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Title: Led by the Light Summary: Mulder connects with his family before he is torn away again. Author's Notes: I found this on my hard drive and thought I'd send it out. I write it right after Existence aired. I hope you enjoy it. "There was a light," Mulder thought incredulously and waited to hear the front door close behind him before turning into the bedroom. There, on a queen-sized bed bathed in the soft glow of a nearby lamp, sat his whole life's happiness. "I followed it," his mind finished, his heart flooding with love at the sight. "How's everybody doing?" Mulder asked, smiling. Dana Scully looked up at the man before her, his eyes dancing with nervous anticipation. Looking down at the perfect bundle in her arms, she smiled herself and slid easily off the bed. "We're doing just fine," she replied softly walking over to him. Mulder watched with awe as the bundle she carried come closer and closer. When Scully stopped in front of him, he looked at her in amazement at the gift she had brought him. Reaching out a hand, he gently lifted the blankets covering the infant's angelic face and smiled when he began to fuss at the sudden exposure to light. "Hey. None of that," Mulder said quietly before accepting the bundle from Scully. Unknown instincts kicked in instantly. Before he knew it, he had begun to hum and rock the soft weight in his arms. Scully watched the scene before her in amazement. After all, this was something she thought she would never see. Mulder was absolutely enraptured with the child and Scully could feel her eyes begin fill with tears of joy. She'd given him this. Almost as if in answer to her thoughts, he looked up with an enormous smile plastered on his face. One that radiated a happiness, which she had never seen from him. "What are you going to call him?" Mulder asked fixing his gaze back on the child in his arms. "William," Scully began, watching him watch the baby. "After your father." Mulder had never expected this. Never expected the love he felt for the child in his arms and least of all never expected way her words had filled him something, which was more than love and gratitude. This time when his eyes found her what he saw was her 8 years ago smiling that same smile, arm outstretched to introduce herself. In rapid motion, he saw her questioning him, caring for him, challenging him, and loving him all these long years. He saw her laughing, he saw her crying, and he saw her dying. Scene after scene built a new love on top of the one already in his heart. And then he blinked and saw her as she was now. The strikingly beautiful woman Scully had become, radiant with a mother's glow. A wonderful, familiar feeling of lightning coursed through his veins. Reading everything in his expressive eyes, Scully gave him a rare broad smile in response, knowing this gesture had touched him. Mulder's attention went back to the nearly bald infant. "I don't know...he's got your coloring and your eyes, but he looks suspiciously like Assistant Director Skinner," he teased and they laughed not because it was true but because William looked so much like them with his distinguished nose and bright red hair that no one could ever mistake William for anyone else's child. Looking down at their son, Scully shook her head in amazement that the child was even there. Some much could have happened. So much did happen. Everything thing from Alien Bounty Hunters and giant slugs to placental abruptions and alien replicants threatened to take him from their lives. "I don't understand, Mulder. They came to take him from us," Scully asked, her voice straining with emotion. "Why they didn't." "I don't quite understand either," Mulder replied, staring thoughtfully at his son. He knew that tone of voice. She wanted this to be over. She wanted to believe that he was theirs to keep. That the other shoe would not drop. She wanted answers that he could not give. "Expect that maybe he's not what they thought he was." Looking meaningfully at her, he gave her one of the only truths he knew. "That doesn't make him any less of a miracle though, does it?" Scully smiled, remembering once again why she loved this man before her. But love him or not, He did address an issue that they normally would have skipped over. One which she decided, tears in her eyes, she didn't want to avoid. This time it was too important. Plunging forward, with everything to lose she began to speak. "From the moment I became pregnant," she began shakily, remembering the nights without him. "I feared the truth about how and why," then plunging into the heart of the matter she said, "And I know you feared it too..." "I think what we feared were the possibilities," Mulder said, sighing with relief. Looking at her with complete certainty for the first time in two months, he continued, "The truth we both know." Scully, her hard exterior replaced for a moment with consuming vulnerability, looked at him wearily. She'd been here before, so many times. "Which is what?" Mulder, who had known from the moment that Scully had been taken from him 7 years ago that he belonged where ever she was, took in her trepidation. He'd caused her so much pain these last months. Since his return everything in his life had been a question mark. That is until the moment Alex Krycek pulled a gun on him and he realized he was missing one of the most important events in his life. The birth of his son. One look at the baby mere hours later confirmed what he should have trusted all along. Smiling slightly, he leaned forward and met her lips with his. The kiss was long, sweet and just how they remembered. The meeting of their lips had always felt magic, like coming home. If Mulder had his way they would have stayed that way forever with the soft weight of his son in his arms and the exquisite pressure of Scully's lips on his. But like all good things it had to come to an end, this time with a small whimper from the bundle between their bodies. "Hey," Mulder soothed. "We're not ignoring you." "Actually," Scully said blushing. "I think we might have been crushing him." "Miraculous newborn crushed by parents passionate embrace. Film at 11," Mulder said in an anchor voice. "Stop it," Scully said staring down at the perfect child. "Here let me take him. He should be in bed anyway." Scully went to take William from Mulder, but one look at his face and she stopped dead. "What is it?" she asked. "Well, um, he doesn't have to sleep in the bassinet does he? I mean, he's already comfortable and everything. Wouldn't moving him just make him fuss?" Mulder asked innocently. "I mean, you guys have had more time to bond...Will and I were only just getting acquainted." Scully glanced at her son, who was now fast asleep in his father's strong arms. She smiled warmly up at Mulder and wordlessly led him to the living room. Once there, they sat side-by-side on the couch and watched the baby sleep with something approaching reverence on their faces. "When did you get this couch?" Mulder whispered minutes later. "A few months ago," Scully answered absently. "It's soft. Comfortable..." Mulder whispered again, his voice quivering. Hearing the emotion in his voice, she looked up and was shocked to seeing that his eyes were filling with tears. "Mulder?" she whispered, worried. "It's good fabric too. Tough. Good for kids," he continued staring at his son. "Mulder..." she prodded again. "Brown is great color. It'll hide the dirt," he whispered, looking up at her as fat tears began to run down his cheeks. "Much better choice than the green one." "Mulder," she sighed, rubbing his arm. "I'm sorry," he said. "I look at him and I see so much of us. I feel what I felt for you all these years triple-fold. And I keep thinking that if I put him down I'll never get him back. This is the only way I can protect him, Scully. The only way." "But you can't protect him. Anything can happen to him, even in your arms. In an hour he's going to be hungry and you'll have to give him to me. In a year, he'll be taking his first steps you'll only be able to watch. You can't look at this as the end, it's only the beginning," Scully said running a hand through his hair. "I've been an ass. I should have been there. I should never have doubted you." Mulder sighed. "Yeah, you're right. It should have been you. You should have trusted me," she answered matter-of-factly. Mulder gaped at her in shock. This was not the answer he had expected. "But I think you've learned. You'll come through next time." "Next time?" "Yeah. Who knows what the future holds. William may not be our only chance." Scully smiled as Mulder still stared at her incredulously. "Well, it's not like we were testing out the 'hardware' all that often, is it? Look what happened when we did? How can you be sure it won't happen again? 'Never give up on a miracle.' Remember that?" "How could I forget?" Mulder said, still shocked by the woman at his side. "You ready to put him to bed yet?" she asked, knowing the answer. "Don't make me give him up before I have to, Scully. You said I have another hour," Mulder said. "You've got more than that, Mulder," she replied, resting her head on his shoulder. They stayed that way for a long time before Mulder spoke again. "You know my fish tank?" Scully sat up again and looked at him wearily. "Yes," she replied. "What if we put it in Will's room?" Mulder suggested, his eyes bright. "That way he'll always have a night light and he'll never have worry about being afraid of the dark." "That's a wonderful idea, Mulder," she said, smiling. "And we could get a dog," Mulder mused aloud, his eyes dancing with plans for the future. "Every kid needs a dog. They could grow up together and be best friends..." "Mulder." "Yeah?" "I love you," she sighed and leaned in to kiss him. "I love you, too," he said when they'd parted moments later. Scully laid her head back on her shoulder only to lift it again 15 minutes later when Mulder began to snore and William began to fuss. "What are we going to do with him?" Scully asked her son as they walked into the bedroom for William's feeding, leaving Mulder curled on the couch to dream of the future. ~ The End ~ And what does the future hold? How will Mulder be able to come back? What power does young Will possess? One thing is for sure...it whatever answers we're given will only lead to more questions.
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