Seeing the Light

an X-Files adventure by Setcheti

Disclaimer: Not sure who owns The X-Files now, but it isn’t me. This story follows “A Walk in the Woods.”

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Scully left her doctor's office and drove back home in a fog. It was still early, too early to be late for work. Mechanically she changed clothes, brushing her fingers across a stomach that wouldn't stay flat for long. Unless...

"No," she said to the mirror, to the pale wide-eyed woman staring back at her. "I can't...not his baby." Baby. A miniature heartbeat with genes for red hair and brown eyes. Morning sickness, Lamaze classes – Scully’s reflection smiled wryly at the idea of Fox Mulder at a childbirth class – cribs and teddy bears and soft pastel blankets, all tied together with twisting green fire. And that fire...she leaned her forehead against the cold glass, trying to blot out the memory that had been haunting her for more than a month now. The memory she had tried so hard to deny. The memory of the spark – and the fire.

She and Mulder had been prowling the Appalachians for days, trying to track down a bizarre serial killer who had eluded police in five states. Their search had finally led them to a cabin high in the mountains, to an old tracker willing to help them. He had summoned the killer – somehow – and gone out to confront him alone, leaving them to wait inside. And as he had passed her going out, the old man had looked Scully in the eye and smiled, lightly brushing her cheek with his gnarled fingers; green light had exploded in her eyes, coursing through her body and causing her to fall into her partner's arms.

Scully had to take Mulder's word for what happened next. According to him, the old tracker had met their suspect at the edge of the clearing, made as though to embrace him...and then a flash of green light had turned the two interlocked figures into a double-forked tree. She had helped him examine the tree – which to her eyes was just that – and had accepted his story with such a complete lack of her usual skepticism that Mulder had dragged her back into the cabin and made her sit in a chair while he gathered wood and built a fire. Scully didn't think he had taken more than one worried eye off of her for the rest of the afternoon, or at least until the blizzard hit.

She blamed the blizzard for what happened next. They had food and water, enough to last if they were careful...and only one bed. Mulder evaded the issue by saying that someone had to watch the fire and he would go first. Scully agreed to that and was relieved, until she awoke a few hours later and found him curled up on the floor, shivering. She didn't stop to think, didn't notice how hot she suddenly felt or how green the firelight was looking; she just pulled him up into the bed and...

They made love in the heart of the twisting green flame while the blizzard howled against the cabin walls, and fell asleep in each other’s arms while the magic still enveloped them. But the next morning the storm had broken, the fire had died, and they went back to Washington and back to work without discussing what had happened.

Because she hadn’t let Mulder talk about what had happened.

Scully looked into the mirror again and saw the tears streaking down its surface. Well, Dana, her doctor had said, you were right, you're about four weeks along. Are congratulations in order?

And she had replied, numbly, I don't know. She didn't know. The rest of the doctor's words had been a confused jumble to her, about options and knowing who the father was – nothing that seemed relevant to her situation. There were no options, and the father...

She had to tell him. Today. Now, before he could figure it out on his own. And being as perceptive as he was, Mulder would figure it out one way or the other; if she lied, the deception would crush him.

Scully drove to work. The walk to Mulder's basement office had never seemed so long – or so short – as it did today. His door was closed, but she knew he was there and her stomach tightened into an icy knot as she opened the door.

Mulder was behind his desk, scratching away at a pile of paperwork in his shirtsleeves, and he barely glanced up when she came in. "Morning," he grunted. Scully didn't answer, and her silence brought his head back up. One look at her face brought him out of his chair in a hurry. "Scully..."

She avoided his eye and dropped into a chair. "Oh, Mulder, I just..."

"Wait," he interrupted. He went back to the desk and rummaged in a drawer, then sat on the edge of the desk in front of her. "You went to the doctor this morning." It wasn't a question.

Wide-eyed, Scully nodded. "I'm pregnant, Mulder. It's..."

"Mine, I know. No, just listen, Scully; I've been doing some checking on that old man, and on our suspect. They were both Trackers, with a capital 'T'." He rubbed his jaw, frowning. "At first no one would explain the special emphasis to me, but when I told them...well." Mulder blushed. "I understand what happened now, Scully, and we couldn't have stopped it if we'd wanted to."

He was putting something in her hands, a square white box tied with gold ribbon. His brown eyes were dark with feeling. "I wouldn't have wanted to. But it's up to you, it's your decision."

Mystified, Scully tugged at the ribbon. The box was almost four inches square; Not a ring box, she thought with relief. She lifted off the lid and gasped, feeling her face drain of color. Baby booties, white ones, nestled in pale yellow tissue, their satin ribbons tied together in an elaborate double bow. And suspended from the knot...

Mulder's hands reached down to encircle hers. "I love you, Dana," he whispered. His use of her first name make her head snap up, and she saw the love – and fear--in his eyes. "I've loved you for a while now, and being friends just isn't enough for me anymore. Even being lovers isn't. I want you to be my wife."

She looked back down at the gold ring with its perfect diamond, at the satin bow that he must have tied himself. "Mulder, I don't know what to say."

"My name," he corrected gently, "is Fox."

"Fox," Dana echoed numbly, her thoughts fuzzing out behind an unfamiliar buzzing sensation. She heard a faint exclamation from somewhere, but it didn't worry her. As a matter of fact she felt very comfortably unworried, very peaceful and warm.

After an unknown amount of time, a trickle of returning sensation told Dana that someone was holding her, and the low hum in her ears resolved itself into a low, worried voice calling her name. She realized that her eyes were closed and opened them, startled, to find herself looking up at a very pale Fox Mulder. "What...I fainted?"

"Well, there's a first time for everything," he replied with a faint smile, helping her to sit up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." Something was missing. She thought back; then looked around, alarmed. "Where's my ring?"

"Your..." Mulder stared at her, openmouthed. He pulled the box off the desk and held it out to her with a shaking hand. "This ring?"

"Yes," Dana said, with a relieved sigh. She wrapped her fingers around the box and the hand holding it and looked deep into his very wide brown eyes. "Yes, Fox."

Fox stood up slowly, pulling her up with him, his face a mask of disbelief. "Yes?" he repeated tentatively. "You'll marry me?" When she nodded, he pulled her close and buried his face in her hair. "Oh, Dana."

Dana returned the embrace wholeheartedly, drinking in the closeness she'd been missing for a whole month, the familiar smell of his aftershave, the feel of his heartbeat against her cheek. "You really thought I'd say no? To you?"

"I wasn't sure." He sighed, looking down at her fondly. "I never did this before."

That surprised her. "You mean, you've never…"

"No, never." Fox smiled, a little sadly. "Something always held me back; memories, I guess. I never thought anyone else…I never could share them with anyone, until I met you, Dana. And one day, I realized that you meant more to me than the memory did. It frightened me. I felt like…"

"Like you were betraying Samantha, I know," Dana finished for him. "I remember."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "I never told you that."

"You never told me lots of things," she said gently, "but my mother and Melissa did, and I'd heard quite a lot of gossip around the office. And then when you traded Samantha for me…"

"Dana!" Fox brushed a tear off her cheek with gentle fingers. "You weren't responsible for any of that, I was. I got you involved…"

Dana put a finger against his lips to shut off the flow of self-recrimination. "I knew what I was getting involved in after our very first case, Fox; I wanted the truth just as bad as you did. A few times I think I even wanted it more, because I wanted it for you. I love you, Fox Mulder, with no reservations. And no regrets."

Fox smiled at her, his own eyes bright with tears. "And I love you, Dana Scully," he whispered, taking her face in his hands and gently kissing away another tear. He looked down into her eyes. "Forever."

Dana almost fainted again. "Did you feel that?" she gasped. "Was it the…"

"No." His eyes twinkled. "But thanks for the compliment." He kissed her again, this time on the lips, and that same magical feeling swept through Dana strongly enough to make her knees buckle. "Dana?"

She laid her head against his chest and shut her eyes. "God," she whispered. "If you're always like this…"

Fox stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. "Only with you," he murmured. "Because of you."

The phone rang, startling them both back into the reality of the office. Fox sighed, cleared his throat and picked it up. "Mulder." He listened a moment, then grinned and winked at Dana. "As a matter of fact, sir, Agent Scully and I were just on our way up to see you. Yes…yes sir." He hung up, grabbed his jacket and shrugged into it. "Here we go."

"Skinner?"

"Yeah, another briefing." Fox started untying the ring, easing it out of the restraining ribbons. "Actually, though, we're going to brief him. Now come here, I want to do this right."

Dana went to him and he took her hand, kissed it, and got down on one knee. She caught her breath as he put the ring on her finger and the magic touched her again through the look in his eyes. "Forever," she agreed.

Fox stood up, gave her a final lingering kiss, and tugged her toward the door. "Come on," he said. "This will be fun."

"If you say so." Dana reluctantly followed him upstairs to Skinner's office, where they went straight in without knocking. Their boss raised an eyebrow at that, then raised them both when he saw Mulder holding Scully's hand.

Mulder didn't give him time to think about it. "Sir," he said briskly, "Agent Scully and I are taking the rest of the week off, effective immediately. We can discuss her reassignment when we come back. Is there anything urgent you need us for before we leave?"

Skinner's jaw dropped. "Reassignment? Agent Mulder…" He looked at them both, searchingly, then at the clasped hands again; then he covered his eyes with his hand and groaned. "Christ," he swore. "I knew this would happen. During that damned blizzard last month, didn't it?" Two nods answered him, and he stood up abruptly and leaned menacingly toward his unrepentant agent. "Agent Mulder," he growled, "I would think that a supposedly responsible man such as yourself could manage to control himself for three lousy days, or at least to conduct himself responsibly. It isn't my job to remind you to…to take your raincoat." Mulder flushed bright red and opened his mouth, but Skinner cut him off. "Don't even try to explain your way out of this one, mister; save it for the wolves in Internal Affairs, when I throw you to them for unprofessional conduct."

Scully found her voice. "Director Skinner," she said, her voice tight and furious. "You are the one displaying unprofessional conduct – you are being highly discriminatory! If you would let us explain…"

"You and I will talk later, Agent Scully," Skinner replied, but in a much lower voice. "This has nothing to do with sexual discrimination, and I will not allow you to defend your partner," he glared at Mulder, "because I have been expecting him to make this mistake ever since the Duane Barry incident. I had just hoped you wouldn't fall for it – or for him."

"Not that it's any of your business," Scully hissed, "but I'm the one that compromised him." She took a step forward, and Skinner rocked back on his heels. "Agent Mulder was suffering from hypothermia, and I lost control of myself trying to warm him up."

"Dana…"

She kept her eyes on Skinner. "No, Fox. This wasn't your fault."

"It wasn't anybody's 'fault'," he corrected firmly. "Skinner, the reports we gave you on that last X-file weren't…complete." Fox stepped up behind Dana and put his hands on her shoulders. "Since then, I've discovered that 'Tracker' wasn't what those men did, it was what they were. The local people were more than eager to explain it to me," he smiled, "after I told them what had happened to us. That green spark you saw when the old man touched you, Scully, and the glow we saw…um, later, that's how they pass the gift on to the next generation before they die."

Skinner sat down hard. "Agent Mulder, are you trying to tell me that this happened because you two were in the wrong place at the wrong time and an old man cast a magic spell on Agent Scully?"

"Well, not exactly." Mulder made Scully sit down and remained standing beside her. "From what I was told, a Tracker normally picks the parents of his successor in advance, usually a young couple that can't have children on their own. But in this case, David – the old man – told the locals that his choices wouldn't come to the mountain until the day he was supposed to die. He gave them detailed descriptions, our descriptions, and they recognized Agent Scully right off." He fingered a lock of her red hair with a fond smile. "David was waiting for us, sir. And I checked with the National Weather Service…"

"Don't tell me, the blizzard came out of nowhere, right?"

"And only in that one area," Mulder finished, ignoring the sarcasm in Skinner's voice; it wasn't the first time. "I'm not saying that this situation wouldn't have happened eventually; I'm just saying that there was a reason it happened when it did. I'll gladly make my report to the board…"

Skinner was shaking his head. "That won't be necessary, Agent Mulder; I'll believe you. What I don't understand is why you need time off, or why Agent Scully can't continue to work in your section after she comes back. So explain to me why, if you're both professionals and it was nobody's fault, why the two of you can't work together any more? Well?"

Mulder let out a frustrated snort. Scully laughed and patted his hand, then extended her left hand across the desk for Skinner's inspection. The diamond sparkled fire in the dim light, and his eyes widened. "You're kidding."

Scully stood up and took her partner's arm. "See you next week – that is, if we both still have jobs?"

"It's going to take the whole five days just to explain all this to our families," Mulder added. "We'll invite you to the wedding, but it won't be anytime soon."

"I should think not," Skinner said slowly. "Scully's mother would have you shot if you told her after the fact." He sighed, reaching for his glasses. "Monday, ten o'clock. Now get out of here, both of you. And Agent Mulder,” worried brown eyes fastened on his face, and the Director let the younger man sweat for a second before allowing himself to smile. “Congratulations.”

Mulder’s face lit up. “Thank you, sir.”