The preamble:  Remember when Mulder stole that vile of ova from the 
secret fertility clinic where all the male clones were trying to help 
their mothers? Well, in this scenario, he holds on to that vile and 
gives it to Scully after the death of Emily. (Prior to this story.)  
Scully has the ova stored in refrigeration at a facility in Washington 
D.C. run by a doctor from her medical school days whom she trusts.  
Time has passed and she has decided that she wants to have a baby.

                     --------------HONESTY AT LAST------------

Scully paces back and forth in front of the couch in her apartment, a
distressed look on her face.  We see tears in her eyes.  She finally sits
heavily on the couch with her head in her hands.

     "What am I going to do?" she thinks.   "This has all gotten so
complicated. "
     "Can I ask him? He'll think I'm a lunatic, it's too big of a favor to
ask...even from my best friend."

She takes a deep breath and picks up the phone on the end table and dials
Mulder's number,  it rings 4 times, and and she is about to hang up when he
answers.

     "Hello, Mulder."  He is breathing hard.
     "Hi, Mulder, it's me.  Did I catch you at a bad time, you sound out of
breath."
     "No, no, I was in the shower, had to race out her half dressed."

Against her will a picture of Mulder naked in the shower floats across her
mind and she shivers and hesitates.

    "ummm"
    "What's up Scully, I'm getting cold here, unless you wait for me to get
some clothes on?"
     "NO, uh, Mulder, could you come over here, I have something very serious
to discuss with you ... a big favor to ask, actually."
      "Sure, I'm free, ask away."
      "No, I really need to speak to you in person.  It's too involved, ...
and personal ...please Mulder."

Mulder hears the distress in her voice and something tightens inside his
chest.  He always felt this way when she was in trouble.  

     "Hold on, I'll be right over."
     Softly, "Thank you."  

He hears the click of the phone being replaced in the receiver and rushes to
throw on some jeans and a turtleneck.

Scully paces her kitchen, pours a glass of wine and then throws it down the
sink.  "I shouldn't be drinking now," she thinks.  She walks to the living
room, picks up a book on forensics and starts to read but can't focus on the
words.  "Damn!"  She throws the book down.  Better be thinking about how to
explain this situation to Mulder.

It's been about 30 minutes when the door bell rings.  Scully takes  deep
breath and answers the door to find an anxious looking Mulder on the door
step.  She moves aside and gestures him in.

     "Come in, can I get you a drink?"  She mutters, 'You're probably going to
need one.'
     "What was that?" 
     "Nothing, come in."  He walks in and sits down on the couch.
     "What's up, Scully, you sound really worried."
     "I don't really know where to begin, Mulder."
     "How about at the beginning?"
      Deep breath.  "O.K., here goes.  Do you remember how you gave me that
vial with my ova that you somehow got ahold of last year?"
     "Yeah...."

Scully proceeds to tell him how she had them stored in a facility in D.C. and
had recently had one of the eggs planted in her uterus after deciding she was
ready to have a baby.  She hadn't told anyone, because the success rate was
slim for artificial insemination in her case and probably wouldn't work so she
wanted to see if it was successful before she broke the news to him or to
Skinner.  Mulder is silent through this, but his facial expressions show
shock, hurt that she didn't tell him, and then acceptance, by turns.  His
hazel eyes are drilling into her as she tells her story making her slightly
embarrased and uncomfortable.

     "The problem is, Mulder, that the donor that was chosen.."
     "The sperm donor?" 
      "Yes, he's anonymous.  I asked Dr. Renee to do some genetic testing on
it before we finalized the deal..."
      "And..."

Scully is looking at her lap, sitting on the couch sideways, facing Mulder.
Mulder puts two fingers under her chin and lifts her face to look at him.  A
tear rolls down her   cheek and lands on his finger.  He wipes it away and
puts his hand on the side of her face.

     "What did they find, Scully?" he asks softly.
     "His sperm showed signs of a genetic kidney disease.  I can't use it." 

Her shoulders shake.  Mulder reaches out to hug her but she puts up her hand. 

    "No, I have to finish now or I'll never get through this."  She is quiet a
second or two and then continues.

She explains that she can't use this donor because of the results of the test.
The problem is that the egg is only viable for another 24 hours.  She has to
find another donor and now is afraid to choose another at random from the
available donors at the sperm bank because she would want to test them too and
it would take longer than 24 hours.  Mulder stares at her and wonders if she
is going to ask him to be the donor.  She said she needed a favor, didn't she?
He also knows how much she has to swallow her pride to ask him for help in
anything, let alone something so personal.  He can hear all her
qualifications, justifications, and reasons she will give to let him out of it
already.

     "How can I help, Dana?"
      Dana?  He only called her Dana when he was very worried about her and
felt close to her.
     "Do you remember when we worked on the Peacock case, that horrible case
of those sons who were impregnating their mother and you told me that the
Mulder gene pool was clean ... except for a propensity for corrective lenses?
... "  She gives him a wary, uncertain smile.
     "I remember.  Dana ..."
     "I know it's way to much to ask...and probably think I'm crazy...and I
feel stupid already and I haven't even asked... and....
     "Dana...I'd do anything for you." he says softly.

Dana looks up and sees him looking lovingly into her eyes.  

     "Don't you know how I feel about you?  Don't you know that your happiness
is the most important thing in the world to me? "

She can't believe her ears.  She had been denying her feeling for Mulder for
four years, but now, with him looking at her the way he was and saying the
things he was, she felt a warmth spread all through her body.  Tears started
to roll silently down her cheeks.  He wiped them away and hugs her into an
embrace with her head resting on his shoulder.

     "So, you want me to be the donor."  He said it softly and as a statement
of fact.
     "Yes, I don't know where else to turn and you are the only one I trust.
Mulder, I wouldn't want you to feel obligated to do this, or if you did, to
feel any responsibility for the child, if it produced one, or...."

He puts his fingers to her lips.  

     "I don't feel obligated, I want to help you, I want to make you happy.
You'd just have to promise me one thing."
      "What...What would that be?"
     "You would let me be a part of that child's life."
       Dana is silent a moment and then says, "Of course, IF you wanted to
be... you are a part of MY life Mulder, how could you not be a part of the
child's? .... You are a part of me."  "You will have to go to the clinic and
see Dr. Stern, and give a sample, and sign some papers, and oh, I can't think
right now!"  She stopped talking and snuggled closer to him and put her arms
around his waist.

Her words made him suck in his breath.  Could she really feel as strongly for
him as he did for her?  Was it possible that the feeling he had denied, then
tried to replace by dating other women, and then finally accepted, be shared
with her?  

She felt warm and pliant lying there against his chest, her head on his
shoulder.  He suddenly decided to take a chance and tell her what he wanted,
what he had wanted for a very long time.

     "Dana.."
      "Ummm...?
      "I can think of a better way to make this happen..."
      She looked up abruptly to see him looking into her eyes with a hunger
she had never seen before.  His face was so close and his breath so warm.  

     "Mulder, I don't think..."
     He cut her off, "Don't think..."
     "What do you mean don't think," she says softly, unsure.
     "Dana, don't think, just feel...."  

With that his lips covered hers, softly, tentatively at first.  She felt an
electric shock at the first touch of his lips.  Her mind was racing.  "Can it
be, does he want me...this way?"  Mulder deepenes the kiss and touches her
tongue with his.  

     "Mulder, are you sure...?"  she asks in a tiny voice.
     "Never been so sure of anything in my life....."  His voice was husky.
"I love you, Dana.  God help me, how I love you."  And he kisses her again,
hungry this time.

Dana can't believe her ears.  "I must be completely crazy....but....I want
this....sooo much!"  She responds to his kiss and he slides his arm under her
knees and picks her up and carries her to the bedroom, and slowly undresses
her.

They make love into the wee hours of the morning, four years of frustration
finally sated.  Mulder is lying spooned around Scully holding her tightly to
his chest.  He whispers....

    "Dana, if I need to, I can still donate as well..."
     "Mulder, I don't..."
      "Shhhh, but I don't think I'll have to...I think we made a baby
tonight."

Scully smiles and slowly closes her eyes.

                                           -------THE END---------
By: Doeneshia

Hope the hopelessly romantic enjoyed the story.  Feel free to E-Mail me with
any comments at "donnibruno@aol.com