something he regretted not doing before 
he got sick. They'd been waiting for 
about ten minutes when Maggie began 
shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. 
 
"Where are those two kids?" she asked 
impatiently, "Some of us aren't thirty 
any more and it's hot out here." 
 
"I'm fine, Maggie, don't worry," he 
replied, assuming she was worried about 
him. 
 
"I know you are, Sweetheart. It's me I'm 
not so sure about. Carrying around 
all of this extra baby weight is taking 
it's toll." 
 
"Do you want to go inside and sit down?" 
he asked concerned. 
 
"No, we'll miss them then," she answered, 
her hand massaging her rounding 
belly, "Let's just go sit on that bench 
over there." Maggie holding his arm 
and turning toward the seat. They took a 
few steps and she cried out, "OH!" 
 
Walter turned and placed his shaky right 
hand on her back. His heart skipped 
a beat. What else could go wrong? 
 
"Maggie, what's is it?" he asked his 
speech slow and slurred. 
 
Maggie took a few deep breaths, then look 
up at him, tears in her eyes. 
 
"Oh, Walt, the baby..." she began. He cut 
her off. 
 
"What about the baby, Maggie? Is 
something wrong? I'll get the doctor." 
Walter started to go inside, but Maggie 
called to him, stilling him. 
 
"Walter, no. There's nothing wrong. Come 
here, feel." She was smiling as 
she placed his large hand on her belly. 
Then he felt it, what had caused 
Maggie to cry out, not in pain but in 
surprise for he then did the same 
thing. 
 
"Oh, my God, Maggie. Is that...was that?" 
he sputtered with barely contained 
excitement. 
 
"Yes, my love that is our baby. Our 
little boy or girl is...is..." she was 
beginning to cry. 
 
"Is what, Baby? What?" Walter crooned, 
sensing her distress. 
 
"Alive, Walter. Our baby is alive and 
real and oh God how I love you," she 
said with conviction, leaning into his 
strength as much as she felt was safe 
to do. Walter held her, his arm wrapped 
securely around her until he heard 
Kim's voice call out to him. 
 
"Sir, do you need any help with the 
bags?" 
 
She had Byers with her; he was coming up 
the walk closer to them. 
 
"Hello, John," Maggie greeted warmly, 
"where are Fox and Dana?" 
 
"Mulder called me early this morning and 
said he had to take Scully to the 
doctor. He asked if I wouldn't mind 
picking you guys up and bringing you to 
their place," Byers informed them 
 
"Why did Dana have to go to the doctor?" 
Maggie asked anxiously as she and 
Walter began to move toward the car. 
Kimberly opened the back door for 
Maggie and Walter insisted on helping her 
inside. Then worked his way to the 
other side of the car and realized maybe 
he should have asked Maggie to help 
him instead of the other way around. He 
couldn't seem to get his left leg up 
over the rise of the car. Kim noticed his 
dilemma and like the great 
secretary she was pretended to drop her 
purse on the ground near the AD. She 
then gently pushed the offending leg up 
over its hurdle and settling him in 
the car. 
 
"I've gotten clumsy in my old age," she 
muttered to herself, 
settling herself in the car. 
 
"You never answered my question," Maggie 
probed as Byers started to drive 
away from the hospital, "why is Dana at 
the doctor?" 
 
"I don't know," Kim answered truthfully. 
"Mulder just told John that we 
needed to get you from the hospital." 
 
"He seemed a little on edge, but not 
panicked. It can't be anything 
serious." 
 
Just as those words left Byers's mouth, 
Dana was lying on an examination 
table in Dr. Ragner's office. She had a 
scare that morning when she was in 
the shower. When she was washing herself, 
she'd seen some blood on the 
sponge. Mulder had wanted to take her to 
the hospital, but she wanted to 
call the doctor instead. Paula Ragner, 
her OBGYN, said to come in right away. 
 
She'd just finished her internal pelvic 
exam and was about to conduct an 
ultrasound. Fox held his wife's hand and 
felt the slight tremor there. She 
was scared and he couldn't blame her. 
Their family had been through a lot in 
the past three months or so and he knew 
she was wondering could all of that 
stress have impacted negatively on their 
baby. 
 
"Dana, whatever happens, I want you to 
know I love you very much. I'm sure 
this is nothing, but just know that ok?" 
he told her voice filled with 
emotion as he squeezed his hand. 
 
"I do, Fox. I love you too." 
 
Just then Dr. Ragner entered and smiled 
at the worried young couple before 
her. "Well, let's see. The initial exam 
did not show any problems but I 
want to do a sonogram just to have a peek 
at the baby. The spotting seems to 
have stopped Dana, so I don't think 
there's anything to worry about." 
 
Fox watched as the doctor spread this 
green looking jelly on Dana's stomach 
and 
asked anxiously, "That's not going to 
hurt her is it?" 
 
"No," Dana laughed, "It tickles." 
 
Dr. Ragner moved the stylus across Dana's 
belly and suddenly an image 
appeared on the screen. She made some 
notes on her clipboard and then 
stopped and said, "Oh, shit!" 
 
"Oh, shit!" Mulder exclaimed, "Oh, shit? 
Oh shit is not good, why did you 
say oh shit." He let go of Dana's hand 
and started to pace. 
 
"There's a little something on the 
ultrasound you should know about," Dr. 
Ragner told him. 
 
"Is something wrong?" Dana asked 
anxiously. 
 
"Um, no. This isn't news I get to give 
every day. Dana, Fox, you are having 
twins." 
 
"Oh, Fox..." Dana breathed, as she 
watched her husband pace and sputter. 
 
"Twins? Twins? How could we have twins? 
We're barely ready for one baby! 
Twinsss..." 
 
That was the last phrase he uttered 
before Fox Mulder collapsed to the floor 
in a dead faint.
Mulder's next conscious thought was of 
driving through town. He'd come to in 
the doctor's office, but his mind was 
still foggy. Twins! He didn't think 
he was ready for one child, let alone 
twins. Scully was beaming. He watched 
her as she manipulated the Jeep through 
the streets steering it steadily 
toward their home. 
 
He watched her for few moments before she 
turned to him and smiled, "You back 
with me, G-man? You were a million miles 
away." 
 
"I was just thinking, honey," he said 
mutedly. "We were both so scared this 
morning and then to find out we're not 
only having one healthy baby, but two. 
It was a little much Scully." 
 
"I know, and so does Dr. Ragner's floor," 
she laughed. "When do you want to 
tell Mom and Walter?" she asked, wishing 
he'd say exactly what he did. 
 
"As soon as possible. Byers and Kim were 
bringing them to our place. Your 
Mom is going to flip. I can't wait to see 
Skinner's face." 
 
"Well, you won't have a long wait. We're 
here, G-man." 
 
Mulder got out of the car and walked 
around to Scully's side, intent upon 
helping her out. She'd barely made it to 
the ground before her mother and 
Kim rushed out onto the porch. 
 
"Dana, sweetie, are you all right?" 
Maggie asked, nervously, praying that her 
daughter and her child were all right. 
 
"I'm fine, Mom," she placated, "Did you 
and Walter get in all right?" 
 
"Yes, but what happened with the doctor?" 
Maggie asked insistently. 
 
"That's something I only want to say 
once. Let's go inside so Walter and 
Byers can hear it too." Dana set her arm 
around Maggie and led her back into 
the house. Mulder and Kim followed 
behind. 
 
Skinner was seated on Mulder and Scully's 
easy chair, his legs and arm 
propped up to keep the circulation 
flowing. He still looked so sickly 
sometimes and seeing him sort of slumped 
over to one side gave Maggie a 
pang. 
 
"Dana, what happened?" he asked, his 
speech slurred with apprehension. 
 
"Mom, why don't you sit down with Walter 
and Mulder could you get everyone 
some drinks?" 
 
"Dana, you are upsetting your Mom, 
sweetie," chastised Mulder. "Let's just 
tell them." 
 
The tension in the room was growing. What 
awful thing had happened now they 
all wondered? 
 
"Do you want to do it, Fox?" she asked, 
trying not to smile. 
 
"I think it should come from you, Dana," 
he replied keeping his voice even. 
 
"Well, as you know I went to the doctor 
today and she wanted to run some 
tests to make sure nothing was wrong and 
well, she found a little something 
in the ultrasound that you should know 
about." 
 
Maggie gasped and leaned into Walter's 
shoulder. He patted her arm with his 
good hand. Byers and Kim leaned a bit 
closer to each other as well, bracing 
themselves for the news. 
 
"What is it, Dana?" Skinner asked, 
keeping his speech as clear as he could. 
 
"Well, congratulations Grandpa, Mulder 
and I are going to have twins," she 
could barely contain her happiness. 
 
Maggie leapt out of her chair and almost 
tripped over Walter's legs as she 
reached out for her daughter. "Oh, Dana, 
I am so happy for you. This is 
truly a double miracle. Oh, Fox, 
congratulations," she said hugging her 
son-in-law tight. 
 
Dana was then embraced by Byers and Kim 
and finally she stood in front of her 
stepfather. 
 
"What do you think?" she asked him. He 
was looking at her, tears in his 
eyes. He felt like his own child was 
standing before him telling him this. 
He wanted to get up and hold her and tell 
her he wished her the best, but 
instead she leaned down to him and kissed 
his forehead. 
 
"I think that's the best news I've ever 
heard," he said holding her as best 
he could. 
 
When the hugging and backslapping ceased, 
Scully looked at Byers and Kim. 
She could tell they were sitting on 
something. 
 
"Ok, you two, out with it," she 
commanded. 
 
Kim blushed and leaned a little closer to 
Byers. 
"Well, as you all know, John has asked me 
to marry him, and well, what happened 
with you, Sir, scared us into 
setting a date very quickly. So, we've 
decided to get married in a quiet 
little ceremony about three weeks from 
Saturday." Kim could hardly stop 
smiling. 
 
"That is terrific, Kimberly," Dana said 
smiling and hugging her now very 
close friend. 
 
"There's only one little problem with 
this whole idea," Byers interjected, 
"We don't have any real idea on how and 
where to do this. We just want it to be 
soon." 
 
"Well, we'll help, won't we?" Maggie told 
her. "We can have the wedding in 
the yard at the Baltimore house. Dana and 
I will do the food and the 
flowers...it will be very nice, you'll 
see." 
 
Kim's eyes misted over and for an instant 
Maggie though she'd said something 
wrong. "You don't like that idea, Kim?" 
she asked 
 
"No, it's not that, it's just that, this 
is something I always thought I do 
with my Mom." 
 
"We can..." Maggie began, but Skinner cut 
her off, "That's every girls dream 
Kimberly, but you have us, huh? We'll 
make this a very nice wedding for you 
and Byers." 
 
Kim seemed placated by that and smiled. 
Shortly after Maggie and Dana sat 
down in the kitchen with Kim to go over 
the guest list and food choices and 
the men sat in the living room watching 
the Yankee game. Mulder and Byers of 
course cheered on the Yankees, but 
Skinner prayed silently that the team 
would lose. He hated the Yankees and 
really didn't know why, he just did. 
He and Mulder had many a disagreement 
over the team. 
 
After the women came out of the kitchen, 
Maggie noticed Walter getting tired. 
He was slumping over in the chair and his 
speech was becoming more 
incoherent. She mentioned this to Kim, 
who immediately gathered her things 
to leave. She gave Maggie and Dana hugs 
and left with a smile on her face. 
 
Maggie knew that the next three weeks 
would be hectic, but they would sure be 
worth it. Now if only she could convince 
Walter it was time to plan their 
own wedding. Hmm, well, she'd save that 
for tomorrow; tonight she'd be 
content to curl up on his chest and 
sleep.
THREE WEEKS LATER
On the day of Kimberly and Byers wedding, 
Maggie Scully stood with Kim in 
front of the mirror in Dana's old room. 
She secured the beige veil on Kim's 
head and smiled at her. 
 
"You look lovely," she said, tucking a 
hair in place. 
 
"No, I look fat," she whined slightly as 
she stared back at her reflection in 
the mirror. 
 
"If you look fat, what do I look like," 
Scully complained. "Carrying twins 
is hard work." She laughed. 
 
"Carrying anything is hard work, dear," 
Maggie told her, "And just think we 
all have what, a good two months left on 
this sentence?" 
 
Just then Skinner walked in leaning on 
his cane, "How's everyone in here?" he 
asked, his speech still exaggerated, but 
much better, "The groom is in the 
master bedroom trying to remember how to 
breath. And to think, I get to have 
this fun myself in two weeks." 
 
"You don't want to get married, Walter," 
Maggie teased. 
 
"To you? Ah," he said approaching her 
slowly, "With a bride as lovely as 
you, how can a man resist?" 
 
He pulled her into his arms and kissed 
her lips gently. Dana and Kim blushed 
at the display of love between the older 
couple. 
 
"Mom!" Scully whispered extremely 
embarrassed. 
 
"Well," said Maggie pulling away, "let's 
get this show on the road. Walter, 
why don't you go and see if John is 
ready." 
 
In Maggie's room, John Byers was staring 
at himself in the mirror, Mulder 
next to him and Frohike and Langley 
behind. 
 
"The ladies are ready to start as soon as 
you can breathe again, John," 
Skinner told them as he walked through 
the doorway. 
 
"Oh god. "Byers turned as white as a 
sheet at the thought. He reached up to 
check for the ring again. For the 
hundredth time, but Mulder stopped him. 
 
"Hey, you remember what to do. You're 
going to be fine. Oh and don't check for 
the 
ring again. It's there in your front 
pocket. But even if it isn't, I'm 
kidding man. Don't worry. Hell when I 
married Scully, I lost the wedding 
ring. I thought she was going to murder 
me. But I made it through the day and 
look where I am now. I have a lovely 
home, a beautiful wife and two kids on 
the way. Trust me John. It's worth 20 
minutes of swearing and sweating." 
Mulder laughed. 
 
"Sure. You're right man. I can do this." 
He drew in a deep breath and walked 
out of the room into the hallway. 
 
Maggie's living room was lined with white 
folding chair and adorned with 
white roses and lilies. The music began 
to play and the guests turned their 
heads to look at the aisle where Kimberly 
would come down. She descended the 
stairs herself, and then took Skinner's 
arm when she approached the bottom. 
She'd never been happier or sadder in her 
life. She was thrilled for 
everything she had, a new family and a 
caring,wonderful man, yet 
she was sad for everything she'd lost, 
her parents and her sister. 
 
The room was filled with bureau employees 
who rose when Kim and the AD 
entered the main room. Byers looked at 
her and felt his nerves melt away. 
She was perfect. This was perfect. This 
was right. 
 
Skinner placed a chaste kiss on her cheek 
before taking a seat beside his 
Maggie. Scully stood up with Kim along 
with Holly and Angela. Mulder stood 
with Byers, as did Langley and Frohike. 
 
As the priest spoke the words that would 
make them man and wife, he tightened 
his grip on Maggie's hand and whispered 
in her ear, "Not too much longer 
until that's us up there, Mrs. Skinner." 
 
She turned her head to kiss him and 
smiled into his lips, "I can hardly 
wait." 
 
Skinner continued to kiss his fiancee 
passionately and neither realized when 
the priest announced Byers and Kim were 
man and wife. The applause startled 
them out of their embrace and they 
focused their eyes on Kim and John. They 
were kissing also and when they finished 
they weren't blushing as Skinner and 
Maggie were, they were beaming. 
 
"Ladies and Gentlemen, for the first 
time, I present, Mr. and Mrs. John 
Byers."
It was another two weeks after Kimberly 
and John were married before Maggie and 
Walter finally made it down the aisle. 
He'd hemmed and hawed about setting a 
date until Maggie finally informed him 
that her due date was not very far off 
and if he wanted to be married before his 
baby came, they'd best get to it. They 
finally tied the knot three weeks after 
Kimberly and John.
On the day of her long awaited wedding, 
Maggie Scully stood in front of the 
mirror surveying her appearance. The 
shell pink gown she'd chosen to marry 
Walter Skinner in set off the tone of her 
face perfectly, if only it did something 
for her now nonexistent figure. She 
placed her hand on her now rounded belly 
and sighed. She wanted this 
baby and she wanted to marry Walter, but 
sometimes she wasn't sure if she was 
doing the right thing. Maybe she 
shouldn't do this. 
 
Dana entered the room, her belly 
preceding that entrance. She looked at 
her 
Mom and tears sprang to her eyes. She 
looked so beautiful and so happy. 
 
"Are you ready, Mom?" she asked, brushing 
back a stray strand of hair from 
her mother's face. "You look perfect. 
Walter is going to love you, more 
than he all ready does." 
 
"You think he loves me? No, I'm being 
ridiculous, I know he loves me, but am 
I doing to right thing, Dana?" 
 
"Are you happy with Walter, Mom?" Scully 
asked, tucking the flower in her 
mother's hair. 
 
"Yes, he makes so happy and he makes me 
feel loved and young again." 
 
"Then you are doing the right thing, Mom. 
Your happiness is all that 
counts." 
 
"I still miss your Daddy. I still love 
him, but..." Her mother trailed off, 
"it's different this time." She looked 
into her daughters eyes and saw 
emotion there. 
 
"Mom, you have nothing to worry about. 
It's going to be a beautiful day and..." 
She was interrupted as the door swung 
open. 
 
"Knock knock" Mulder called, "How's 
everybody doing in here? You look 
beautiful, Mom. And Dana, you look 
terrific, perfect." He moved in and 
kissed her. 
 
Scully was wearing a blue dress. He loved 
her in blue, all shades; it 
brought out her eyes and set off her 
hair. He'd always found her beautiful, 
but now that she was almost seven months 
pregnant with his twins, she was 
radiant. The dynamic in the room seemed 
off; his mother-in-law seemed tense 
and nervous. 
 
"Dana, why don't you check on Walter and 
let me chat with Mom for a few 
minutes okay?" 
 
Scully got his silent message and turned 
to leave, kissing her mother's cheek 
before checking on her stepfather to be. 
 
"What's wrong, Mom?" Mulder asked, 
approaching his mother-in-law, "This is 
your wedding day. You should be happy. I 
know I was." 
 
"It was different for you, Fox. You and 
Dana were just starting out in life. 
I've been to the circus; I know 
everything there is to know about 
marriage 
and child rearing. There are no surprises 
left..." 
 
"Mom, you are marrying an Assistant 
Director of the FBI, trust me, your life 
together will be full of surprises," 
Mulder said smiling. 
 
"I hope they aren't like the surprises 
I've faced so far. A pregnancy, a 
heart attack, a stroke, what's next, a 
Mustang, an earring, and a nineteen 
year old girlfriend?" 
 
"Mom, you are being unreasonable, not to 
mention unfair. Skinner would never 
do that to you, he'd never do that, 
period." Mulder tried to keep his voice 
calm. He knew Maggie wasn't making an 
accusation, but he was beginning to 
feel a new attachment to Skinner and any 
attack on the man's character he met 
with resistance. 
 
"I know, Fox. I'm sorry. I'm just so 
scared. I'm so afraid that I'm not 
doing the right thing." 
 
"Mom, do you love Walter?" Mulder asked. 
 
"Of course I do, but does he really need 
to be saddled with a baby. His health 
is just starting to rebound, he is still 
not back to work, and this isn't fair 
to him, Fox." 
 
"What are you really afraid of, Mom? I 
know you're holding something back, 
what is it?" 
 
"I still miss Bill. I still love him. 
It's foreign to me, loving two men. 
I don't know if I can be a good wife to 
Walter while I still love another 
man." Maggie massaged her belly and 
looked on the verge of tears. 
 
"You still love Bill. You shared a lot of 
time together. You shared your 
lives, your children, he's part of you 
and you are part of him. Walter isn't 
going to expect you to stop thinking 
about Bill, to stop loving him. What he 
will expect is that you love him as much, 
if differently, than Bill. Part of 
Walter will probably always love Sharon, 
for the good times they had in their 
marriage. If you can accept that from 
him, he will accept that from you. 
 
"Now, stop worrying. Dry your eyes and 
get ready to marry, God help me, my 
boss. At least with him in the family, I 
won't get chewed out as often, huh. 
You can mellow him out for me." Mulder 
said, and then laughed quietly to 
himself. 
 
"What"? Maggie asked wiping her eyes. 
 
"I was just remembering how I proposed to 
Dana." A big grin escaped his lips 
again. 
 
"What did you do?" She stared at him. 
"Fox? Come on, Dana never really gave me 
all the details." 
 
"Okay. Okay. Well, I'd had a loooooong 
discussion with Byers about my 
feelings for Dana and I came to the 
conclusion that I was going to marry her 
no 
matter what anyone said. But stupidly I 
told Frohike and Langley as well and 
they both wanted to help me. So I went 
out and bought this gorgeous ring and 
then I'm like "okay so how do I ask her?" 
So then Frohike tells me to 
pretend that he was Scully and they were 
all shouting "say this" and "say 
that" you know. In the end I got up the 
nerve and drove to the 7/11 to pick 
up some supplies and then on to 
Quantico." Mulder paused as he relived 
the 
memory smiling again broadly. "Scully was 
performing an autopsy and then 
meeting with some old buddies from med 
school. I walked into the bullpen 
and..." 
 
"Bullpen?" Maggie asked. 
 
"A collection of desks where agents sit." 
He cleared that up for her and then 
continued. "Anyway I walked down to her 
and said all my hellos y'know. Then I 
uh got down on one knee and she thought I 
was ill! And then I said "I know 
Scully that I have always been a dweeb to 
you" and I lifted up a packet of 
'Dweebs'. "And that I don't deserve you. 
I probably never will. But we've 
been through a lot together and I was 
wondering if I could have your 'ham' in 
marriage. "And then lifted up a slice of 
ham. I know that last one was lame 
but hey it worked!" 
 
Maggie smiled up at him. He was really a 
sweet young man. "Were you afraid?" 
She tentatively asked. 
 
"Hell yeah! Of course I was. I was 
petrified. But I overcame my nerves and 
asked her. Men hate rejection. That's the 
problem. We're afraid of being 
shunned. Now look where that's gotten me. 
You are going to have a wonderful day. 
Mulder hugged her one last time before 
disappearing down the hall to check 
once again, on the very nervous groom. 
 
Meanwhile, Scully was down the hall 
talking to Skinner. He was pale and 
looked as though he might pass out. 
 
"How are you holding up, Sir?" she asked 
in a professional tone, trying to 
separate herself from the feelings she 
was having for this man. He was 
starting to feel like family. She didn't 
know if she'd ever seen him as a 
father completely, but she respected him 
and found herself beginning to love 
him. 
 
"I'm fine, Scully. Just fine," he said. 
 
"Liar. You're slurring your speech. You 
only do that when you're mad, 
nervous, or upset. I know you aren't mad; 
Mulder and I haven't worked this 
week. Upset doesn't really fit either, so 
I'd put my dollar on nervous. 
Want to talk about it?" She approached 
him and touched his shoulder gently. 
 
"I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing, 
Scully. I can't take the place of 
your Dad, I'm not even sure I'll be that 
great a dad or husband. I can't 
believe it took me this long to realize 
it." 
 
"Walter, no one expects you to take Dad's 
place. No one would want you too. 
What I do expect, and Mom and Mulder too, 
is for you to love her and protect 
her and to love and protect your baby. 
That's my little brother or sister in 
there and if you don't take care of 
business, I'm going to have to shoot you. 
And if you remember, I'm one of the best 
shots in the FBI, next to you, of 
course." 
 
That drew a small smile, which quickly 
faded into another frown. 
 
"There's something else isn't there?" she 
probed, all ready knowing the 
truth. 
 
"Yes. I'm scared, Scully. I never though 
I'd hear myself admit that. Not 
to a woman, not to you. I am so scared 
that I'll lose your Mom, I'm so 
scared that marriage to me will change 
her and not for the better either. 
I've all ready compromised her, made her 
lose some of her virtues, the things 
that make her who she is." 
 
"I don't understand." 
 
"She's pregnant and not married, and 
she's marrying a divorced man. She's 
getting married in her living room by a 
federal court judge. That is not the 
Margaret Scully I know. She's marrying an 
Episcopalian for God's sake." He rose 
from his position and began to pace, the 
slight limp the stroke left him with 
pronounced with his worry. 
 
"Walter, in about thirty-five minutes, my 
mother won't be Margaret Scully 
anymore. She'll be Margaret Skinner. And 
Margaret Skinner doesn't care if 
she's married in a church or that the man 
she's marrying is divorced. She 
only cares about the man. She only cares 
about you, Walter, your happiness 
and well being. That's what makes her my 
mother, Sir, nothing more, nothing 
less. 
 
"Would it make you feel better if I told 
you she's worrying that this is the 
right thing for you?" 
 
"Why? I'm the one who's asking her to 
change who she is for me." He looked 
lost. 
 
"She still loves my Dad, part of her 
always will, and she's irrationally 
afraid she's short changing you." 
 
"There are different kinds of love, Dana, 
she'd never marry me without loving 
me, and I know that." 
 
Scully moved into his path and made him 
stop pacing. "Sounds to me like you 
both have a case of pre-wedding jitters. 
I had a good case of them myself 
before I married Mulder, remember. Only I 
threw up on your tux when you came 
to see how I was," she smiled and giggled 
a bit at the memory, "you aren't 
going to throw up on me are you?" she 
asked cocking her head to the side and 
raising her eyebrows. 
 
"No," he laughed, "I'm not going to throw 
up on you. But I am going to kiss 
you." He took her shoulders and placed an 
almost fatherly kiss on her 
forehead, "You are something else, 
Scully. I hope that, if this baby's a 
girl, she's turns out exactly like you." 
 
Scully felt her eyes tear up and she 
leaned and gave him a quick hug. 
 
"Now, I better get back to Mom. See you 
in a few minutes," she smiled at him 
before turning and leaving the room. 
 
Fears put to rest; both bride and groom 
started counting the moments until 
the wedding was actually performed. 
Suddenly, Maggie couldn't wait to be 
Mrs. Walter Skinner. The minutes seemed 
to creep by slowly, and then her 
daughter was at her side and Kim as well, 
both radiant with pregnancy, both 
smiling. 
 
"It's time, Mom. Are you ready?" Dana 
asked. 
 
"I am, Dana. As nervous as I was before, 
I'm so ready to marry Walter now." 
 
"You're going to make him happy, 
Margaret. I've know him for a lot of 
years 
and he's never been happier than when 
he's with you." 
 
Margaret hugged her daughter, and then 
she hugged Kim and took a deep breath. 
 
"Okay, let's get this show on the road," 
she smiled and followed her two 
bridesmaids out the door with a bounce in 
her step. 
 
Her children had been right, this was 
going to be the best day of her life, 
and all the days after that, well, she'd 
have to see, but she knew one thing 
for sure, she could handle anything as 
long as she had Walter Skinner by her 
side.
Saturday morning, Two weeks after the 
wedding 
 
Walter Skinner had spent the night awake. 
He had a lot to think about. He 
was married again, this time to a woman 
he loved more than his own life and 
she was pregnant with his first child. He 
couldn't stop himself from 
marveling over that fact. It was amazing 
to him, inconceivable that after 
years of loneliness and despair that he 
could have this happiness. 
 
Margaret was nestled against his side, 
her head pillowed by his shoulder. 
She was sound asleep, exhausted from the 
days activities. He loved to watch 
her sleep. She looked so young and 
carefree, so in need of his protection. 
He nearly left his skin when the phone 
rang loudly. 
 
"Skinner," he barked into the phone, not 
raising his voice, but annoyance 
evident in his tone. He checked that 
Maggie was still asleep. If this early 
caller disturbed her, they would pay. 
 
"Good morning, Dad," came the teasing 
voice of his new stepson-in-law, Fox 
Mulder. 
 
"It was. What is it, Mulder?" he asked 
his Agent. 
 
"Is Mom awake yet?" Mulder asked. 
 
"No, and if I have my way, she won't be 
for at least two more hours. Its 
only six a.m. for God's sake." 
 
Mulder could tell his father-in-law and 
boss was upset to have had his sleep 
interrupted, but he had to call. Dana had 
been keeping him awake all night, 
pestering him about when they were going 
to go shopping for the baby 
furniture they needed. He'd gotten two 
hours sleep if he was lucky and even 
that was interrupted by Scully's excited, 
yet annoying prodding. 
 
"I know, Walt. Believe me, I know. Dana 
has kept me up all night. She 
wants to go shopping for baby things and, 
I'm sorry, as much as I love her, I 
can't stand the though of going to stores 
with her." 
 
Skinner took pity on his comrade in 
suffering. Shopping with Margaret was a 
tiring, stressful, maddening ordeal if 
there ever was one and she got tired 
easily, after two hours they were done, 
yet it took him weeks to recover. 
Scully, with the energy her pregnancy had 
given her must be worse. 
 
"I know what you mean, Mulder," Skinner 
sympathized. "Shopping with Maggie 
is a fate I wouldn't wish on...on... the 
Cancerman. If daughter is like 
mother, I understand. That still doesn't 
excuse you from calling me at six 
a.m. on a weekend." 
 
"You're upset about that, huh" Mulder 
inquired all ready knowing the answer. 
 
Skinner surprised him when he sighed, 
"No, I wasn't asleep. I ah, haven't 
really slept since the wedding. I keep 
waking up to check on Maggie and then 
I lay there a while and think. I was all 
ready up." 
 
"I used to do that when I first got 
married. I couldn't get enough of 
looking at her. Scully of course wasn't 
pregnant at the time so she'd wake 
up and..." 
 
"I don't need a visual aid, Mulder. I've 
gotten the picture." 
 
Walter swung his legs over the side of 
the bed and moved away so that his 
voice wouldn't disturb Margaret's sleep. 
 
"Well, anyway, while Dana is still in the 
shower and can't hear me complain, 
I called to ask if you and Mom want to 
meet us for a later breakfast and 
shopping for baby things. I could really 
use a buddy in the trenches man." 
 
Skinner stared at his wife. She'd been 
feeling tired and rundown since the 
wedding, the stress and strain of the 
last seven months catching up and 
wiping her out. He didn't want to keep 
her out too long. On the other hand, 
a day with her two crazy children might 
do her some good. The worst that 
could happen was she got tired and they 
left early. 
 
"Well, like I said, she's not awake yet. 
I'll ask her when she gets up and 
call you back. Nothing is open until ten 
anyway. If she says yes, I'll call 
you back." 
 
Mulder offered up a silent prayer of 
thanksgiving. He knew that Maggie would 
jump at the chance to spend the day with 
her daughter, husband, and "son". 
Aloud he said, "All right, I'll tell Dana 
that you'll call. Don't be 
surprised if she calls you every ten 
minutes to see if Mom is up yet. She 
woke me every ten minutes to ask when 
we'd go shopping until I said today. 
She's so excited about this." 
 
"And you're not?" Skinner asked. He knew 
that since Mulder had accepted his 
wife's condition and had seen the 
sonogram photo he'd been smitten with his 
children, so his not being excited didn't 
compute. 
 
"I am excited about the buying part, just 
not the shopping part. We'll go 
to like ten stores and look at all 
different models and prices and end up 
buying the first thing we looked at in 
the first store. Scully insists on 
trying to find the best bargain even 
though I told her that the money wasn't 
a big deal." Mulder was whining now. 
 
"I know what you mean. The Scully women 
aren't used to being comfortable. 
Most of their lives, they had little 
money so bargains and deals had been the 
only way, now they can't seem to break 
the bonds of the Price Club." 
 
Mulder chuckled, "You too, huh?" 
 
"Me too," Skinner admitted, with another 
sidelong glance at his bride, 
"Listen, I have to go. If I keep talking, 
I'm going to wake Maggie. See 
what you can do to occupy Dana until at 
least seven." 
 
"I'll try, Sir, and thanks a lot for 
doing this." Mulder sound genuinely 
grateful and Skinner smiled. 
 
"Anytime, Mulder, just next time make it 
after sunrise, okay?" 
 
Mulder hung up the phone and turned to 
see that a very pregnant Dana had just 
stepped out of the shower. 
 
"Who was that, Fox?" she asked, her 
eyebrow climbing into her hairline. 
 
"It was...uh, uh, Skinner. I called to 
invite your Mom shopping with us 
today." 
 
"At six a.m., Mulder, you know how tired 
she gets." 
 
Mulder expected excited squeals and 
giggles and possibly even a kiss, but 
what he got was a frown and the 
"eyebrow". 
 
"I didn't wake her, sweetheart. Skinner 
said he'd ask her when she wakes up. 
He seemed like he wanted to go though." 
 
If possible the eyebrow climbed higher as 
Scully unwrapped the towel around 
her hair, "Skinner seemed like he wanted 
to go shopping with us?" 
 
"Yes," Mulder nodded. 
 
"Walter Skinner?" she asked again. 
 
"The one and only," he replied. 
 
"My stepfather?" 
 
"Yes, Scully. Skinner, tall bald guy, 
broad shoulders, bad attitude, wants to 
go shopping with us and your Mom for baby 
things. 
 
"I can't believe it," she stated and 
moved for the phone. 
 
"He also said not to call over there 
again until seven so that you're Mom 
could 
sleep a bit more," Mulder interjected 
before she got her head bitten off. 
 
"That sounds like Skinner," Scully 
admitted. 
 
"Oh, Fox," she began to whine, "The 
stores don't open until ten, I don't know 
if I can wait that long to start getting 
baby things." 
 
"You have to, love. I know you're 
excited, so why don't we think about what 
color to paint the baby's room." 
 
Mulder had no idea what can of worms he'd 
just opened. 
 
"I was thinking wallpaper actually," came 
Scully's reply, "Wallpaper with 
Teddy Bears on it and an ABC border 
around the top. Lots of color." 
 
"But Scully, what if the babies don't 
like Teddy Bears. Paint is easier to 
change when they get older." 
 
"Wallpaper isn't so hard to change, 
Mulder. It just takes patience. Besides, 
I've never met a baby who didn't like 
Teddy Bears." Scully countered sitting 
on the bed to pull on her jeans. 
 
"You've never met a grown man who chases 
aliens either until you met me. 
What if our kids are chips off the old 
Mulder block?" Mulder asked her, 
pulling his sweatshirt on over his head. 
 
"For the first two years, it'll be the 
color they like. I want the room 
bright and festive. Happy rooms make 
happy babies." She pulled on one sock. 
 
"All those books say that babies can't 
tell colors at first, why both when 
the room is going to look like an episode 
of Leave It to Beaver anyway?" 
 
"What do you suggest we do, Mulder? Paint 
the room black and white? Great, 
our children will start out in life 
depressed." Another sock. 
 
"No, I don't want to paint the room black 
and white. I just don't think we 
need a garish design on our walls to have 
a happy baby or babies in our 
case." He gelled his hair. 
 
"A garish...Teddy Bears are not garish. 
Look at your tie collection, 
Mulder if you want to talk about garish." 
A sneaker. 
 
They went on like this, trading barbs, 
mostly without points, until the phone 
rang. Mulder looked at his watch. 7:30. 
They'd killed time all right. 
 
"Hello," Scully said into the phone. 
 
Margaret Skinner could hear annoyance in 
her daughter's tone, so she 
proceeded with caution. 
 
"Hi, sweetheart. Walter told me you 
wanted to make a shopping trip today. 
I'd love to." 
 
"Great, Mom, great." Her tone was flat; 
there was no joy in her voice. 
 
"Honey, what's wrong?" Maggie asked. 
 
"Fox is being impossible," she answered 
glaring at her husband who stood red 
faced near the decaf pot. 
 
"Oh, well, I hope a day out with us will 
do you both good then." Maggie 
didn't want to get into her daughter's 
marital disputes, even though most of 
the time they required the intervention 
of either herself or her husband. 
 
"I'm sure it will, Mom. Why don't you 
come over here? I'll make breakfast 
then we can go." 
 
"That sounds just fine, dear. I've not 
been in the mood to cook lately and 
eating in restaurants all the time isn't 
good for Walter's heart." Maggie 
sounded perky and joyous, just like a 
pregnant woman in love should sound. 
 
"Okay, see you in an hour," she said 
hanging up. Then to Mulder, "My mother 
and Skinner will be here in an hour. Try 
and act like a human being before 
they get here." 
 
Then Scully turned to the stove and began 
making batter for pancakes. 
 
Walter noticed his wife's silence on the 
drive to her daughter's home. She'd 
seemed excited and almost perky at the 
prospect of shopping with her daughter 
and son-in-law, not she was quiet and 
despondent. 
 
"What's wrong, love?" he asked, brushing 
her leg with his hand. 
 
"Dana," Maggie answered, "She and Fox had 
another argument." 
 
"They've been doing that a lot lately," 
Skinner observed, studying his wife 
out of the corner of his eye. She 
frowned. 
 
"Yes, and more that usual it's taken one 
of us to get them to make it up. 
They are both so stubborn." Maggie balled 
her hand into a fist. 
 
"Stubborn and selfless is a lethal 
combination. One is constantly fighting 
the other to get the other to do what one 
thinks is best. They never fight 
because Fox wants what's best for Fox; 
they fight because he wants what's 
best for Dana." 
 
Maggie smiled at Walter's insight, "I 
know. At least their fights aren't 
malicious. They aren't intentionally 
trying to hurt each other. At least 
not at first. They both have tempers 
though and that lead to a whole other 
ballgame." 
 
"I'm so glad we don't fight like that," 
Maggie mused, her hand covering his. 
 
"Well, I don't know," he sighed, "If you 
don't have a good argument every 
once in awhile you can't make up and 
that's fun." 
 
"Oh," Maggie chuckled, "Let's just hope 
they get to the fun before we have to 
step in again." 
 
"Let's just hope," Skinner echoed before 
turning on the radio and 
accelerating a bit as the pulled on the 
freeway. 
 
The Skinner's luck did not hold. They 
could hear the shouting from the 
driveway. 
 
"Stop acting like a baby, Scully," Mulder 
yelled, his tone condescending if 
not down right mean. 
 
"I'm not acting like a baby; you are 
acting like a jackass." Scully was 
crying, but fighting hard against it. 
 
Skinner pulled out his keys and walked 
right in, in spite of Maggie's 
protest. 
 
"Hey, what is going on in here?" he 
bellowed, commanding the attention of 
both combatants. "I can here you all they 
way out in the driveway." 
 
Scully finally lost her battle with her 
tears and ran to her mother's 
outstretched arms. Maggie looked at Fox, 
her face holding no anger for him 
as she held her daughter and shrugged at 
him. 
 
"Mulder, what is going on? I've never 
heard you speak to Scully that way?" 
 
"Yeah, well," he shrugged. He didn't know 
why he got so angry sometimes, he 
just did. Sometimes, his formerly 
rational wife just made no sense to him 
anymore. Not to mention he hadn't gotten 
sex from her in like three weeks. 
That was unusual for them and he was 
getting testy. 
 
"Yeah, well what?" Skinner prodded as 
Maggie took Dana into the other room to 
make her a cup of her favorite 
decaffeinated herbal tea. "You made her 
cry. 
It takes some major shit to do that." 
 
"We had a stupid argument and she's not 
herself lately. I don't know, I just 
got mad." Mulder explained, "You know how 
it is, nothing you do or say is the 
right thing anymore." 
 
"Actually, no, I don't have that 
particular problem, but didn't you always 
say to me that Scully's favorite thing to 
do was to prove you wrong. What 
started all this?" 
 
"Paint verses wallpaper," Mulder 
admitted, blushing slightly and bracing 
himself for Skinner's recriminations. He 
was disappointed. His boss and 
father-in-law didn't yell, he laughed. 
 
"Is that all? Oh, Mulder, will you never 
learn?" Skinner approached the 
younger man and set an arm about his 
shoulders. "Women love to decorate, and 
even more than that, they love to spend 
money. Scully women not so much as 
others, but it's true. I'm betting she 
wants to wallpaper the room with 
something cutesy like Winnie the Pooh, 
right?" 
 
"Not Pooh, just regular bears. I want to 
paint it pale green with a yellow 
trim since we don't know what the twins 
will be or like. That sounds 
practical to me," Mulder defended. 
 
"It is practical, Fox, but this is Dana's 
first pregnancy. It's exciting for 
her, look at how giddy she is over 
furniture shopping and you've always told 
me she isn't much of a shopper. She wants 
to do this thing up right. You 
have to understand that, and I think 
there's more to this than that." 
Skinner looked at the younger man, eyes 
inquisitive. 
 
"Not really, she's just not herself and I 
guess I don't know how to be the 
strong rational one." Mulder admitted. 
 
"Well, in two months, like it or not, you 
are going to be someone's Daddy and 
you are going to have to learn to be 
strong. Scully is going to become like 
any other mother, intuitive and a 
worrywart and it is going to your job to 
make sure she does give the kids ulcers 
before they're ten. Now, what I 
think you have to do is apologize to your 
wife, tell her that you'll pick out 
a wallpaper today and let's eat because 
I'm starving." 
 
Mulder impulsively turned and gave 
Skinner a bear hug, "Thanks, Dad for 
setting me straight on this. I better go 
eat some crow." 
 
Meanwhile, Maggie was giving her daughter 
similar advice. 
 
"You see, dear, this is all new to Fox. 
He's never had to take care of 
anyone but himself before. You are a very 
independent woman and don't need 
his coddling. He is in uncharted 
territory here. He wants to keep things 
plain, try and keep them as vanilla as 
possible, hence his insistence on 
paint instead of wallpaper. It's a lot 
easier to get rid of paint." Margaret 
hope her daughter took her words the 
right way. She knew Dana's rational 
mind was not functioning these days, she 
hoped her daughter wouldn't think 
Fox wanted to erase the babies. 
 
"I know, Mom and maybe he doesn't like 
Teddy Bears, maybe we should just put 
a border around the room," she smiled 
into her cup, "It was a stupid thing to 
fight about wasn't it. It's just..." 
 
"Just..." her mother prodded. 
 
"Sometimes, he gets so mean Mom. 
Sometimes he's nothing like the Fox 
Mulder 
I married." 
 
"He's scared, baby, he can't think 
clearly either. Male hormones, I like to 
call it. Walter has the same thing but he 
shows it a different way." 
 
Scully smiled at her mother as her 
husband walked into the kitchen and held 
his arms out to her. "I'm sorry, Angel," 
he said when she went gratefully 
into them and let him hold her close, "we 
can do the baby's room anyway you 
want, as long as it's just wallpaper or 
just a border, not both, okay?" Her 
mother and Skinner looked on as Scully 
smiled and nodded, another crisis 
averted. 
 
"Well," Skinner said, running his hand 
over his stomach, "Now that this is 
solved when do we eat? I'm starved." 
 
Scully laughed and turned to the stove, 
making a disgusted face at it, "I 
know I promised I'd cook, but..." 
 
"Let's go out to eat," her mother 
finished. The idea of standing up long 
enough to cook tired her out these days. 
 
The couples departed the house and one 
hour later were standing inside of 
Baby World Baby Superstore. Skinner's and 
Mulder's hands tightened over 
their wallets as they saw the looks that 
came over their wives faces. Even 
for men that were reasonably well paid, 
this could be dangerous. Their wives 
were usually frugal, but baby shopping 
had the potential for danger. 
 
Soon they were left in the dust. Maggie 
and Dana moved as quickly as their 
pregnancies would allow dashing up and 
down aisle looking at cribs, high 
chairs, car seats... 
 
"Dana," Margaret said to her daughter as 
she looked at the fourth crib, "You 
should consider registering and having a 
baby shower. That might be more fun 
than this, and not to mention less 
exhausting." 
 
Scully turned to study her mom, "Are you 
getting too tired, you want to 
rest?" She knew that she was beginning to 
feel a bit sleepy, so her mom must 
be. 
 
"I'm not talking about me, baby. I'm 
talking about Fox and Walter." 
 
Scully turned to see her husband and 
stepfather leaning against shelves both 
breathing hard. She knew why her 
stepfather was tired. He'd suffered both 
a 
heart attack and a stroke a few months 
ago and prolonged activity tired him 
out, but there was no reason that Mulder 
should be gasping for air. 
 
She and Maggie hurried over to their 
husbands, Maggie out of concern and 
Scully out of curiosity. 
 
"What on earth are you two doing?" she 
asked Mulder, glaring at him. Then 
she saw it, each of the two men had a 
cart behind them filled to the rim with 
toys. They had filled their carts with 
everything from teething rings to 
baseball mitts to dolls that walked and 
wet their diapers. 
 
"What did you two do?" Maggie scolded 
like they were two. Skinner looked 
down and blushed from the top of his head 
to his chin. 
 
"I though...we thought... well you were 
taking care of all of the practical 
items so..." 
 
Maggie smiled and pulled her husband 
close to her cuddling him. He was so 
sweet and adorable and she loved him so 
much. Skinner cradled her in his 
arms, kissing her lips. "I love you, 
Maggie," he whispered, before pulling 
away. 
 
"I love you too, darling, but we don't 
need all of this stuff." she asked 
gesturing to the cart. 
 
Scully had all ready ordered Mulder to 
put back more than half of what he 
bough. 
 
"Maggie, I'm never going to have another 
baby and I want a chance to spoil 
him or her. And you." 
 
She smiled again then took his hand and 
followed her daughter and son down the 
crib aisle once again. 
 
Two Hours Later 
 
"Scully," Mulder whined, "If you were 
going to get this crib, why didn't you 
get it six stores ago? The first time we 
were here." 
 
"Mulder, do you know nothing about 
comparison shopping. This is the crib I 
liked, this is the best price. Go and buy 
the crib, Mulder." 
 
"Daaaaannaaa," he whined, "Why did I let 
you talk me into this parent thing 
in the first place?" He strolled away 
leaving Skinner's ears turning red and 
Maggie's mouth agape. Scully turned to 
her parents and sighed. 
 
"Sometimes, I think he really means 
that," she said. 
 
"No, he doesn't really mean it, Honey. 
It's just if you have a baby then he 
has to grow up and you know Mulder 
doesn't want to do that." Maggie answered 
when she saw her son-in-law returning 
with a sales person. 
 
That night Mulder and Scully lay in bed 
curled up with each other. This was 
their favorite time of day. 
 
"Scully, did your mom buy anything 
today?" 
 
"No, only what Walter bought. It was so 
adorable," she murmured kissing his 
shoulder blade. 
 
"How come he's adorable and I'm 
wasteful?" 
 
"Because it's not my money he spent. It 
was wasteful, but Mom made him 
promised he'd return all of the girl's 
toys if it was a girl and vice versa." 
 
 
"I love you, Scully," he said sincerely, 
hugging her close. 
 
"I love you too, Mulder. Good night." 
 
She leaned over him and turned out the 
light. 
Margaret and Walter Skinner sat together 
in the doctor's waiting room. Since his 
heart attack and stroke several months 
ago the doctor's office had been his home 
away from home. Today was his "red 
letter day". Today was the day his 
doctor would decide if he could return to 
his position as Assistant Director. 
 
Maggie studied her husband's actions. He 
sat beside her, his face calm and stoic. 
The only betrayal of his nervousness was 
in his right leg's continuous rhythm, up 
and down, up and down. She placed a 
restraining hand on it. 
 
"Walter, " she let his name roll from her 
tongue, "relax." 
 
"I can't, Maggie. If he says I can't go 
back to work I don't know what I'll do. 
I'm going brain dead sitting in that 
house day after day. 
 
"I know, Dearest, but working yourself 
into a frenzy is only going to send your 
pressure up and hurt your chances." 
Margaret knew how important his career 
was to him, how hard he'd worked to earn 
his way and how complete and accomplished 
his work made him feel. Yet, there was a 
part of her that hoped Dr. Sklodonski 
would block his return to work 
indefinitely. She'd come so close to 
losing him, twice, in the past seven 
months. His recovery had been rapid, but 
the residual weakness in his left side 
and occasional stutter were continuous 
reminders. 
 
"I know, sweetie. And I like being home 
with you, but I don't feel like I'm 
useful there. It's not like I'm in the 
field..." he trailed off, noticing her 
frown. "What is it, Honey?" 
 
"Assistant Director is such a stressful 
job. Maybe...Oh, I don' t know. I just 
don't want to lose you now that I finally 
have you." She met his probing chocolate 
gaze and saw something there. She 
realized that he held these same feeling 
in his heart in regard to her miracle 
pregnancy. In four weeks, she was due to 
give birth to his son or daughter, the 
result of their love or her hormone 
therapy, she wasn't sure. In his eyes she 
could see that there was a part of him 
however small that was scared to death 
she wouldn't survive it. She moved 
toward him and kissed his lips firmly, 
gently stroking his cheek with her hand. 
 
"Do you know how much I love you, 
Assistant Director Skinner?" she asked, 
the answer shining in her eyes. 
 
"Probably as much as I love you, Mrs. 
Skinner," he replied, placing a light 
kiss on the tip of her nose. 
 
"Walter," the receptionist interrupted 
the exchange, "you can come on back now." 
 
Leaning on his cane, the same cane he 
never used at home in deference to 
furniture, Skinner rose from his seat and 
offered an arm to Maggie who was 
unsuccessfully trying to heave herself 
out of a chair. A strange look crossed 
her features and Skinner stopped, his 
eyes filled with concern. 
 
"Are you all right?" 
 
Margaret straightened and smiled, 
massaging her belly. "We're fine, Love. 
Your son or daughter just kicked me a bit 
harder than usual. Caught me by surprise 
is all. 
 
Walter nodded and walked back to the 
examining room, his arm about his wife's 
shoulders. 
 
Dr. Edward Sklodonski smiled brightly as 
he watched his patient accompany his wife 
into the exam room. Their had been a 
time when he was sure he was going to 
lose Walter Skinner. The man had had a 
heart condition for years and the attack 
left him in severe trouble. It had taken 
a while to find a drug to regulate his 
blood pressure, but he seemed to have 
been restored to relative cardiac health. 
 
"Good afternoon, Walter, Margaret. Let's 
see how you're doing? Hop up here." The 
doctor indicated the table. 
 
"It's been awhile since I've hopped 
anywhere," Walter quipped, pushing 
himself up as best he could, smiling. 
The doctor returned the smile, three 
appointments ago, that endeavor was an 
extreme effort for Walter. 
 
"Looks like you've gotten almost full 
range of motion in your arm. That's 
terrific. Dr Warren will be very happy." 
 
"I'm not sure, Dr. Warren is ever happy 
about anything, Ed," Maggie said, 
settling into the chair the doctor had 
provided as the doctor examined her 
husband. 
 
"All right, Walter. Give me a deep 
breath, " Skinner obliged, breathing in 
slowly and deeply. "And again?" Ed 
asked, moving his stethoscope to all the 
appropriate areas. Next, he took 
Skinner's blood pressure and pulse. 
 
"Well, Mr. Skinner, everything sounds 
great. BP is 150/80, pulse is 85." 
 
The doctor noticed Skinner bristle at the 
positive medical report. He knew the man 
wanted a medical clearance to return to 
his job. A quick look at Mrs. Skinner 
revealed that she was hoping he'd make 
her husband resign his dangerous work. 
Sadly, he couldn't' oblige her. 
 
"Well, Doc, what's the verdict? Can I go 
back to work?" Skinner was like a child 
begging for permission to go to Disney 
World. 
 
"Well, your pressure is good, your pulse 
is good. I'd like a stress test and a 
neurological work up before I clear you 
for full duty. What I will do is clear 
you for restricted duty. Nine until two-
thirty, no field work After the stress 
test and neuro exam, I'll clear you for 
full duty." 
 
Skinner smiled and slid off the examine 
table, moving caneless for his wife. She 
tried to smile and be happy for him, but 
he detected the disappointment and fear 
in her eyes. He hooked her finger under 
her chin and raised her head so he could 
look directly at her. 
 
"There's no reason to fret, Maggie. I'm 
going to be fine. We all are." 
 
She forced a smile and took his 
outstretched hand, rising out of the 
chair. Walter thanked the doctor and 
scheduled his test, leaving with a 
renewed outlook on his future. 
 
Margaret said nothing the whole way home 
in the car. Any attempt at conversation 
was met with a silent nod. Finally, 
Walter pulled the car over and turned to 
face her, "What is the problem here, 
Margaret. I thought you'd be happy for 
me." 
 
Margaret shook her head. "Oh no, I'm not 
happy Walter. I'm scared. I'm very, 
very scared. Nothing makes me happier 
than to know your health is improving, 
but nothing scares me more than to know 
that you'll be going back the infernal 
office day after day after damned day. 
There's nothing for you there Walter. 
Nothing but the petty miseries of 
others." 
 
She turned away from him and crossed her 
arms about her chest. He'd never seen 
her act this way. 
 
"The...May I remind you, my dear wife, 
that a lot of what I do at the office 
every day is done to protect your 
daughter and her foolhardy husband. 
Without that the X-files are nothing. 
Without me, Mulder and Scully are 
powerless. They have no ally they have 
no hope of ever finding the truth. I'm 
the only one they can trust there, 
Maggie. The only one." 
 
"Don't be vain, Walter," she said simply, 
"remember what the Bible says about 
pride." 
 
"Pride goeth before destruction, and a 
haughty spirit before fall, Proverbs 
16:18, yeah, I know the Bible Maggie, and 
that is not what this is. This is the 
plain and unvarnished truth as much as I 
am privy to say it. Mulder and Scully 
need me on the X-files. If you couldn't 
deal with my career, why couldn't you 
just say so?" He was getting angry. He 
could feel his heart beating faster, his 
blood pumping harder, but his speech 
remained clear. 
 
"I could deal with your career. Walter, 
when we started, I never expected you to 
have a heart attack or a stroke, and I 
sure as Hell never expected to get 
pregnant at my age. Things aren't the 
same as they were when we started and God 
damn it Walter you aren't the only one in 
the relationship." 
 
"Oh, that's rich. That is God damned 
fucking rich! You are telling me I'm not 
the only one in the relationship and yet 
you are the one being selfish. What? Do 
you want me to sit around the house for 
the rest of my life doing nothing but 
collecting a government pension and 
watching soap operas? That may be okay 
for you Maggie, but it sure as Hell isn't 
okay for me. I didn't ask for any of 
this to happen, and Sharon, as lousy as 
our marriage was would never stand in my 
way over something like this. This is my 
life and I..." 
 
He stopped as he heard Margaret 
disconnect her seatbelt and get out of 
the car. Skinner lowered his voice and 
got out behind her. "Maggie, where are 
you going?" 
 
She looked at him, her eyes swimming with 
unshed tears. She placed her hand on her 
belly and looked at the ground. "I don't 
know. All I know is, far away from you." 
With that she went and boarded an 
approaching bus. 
 
Skinner called Mulder and Scully's. He 
called her friends, Edna and Cassie. No 
one had seen her. Finally he called the 
rectory of Maggie's church. She was 
there. At least he knew where she was. 
He knew she needed this time alone to 
think and to be with herself. She 
arrived home later that night. He took 
her in his arms, but she did not return 
the gesture. Instead she smiled at him 
and placed her hand on his shoulder. 
Walter took it for what it was, not a 
loving caress, but a gesture of 
resignation. 
 
J. Edgar Hoover Building 
 
Walter walked into his office for the 
first time in months and was surprised at 
what he saw. Instead of Kimberly's 
smiling face he saw another girl, rather 
nervous looking, sitting in her desk. 
 
"Good morning, Sir," she stuttered 
getting out of her chair. 
 
Skinner looked at her. She couldn't have 
been more the twenty-two or three and 
looked scared to death of him. He had an 
almost fatherly urge to give her words of 
encouragement, but he bit it back. He'd 
save that for his own daughter if Maggie 
gave him one. 
 
"Good morning, Miss..." 
 
"Nelson. Melanie Nelson. I'm your temp 
for today." She smiled now, relaxing when 
he didn't yell at her for not being Kim 
Byers. 
 
"Where is Mrs. Byers? I wasn't aware 
that she was beginning her maternity 
leave until after I started back and she 
trained a new secretary." He kept his 
tone light, the kid was so skittish. 
 
"Sir, Mrs. Byers is home sick today," she 
replied, "your wife called and told me. 
She said not to call her back though. 
She said Mrs. Byers tried to catch you 
before you left, but you were all ready 
gone when she called." 
 
Skinner nodded and walked toward his 
inner office. So she still wasn't 
talking to him, he'd send her some 
flowers and try to get her to forgive his 
insolence. He really wasn't being 
sensitive to her feelings. He understood 
her fears. They were his own as well. 
He was terrified of not being there for 
his children and his wife. He'd wait for 
her to cool down a bit more then he would 
call her and tell her he loved her and 
ask her forgiveness. 
 
"Miss Nelson, would you please call down 
extension 6148 and ask Agent Mulder to 
come up to my office please." Skinner 
then went into his inner office and 
waiting for Mulder's arrival. Instead 
when his intercom buzzed his new temp 
informed him that Agent Mulder was not in 
the office and that Agent Scully would 
see him if need be. 
 
"Melanie, tell Agent Scully that I will 
come down to her office. She needn't 
bother herself with the trip. And if 
Margaret calls, forward her to that 
extension." 
 
"Yes, Sir." 
 
Skinner Home 
Crystal City, Virginia 
 
Mulder used his key to get into his in-
laws house. His mother-in-law had made 
coffee. He craved coffee and it had been 
scarce in his house of late. 
 
"Hi, Mom," he called going over to her 
and kissing her cheek. "To what do I owe 
the pleasure?" 
 
"Do I need an excuse to see my favorite 
son-in-law?" Maggie asked. 
 
"Yeah, especially when I saw Skinner and 
he looked like he did that time I totaled 
two rental cars in the same case. Did 
you two have a falling out?" Mulder 
sipped his coffee. He didn't beat around 
the bush he went straight to the heart of 
the matter. 
 
Maggie started to cry and Mulder moved to 
hug her. Dana was emotional lately too 
but this was different. When she 
composed herself, Mulder released her and 
looked into her eyes. 
 
"What happened, Mom?" Mulder asked, 
wanting to get to the bottom of the 
situation, although he expected he all 
ready knew what her answer would be. 
 
"Dr. Sklodonski cleared Walter for 
restricted duty. We had a fight about 
it." She stated it simply, her composed 
facade firmly in place. 
 
"All right. So what can I do about it?" 
he asked. 
 
"Fox, I know you and Walter don't see eye 
to eye on everything, on most things, but 
I know you have the objectivity to see 
things clearly. 
 
I never intended to argue with Walt over 
going back to work, but I was so scared 
for him and I don't understand why he 
needs to drive himself so crazy. He 
claims that if he isn't there you and 
Dana won't be able to do what you do. 
Then I accused him of being self 
righteous and well proud and I know I 
overreacted but I'm just so afraid that 
he'll...that something..." Maggie stopped 
mid-sentence, her eyes growing wide. 
 
"Oh, no!" she exclaimed loudly. "Oh, 
God! Fox!" 
 
"Mom? What is it? What's the matter?" 
Fox tried to help Maggie to her feet. 
 
"I'm having a contraction. I know it's 
too early. Oh, Fox, Walter is going to 
be so upset. He really want this child 
and now...Oh, Lord, please, don't let 
this happen," she prayed. 
 
Mulder didn't know what to do. His 
babies were due soon also. What if they 
were born early. Maggie wasn't due for 
five weeks. That wasn't dangerous, but 
it wasn't good. What if something went 
wrong and something happened to Margaret 
and Walter's child? It would kill them. 
It would kill Scully, her little brother 
or sister. 
 
"All right, I'll call Skinner and drive 
you to the hospital. Just try to stay 
calm." 
 
Mulder jogged upstairs to retrieve 
Maggie's bag. He called AD Skinner's 
office and was told by the temp that the 
AD was not in his office, but that he 
could be reached at Agent Scully's 
extensions. To Mulder's dismay, there 
was no answer in the X-files office or on 
Skinner's cell phone. Well, he could try 
Skinner again once he got to the 
hospital. Now, the only thing that 
mattered was getting Maggie to a doctor. 
 
"Mom, Walter's not in his office. He's 
in a meeting or something. We'll call 
him later just try and relax." 
 
Maggie was crying again, her arms around 
her swollen abdomen her hand folded in 
prayer. She met his eyes and said 
resolutely, "I can't lose this baby, 
Fox. If I do I know I'll lose Walter 
too." 
 
Mulder knew that wasn't true, but his 
mother-in-law wasn't being reasonable 
now. She was scared and in pain. He 
assured her quickly. "That won't happen, 
Mom. It's going to be fine. Let's go." 
 
Approximately the same time 
X-Files Office 
 
Scully was packing up her personal items, 
preparing to take her maternity leave the 
next day. Her due date was only three 
weeks away and Paula said that it was 
time that she take a break. She hated 
the idea of leaving Mulder alone but her 
children will have to come first from now 
on. 
 
Her stepfather entered her office the 
minute she hung up with his temp. He 
looked tired and worn out. She felt an 
overwhelming urge to go to him and hold 
him he was so like her father now and he 
seemed so upset, like a frightened lost 
little boy. 
 
They were at work, however and couldn't 
let their personal relationship 
interfere, she kept up her professional 
decorum. "What can I do for you, Sir?" 
she asked, "And welcome back, by the 
way." 
 
"Thank you, Agent Scully. I just wanted 
to see how things were going." 
 
Scully arched her eyebrow at him, "Things 
are fine. I'm starting my leave 
tomorrow, I'm sure Mom told you." 
 
Skinner shook his head, "No, she didn't. 
When did this happen?" 
 
"At my checkup with Paula yesterday," she 
answered, still eying him suspiciously. 
 
"That explains it then. You're mother 
isn't exactly talking to me right now. 
She's angry with me over wanting to go 
back to work." 
 
Scully nodded, "She told me she hoped 
you'd have to retire or be transferred to 
become the AD of training or something. 
You can't fault her for it. She loves 
you. She's scared for you." 
 
He nodded, "And I love her, Dana. I feel 
her same fears every day. When your Mom 
first told me she was pregnant, I was so 
afraid of what might happen I almost 
ruined the joy of the situation. That's 
what happened to me last night. I was so 
happy and now...I'm sorry I shouldn't be 
bothering you with this at work." 
 
"It's no bother. I'm glad to listen. 
Now what about helping me carry this 
thing up to the car so I can get started 
on the paper...Uh, oh." 
 
"Agent Scully? Dana? What's wrong?" he 
asked, his voice laced with concern. 
 
"I don't know," she answer, truthfully. 
 
"You don't know?" he was puzzled. 
 
"I'm not sure." 
 
"You're not sure?" He was getting 
frustrated. She in obvious pain and he 
was worried, "Either there's something 
wrong or there's not, it is not a 
difficult question." His worry was 
showing through, he was slurring his 
speech and he leaned on the chair for 
balance. 
 
"Well, Sir, I've never been in labor 
before, but if I had to guess this would 
probably be it. We'll have to stop by 
the house to get my bag. I need 
everything in there. And we have to call 
Mulder, I can't have the baby without a 
coach." She was so together Skinner 
couldn't believe it. He was starting to 
lose it. 
 
"Sscully, are you sure you're, are you 
ppossitve?" He was really scared now. 
What if they weren't able to get there on 
time? What if something happen? 
 
Scully felt the skirt of her maternity 
suit grow wet and cold. Skinner looked 
down at her when she gasped and saw her 
standing in a brownish tinged puddle. 
"Oh yes, Sir, I'm sure. My water just 
broke."
Somewhere in Crystal City 9:49 A.M.
 
Mulder kept calling Skinner's phone and 
office, never receiving an answer. 
Mostly his cell was busy. Maggie's labor 
pain was intensifying and Mulder was 
beginning to panic. What if this was the 
real thing and he couldn't reach his 
boss? That would mean that he would have 
to coach his mother-in-law through the 
birth. That he could live without. 
 
"We're almost there, Mom. Remember the 
breathing exercise we learned in class. 
In and out, quick breaths." Mulder 
abruptly changed lanes and pulled into 
the fire lane. He ran around to Maggie's 
side of the car and handed her out, 
supporting her back as they walked into 
the emergency entrance. 
 
"Excuse me! Excuse me! I need some help 
here!" Mulder hit the bell on the desk 
as a nurse turned her attention to them. 
 
"Well, what do we have here? Jose, can I 
get a wheelchair over here, please? 
Ma'am, try and relax. How far along are 
you?" The petite brunette nurse reminded 
him of Maggie, she was bright and sweet 
and was all ready to help out. 
 
"I'm thirty-five weeks. That's too soon 
isn't it?" Maggie was frantic as a sweet 
young man, seated her in the wheelchair 
and started to push her toward the 
elevator. Just then her membranes 
ruptured, leaving her clothes soaking wet 
and an interesting puddle on the floor. 
 
"Fox," she cried out, reaching for his 
hand, "You have to find Walter for me. I 
can't do this without him. Please, Fox." 
 
Mulder tried to let go of her hand but 
she held fast and spoke again, her fear 
evident in her normally calm tone. "No, 
don't leave me alone, Fox. If you can't 
reach him, I can't do this all alone, 
please. Call him again." 
 
Mulder patted her hand, "Mom, I have to 
leave and change into some scrubs. Then 
I promised I'll try and call Skinner. I 
want him to be here too, but you have to 
focus on yourself right now, all right." 
 
She nodded as the elevator dinged and 
Jose and the sweet little nurse escorted 
her upstairs. 
 
Mulder Home 
Georgetown, 10:13 A.M.
 
Meanwhile, Skinner was pacing Scully and 
Mulder's house attempting time and time 
again to reach Fox on his cell phone. 
He'd tried calling Maggie, but there was 
no answer. He assumed she was out to 
lunch with friends. She did that 
sometimes. He left a message hoping 
she'd come to the hospital and witness 
this with him. Maybe that would heal 
the rift in their marriage. Scully was 
taking forever in the bedroom. 
 
"Dana, come on honey, we have to get you 
to the hospital," he tried to be gentle, 
but he was nervous. What if they didn't 
make it in time? What if...there were 
simply no what ifs; she had to make it to 
the hospital and he had to get her there. 
 
"Walt? I'm ready." She waddled out of 
the bedroom, bag in hand. She lowered 
herself to the couch when she reached it 
and breathed steadily through her next 
contraction. 
 
"Walter, these contractions are really 
coming fast." She was sweating and 
crying and she tried to breath. He had 
to keep her calm. The unthinkable was 
occurring in front of his eyes. Dana 
Scully Mulder was losing her cool. He'd 
heard that while he was in the hospital 
the first time, she'd cried and come 
loose, but that was for someone else. 
Now she was crying for herself, and he 
had to help her. 
 
"Scully, listen to me," he instructed, 
leaning down in front of her. "Breathe 
slowly in and out, just like in class. 
I'm going to put your bag in the car and 
then I'll be back for you. You have to 
focus and relax." 
 
She met his intense gaze and smiled as he 
levered himself off the floor and went to 
attend to business. 
 
St. Catherine's Hospital 
Alexandria, VA 10:31 A.M. 
 
Mulder reappeared at his mother-in-law's 
side dressed in surgical garb. He was 
still unable to reach Skinner. The 
doctor's had hooked Maggie up to a fetal 
monitor and a heart monitor of her own. 
The baby was in good position and the 
doctor estimated that at five centimeters 
dilation her labor could take a few more 
hours. Dr. Ragner was on her way and all 
was well except for the absence of the 
child's father. 
 
"Fox," Maggie asked, reaching for his 
hand, "Did you reach Walter?" 
 
"No, Mom, not yet. I left a message on 
his phone and at the house and at the 
office. He'll call and he'll be here, I 
promise." 
 
Another contraction hit as she grimaced. 
Mulder watched as the monitor spiked from 
a flat line to an almost perfect hill as 
the intensity of the contraction built. 
He felt himself talking her through it, 
stroking and squeezing her hand. 
 
"Okay, get ready, Mom, brace yourself, 
it's going to increase. Focus, deep 
breath in and a deep breath out. Come 
on, keep breathing. The worst is 
over...almost gone, Mom. You did it." 
 
"Fox, this is incredible. They didn't 
have machines like this to monitor the 
contractions when I had Dana or Charlie. 
This is terrific. Dana is going to be 
thrilled when it's her time. I just hope 
Walter makes it in time for the birth." 
 
Their conversation was interrupted by Dr. 
Ragner's entrance. 
 
"Well, Mrs. Skinner. That little AD 
couldn't wait to be born, huh? Where's 
AD Skinner?" Paula sat down on the stool 
and began her examination. After a few 
moments she smiled and looked up at her 
patient. 
 
"How is she?" Mulder asked. He was 
worried. He wasn't cut out for this sort 
of thing. This was something that Scully 
was good at, or Skinner, not him. Not 
Fox Mulder. 
 
"Well, everything looks really good 
here. The contractions are still 
irregular but they are getting kind of 
intense. You are dilated to six 
centimeters and almost fully effaced, 
this should take just a few more hours. 
Agent Mulder can I talk to you?" She 
stood up, smiled at Maggie and allowed 
Mulder to precede her from the room. 
 
Mulder Home 
Georgetown, 10:31 A.M. 
 
Skinner had been outside for a long 
time. Scully was starting to worry. 
What if he'd fallen on his way up the 
stairs? What if he'd gotten dizzy or had 
chest pains? Scully shook away her 
fears. No, her stepfather was given a 
good report at the doctor just 
yesterday. He was sure of his steps and 
smart enough not to rush himself. He 
knew that if something happened to him 
Scully would be stuck, he'd be careful. 
 
Just then she saw her stepfather standing 
in front of her. He was blushing 
furiously and staring at his hands, 
moving his wedding ring around on his 
finger. 
 
"What?" she asked him, taking a deep 
cleansing breath after yet another 
contraction. 
 
"Um, Scully, we have a problem. I 
accidentally locked your bag and the keys 
in the trunk. It's an older car and I 
broke the window, but you can only get 
into the trunk with the key and well, the 
key it's in the trunk. We're going to 
have to call someone to drive us. I'm so 
sorry." The look of contrition on 
Skinner's face pulled at Scully's heart 
strings. She wanted to be angry and 
accost him as to how he could do this, 
but it wasn't his fault not really. 
Mulder would have done something like 
that, but she couldn't imagine the 
levelheaded Skinner doing something like 
that. 
 
"It's okay, Sir," she gasped, another 
contraction tightening across her belly 
only moments after the last one. "We 
have to call 911. These contractions are 
right on top of each other. I can't wait 
much longer. " 
 
Skinner moved quickly to the phone and 
dialed 911. After three rings an 
operator responded, "911 emergency, may I 
help you?" 
 
"Yes," he said in as calm and as clear a 
voice as her could muster, "this is 
Assistant Director Walter Skinner. I 
have an Agent in labor at her home. We 
are unable to arrange transport to the 
hospital and need an ambulance." 
 
"Sir, this is a priority three call. 
We've had a 40 car pile up on the 
Expressway and that will prevent medics 
from responding immediately." 
 
"Shit," Skinner swore into the phone and 
looked at Scully who was now sitting on 
the floor panting through yet another 
contraction. "Scully, it could take 
awhile for the medics. There was an 
accident on the expressway." 
 
"Sir," she gasped, tears streaming down 
her cheeks, "We don't have that much 
time." 
 
St. Catherine's Hospital 
Alexandria, VA 11:06 A.M. 
 
"Cleansing breath," Mulder coaxed, as he 
demonstrated and Maggie followed suit. 
 
"You're good at this, Mom. By the time 
Scully has the twins I'll be an old pro 
too, huh?" 
 
"I don't know about that, Fox. It's much 
easier on the woman." 
 
Mulder laughed at that as he dabbed her 
forehead with a damp wash cloth. She was 
a trooper. She didn't know where her 
husband was and he apparently was 
unreachable by phone, yet she was smiling 
and breathing and helping him deal with 
her labor. No wonder Skinner loved this 
woman. No wonder he loved her daughter. 
 
"Fox, could you try Walter again? I want 
him to see his baby born? Even if he 
doesn't care for me right now, I know he 
still loves this baby." Her eyes were 
beginning to mist over. Mulder couldn't 
tell what she was upset about, the fact 
that she was doubting her husband's love 
for her or the fact that said husband 
might miss the birth of his first and 
only child. 
 
"All right, Mom. About how long until 
the next contraction?" 
 
"Another three minutes, Fox. Don't 
worry. I can handle it. I've had four 
other children before you know. Then the 
father's weren't allowed in the delivery 
rooms. Go and call Walter. I'll be all 
right." 
 
Moments later, Mulder returned, once 
again announcing that no one has heard 
from Skinner and that he was still 
unreachable by phone. Maggie smiled and 
patted his hand, "That's all right. The 
kind nurse was telling me they tape 
births now if I wish them to. He has an 
important..." she broke off as another 
contraction started before she had a 
chance to finish her sentence. 
 
This time she whimpered and Mulder held 
her hand a bit tighter and tried to help 
her relax. The contraction continued for 
an unprecedented amount of time. Maggie 
cried out and that finally brought her 
nurse in to check on her. The nurse came 
in, glanced at the monitors and turned on 
her heel to page Dr. Ragner. She didn't 
say a word to Mulder, the only indication 
he had that the monitor numbers were poor 
was the page heard over the intercom, 
"Dr. Ragner to Rm. 419 STAT, Dr. Ragner 
STAT 419." 
 
Mulder Home 
Georgetown 11:55 A.M. 
 
Skinner had hung up with that idiot 
operator a while ago. If he couldn't get 
Scully to the hospital via ambulance he'd 
have to take matters into his own hands. 
He'd phoned the Lone Gunmen and they 
promised that they would do everything in 
their power to get to the Mulder's place, 
however, several access roads were closed 
do to the pile up. 
 
Skinner was now doing the only thing he 
knew how to do. He'd helped Scully 
position herself on the floor, two 
pillows from the bedroom behind her 
back. He'd stripped her of her maternity 
skirt and panties and pushed her knees 
apart. Once when he was a field agent, 
he delivered a baby. He could do it 
again if her had to. For her part, 
Scully followed his orders as explicitly 
as possible. She wished Mulder were 
there. Part of her was embarrassed to 
let Skinner look between her legs. 
Skinner had tried Mulder a few times on 
his cell to find it turned off or busy. 
 
"Dana, sweetie," he called to her. He'd 
changed from professional to personal 
mode a while ago when he stripped Dana of 
her clothing. "Dana, you're almost 
there, hon. I need you to sit up a bit 
more. I'm going to call the ambulance 
again and boil some water just in case. 
Just hold on." 
 
Skinner felt his heart rate speed up. He 
looked down at his hands, they were 
shaking. He had to keep it together for 
Scully. She was the together one, the 
level headed one...No, that's not true. 
He was together and level headed too and 
he could do this. He had to. 
 
Skinner headed to the kitchen and found 
the items he was going to need. 
Scissors, a pot to boil water and several 
clean linens from the linen closet. He 
could hear Scully's cries, no actual 
screams, no longer whimpers. He wanted 
nothing more than to stop her pain and go 
through this for her. He made his mind 
up to persuade Maggie to have a C-
section. He'd do anything to convince 
her including leave the bureau to save 
her this kind of torture. 
 
"Scully?" he asked, "Where is your 
medical bag. I'm going to need clamps to 
cut the cord." 
 
"Up...stairs, bed...room," she gasped 
breathing deeply against the pain. She 
could feel herself splitting in two and 
knew it was almost time to the baby to 
come. 
 
Skinner returned quickly and knelt in 
front of Scully. He draped a clean sheet 
over her knees and readied the white baby 
blankets Maggie made to receive the new 
infants. Another quick look told him it 
was time. His daughter's eyes were 
brimmed with tears of pain as she half 
panted, half sobbed through her torturous 
contractions. 
 
"Dana, you have to sit up a bit more for 
me. I can see one of my grandbabies 
right now. It's all up to you, Scully." 
 
Skinner's voice was calming and steady. 
Scully felt his strong grasp on her knees 
pressing them open. She was scared and 
wished for Mulder to be there with her. 
 
"Walter, I want Fox. I can't do this 
without him." 
 
"Yes, you can, Honey, it's time to push, 
come on. I'm so proud of you, Scully and 
I know Mulder will be too. Come on, push 
on the next contraction." 
 
Scully felt the contraction slice across 
her belly and bore down the way they told 
her in class, they way she'd encourage 
women to do in her own time. She could 
hear Skinner counting loudly as she 
pushed. 
 
"Good girl. Take a breath and rest. I 
need another big push on the next 
contraction. Feel it, it's coming...Now 
Push. One, two, three, four..." 
 
Scully gritted her teeth and pushed as 
hard as she could. Over her own screams 
she could hear the calm tones of her 
stepfather's voice. "The head is out 
Scully. A thick head of dark hair and 
this is one cute little one. One more 
push and you're half way there, one 
more." 
 
With every ounce of strength in her body 
Scully bore down and pushed. Eons later 
it seemed, although it took less than a 
minute she heard he stepfather exclaim 
through a tear laced voice, "It's a son, 
Dana. You have a son and he is 
beautiful." 
 
Skinner placed the little boy in the 
receiving blanket in the small bassinet 
Scully had set up in the living room. 
Then he turned his attention back to his 
daughter, who appeared to be falling 
asleep. 
 
St. Catherine's Hospital 
Alexandria, VA 12:03 P.M. 
 
Mulder had to wait outside while Paula 
checked Maggie's rising pressure and gave 
her some medication to combat it. She 
wanted to perform a C-Section immediately 
and although Maggie wanted to wait for 
Walter and knew he'd be sad he missed it, 
she wanted to give him a baby even more. 
Paula told Mulder if he wanted to stay to 
scrub his hands and put on a mask and 
meet them in OR 3. 
 
Mulder did just that. His mother, for 
all intents and purposes, was about to 
give birth and there was nothing in the 
world he wanted to see more except, 
perhaps the birth of his own babies. 
 
Moments, later, Maggie was prepped and 
ready. Paula administered an anesthetic 
to numb her body below the waist but not 
knocking her out. "I'm ready to make the 
cut. Mark the time at 12:10 P.M. Sixty-
seconds from skin to baby. Ready Mrs. 
Skinner?" 
 
"Yes," she answered. "Just tell me when 
it's over. Oh, I wish Walter were here, 
Fox, I'm scared." 
 
Mulder squeezed her hand and smooth her 
brow with his hand. 
 
"I'm here, Mom. Try to relax. Wait 
until Skinner sees his offspring, huh? 
I'll bet he'll smile so wide his face 
will crack." 
 
Maggie smiled a bit before groaning at 
the slight pressure she felt when Paula 
cut her. Mulder was being wonderful, but 
she wanted her husband, her wonderful, 
loving Walter with his soothing deep 
voice and gently reassuring touch. 
Mulder is that to her daughter and Walter 
is that to her. She knew in her rational 
mind he'd want to be here, but she also 
knew why he was not. Would he ever 
forgive her for her selfishness? 
 
Maggie's mind must have blocked out the 
pain of the incision for her next thought 
was that she heard her baby's cry. Paula 
held the squirming infant up for her to 
see. "It's a girl, Maggie." Mulder said, 
"You have a daughter." 
 
Mulder Home 
Georgetown, 12:15 
 
Scully once again found herself focusing 
in on her stepfather's voice. He was 
coaxing her to stay awake and bring forth 
her next child. She was so tired she 
couldn't think straight. 
 
"Come on, Dana, come on. Almost done and 
then you can sleep. Deep breath and push 
now, deep breath and push." 
 
"I can't," she whimpered leaning back 
into the chair, "I'm too tired." 
 
"You can, Scully. You can. You are the 
strongest woman I know, next to your 
mother. She can do this, she has done 
it, and I know you can too. Now deep 
breath, look in my eyes, look in my eyes, 
good girl. Now, push." 
 
Scully lifted her head and met his brown 
gaze. She took a deep breath and pushed 
with all her waning strength while her 
stepfather encourage her and helped her 
by pressing one strong hand on the swell 
of her abdomen and pressing down 
slightly. Finally, the head was out and 
he moved his hand to catch the child as 
Scully gave one more triumphant push. 
 
Another little boy, slightly smaller with 
less hair emerged into his waiting 
hands. He let out a cry that challenged 
that of his older brother and Scully 
smiled at her stepfather reaching for her 
newest son. 
 
Skinner felt tears dripping down his 
cheeks. This moment was the best of his 
life so far and her couldn't wait for his 
own baby to be born. 
 
"Hello," Frohike called just then, 
"anybody..." he stopped in mid sentence 
at the sight of Scully on the floor one 
child in her arms, the other in 
Skinner's. 
 
"Oh, my. Guys, we're going to need some 
help getting in the van.'" 
 
St. Catherine's Hospital 
Alexandria, Va 1:30 
 
"How're you feeling Maggie?" 
 
"I've been better" Maggie answered 
tightly. She held out her arms as her 
baby daughter was gently placed there. 
 
"Mrs. Skinner. We're gonna keep you on 
these monitors for a while okay? Your 
blood pressure is still a tad too high. " 
the nurse told her. 
 
"Is my baby okay?" Maggie asked suddenly 
afraid. 
 
"Your baby is fine. You're our priority 
now." 
 
Mulder started to worry as he stared down 
at his mother and sister in law. "Maybe I 
should stay here with you instead of 
going to find Skinner. You shouldn't be 
alone. I mean..." 
 
"Fox, go. You need a break and I want 
Walter here. You've been wonderful to 
me. Now go and have a strong coffee in 
the cafe downstairs then find that 
wayward husband of mine. I have three 
lovely nurses here to help me. Go" she 
urged. 
 
Mulder slowly walked out of his mother in 
laws hospital room with his shirt 
untucked from his trousers, undone at the 
collar and his sleeves rolled up. He was 
absolutely exhausted. All he wanted to do 
was to get home and curl up on the sofa 
and hold his wife. Scully should be home 
by now. This had been a new experience 
for him, he mused to himself as he headed 
to the elevator which would take him to 
the ground floor. Something which 
suprisingly, he was looking forward to 
going through with his wife. Mulder never 
quite reached the elevator, however, for 
a voice caught his ear and drew his 
attention to the maternity waiting room. 
It was Frohike calling his name. 
 
"Hey Mulder!" Frohike exclaimed. "Aren't 
you going the wrong way?" 
 
"No, I was with Maggie Skinner down the 
hall," Mulder stated looking at the three 
men. 
 
"Oooh. She had her baby today, too? 
What'd she have?" Byers asked. 
 
"Girl 6lbs. 4oz. What are you guys doing 
here anyway? What do you mean, too?" 
 
"You mean you don't know?" Langly 
exclaimed. 
 
"No like I said, I was with Maggie since 
this morning. What do you mean too?" 
 
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh." All three mouthed. "If I 
were you Mulder I'd go to room '403' and 
find out." Frohike said. 
 
As it slowly dawned in Mulder's head he 
did a complete 180 turn and started to 
sprint around the corner to the other 
side of the fourth floor. 
 
Mulder skidded to a halt outside room 403 
and peeped inside the door. There was 
Scully, a bundle in her arms talking to 
Walter Skinner who held another bundle. 
She looked tired and hot, but she was 
beautiful. Looking at her holding his 
child at her breast he felt a pang of 
regret that he wasn't there to see it and 
wondered why no one told him that Scully 
was here. Paula knew he was her husband. 
 
Skinner slowly looked up and saw Mulder 
in the doorway. He gently tapped 
Scully's knee and drew her attention to 
Mulder. "Congratulations, Fox. Two 
healthy little boys." He stood up and 
gave the bundle to Mulder who had entered 
the room even more now. "I guess they 
finally reached you. We tried calling 
but you're cell phone was off." 
 
Mulder slowly looked down and pulled back 
the corner of the blanket and gazed at 
his son's face. "Wow," he breathed. 
 
"I'll leave you four alone then, shall 
I?"" Skinner smiled. "Congratulations 
you two." 
 
"Hey er Walt. You might wanna visit room 
419 while you're up here. That's why you 
couldn't reach me. But why couldn't I 
reach you. I mean why didn't Paula tell 
us you were in labor?" Mulder said, still 
staring downwards. 
 
"Mulder, our sons were born at home. 
Walt...Dad delivered them." 
 
"Why do I want to check out that room 
Mulder? Maggie? She's here? There's 
something wrong with her and the baby, I 
know it." 
 
With that, Skinner quietly left the room 
in search of room 419. 
 
"Oh my God. I can't believe it. It's 
like I'm dreaming. They are so cute. 
Want to switch?" 
 
"Yeah! I know this isn't how you wanted 
it Mulder." Scully quietly answered him. 
 
"I can't believe that I missed it all." 
Mulder said. 
 
"You didn't miss much. That's okay, 
Skinner took care of me. He's really 
like a father to me. What's wrong with 
my Mom?" Scully whispered as Mulder sat 
on the hospital bed next to her. 
 
"Nothing, you have a sister, Scully. A 
healthy, beautiful sister. And I did 
miss something. I should have been 
there." Mulder answered. 
 
"But look what you're not gonna miss and 
look what you did with my Mom. You and 
Skinner sort of swapped places, huh? And 
he had to deliver the babies, bet you 
loved that, huh? For the rest of our 
lives, they will be our children Mulder. 
For the rest of our lives," she stated 
staring deep into his eyes. 
 
"Are you glad it was Skinner and not me?" 
he asked, searching her eyes for the 
unspoken truth. 
 
"No, but I'm glad it was Skinner and not 
a stranger. He knew what to do and he 
was so gentle. He's gonna be a great 
father." Scully's eyes were misting up 
and her voice was hard with tears. "And 
so are you." 
 
Mulder leaned over, careful of his sons 
and kissed her lips. "I love you, 
Scully. Thank you for my sons. What are 
we going to call them?" He asked, one 
long finger caressing his sons soft 
cheek. 
 
"Well, I'd like to call one William after 
ours fathers and the other, Walter after, 
well you know. I think that would be 
fitting, don't you. 
 
"Yeah, you're right. It would be," 
Mulder smiled as he kissed the top of her 
head. 
 
Skinner moved as quickly as possible to 
the hospital room that held his wife. If 
she'd been ill and needed him he'd never 
forgive himself. What he saw when he 
walked into the room made him all but 
fall over. 
 
"Walter," Maggie smiled at him from the 
bed. She was tired but looked well. 
 
"I have someone I would like you to 
meet. Papa, meet your daughter. 
Michaela Patricia Skinner. I think she's 
going to have your eyes." 
 
Skinner took his daughter from Maggie's 
arms, tears falling from his eyes for the 
third time that day. 
 
"I missed it. She's so perfect. Yes, 
you are," he cooed to the little girl he 
cuddled. Much to his delight she opened 
her all ready dark eyes and met his 
gaze. "Hello, baby. Hi." 
 
"Where were you, Walter? Throwing 
yourself into work all ready?" 
 
"No, Mom." Scully said from the doorway. 
She was seated in a wheelchair holding 
both of her sons while Mulder pushed. 
"Walter was attending to some more 
important business this morning than 
work. He was delivering your grandsons." 
 
"So that's why..." Maggie started, 
 
"I'm sorry anyway. For all of the things 
I said yesterday. I love you, Maggie and 
I love our daughter and daughter and our 
"son" and our grandsons. And I've 
decided something, if you want me to 
leave the bureau..." 
 
Maggie pressed her fingers to his lips, 
"Ssh. I was selfish and I was wrong. 
Your job is part of you, my love. Just 
as it is part of Dana and Fox. I love 
all of you with all your faults and 
quirks. I not only love you with them, I 
love you for them. 
 
Now, would you let me hold my grandsons 
while Dana meets her sister. Dana, this 
is your new sister, Michaela Skinner. 
And who are these young fellows?" 
 
"This," said Mulder handing her one 
child, is William Fox Mulder after 
Scully's dad and my dad. And this," he 
said, holding out the second baby, "Is 
Walter Fox Mulder after you." 
 
As each member of the new larger family 
got acquainted, the nurses from outside 
looked on. 
 
"This is a happy day for them, eh, Mary?" 
asked Annie. 
 
"That it is, Annie. A very, very happy 
day." 

The End

*** There is a sequel at Gossamer set when
 the kids are grown called "Fathers of the Brides"***