The Truth is Out There--Scene 20 from XF3
by Lolabeegood

E-mail: lolabeegood@gmail.com
Distribution: Archive freely with my name attached.

Rating: R
Categories: S, R
Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance, Post-IWTB
Spoilers: IWTB
Summary:  The truth is something Mulder & Scully may 
have to pay a steep price for.

Author's Notes: 

Ever since I watched IWTB I have thought of the ideal way 
to start and storyline a third movie.  So, after much thought 
and deliberation I have a series of scenes that I have 
written for the third XF movie.  The scenes will not 
necessarily run right after each other but they are in 
sequence.  They are more like scenes I would like to see in 
the XF3 that develop character, tie loose ends, and add plot 
interest.  

I do not own the characters and I don't make any money from 
this.

Enjoy!

***********************************

Dana Scully and Fox Mulder stood just inside their hotel room 
and took in the sight in front of them.   Patrick lay curled 
up and passed out at the foot of the queen size bed.  One 
shoe had fallen to the floor.  The TV droned in front of him 
on the cartoon network and a bag of chips lay strewn on the 
floor, apparently knocked from the bed.  Their son was passed 
out and ignorant of their entrance into the room.  His face 
was peaceful, his body was relaxed.  He was an eight year old 
boy who, at 1 am, was lost to his dream world.  

Scully crossed the floor to turn off the TV when Mulder grabbed 
her hand.

"Don't" he whispered looking at her "the silence might startle 
him."

Scully nodded, knowing that he was an expert at falling asleep 
in front of the TV as well, and would know better than anyone 
else what would startle Patrick out of his slumber.

"Patrick" she whispered as she leaned in front of his face 
"It's us, we're back."

The young man groaned and rolled his head away from Scully.  
She looked at Mulder as if to ask 'what do we do?'.

"Get his stuff together" Mulder whispered to her as he stood 
guard over the young man, worried he may roll off the end of 
the bed suddenly.  

He watched Scully gather his backpack and comic books and nod 
in his direction that all was ready to go.  Mulder reached down 
and tucked his arms around the young boy and lifted him up 
into his embrace.  The boy was light and wiry so he was no 
burden to bear.  He snuggled into Mulder's and murmured 
"dad" when he tucked himself against Mulder's chest.  

Mulder's heart stopped for a moment and his gut lurched when 
he realized the boy had thought he was his dad, his dad who 
was now dead.  The dad he really loved.  He shook his head 
and walked forward out of the hotel room and to their SUV 
protectively carrying Patrick.  Scully climbed in the back 
and Mulder lay Patrick down so his head was on her lap.  
They covered Patrick with a blanket Scully had snatched 
from the hotel and, once Mulder was sure they were comfortable, 
he climbed behind the steering wheel.  Patrick had slept 
through the entire transfer and it astounded Mulder that, 
although this young man obviously had amazing abilities, 
and had traveled halfway across the country to reach Scully, 
he was still just an eight year old boy.  Mulder turned and 
glanced at his precious cargo.  Scully was running her 
fingers through Patrick's light brown hair and smiling down 
at him.  It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever 
seen.

He drove though the night stopping only for gas once in the 
middle of nowhere Ohio and by morning they found themselves 
in Beaver Falls Pennsylvania.  Patrick slept through the entire 
trip and just after they had stopped in Ohio Scully had nodded 
off as well with her face pressed against the back window.  
Mulder pulled into the Beaver Falls Motel and checked them 
into a double room.  He pulled the truck outside of their 
door and turned to wake up his passengers.

"Scully" he whispered "Scully" he whispered a little louder.

"She's really tired" Patrick groaned from his place on her 
lap.

"Patrick" Mulder nervously grinned at him "I didn't realize 
you were awake."

"I woke up when you went inside to get us a room" he said as 
he rose from his spot.

"You were out for the whole night" Mulder smiled back at him 
"how do you feel?"

"Hungry" he said as he rubbed his eyes.

"I...uh, we can fix that right away.  What do you like for 
breakfast?"

Patrick paused and sighed.  He looked at Mulder and assessed 
him.

"So I take it you got the results of the tests and that's 
why you're being so nice to me?" he said unflinching

"Patrick...it was just that..." Mulder stammered over his 
words "I was trying to protect your mother.  I'm so sorry 
that I didn't believe you.  I really am" he said 
sincerely.

"Why are you so worried about protecting her?" he asked 
leaning back against his seat "you always have kids appear 
claiming to be yours?"

Mulder paused for a minute, wondering if he should tell 
Patrick the truth.  He decided there would be no more secrets 
in their family, such as it was.

"There was one other girl..." Mulder started and lowered his 
head "Emily."

"What do you mean, you have another kid?" Patrick asked 
worried.

"No, Scully did" he sighed "it was a long time ago, she wasn't 
like you though, she was very sick and she died.  Your mother 
went through a lot with Emily in a very short period of time, 
and she didn't know about Emily until she was dying.  I was 
scared what it would do to her again if you weren't William, 
or if you were like Emily."

"Oh" he whispered from the back seat.

"Look Patrick" Mulder said turning to face him better "the 
things I said to you...the way I treated you...it is still 
inexcusable.  You deserve better than that...you deserve 
better than me..." 

Patrick looked a the  man before him.  The man who was 
obviously struggling with his actions, struggling with his 
place in his life.  Patrick still didn't like him, but one thing 
he did know was this man loved his mother, and she loved him. 

"You love her" he blurted out 

"I do." Mulder smiled to himself "And I know it's hard to 
believe after everything that's happened, but I love you too." 

Patrick lowered his eyes and starred at his hands which were 
clasped on his lap.  He didn't know what to say to him.  Maybe 
he did love him, but Patrick didn't feel that he had shown him 
much love lately.

"Can I...can I call you Mulder, too?" Patrick mumbled. 

"Yeah, you can call me that" Mulder smiled from the front seat.

"'Good" Patrick nodded to himself.

Silence fell over the truck.

"So," Mulder smirked "should we wake her up or just bring her 
breakfast?"

Patrick wanted to wake her up.  He didn't want to be alone, in 
awkward conversation with this man who was his father, but, he 
also wanted his mother to get some sleep.  

"We should let her sleep" he mumbled.

"I agree" Mulder smiled "There's a pancake house down the road.  
Do up your seatbelt and we should be there in 5 minutes."

Patrick covered Scully with the blanket that had been over him 
and within minutes he was seated at a table across from his 
biological father, waiting for pancakes to arrive.  Patrick 
starred out the window at the passing cars, at all the people 
going to work. The restaurant was fairly empty except for a few 
people sitting in a booth near the entrance.

"So, Patrick, what do you like to do in your spare time?"

"I uh, like comic books.  I really like the transformer ones" 
he smiled "I also like to play video games, me and my dad..." 
he drifted off.

"Do you want to talk about your dad or not? It's up to you" 
Mulder said as he reached across the table and placed his hand 
an inch from Patrick's, unsure if his touch would be welcome.

"I don't want to talk about that night" he mumbled, obviously 
shaken.

"Okay, that's fine" Mulder said in his calmest voice "what did 
you and your dad like to do?"

"We...we had a video game challenge on nights when I didn't 
have a lot of homework.  But I usually had a lot of homework."

"You get homework at your age?" Mulder asked astounded.

"Lots of it." Patrick groaned "it's all this state testing 
stuff my mother complained about."

"Oh" Mulder smiled down at him "what else do you like to do?"

"I play little league and I have a paper route, but my mom 
said it's more her route."

"Why's that?" Mulder chuckled.

"Because she had to drive me around for it."

Mulder chuckled again, "So I guess she's right."

"Was right" Patrick corrected him.

"Yeah...was right" Mulder said glumly.

Patrick's eyes welled up with tears and he turned to look 
out the window and avoid Mulder.

"Patrick" he started and leaned in "when all this is over, 
I promise you we'll have a memorial so you can say a proper 
goodbye to your parents, is that okay?"

"That would be nice" he turned smiled back at Mulder as the 
words strained from his throat.

"We'll find out what happened to them." Mulder nodded assuringly 
"We'll get through this, and I promise that I'll keep you and 
Scully safe.  I promise you that, Patrick." 

"Thank you" the little boy choked out. 

Mulder moved his hand the last inch and placed it over 
Patrick's.  The young boy didn't move away.

Their pancakes arrived and Patrick, instead of pouring his 
maple syrup, looked toward the SUV.

"What is it?" Mulder asked him startled.

"She's awake" he smiled.

"Good to know" Mulder looked around "Waitress!" 

A few minutes later Scully walked into the pancake house 
straightening her clothes and running her hands through her 
hair.  When she spotted Mulder and Patrick sitting at a booth 
by the window she was visibly relieved.  She pointed to the 
ladies room and disappeared.  Patrick and Mulder dug into their 
food each hoping the other would hold off conversation until 
Scully returned.  

"Good morning" Scully said as she reached their table and sat 
next to Patrick "how do you feel Patrick?"

"Good, you have a comfortable lap to sleep on" he joked as he 
shoved some pancake in his mouth.

Scully and Mulder smiled at him.

"For the lady" the waitress said as she placed Scully's poached 
eggs and coffee in front of her.

"Thank you" Scully said surprised as she looked up confused at 
Mulder.

"Patrick told me when you woke up, so I ordered for you" he 
smiled back at her over his coffee.

"How convenient is that" Scully said looking at Patrick "are 
you always this tuned into me when we're close to each other?" 

"Yeah, pretty much." he smiled up at her "but when I watch TV 
or play video games, or...or when I'm asleep I get nothing."

"Okay" Scully said a little overwhelmed. 

"So what have you two been up to?" Scully asked while she cut 
into her eggs.

"I've been asking Patrick about himself" Mulder said. 

"That's good" she smiled "he likes video games almost as much 
as you do, Mulder."

"You like video games?" Patrick asked excited for the first 
time this morning.

"I do" Mulder smiled at him, glad to share something in common 
with his son.

"Maybe you two should do a challenge..." Scully's voice 
tapered off when she noticed Mulder stiffen and Patrick 
cower. 

Mulder cleared his throat and Scully looked at him confused. 

"So, Patrick, do you want to ask us anything?" he asked 
attempting to change the subject.

Patrick sat silent for a minute.  Scully and Mulder exchanged 
concerned looks across the table.  She placed a hand on Patrick's 
leg to re-assure him that they would wait until he was ready 
to continue.  

"So do...do  you two live in Chicago?" he murmured.

"No" Mulder smiled, happy Patrick was talking again "we live 
in Virginia.  Scully was just joining me on the Chicago leg 
of my book tour."

"And you're not married?" he asked looking at their bare 
hands. 

"No, we're not" Scully answered. 

"But you live together?"

"Yes, we do." Mulder answered "we have a little house in the 
country."

"Oh" Patrick said, taking in all the information "So... I was 
a mistake?" Patrick asked with his head lowered.

Mulder and Scully exchanged looks across the table.  Her eyes 
were asking Mulder how much they should reveal.  Mulder nodded 
'yes' and she knew, Patrick should know how he came to be.

"You weren't a mistake Patrick" Scully smiled at him and patted 
his leg "we had tried a year before I was pregnant with you to 
have a baby through in-vitro fertilization, do you know what 
that is?"

"Is that the test tube babies?" he asked.

"Sort of" Mulder responded "but, it didn't work."

"So you wanted a baby?" Patrick asked looking at  Scully.

"Yes, I really did" she nodded "but we didn't get pregnant and 
we thought that we couldn't after that.  But then one day I 
found out I was pregnant with you" she smiled.

"But, you didn't try to have me?"

"We didn't think there was any way I could get pregnant.  You 
were a wonderful surprise and the greatest of gifts" she smiled 
at him with tears in her eyes.

"Were you happy she was having me?" Patrick asked Mulder 
pointedly.

"I was" he smiled "your mother was the most beautiful pregnant 
woman I had ever seen.  And you...you were a perfect baby."

"So why didn't you take responsibility for me?" 

"Huh?" Mulder asked confused.

"My mom said that when a man gets  woman pregnant and they are 
not married, he should take responsibility for the baby and 
marry her." 

"Oh" Mulder understood "well, I did ask your mother but..."

Patrick looked at Scully and then turned confused to look at 
Mulder again "she says you didn't ask her to marry you."

Mulder looked across the table at a shocked Scully.

"Patrick" she gasped.

"Well, you thought that."

"We...we...I did ask you" Mulder said confused, looking 
at her.

Scully looked at him across the table and shook her head 
'no'.

"I did" he stammered again "that...that morning." 

They exchanged looks across the table and Mulder realized that 
Scully didn't know what he was talking about.

"That morning" Mulder said with inflection, not wanting to 
reveal details.

"There is a morning everyday Mulder, which one do you think 
you proposed on?"

"We had just woken up" Mulder tried to gloss over the details 
about it being the first time they had had sex since he 
returned from the dead "I asked if marriage was important 
to you."

Scully's eyes widened with the realization of which morning 
he was talking about.  She remembered it clearly, she was 
lying on her back and he had pushed up her shirt so he could 
place his head on her bare belly and listen to the baby.  
They had made sweet and awkward love the night prior.  She 
was happy to have him back in her bed, warming her, touching 
her.  As he lay with his ear pressed up against their child 
he had asked about marriage.

"You did ask that" she conceded.

"Thank you" Mulder said as he reached to eat some more.

Patrick smiled at the man sitting across the table from 
him.  The image of him laying with his head pressed up 
against Scully's  belly trying to listen to him inside the 
womb softened Patrick's opinion of him.  He didn't know if 
his mother realized she had revealed this image to him, 
but he was glad she had.  

"But you didn't want to marry him?" Patrick asked confused

"I...it's not that I didn't" she stammered "it's just that 
at the time marriage wasn't important to me, you were."

"But you two never got married?  And you've been together 
since before me?"

"No, we haven't got married.  Maybe I should ask again, 
and hope you remember?" Mulder joked.

"No, I'm good" she smiled back "Sorry about that."

Mulder cleared his throat and smiled at her.

"To answer your question, we've known each other a very 
long time" Mulder smiled.

"How'd you meet?" he asked through a mouthful of juice.

"We...uh...we both worked for the FBI" Scully stammered.

"The FBI, really?" Patrick said a little too loudly.

"Shhh" Scully cautioned.

"Sorry" he apologized "Is that why you keep thinking 
about people at the Bureau?" 

"Yes" she answered "we're going to get some of them to 
help us."

"Did you carry guns and catch bad guys?"

"Yes, we did" Mulder snickered "and your mom was a 
really great shot." 

Scully winced and thought of how Mulder knew quite well 
how good a shot she was.

"You shot him?" Patrick asked confused.

"For his own protection" Scully answered quickly, 
knowing Patrick had caught that thought.

"I'll show you the scar when we get to our room" Mulder 
offered.

"Cool." 

Mulder yawned and stretched his arms.  It had been a 
long night for him.

"We should get back, so you can sleep" Scully offered 
as she craned  her neck to find their waitress.

"Well, I am about to take a nose dive into my pancakes" 
Mulder smiled.

Patrick chuckled.  He was starting to like his father 
more each minute.

Scully rose to pay their bill and Mulder sat across 
from Patrick trying to keep his eyes from closing.  

"Mulder?" Patrick asked shyly.

"Yes?" he murmured.

"Once you get some sleep, do you wanna play some video 
games with me later?"

Mulder's eyes had closed and Patrick thought maybe he 
was asleep sitting up, until he saw a smile sneak 
across his features.

"I'd love that William" he murmured.

"I would too" the boy said as he looked at his father's 
features as they softened and sleep took him.


************************

The end of Part 20