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LI'L ALE-I-INN
ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO
MULDER AND SCULLY'S MOTEL ROOM
3:30 PM
Sometimes, I think men hate to pack and unpack. Mulder? He's
sitting on the scrappy sofa channel surfing, cursing out the
Knicks as they're getting blasted to death, in no hurry to open
his suitcase. He throws some sunflower seed shells into an
ashtray and glances over at me once in a while. He smiles so
sexily and I smile back.
I'm aching to get my belongings out and get it over with. My
baby blue silk pajamas! Yes, even FBI agents as hard-nosed
as myself love to be pampered! Bubble bath, lotion, make-up
kit, tee shirts, pants, silky bra and panties... SILKY BRA AND
PANTIES! I'm smiling and thinking of the possibilities, but
these AREN'T my style! Somebody's been planning...
Let's look in the backpack here: White scented envelope, no
name on it, but it smells like Mom. Small, padded brown
envelope, marked "FRAGILE", journal and three pens, new cell
phone, bee pollen, (thanks, Monica), and another padded
envelope marked so I won't break it.
"Like a kid at Christmas, hmm?" Mulder teases me.
I smile back and lick my lips. "You know me too well, Ahab.
Are YOU ever going to unpack?"
He leans back and clicks the converter. "All the time in the
world. I'm vegging out. I wish this were MY sofa." Back to
surfing.
Two brown envelopes marked "FRAGILE". Just like me, at times.
My reading glasses? Thought I left them somewhere at home.
I was in such a hurry to get to the trial and help Mulder, with
all the rushing around they must have been back home on my
dresser. Lately, I hadn't been using them. I think I'll
leave the letter till later. I can't bear the thought of my
mother's broken heart and all I have put her through,
especially these past three years.
Next, we have... "OHMYGOD!" I find myself screaming,
then softly crying. "Oh, my..."
Mulder's over here as fast as a fly. Arms enfolding me, he
softly says, "Are you all right?" Then he sees the picture,
beautifully nuzzled in a carved silver frame, and as I gaze
into his hazel eyes, they soften and well up with tears.
"You and William nursing. I snapped that picture before I...
we..our boy... Damn, I just can't stop feeling so stuck. I say
good night to him every time I close my eyes, Scully."
Yes, hold it, us, close to your heart and never let us go. I
stand up and nuzzle into him like a broken-hearted little
girl. "Hold me. I can't feel it! Hold me..." Now, I'm
crying so much I can't speak, and my face hurts.
He hurts, he cries... but he composes himself, and forces
himself to stand straight and tall. The mighty Mulder. Mine.
All my strength in his.
"Look at me." He cups my wet face in his hands and tries to
wipe away the tears, but can't keep up with them. "This is
not the end in any way, shape, or form. I promise you we WILL
be raising William, we WILL SURVIVE, and we WILL get past the
pain. Never again will I allow myself to let you be so
broken."
"I believe you," I whisper through the tears. I force a
smile. "Do you make passes at girls who wear glasses?" This
was no time for levity, and I don't know where it came
from... maybe some sort of way of keeping myself sane?
"Why, yes, Miss. I do. I wear them myself."
I put mine on just to see if... and he does. He makes a
pass!
Mulder pinches my butt and begins to hum "Sexy Eyes". Then he
runs over to his pile of stuff and unwraps his reading glasses.
"Ordered these before I went out of my way to expose, at least
I thought I would, the colonization plan."
When he put them on, he brought back the first moment I laid
eyes on him in his office at the FBI. The little school boy
look, unruly locks of brown hair and the boyish look about him
all came back, and I remember feeling warm all over. How I
smiled, and tried not to giggle... I remember how I saw his
image from that time on whenever I couldn't sleep. The thought
of him and me...
"I... don't think I need these, Scully." He was trying to read
a paper and the glasses were of no help. "They're only
blurring things. I guess I got the wrong strength."
I tried mine out. There was no way this could be happening.
Even the labelling on the brown envelope was all distorted.
But it was FINE when I removed the glasses! "Mulder, when you
were exposed to the spacecraft artifact, I told someone you
were more alive than you'd ever been."
Mulder seemed perplexed. I thought be believed everything and
I mean EVERYTHING "And?"
"I went to the Ivory Coast looking for answers and I was
exposed to spacecraft remains. I saw dead frogs come back to
life, Mulder! Could it be?"
"That we were healed in some way?" There was a look I'd never
seen before in his face. So, I let him think awhile and read
my Mom's letter. She missed me, she was staying at the
apartment for three months as we had agreed upon, and Mulder's
fish were A-1 healthy. Bill had become a father... I
almost cried but I was all out of tears.
After fifteen, twenty, I don't know how many minutes, because
I finished unpacking. my Ahab spoke. His words were very
tender and very serious. "Scully, come sit down." He gently
walked me to the sofa.
"What is it, Mulder? Why do I need to sit down?" I felt a
lump in my throat and a chill run through my system.
"Whatever our 'truth' was has been re-written by, I don't know,
God or alien ships, or your faith. I don't know. But I bet
dollars to donuts William is biologically, FULLY yours and mine,
and that... YOU HAVE HEALTHY, FERTILE, MAGNIFICENT
SCULLY..."
"The suspense is killing me Mulder. "Spit it out! Spit
it out or I'll knock it out of you! Don't tease me," I
pleaded.
"EGGS! OVA! LIFE-GIVING MOMMY CELLS!" He smiled.
I was so happy I found myself laughing hysterically. A mid-
afternoon thunderstorm was bringing torrents of warm rain. I
grabbed Mulder, almost ripping his arm off as I dragged him
outside and we danced closely, romantically. as if in a dream
sequence in a movie--time seemed to stand still. We smiled and
nuzzled and danced our hearts out.
"Thank God for those SPECTACULAR SPECTACLES!" My compass,
my love, my soulmate, Ahab Mulder bellowed his happiness a dozen
times even over the loud thunder. It was for all the world to hear and share
in our joy.
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