Right Here AKA Oooh Baby, Part 16
AUTHOR: salliejohns
CATEGORY: MSR
RATING: soft "R"
SPOILERS: presumes knowledge of everything through "Essence"
DISCLAIMER: Sadly, these characters do not belong to me. i mean no harm and make no profit using them.
FEEDBACK: Gratefully accepted and acknowledged, but no flames, please
DEDICATION: This is dedicated to my dear friend Char, on the occassion of her birthday.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story was originally part of a huge story, "Oooh Baby" written by numerous authors on the IWTB list for our dear Char Chaffin's birthday. Thank you to ga for putting this together, and to Shoshana for great beta, and even greater friendship. Happy birthday, darling Char.
Additional comment at the end of the story.

Mulder's eyes snapped open. He had been sleeping soundly, but
something had awakened him. Not something, rather, but the
absence of something. Scully's side of the bed was empty, and
the warmth of her body spooned next to him had dissipated.

"Scully?"

Fox Mulder hadn't slept easily, or well, for years. It had
been even more difficult for him after his "resurrection."
Not only did he dream terrible dreams, nightmares ending in
soundless screams, but when he couldn't sleep, he tossed and
turned, and wrestled with the hows and whys of his return.

"Scully? Baby?"

Of course there were other questions, too. How had his
partner, a woman he'd cherished for years, and only begun
taking to his bed just before he vanished, become swollen
with child? What twist of fate caused her pregnancy? The
miracle child: was this a blessing or a curse? What was his
part in this astonishing conception?

"Scully. Are you all right?"

He remembers the pain of his return. Not physical pain. That
was somehow gone. The pain is in his mind when he thinks
about all that he missed while he was dead. It is painful for
him to try to figure out why he was taken, where he went, why
he was returned. Why, when he had been buried, lifeless and
cold, had he been able to come back, to open his eyes and see
Scully's lovely face? Deep inside his very soul, it hurts to
think about these things, and realize he will never know the
answers.

While searching the unlit bedroom for his now-missing
partner, he thinks coming back from the dead is not all it's
cracked up to be.

"Scully! Where are you?"

"I'm out here Mulder."

He follows her voice through the dark apartment, deftly
avoiding furniture in his path. "Scully, what's wrong?"

"Shhh, I'm fine, Mulder. I had a cramp in my leg, so I got up
for some milk. I decided to stay for the sunrise."

She is silhouetted against the window. Beyond her, fingers of
pale gold light are beginning to poke through the curtains.
Mulder walks up behind her and encircles her waist with his
arms. His hands rest atop hers, holding her round belly. When
he presses his face into her hair, the familiar scent
comforts and calms him.

Quietly they watch the sun's progress together. Mulder
remembers how glad he was when she asked him to stay the
night. He wishes he could always stay here; he can sleep when
they lie down together. Somehow she keeps the night terrors
at bay. He knows that if he asked her she would say yes, but
he doesn't want to put her on the spot. He doesn't want to
seem so pathetic that he cannot sleep by himself. He wishes
she needed him more.

Mulder smiles into her hair and remembers rocking gently
inside her, being oh-so-careful not to disturb the baby
growing nearby; their passion muted by respect for what is
happening within her body. He presses kisses onto the back of
her neck.

"When you called me, did you say 'Baby,' Mulder?"

Mulder grins, and continues his nuzzling. "I just wanted to
know where you both were."

Scully smiles too. "We're right here, Mulder. We'll always be
right here."

ADDITIONAL COMMENT: Since Char is a firm "believer" that Mulder refers to his Scully as "Baby" that element had to be present in this story. There's no "Baby" in the universe in which i write, but who am i to argue? It's for Char, after all.