Comments: This is it folks, the last in the series.

I'm going to try something different after this lovefest but I've a funny feeling that it will all come back to sap in the end! Thanks for reading!

I sit here beside Scully's hospital bed with the newest member of our family on my lap and I can't seem to tear my eyes from her perfect face. Katherine Grace Mulder, born today, September 25th 2002, at 6:50am weighing 8lbs 10oz. She's beautiful- *obviously* -with big blue eyes, a perfect button nose and a very evident Scully beauty mark sitting comfortably above a definite Mulder mouth.

If she's half as beautiful as her mother in sixteen years, then we're in trouble. I have a sudden vision of myself fighting off teenage boys with a big stick and the thought makes me smile.

This is the first time I have felt anything close to calm since 2am this morning when Scully woke me up and told me we needed to get to the hospital. She was as cool as the proverbial cucumber while I managed to go from sound asleep to totally freaked out in record time.

I somehow got it together long enough to call Mrs Scully and throw a couple of Will's things into a bag before losing it completely, prompting a worried looking Scully to ask if I was okay! Only Scully, in the midst of frequent contractions, would notice my state and ask if *I'm* okay! I somehow got us all into the car and over to Mrs Scully's house to drop off Will before racing for the hospital.

Our daughter was born just three hours later, quite a contrast from the desperate, painful hours Scully had when she was giving birth last time. A contrast for me too because this time I was there from start to finish, my hand in Scully's right up until the baby made her first appearance. I'll never forget that moment, just as I'll never forget arriving just minutes after Will's birth to see Scully, tired but relieved, cradling the precious bundle that was our son.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. All I can smell is the instantly recognisable sweetness that accompanies every newborn. I remember the first time I held Will, in the chopper after Scully finally closed her eyes, breathed a sigh and placed him in my arms. I suddenly feel that this is it, this is the final piece of the puzzle for me, we are complete. I'm struck by the thought that if someone had told me three years ago that Scully and I would be married with a perfect son and daughter, I would have laughed them out of the room.

I laugh out loud now at the absolute wonder of it all.

I wake up to Mulder laughing quietly to himself and I glance to where he sits beside my bed. He hasn't noticed that I'm awake yet so I have a chance to look at him as he holds our daughter so tenderly in his arms. He is looking her with total adoration, exactly the same way he looked at Will when he held him for the first time, after I handed him over in the chopper, knowing that he was finally safe and in his father's arms. I remember the moment he arrived at the house and burst through the door, not knowing what he might find inside. When he saw Will cradled in my arms, the relief and love were written all over his face and when he bent down and scooped the both of us up off the bed, I'm sure the look on my face was almost identical.

This time couldn't have been more different. Everything went so smoothly and so quickly that I'm having trouble believing that eight hours ago we were at home sleeping and now we have a second child. Maybe it wasn't actually *that* easy, maybe it's just that nothing could come close to the level of trauma I suffered first time I gave birth.

Whatever the logic, she's here, she's healthy and she's beautiful. I'm still staring at Mulder, lost in my thoughts, when he notices that I'm awake and smiles.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself."

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired and a little sore but she was worth it. Isn't she beautiful, Mulder?"

He looks back down to where the baby still sleeps on his lap and nods slowly. "She's perfect, Scully. Absolutely perfect."

There's a light rap on the door and I look up to see my mom in the doorway, holding Will by the hand. Mom walks over to stand beside Mulder and I beckon to Will to hop up onto the bed with me. I kiss him and ruffle his hair, "Hi sweetie, you been a good boy for Grandma?"

Mom leans over and kisses me on the cheek before speaking, "He's been a little angel, as always."

She sits in the chair next to Mulder and pulls the blanket back to get a closer look at her newest grandchild but Mulder has different ideas and places the baby in her arms. Mom looks at her for a long moment and when she finally looks back up at me, she has tears in her eyes, "Oh! She's perfect, absolutely adorable. Does she have a name yet?"

Mulder traces the baby's cheek gently with his index finger, "Katherine Grace Mulder."

"That's beautiful, it really is."

Turning to me, she asks. "You feeling okay, honey?"

"I'm fine, Mom. A little tired but that's it."

I look at Will and see him looking curiously at the baby on his grandma's lap. "That's your new baby sister, Will. Her name is Katherine, you want to say hi?"

He looks a little uncertain at first but then he leans a little closer to her and peers seriously at her face before he kisses his fingers and lightly touches the top of her head. Mulder smiles at Will delightedly before speaking, almost to himself. "There's something special about sisters, isn't there?"

I reach for his hand and squeeze it. "Yes there is and Will's going to be a wonderful big brother, just like you, Mulder."

Mulder looks over to my mom, shaking his head and smiling. "When did she get so wise?"

Mom smiles and shakes her head in return. "She was born wise."

Looking back at me, Mulder squeezes my hand and smiles, "I love you, Scully."

"I know. I love you too."

Katherine sleeps peacefully in the crib beside the bed, finally. She hasn't quite taken to sleeping like Will did and seems rarely to sleep more than an hour at a time. We're both exhausted, but Scully especially. I get up with her as much as I can but when it's time for a feed, it's Scully she needs and there's nothing I can do.

The best I can do is get out of the house with Will for a few hours in the day when the baby *is* sleeping, giving Scully a chance to try to make up for some of the sleep she's losing night after night.

Right now though, all is quiet and we lie facing each other, Scully curled up like a kitten with one hand tucked under her face and the other resting on my arm.

Her sleep seems peaceful and she has an intriguing half smile on her face that makes me wonder what she's dreaming about, if she's dreaming at all. The nightmares that plagued her for so long after Will was born seem finally to be a thing of the past, it's been a long while since she's woken suddenly with tears streaming down her face, clutching at me in absolute terror. I reach out and touch her face very gently so as not to wake her, almost to remind myself that she's real and I'm really here. I find myself doing this all the time, with Scully, Will and now Katherine too. I know it's silly but I can't help it, I'm still hit with a wave of amazement sometimes when I think of what I have, how lucky I am. Closing my eyes, I know my dreams will be of Scully as they always are.

I open my eyes and I'm surprised to see that it's almost light already. I'm also surprised to see that Mulder's side of the bed is empty and that the baby is still sleeping. I sit up and glance at the clock, 6.02am.

Katherine has slept for nearly three hours, the longest she's slept since she was born four weeks ago. I climb out of bed quietly and stand beside the crib, peeking in at our sleeping beauty and smiling as she wrinkles her nose and stirs slightly. I smell breakfast and I realize that Will must be awake and that must be where Mulder has disappeared to. At that moment, Katherine lets out a wail so I pick her up and settle back onto the bed to feed her, before I go downstairs to see what culinary delights my husband is offering this morning.

By the time I reach the bottom of the stairs, the baby is dozing again so I make a detour to the living room and put her down in the basket there before heading for the kitchen. Will is in his chair, ploughing through a ridiculous amount of pancakes and apparently wearing more syrup than he is eating while Mulder is attempting to clean up the mess he always makes when he cooks. He spots me in the doorway and smiles, turning me to mush as he always *has* and always *will* with that smile of his. He is wearing charcoal sweatpants and his chest is bare except for the light dusting of flour which I doubt is a fashion statement. I walk over to him and slide my arms around his waist, snuggling in to his chest, flour be damned.

"Mmmmm. Morning, baby."

"You were up early, Mulder."

"Noooo, *Will* was up early."

I turn my head to the side, reluctant to break away from the comfort of Mulder's embrace and I see Will, still working his way through his huge breakfast. He looks up at me and waves a very syrupy fork before grinning through a mouthful of pancake. "Hi Mommy. I go' syp."

"Hi sweetie. I can see you've got syrup. Is it good?"

He nods and turns his attention back to the syrup in question. I turn *my* attention to the tasty dish I have my arms around as I kiss him good morning. I never get tired of kissing Mulder, he is the only taste I crave constantly. He reminds me of mushrooms- in the sense that for years I didn't eat them and then when I finally did, I loved them so much that I couldn't believe I had gone without them for so long. We pull apart and he wipes the flour from my face. "Baby awake?"

"She was. I fed her and she's sleeping again."

"She slept a little more last night, didn't she?"

"A little, yeah. Thanks for getting up with Will, Mulder."

"Ah, you were drooling all over me anyway."

I smack him lightly on the arm and take a seat at the table next to Will.

"Shut up and feed me, Mulder."

I stand with the baby in my arms and my gaze lands on the photo on the table, my husband and our son, each as cute as the other. I smile at that thought, Mulder thinks it's funny when I tell him he's cute, he says it makes him sound like a stuffed animal. I look down at our daughter and her now hazel eyes look back at me, struggling to focus as she drifts off to sleep. She's about to experience her first Christmas although she's too young at only eleven weeks old to appreciate it properly. Will is a totally different story, he'll turn two at the end of January and he is fascinated by the whole thing, the toys, the lights, the decorations.

I put Katherine down to sleep and curl up on the couch to try to grab a nap before Mulder gets home from dropping Will at my Mom's. He is spending Christmas Eve there with his cousins, giving Mulder and I the chance to wrap his presents and to have a little peace before the inevitable chaos that Christmas morning will bring. Mulder is strangely excited about the whole Christmas thing, possibly because this year we have decided to stay home, just the four of us. Last year we spent Christmas at my Mom's and, while it was fine, Mulder was more than a little uncomfortable, totally freaked out by the fact that it was our first Christmas married and more than slightly worried that the members of my family that he didn't already know would have been tipped off by Bill in advance and would be waiting with shotguns.

I'm in that lovely place between awake and asleep when I hear Mulder's key in the lock and his soft footsteps in the doorway. I don't quite have the strength to open my eyes when I hear feel him get closer to the couch so I just murmur. "I'm awake, Mulder. Just dozing while Katherine's asleep."

I half-see, half-feel him crouch down beside where I'm lying and I know that if I could just drag my eyes fully open, he'd be right there, gazing at me. Before I can order my eyelids to do just that, I hear him whisper, "Go back to sleep for a while. I'll make a start on the wrapping."

Then I feel his gentle lips brushing my cheek and, like some drooling version of sleeping beauty, my eyes flutter open to meet his and I manage to murmur. "No, I'm up, Mulder. If we can get Will's presents wrapped before the baby wakes up then maybe you'll get your Christmas gift early."

"Oooh, Scully. You bought me a present?"

"Did I say I'd *bought* you a present, Mulder? Wait and see."

"That's my Scully. Still keeping me guessing."

A pile of perfectly wrapped gifts sits neatly under the huge Christmas tree, the tree that Scully insists seems bigger each time she looks at it. I have a sneaking suspiscion that Will and I might not be in charge of tree selection again next Christmas so I'm making the most of this one. She places the final gift with the others and pushes me backwards so that I'm flat on my back and all I can see are the sparkling lights that decorate the tree. She crawls up along my body until her hands are on the floor on either side of my head, then she leans forward and kisses me, hard. Her long hair tickles my neck so, without breaking the kiss for even one second, I reach up and tuck it behind her ears and over her shoulders before offering up a silent prayer to whomever may be listening that the baby stays asleep just long enough for her parents to wish each other a merry Christmas.

She does, and we do.

We have made it back onto the couch and are both dozing when there is a knock at the door. Scully moans slightly but doesn't stir as I move to answer it. As I open the door, I see Will sound asleep in his car seat as his grandma greets me at the door with a kiss on the cheek and a "Merry Christmas".

"He's worn out, I think he'll probably be out for the night now, Fox."

She glances over at Scully, still sleeping on the couch and Katherine, also sleeping in her basket, and she smiles, "Don't wake them, I'll call you in the morning."

"Okay, thanks. Goodnight."

"'Night Fox."

I wake up confused. I'm in our bed but I have no recollection of getting here, the last thing I remember is Mulder and I dozing on the couch. It takes me a minute to realize that it's Katherine who has woken me and that it's not morning, only midnight. Mulder starts to stir as I sit up on the edge of the bed and scoop the baby up out of her bassinet. He mumbles something that sounds vaguely like "you okay, baby?" then rolls over without waiting for an answer. I move to the rocking chair to feed Katherine so I can watch Mulder as he sleeps, shirtless and still seriously sexy, even when he is snoring and mumbling incoherently.

The next time I wake, it's Mulder, not Katherine, who has dragged me from my sleep, shaking my shoulder and whispering my name.

I open one eye and see the big red numbers screaming 4:07.

A groan escapes my lips and I try to bury my head further into the pillow but Mulder is still shaking me and hissing my name now, rather than whispering. Eventually I give in and roll over to face him, sighing. "What, Mulder? What's wrong?"

He grins like an excited child and I can see exactly where Will gets his cheeky smile from. "Nothing's wrong, Scully. It's snowing."

"You woke me at 4am to tell me that it's snowing?"

"No, I woke you to tell you that the baby is fussing for her feed. It *is* snowing though. It's going to be a white Christmas."

I give him the customary eye roll but I can't help but smile at his enthusiasm, his complete joy at the fact that it's snowing on Christmas morning. I start to roll back over to pick Katherine up for her feed but I stop for a second and move closer to Mulder so that our noses are almost touching. He raises an eyebrow-I've trained him well-and I say nothing, I just kiss him softly and, with my lips still against his, whisper. "Merry Christmas, Mulder."

end

Author's Notes: I can't explain why I ended up with a Christmas fic in July, except maybe that the English weather right now resembles December a lot more than it does July. Sorry, and, um, Merry Christmas .