It had to be bad. We were in a rental car, driving to New York. A car rented with
aliases, and we were most definitely not leaving a paper trail behind us.

"Mulder, what the hell is going on?" I felt as if we had moved so fast that a cloud
of dust could seen behind us. I heard him sigh and grip the wheel tighter. "Mulder."

"My ‘accident’ Scully. I kept trying to tell myself it was an accident, but
someone’s toying with us."

"You always think someone is toying with you Mulder--"

"No, Scully, I’m right about this," he interrupts, his voice determined. "You
couldn’t conceive before, we should have seen it right there—"

It was my turn to interrupt. "Wait a minute, Mulder, there are such things as
miracles—"

"Scully, I know about your strong Catholic roots, but this is far from the story of
Elizabeth suddenly conceiving a child after years of no success and age against her. You always talk about science and face it, Scully, science was against us."

I was silent. I sat, taking in what he had just said.

"What did your OB say when you talked about your infertility, Scully?"

I turn to look at him, thinking for a moment. "She said that mistakes can be made
and be grateful."

"Yeah, about your test results."

"Perhaps I had a sudden regrowth—"

"Of thousands of eggs, healthy and just waiting for sperm to create thousands of
babies."

"What are you talking about, Mulder?" I suddenly jerked his hand, causing him to
jam on the brakes. Thank God from the nearly empty road. I knew that I had no idea
what he was talking about. My doctor had simply said that a regrowth of a few eggs was explainable, but what was Mulder talking about?

"Mulder, I need an explanation."

Another sigh came from him. "Scully, that OB, that doctor of yours, is lying.
According to a report that Gunmen got their hands on you could easily populate a small
city. We could have a very large and very healthy family."

I was suddenly breathless. I could hear Mulder pulling over to the side of the road
and eventually my door being opened. I looked to find Mulder’s eyes staring into my
own.

"I found out last night."

"That the kind of thing you should share, Mulder."

He takes my hand and placed it on my stomach. "Well, the result is worth
whatever happened."

I begin to wonder what else he found out the night before. "Mulder, what else did
the Gunmen tell you?"

Another sigh. That is beginning to become the trademark that comes with back
news. "We’re being watched, Scully. More than usual. Whoever ‘gave’ you back the
ability to conceive is lurking. Maybe for payment. But if it’s our smoker behind this, I’m
not sure what the hell he wants."

"The baby’s healthy, Mulder. Normal. What could they want with it?"

"I keep wondering, Scully. They perhaps that result of those tests you had done
were doctored as well. It’s our baby, yes, but what else could be—"

"I still worry about that, too, Mulder." I do worry about it. About how this baby
could turn out like Emily. However, I kept convincing myself my fears were unfounded.
Until now. "Mulder, we _made_ this baby. Us. Not some laboratory."

"I can’t help but think that us becoming a couple was just an added bonus to our
plan. That you getting pregnant because of a night we spent together was just an added convenience; they didn’t have to kidnap us to accomplish."

"That’s very paranoid, Mulder. Even more then usual."

Mulder gives me a grin. "I love you. I want things to be okay, Scully. I want, for
once, everything to be okay. I never thought I’d say this, but for once, I wish I was
something boring like an accountant, living in a little white house, in a little town in the
middle of perfect suburbia."

"You’d get bored. I’d get bored."

"You’re probably right." Giving my hand one last squeeze he closes my door and
climbs back into the driver seat and pretty soon we’re back on the road toward a
destination that could bring unknown disaster.


3 days later
Upstate New York

The cabin was nice, definitely a quiet vacation spot. The Gunmen had planned
well; the place was well stocked and belonged to a subscriber of theirs who turned out to be a doctor in the Big Apple. Of course, I think his wife is a little wary of the fact that her husband has such connections. However, Mark and Judy Andrews, as they introduced themselves when we arrived, we there to stay with us. Both Mulder and Byers had agreed that since I obviously couldn’t seek medical help if something went wrong during the birth, a doctor could come in handy. Especially when I learned Mark was an OB. I could pry. I could. But I’ll save that for the car trip home.

The place has enough medical supplies to deliver ten babies, if you ask me.
Mulder is just a tad over-protective. Almost immediately after arriving, he has Mark
examine me. Then I sat down with a lot of information I got from Mulder. Then I saw it
all.

The test results revealed the fact that I was a perfectly normal female. A piece of
information that would normally have me up dancing for joy now had me suspicious and
nosy. They seemed to be dirty fingerprints all over every test I had performed during my pregnancy. My own doctor had referred the OB to me. However, I now had photocopied prove that Dr. Rebecca Johnson had entered into a deal with someone for a great deal money. And though the details were sketchy it seemed that the answer was simple -
information about me was the exchange. I saw the appeal of the money that could help
further a growing practice. Still, the ethics of medicine had gotten lost in the shuffle.

This was all three days ago. I had been pondering this all for three days. I have a
week and a half left till my due date, but the baby has definitely dropped. It seems that I’ll be delivering before my due date. I have to admit, though, I think I’ll miss being pregnant. After having a human being inside you for so long, I started to think about what it would be like after he or she was gone.

She. I wanted a she. I was still stuck on Anne. However, Mulder’s insistence on
Elizabeth was beginning to wear me down as well. Mulder was in love with calling a little girl ‘Beth’ and I hate to deny him a pleasure.

But it is me that will be delivering this child.

And that is something I will not have him forget.


The countdown - 9 days to go

"False labor, Mulder. I can happen with the first pregnancy."

I am only trying to tell him that for the eightieth time. Mark gave up and went
back to bed after it had been determined there was going to be no baby tonight.

"Are you sure?"

Mulder had turned into a nervous father. He was an example of those fathers you
see on TV that can’t find their keys when their wives suddenly go into labor. Oh, of
course, there was one difference. I wasn’t his wife.

Judy had been trying to sell me on marriage. It wasn’t that I wasn’t sold on the
idea, but that I didn’t want anyone to think Mulder and I had just tied the knot because he ‘knocked me up.’ We loved each other and that was what mattered. I think.

"Do you need anything, Scully? Anything?"

Another thing that Judy and Mark picked up on was how Mulder and I still call
each other by our last names. We tried to explain, but somehow it was an inside joke that only we understood. I couldn’t call him ‘Fox’; he would call me ‘Dana’ on occasion but it still seemed like a foreign word from his lips. I’d always be ‘Scully’; he’d always be ‘Mulder.’

"Mulder, I’m _fine_. For the thousandth time, I’m _fine."

"Don’t you think that’s getting a bit old, Scully," Mulder teases me and I hit him
on the shoulder, before preparing to get up. That’s another thing. Petite as I am, it’s
getting harder and harder to get up. I will not miss that little bothersome ‘adventure’ after this baby’s delivered.

I change the subject as a serious thought crosses my mind. "Mulder, have you
gotten any ‘new’ information?"

"From Frohike?"

I nod.

"Nothing. They seem to have hit a dead end. We may have thrown them off
course, Scully. I think they want something with the delivery. After we get past that, we should be home free."

"What makes you so sure about that."

"I got a theory." He flashed me another grin.

I give a little laugh. "Like I haven’t heard that one before." Walking into the
bedroom, I expect to hear Mulder’s footsteps on my heel. Instead I heard them retreating.

"Mulder?"

"Just going to check my e-mail, Scully."

"This late?"

"Theories don’t know what time it is."

Of course, after that comment, I know I’ll find asleep at the computer the next
morning.


8 days to go.

I didn’t find Mulder asleep at the computer the next morning. Instead I found him
sitting on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Mulder?"

"Someone has tracked us to the rental agency, Scully. But Langly said that luckily
they found a barren trail after that."

"The baby—"

"Right, Scully. You have to have that baby. The sooner the better. Before they
pick up the trail again."

I stop to let his words set in.

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