CATEGORY: MSR 

RATING: PG 

SPOILERS: Through Season 8

DISCLAIMER: The X-Files and its characters are the property of Fox Television and 1013 Productions and are used without permission.

SUMMARY: William is fussy, Scully's exhausted, and Mulder sees the future with a bedtime story.

TO THE READER: "Up All Night" was initially written as the first chapter in my own version of Season 9; but somehow things got completely away from me and turned pretty angsty, so I set it aside. I think, though, that "Up All Night" can stand alone on its own two feet. Let me know what you think. Your encouragement and feedback have really helped this beginning writer, and thanks again to everyone who has e-mailed me.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...."

Yeah, that quote that kept running through his head pretty much described the situation he and Scully had found themselves in during the first weeks that they were at home with William, thought Mulder. The miracle of their baby. The joy of being a family. And at the same time, the terrible fear that he would do something wrong, that he wouldn't be a good father.

"He won't break, Mulder," Scully had teased him.

"I know ... I know," he smiled sheepishly at her as she watched him put William down in his crib. "It's just that...." He looked at Scully. "I hope you won't think of me as less ... 'manly' if I tell you that I'm kind of a nervous father... sometimes."

"No, Mulder, I don't think you're less manly." She smiled back at him. "I'm kind of a nervous mother, too, sometimes."

It had helped him to know that Scully, too, was a little nervous. And ecstatic. And in awe. Just like he was. They had made a baby, and now he was home, and they were parents. It was the best of times ... watching William sleep, his little eyelashes making two perfect curves against his cheeks; seeing him nurse at Scully's breast; hearing the soft baby sounds he made when Mulder cuddled him on his shoulder.

And it was the worst of times.

They had been so lucky. And then one day, William had been fretful to the point that not even Scully could calm him down. It was normal, the pediatrician had said.

"Babies get fussy from time to time," he had told them when they had called him on the phone one evening. "They go through fussy periods. Give it a few days, and if you're still worried, bring him in. You're new at this--just take it easy." The doctor sounded pleasant, but Mulder was sure the guy was rolling his eyes, thinking that he and Scully were just a couple of freaked-out first-time parents. Yeah, buddy, thought Mulder. You come over here and listen to him cry. Fussy periods. That really didn't describe it; and he couldn't help worrying when the baby would cry loudly, heartbreakingly, it seemed, sometimes for hours.

"Oh, God," Scully said tearfully; she was really tired. "What if he has colic? I was reading today that colic usually starts around three weeks of age, and he's just a little over three weeks old today."

"Scully, I told you to stay off the Internet. And don't talk to strangers you see at the supermarket, either," he said, warning her. "The pediatrician says it's normal for babies to have fussy periods. William probably doesn't have colic, so let's not panic."

Easy for him to say. He felt especially sorry for Scully; he had gotten a break, gotten a couple of full nights of sleep when he had traveled to Boston and New York to deliver some lectures while she had stayed home in D.C. with William. When he'd gotten back she had thrust his son at him the minute he had walked in the door. "Here," she said. "He's all yours."

And so Mulder had taken his turn, late at night, walking around the apartment with William on his shoulder, trying to comfort his son. But Scully had kept him company, sitting on the couch in her pajamas and bathrobe; he was grateful as he was still a little unsure of himself with the baby, but he knew that she was really tired. "Go to bed, Scully. We don't both have to be up."

She stared at him blearily. "I can't sleep anyway, Mulder, the way he cries." She yawned. "Did you know that the number one sound that causes distress in humans is the sound of a baby crying? Yeah, nature programmed us to hate the sound, so that we would tend to our young, ensure the survival of the species...." she trailed off, her head hitting the back of the couch as she nodded off. A few minutes later William gave a particularly piercing cry and Scully jerked awake. "Oh, God ... did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah. And did you know that you drool when you sleep, Scully?" Mulder grinned.

"I do?"

"Yeah. I just got incredibly turned on."

She smiled tiredly at him. Mulder continued his path around the apartment. "This is really bad," he said as William continued to wail plaintively.

She nodded.

"Was he this bad when I was gone?"

"Yeah."

"How did you stand it?"

Scully shrugged. "One minute at a time, Mulder."

He patted William on the back as the baby went on crying. "Well, one great mystery is solved, anyway," said Mulder.

"What great mystery is that?" asked Scully.

"Why the aliens didn't take him when he was born, Scully," Mulder said. "No fools they, the aliens. Can you imagine the aliens coping with this? Walking around their spaceship with a screaming infant? Hell, no. No wonder they took off."

Scully started to laugh. "I think you've got something there, Mulder. So you think they'll come back for him after the fussy period is over?"

"If it ever is." Mulder stretched his neck back and forth, trying to ease the tension in his muscles. "And, no, Scully, I don't think they will. Because after this, he'll be teething." Scully winced. "And then he'll be crawling around, trying to stick forks into the electrical outlets."

"Which reminds me, Mulder, we need to baby-proof around here--"

"And then ... potty-training."

"Oh, God." Scully buried her face in her hands.

"And pretty soon he'll be in pre-school, and he'll be so much smarter than the other kids that it'll be tough to keep him challenged. And when he gets to elementary school, no extraterrestrial biological entity will want to go in for parent-teacher conferences about how he can't sit still and why he's always asking so many questions--"

"--like his father--"

Mulder smiled and rubbed the baby's back. William seemed to be calming down. Mulder spoke a little more softly. "And later on the aliens won't want to drive him all over greater D.C. to hockey practice, and basketball practice, and soccer practice--"

"And piano lessons, Mulder," interjected Scully. "I want him to be well-rounded."

My son is not taking piano lessons, thought Mulder. Guitar, yes. Piano, no. But they could save that conversation for another time. "And then, Scully, then he'll hit ... adolescence. And not only will the aliens not want to be around him, but we won't, either. Of course, he'll be taller than you are, Scully, in about the fourth grade; but pretty soon he'll be taller than I am, and he'll try to beat me at basketball, and he'll get hair on his legs and zits on his face, and his voice will deepen...."

"And you, Mulder, you will have the 'sex talk' with him," she announced.

"Me?"

"Yeah, Mulder, you. You're the father."

"My father never had the 'sex talk' with me, Scully," Mulder protested.

"He didn't?" she said, tilting her head and frowning a little. "Then how did you learn about sex?"

"In the streets, Scully," he said, "in the streets, just like everybody else." William had stopped crying and his eyes were heavy. Mulder patted his back. "And I don't think I did too badly, did I?"

Scully raised her eyebrows and gave him a look. "Actually, Mulder, I think you did pretty well," she said in a low, sexy voice.

Mulder grinned. "You keep that up, Scully, and we'll be in trouble again."

She put her hands over her head and stretched, smiling at Mulder. "Then what happens?"

"Well, he'll get his driver's license and bang up the car a little bit."

"Your car."

"No, he'll be driving your old car, and he'll complain about it all the time. Then he'll get his first girlfriend--"

"What about braces, Mulder," Scully said. "Do you think he'll have to have braces?"

"I didn't. Did you?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I did. And I hated them."

Mulder sighed. "Okay, right after the zits but before the car, he'll get braces. Then the girlfriend. She'll have long blonde hair and a cute little nose--"

"Oh, really?" Scully crossed her arms across her chest. "Long blonde hair, huh?"

"And ... here comes the bad part," Mulder said softly, "... she'll break his heart."

"I'll kill her," Scully murmured.

"Well, you'll want to, of course, because William will mope around the house, and not do his chores, and forget to feed the dog, and the aliens won't want to put up with that shit...."

"I hate William's first girlfriend, whoever she is," said Scully, looking at Mulder.

William was asleep now and Mulder moved carefully toward the bassinet. "It's okay, Scully, because he'll get another girlfriend, and he'll probably break her heart, and you'll have to have the talk with him about respecting people's feelings...."

"Me?"

"Yeah, Scully, you. You're the mom." He eased William into the bassinet. "And he and his friends will sneak beers from the fridge, and one weekend you and I will head up to the Vineyard for a romantic getaway, and we'll tell him, 'Nobody in the house while we're gone'; but he'll have a big party anyway, and the carpet will get wrecked, which he'll blame on his friends--"

"God, Mulder," said Scully, pretending to be dismayed. "Don't you think we'll be able to trust him?"

Mulder smiled at her. "Trust no one, Scully, especially not a teenage boy with beer, peer pressure, hormones, and a girlfriend...."

"We'll never get out of the house again, will we, Mulder?" she said, shaking her head and smiling.

"Oh, eventually we will, Scully, because then it'll be time for him to pick a college, and the aliens won't want to fork out for tuition, and you'll be trying to convince him to go somewhere close to home...."

"What's wrong with Georgetown?" she asked.

Mulder smiled and looked down at his sleeping son. "William will be in college and he'll change majors about four times, and he'll want to travel in Europe to 'find himself'...."

Scully frowned. "Well, he can't travel alone, no way--"

"And the aliens won't want to pay extra tuition for those semesters he screwed around, or throw in anything for grad school." Mulder tucked the baby's blanket around him and smoothed a wisp of hair off his forehead.

He tiptoed away from the bassinet. "But it'll all turn out all right. He'll finish school and find work that interests him, work that he loves." He looked down at Scully, sitting on the couch. He didn't think she'd been out of those pajamas and robe all day; her hair was dull and matted--no time for deep conditioning these days; hell, she probably hadn't even gotten a chance to take a shower. There were dark circles under her eyes and she was pale with fatigue. And Mulder thought that he had never seen anyone so beautiful, this woman whom he loved, this woman who was the mother of his son.

"But he does get a job, right, Mulder?" Scully said hopefully.

He laughed softly. "Yeah."

"Thank God."

"And then ... not for a long time, though...." he looked at her. "He'll find a girl, Scully. He'll find a girl, but this time she won't break his heart, and he won't break hers; he'll fall in love for real this time." He came over and sat down slowly beside her on the couch. "But it'll take him a long, long time. And even when he does, he'll never ... he'll never find a girl like his mother," Mulder reached out to gently stroke her face.

Scully was looking up at him, her eyes bright with tears.

"He'll never find a girl as wonderful as the one I found," Mulder said softly. He smoothed a couple of strands of hair off her face, then leaned toward her, and Scully lifted her face to his; her lips were soft against his as he kissed her, her mouth opening sweetly to him, and then, for a moment, it was just the two of them again. Just the two of them, alone together in the universe. He broke their kiss, gathering her close to him.

"Oh, Mulder...."

"Scully," he whispered, placing soft kisses on her neck. "I don't think the aliens are coming back. I think we're stuck with this baby."

She gave a hiccup-y little laugh, and then she looked into his eyes. "I love you so much, Mulder," she said softly, putting her arms around him. "My heart feels like it might break, I love you so much."

"I love you, too," he said. "Forever." He stood up, holding out his right hand to her, helping her to stand up. The room was quiet now; William was sound asleep, breathing regularly in his crib. Mulder leaned over to turn off the lamp by the couch. He put his arm around Scully and the two of them stood there for a moment.

"You think we can do this, Mulder? You think we can raise a baby?" Scully said, looking up at him.

"I think so," Mulder replied, smiling at her. "If we get a good night's sleep. So come on, Scully." He pulled her toward the bedroom. "It's time for bed."

Thank you for reading.

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