Proof of Love

Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 02:08:56 -0000

Subject: NEW: Proof Of Love by Cassandra Lange

Title: Proof of Love

Author: Cassandra Lange

E-mail: casie_lange@yahoo.com

Rating: G

Category: Vignette

Spoilers: FTF, Emily, maybe

Keywords: Mulder/Scully married

Summary: This is post FTF. M&S get married, and though Scully can't have a child, they adopt, and it's just Scully's feelings about that.

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. All the characters, except Caroline, belong to Chris Carter. I don't want to be sued, so please don't sue me. I'm only an innocent little girl =).

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Proof of Love

by Cassandra Lange

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He came right out of the blue and asked it. Right after the Antarctica episode, I thought that nothing could shock me anymore, but I was wrong. After the inquiry, he took my hand and said, "Uh, I think I love you. Wanna get married?" What can you say to that? (Well, alot of things, but I said yes).

We were married quietly at city hall with only my mother and Mrs. Mulder present. We broke the news to everyone else six weeks later, after we both had "coincidentally" signed up for the same vacation time. Skinner laughed, patted my new husband on the back and said, "I always knew you'd pull through."

Our honeymoon was great, a quiet retreat in Amish country. But after we came back to our normal lives, the worries set in. Was this too fast? Were we really as compatible as we thought we were? Will this affect our working relationship? How? Questions, questions, questions! My head almost exploded with them. The biggest question was,” What about kids?" I voiced my concern about offspring three months into our marriage, at a quiet dinner in Chinatown.

"Mulder,"

I began, taking a sip of tea to ease the lump in my throat. "What do you think about...children?"

He was quiet for a second, chewing on a steamed prawn. He swallowed and said, "Of course I want them. But as we know...there's always adoption. I just think children are...proof of love." He smiled at me. "We certainly have that."

And so the heavy stone on my chest was lifted. But then, what was I worried about anyway? He knew what he was marrying, and yet he still married me. I tried not to think about it. We set about to look for adoption agencies. Surprisingly, it was Skinner who told us. "There's an orphanage in Sethsburg, Virginia. A lot of couples who work in the government adopt there. I'm sure you'll get a better chance if you apply there."

And so we did, and waited patiently for six months before we received a reply. When it came, my hands shook. "You open it." I said, shoving it at Mulder. He read out loud that they had found us a child, a daughter, half Korean, half American, six-years-old and in perfect health. Were we interested? And that was how Caroline came into our lives.

Skinner picked her up at the orphanage, though at first, we had decided to go for ourselves. At the last moment, Mulder got cold feet, and we called Skinner. "No problem," he said. "What are friends for?" I went into a frenzy, cleaning the house, especially the room that was going to be hers. "Do you think she likes sea animals?" I asked Mulder for what seemed the hundredth time.

I was contemplating rearranging the bedroom furniture when Mulder called, "Scully! They're here!"

My heart was in my throat as I climbed down those stairs, the longest trip in my life, I'm sure of it. But finally, I was there. And there she was. She was small, black-haired, dressed in an a pink t-shirt and scuffed jeans, looking sweet and innocent. In that instant, an image of Emily just before she died flashed before my eyes, and they blurred with tears. Skinner had left, so I wasn't afraid to cry. Mulder was staring at her, our daughter, as though she was a ghost. "Welcome, Caroline." I said finally. In a burst of emotion, I gave her a hug. She looked slightly confused, because I had called her "Caroline". That was the name we had decided to give her because her Korean name was unpronounceable. I laughed, and told her, and she smiled slightly, and in that instant, I loved her.

Mulder stood up, took the two of us into his arms and said, "I guess this is proof our love, huh?"

THE END

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