TITLE: "Lilac's Last Bloom" AUTHOR: Kate M (also Kathryn Ravvin) E-MAIL: Enigma806@aol.com FEEDBACK: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! (Get my point?) Please, pretty please with a cherry on top? And chocolate sauce? And chocolate sauce in my coffee with whipped cream so I can have a cappuccino? Yeah...waitamminnute, what was the subject? Anyhow, I crave feedback...and cappuccino...but that's another story. RATING: Um, PG, I guess. CATEGORY: Actually, very little angst overall, which is unlike me... Let's see...Babyfic (sorta), lots of M/S friendship...M/S/other friendship, a smattering of MSR, some blink-and-you'll-miss-it UST. A little Mulder Torture Lite. This one's hard to categorize...you read it and decide. Let me know... Warning: Character death. DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, I don't own 'em, the big boys up at 1013 and FOX do...yada, yada, yada, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. I do, however, own the characters I *did* invent...Julia and Jack Kalians and any other characters you don't recognize as being from XF, pretty much. That would include Rachel, yes. I know you love her and want her, but.... I have had TOO many cups of cappuccino staying awake, trying to finish this thing! The song I quote is "I'd Love You to Want Me" by Lobo. SPOILERS: All Scully cancer eps... "Christmas Carol" and "Emily", "The Unnatural" (small one), "Triangle" (small one), "Chinga" (small one), another small one for "Monday", vague reference to the iced tea conversation in "Tooms". (At least I'm pretty sure that was the ep. Correct me if I'm wrong. Could have been "Squeeze", I confuse those two all the time!) I dare you to find the "Wetwired" reference! ARCHIVE: Sure, I'd be honored. Just send me the link so I can drop in every now and then. And I would appreciate an email to let me know of your intentions. Church of X, of course! SUMMARY: Doing a "favor" for a friend will change Scully's life forever. NOTES: This is a response to the Church of X fanfic challenge #1. If I get a good response, and you ask nicely, I might make a series of it. :-)~ I know it looks like a Mother's Day challenge at first--but that's just happenstance. Trust me on this one. BTW, the places mentioned in this story really do exist. I know, I used to live in this area. :) *********************************************************************** Jasper's restaurant Greenbelt, Maryland Julia Kalians entered the restaurant cheerfully, and seeing that the friend she was supposed to meet for lunch hadn't arrived yet, sat down. The waitress came by and smiled at her. "Hello, ma'am," the waitress--her nametag identified her as Sabrina--greeted her, handing Julia a menu. "Can I take your drink order?" "Um...sure," Julia replied. "Do you have any iced tea?" "We sure do," Sabrina answered brightly. "Iced tea, then," Julia said. It was one of her few true vices in life...she loved the stuff. And she certainly wasn't going to deny herself it this late in the game. "Coming right up." Sabrina left, a bounce in her step. She couldn't possibly have been any more than 20. Julia remembered what life had been like for her then. She wanted those days back. Young, happy...not a care in the world...nothing to worry about...no concerns that her glowing health might one day simply vanish... "Iced tea?" a familiar female voice asked from behind, her tone teasing. "Why doesn't that surprise me? Looking for love, are you?" Julia looked back at her. "'Looking for love', Dana?" Dana Scully chuckled softly, and joined her friend at the table. "Oh...long story." "Does it have anything to do with that gorgeous partner of yours?" "Actually, yes," Scully told her, and then gave Julia an evaluating glance. "Gorgeous?" "Well, he is." "I know that, Jules...but you're married." "Doesn't mean I can't appreciate the finer specimens of the opposite sex. I'll look, I might enjoy it, but I keep my hands off. Jack's the same way." Scully shrugged. "Then I guess you two are perfectly matched." The two of them had known each other since college...Julia had been Dana's best friend's roommate. They had become rather good friends...actually, now, Julia was the only one of the college gang that Scully still kept in regular contact with. "So have you and Jack had any luck yet?" Scully asked. Julia and her husband had been trying for years to have a baby--with no results. Julia had gotten pregnant three times...and miscarried all three. The most recent one was only about six or seven months ago. Julia shook her head sadly. "No. They figured out what the problem is, though." "What?" "I don't know, exactly," Julia explained, waving a hand as she spoke, "but it has something to do with my body chemistry or something...for some reason, I can't carry a child beyond about six weeks. It's just impossible for me." She sighed. "We can still adopt, of course...but we'd always wanted our very own little baby. Doesn't matter though. It's not going to happen now." Scully reached out and put a hand on one of Julia's. "Oh, Julia...I'm so sorry." She knew the pain and frustration all too well...her last chance at being a mother had died with Emily. "I'm okay," Julia assured her. "I've had some time; I'm dealing with this. And having a baby isn't *everything* in the world..." She smiled. "But at least you understand, Dana. Most people try to act like they do when they really don't. You know, I keep making up all these reasons to try to justify things to myself... doesn't work." "I know exactly what you mean," Scully sympathized. "I keep telling myself every now and then that I don't have time in my life for a baby, but if something's important, you'll make the time. I guess it's just a form of self-delusion...something my partner specializes in." She grinned. "I've learned a few tricks of the trade." "So why don't you two ever get together?" Julia wondered, changing the subject. "We're just friends," Scully insisted. "Yeah, sure, Dee...that's what they *all* say." Scully pulled back with feigned indignance. "Oh, Julia Gayle Kalians...you are so smug. Don't make me have to hurt you." "Okay, okay!" Julia giggled, bringing an unlikely girlish look to her features. "I'll be good, I promise!" There was a short pause. "Geez, you've really gotta watch yourself when the FBI's involved!" Sabrina came back with the tea, and the two women placed their orders. About halfway through the meal, Julia gave her friend a long, hard glance. Scully looked up from her salad, surprised. "What is it, Julia?" Julia took a deep breath before continuing. "Dana...I asked you to come here today because there's something really important I wanted to talk to you about. Something really big. It would affect both our lives--in a major way." Scully set the fork down, and took a cautious sip of her Diet Coke. "What is it, Jewel?" "It's about...the problem we were discussing earlier. With kids and everything." "And?" Scully prompted. "*And* it would involve some serious decisions--on both our parts. I wouldn't make you decide now; I wouldn't want you to. This is going to be something you're going to really have to think about." "What is it?" Julia sighed. "Jack and I were discussing...other possibilities. Like adopting. And we found this adorable little girl in California...her mother had just abandoned her at the hospital, poor thing." "How could any mother do that to her child?" Scully wondered. Of course, she'd wondered the same things after the events in Home, Pennsylvania. "I would give anything to have a baby, and then some mother goes and leaves hers?" "That's precisely what I thought," Julia agreed. "That's why Jack and I are going to adopt her. Her name's Rachel. I was just thinking...if something were to happen that would allow the circumstances, you would be able to take care of a baby, right?" "I would assume so." Scully gasped softly, as she put two and two together. "Julia...are you asking me what I think you're asking me?" Julia nodded slowly. "Not exactly, though. This is a little more complicated than the average godparent situation." XXXXXXXX J. Edgar Hoover Building, basement floor Washington, D.C. Mulder looked up as Scully walked into the office. "Oh, hi. How'd lunch go?" "Well..." Scully began. "Well what?" Scully looked straight at Mulder, blue eyes meeting green. "Julia wants me to sign as a legal guardian for the baby she's going to adopt. She and Jack signed the adoption papers...right before they found out that they were dying." XXXXXXXX The silence in the room was deafening. Mulder's jaw nearly hit the floor. "You're kidding." "No, Mulder, I am in fact deadly serious." She winced at the unintentional pun. "Your friend wants you to have her baby?" Mulder asked, then grinned, realizing that it didn't really sound right. "In a manner of speaking," Scully countered, choosing to ignore the inane smirk on Mulder's face. "Are you going to do it?" "I don't know, Mulder. I mean, this is a major, *major* decision. I'm really going to have to think about it. You don't just decide these things on a whim." "This is true," Mulder mused. "Do you *want* to do it?" "I honestly don't know," she told him. "I mean, my first instinct is to say 'yes', and in all honesty, I would love to do it...I mean, you know how much I'd love to have a child...but I don't know how easy it would be for me emotionally. And logically, for that matter. I was willing to throw everything on hold for Emily, will I be able to do it for Rachel? And it's hard enough to handle the fact that they're both *dying*...I don't know, Mulder. I really do not know. I want to make sure she's taken care of..." Mulder came over and put an arm around her shoulders. "That's your decision to make. It's a personal thing. I can't tell you what to do." "But it wouldn't only affect me," Scully pointed out. "That's why I brought it up to you." "What do you mean by that?" "What I *mean*," she clarified, "is that you're a part of this equation too, Mulder. You'd have to deal with me after severe sleep deprivation for one thing--Rachel's only a month old right now...and for another, I'd have to take some time off once I got her, and..." "Like I said before," he restated, "this is your decision. But I want you to know that I'll support you, whatever you decide." She looked at him, seeing his tender side. She didn't get to see it half as often as she'd have liked--so she adored those rare moments when she did. "Thanks. That really means a lot to me." "Anytime," he whispered back. The moment passed as quickly as it had begun, as if they had both remembered exactly who and where they were. "So, uh..." Mulder started, attempting to break the awkward silence that followed, "you'll let me know when you make your decision?" Scully swallowed hard, and nodded. "Yeah. Of course. You'll be the first to know--except me, of course." She laughed quietly at the bad joke. Why was she so anxious? So nervous? Was it because of the huge choice she had to make... or was it because of Mulder's caring warmth and tenderness? Maybe both? < she chided silently, < < another voice in her mind reminded her. < < she thought, then laughed aloud that she was arguing with herself...with the voices in her head. "What's so funny?" Mulder asked, amused by her sudden laughter. "Too many years hanging around *you*, Spooky," she teased him, making a breezy exit. Mulder chuckled, shrugged, and went back to his files. He'd never understand her. XXXXXXXX A week later... XXXXXXXX "So you've decided?" Mulder asked. Scully nodded, her conviction obvious. She'd thought long and hard about this, and she'd made her decision. There would be no turning back. "I'm going through with it, Mulder." Mulder stood up, and crossed over to her. "If you're sure it's what you want, then I'm there for you." "Don't make promises you can't keep, Mulder," she teased him. He actually looked vaguely hurt by this--that same puppy-dog look he'd given her in the hospital after her reaction to his declaration of love crossed his face. "What do you mean by *that*?" Feeling somewhat sorry for him (he looked so *cute* when he was trying to be pathetic!), she crossed the room, and hugged him with one arm. It was somewhat awkward, considering their height difference, but she managed it. "*Think* about it, Mulder. Julia told me that she and Jack wanted me to take Rachel right away, so it would be less traumatic for her...for the next couple of years, I am going to be missing sleep, worried about diapers and nursery rhymes...I'm going to be...well, the mother of a small child!" He laughed. "Okay. I'll *still* be there for you--but don't be worried if *I'm* suddenly generally prone to inexplicable periods of absence." The teasing grin he flashed her suddenly made everything he had ever put her through in the past years worth it... < she chided herself. <