Dear Sis,

Now that you have recovered from your around the world vacation, I
think I can tell you what's been happening in the life of your eldest
sister.

Please don't read this at the mail box as you usually read letters.  Go sit down with a full cup of brew.

I know it's been awhile since I've written, but it has taken awhile
for my latest news to gel in my head.  The news I have is so
unbelievable that it has made me question some of my lifelong
beliefs.
 
So, take a deep breath and a sip of tea, Sis, this is a long one.

Your new grand-nephew is as healthy as can be considering his mother
was infertile since her abduction four years ago.  Dana says that
William is as perfect as humanly possible.  Between my daughter's
natural disposition and her working on the X-Files, I can never
discern whether she is speaking literally or figuratively.  I wonder
why I am worried about it.  I guess I remember Mama telling us
constantly  "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

I don't know all the particulars, but she did tell me that the in
vitro fertilization failed and that she would not be seeking a "do
over".  The nearest I can figure is that one (or hopefully more) of
her eggs went into "hiding" during her abduction and didn't come out
until it got the all clear signal from the hormone treatment she was
given during the in vitro.  So, although the in vitro failed,
fertilization by Fox succeeded (Fox Mulder, you remember my telling
you about him).  This happened shortly after Dana pulled a Melissa
and had a Buddhist epiphany which also helped her save the life of
her old mentor (Right. Daniel) and finally let that part of her life
go.

Before he knew Dana was pregnant, Fox was abducted by aliens (I
didn't ask from what nation) however, he was later returned...dead.
At least, my daughter, the famous forensic pathologist, thought so
because we buried him next to his mother a few days later.  A sad
case here, Sis, Mrs. Mulder killed herself not too long before all of
this happened to avoid suffering from a particularly painful and
disfiguring form of cancer.  God rest her soul.

When Fox went missing, Dana was partnered with an ex New York City
Cop who had headed up the investigation into Fox's abduction.  I met
Agent John Doggett a few times and liked him very much.  He is a no-
nonsense, pertinacious but not unhumorous fellow who wears his heart
like a radiation detector.  His concern for Dana even before he knew
she was "lugging around a little J. Edgar" as he put it, seemed to go
unnoticed only by my daughter.

I mean to say there wasn't a moment he wasn't there for Dana both on
those terrible X-files she works on and off times as well should she
have needed him.  Except for her hospital stays when I would see him
hovering over her much like Fox used to, I don't know if Dana ever
took advantage of his kindness after work.  I was lucky Bill was
home three out four of my second trimesters including my first. I
don't know really how she got through her first and second
trimesters without Fox.  My guess is the Internet got a workout from
her constant searching for anything that could possibly be a clue to
Fox's whereabouts.  What she didn't catch on the net, she prayed
someone else would.

Three months after we buried him, my daughter calls me.  She was
crying, but I could tell, definitely not from sorrow.  She wouldn't
tell me what happened until I got to the hospital fearing, I suppose,
I would need a doctor myself.  With John on one side and Dana on
the other, they walked me through the halls and into a room where
I was greeted with a rather chipper "Hi, Mrs. Scully".  My
daughter's precautions were absolutely necessary.  I mean, I just
went limp.  John backed me into a chair while Dana handed me a shot
of scotch-at least two fingers.  I swigged it down as if it was a
liquid defibrillator.

Here, dear Sis, is where I blow your mind.  Fox, who was dead, is
alive, cured even of a mysterious lethal brain disease - living
with my daughter and their son.

I'll relate as best I can how Dana explained it to me later when the
scotch took hold.

It seems that Fox was dead, but to paraphrase the Munchkins of
Oz, he wasn't "really truly dead".  I won't pretend to try wrapping
my mind around this, but Dana's supervisor, who claims to have 'lost'
Fox in the first place, found reason to disinter Fox.  The doctors
did indeed find signs of life in a body that they had, to the best
of their knowledge, considered dead. He was put on life support
while the doctors, directed by my daughter, prepared anti-viral
cocktails.

Then, John noticed their supervisor pulling the plug on Fox's life
support for no apparent reason.  By the time the technicians reset
the equipment, Dana found that Fox was breathing on his own.  Finally, the anti-virals were pumped into him and it was time to
wait.  Dana strayed from his bed only under John's gentle guidance,

"Come on, Agent Scully, let little J. Edgar change position."

True to his form, Fox's first words to my Dana were:
"Did anybody miss me?".  Dana said she was too happy to swat him.
 

Are you still with me, Sis?   Refill your cup.  We still have a
long ways to go.

The rest of the story I got from Dana in dribs and drabs either
while it was happening or afterwards.

When Fox returned to his apartment, which Dana had kept up beyond all
reason, he began to flounder.  Claimed he didn't know where he fit in
anymore.  Dana, didn't want to press him.  She told me if he
remembered one quarter of what "they" did to him, post traumatic
stress would be a certainty.  So, she gave him time.

Meanwhile she was still on the payroll working with John Doggett.
She hadn't told Fox yet that she had a new partner and that upon his
return to work there would be three of them in that small basement
office.  When she could not stall telling Fox any longer, she tried
to assuage his feelings telling him that John was "above reproach".

Fox remained unconvinced until he worked with John himself -
seeing first hand John's care of Scully in the field, in the office
and in the hospital.  Fox was also bothered that Scully accepted John
as a  full partner so quickly - surely more quickly than he accepted
Dana all those years ago.
 
Fox was disconcerted, too, that my daughter would not discuss
paternity with him.  It seems that the issue was not as clear cut as
it should have been.  She would not even discuss it with her own
mother!!  After William was born, Dana confided that Fox would insist
it was the Pizza Man and would grumble when he had to pay for the
delivery which made me laugh because in our day it was always the
Milkman.  But, Fox didn't let her reticence keep him from supporting
Dana in any way he could, from Lamaze classes to food cravings.

When it was almost time for the baby to be born, I made a mistake
that could have proved fatal.  I hired a woman to help Dana who
turned out to be a harbinger of trouble that Dana and Fox were not
surprised had arrived.  Later, Dana said my mistake was a fortuitous
happenstance that alerted them to possible difficulties ahead.  She
didn't elaborate what kind of difficulties.

I did not see them again until after William had been born in Hot
Democrat Springs, Georgia, a now deserted town which I learned
offhandedly is where John Doggett was born.  How or why they were
there I have not been privy to.  It is, I imagine, classified.  If my
life depended on it and I had to hazard a guess, I would say that the
aliens that abducted Fox were involved.

Now the three of them are home.  Dana is on maternity leave to care
for William.  Fox quit the FBI leaving the team of Doggett and Reyes
in charge of the X-Files.  I am told that Agent Reyes helped to find
Fox and then acted as midwife for Dana when her time came.  I would
like to meet Agent Reyes sometime.  Dana tells me she is a lot like
our Melissa right down to candles and whale songs.

Pouring another cup, Sis?  I wouldn't blame you if you had put a wee
drop of Irish Whiskey in it too.
 

Having been widowed for these many years, I had forgotten how
insecure men can be.  It is now only a memory revisited when one of
my children is having a spat with their spouse.  I was reminded the
other day when I drove over to Dana's for lunch while Fox went to a
small seminar on parapsychology-his first since he left the Bureau.

When Dana opened the door, I knew instantly there was a problem.
She remembered the time proven Scully women tactic: if a tempest is
raging and company is coming get to the door first.  She mouthed one
word to me, "Trap", then shut door behind me.  Before I could put
down my purse, Fox stormed out of their bedroom.

"There you are, Maggie.  Tell me, what is your opinion of Agent
Doggett?"

"I don't think my opinion of John is the problem, Fox.  It's what
you and Dana think of him."  I could see by the expression on his
face that he was hurt that I had used Agent Doggett's first name.  I
quickly reached for William who was beginning to squirm.  "Give me
the baby.  I'll check his diaper and talk to him for awhile.  Maybe
he'll sleep for me."
 
I took William to the nursery.  I forgot the door was off and being
painted.  So, I was treated to a routine that would do Edie Gorme
and Steve Lawrence proud.  You remember, sis, sometimes they dabbled
in skits.

"Mulder, can we please finish this discussion later?  You will be
late for the seminar.  You said you wanted to mingle."

"It's early yet.  I can walk there in five minutes.  You didn't
answer my question."

"Mulder, which answer to which question bothers you?  You've asked
dozens this morning after John left.  You started with 'If I asked
you to marry me, would you?' and I answered, 'Would I what?'  Then,
you yelled, "That's a hell of an answer!' Then I said, 'I couldn't
answer you, because you asked a question within a question, a twofer
designed to leave me hanging.  Ask me a direct question.  I'll give
you a direct answer.' Then you said..."

"AHA!  You want me to ask you the direct question, so you could have
me hog tied and a ring through my nose.  Answer that!"

"I can't."

"Why NOT?"

"That wasn't a question!  And if you didn't want to be hog tied why
did you attempt to ask me to marry you?"

"Why must you be so literal?"

"All Right!  Ask me a figurative question."

" .... "

"Ha!  Mulder, go to the seminar.  Here is that jacket you've been
looking for, the one with the elbow patches that you like so much,
the one that makes you look like a professor.   Your business cards
are in the left pocket."

"Oh, no you don't."

"I don't what?"

"Get rid of me that easily."

"What are you talking about?  I'd hardly call encouraging you to go
to a four hour seminar 'getting rid of you'"

"So John can come over and you can answer his direct questions!!"

"Wait.  Wait.  Just so we're both on the right page of this script,
John who are talking about?"

"Doggett!!  Is there another John in your life?"

"YES!  And a few cousins you haven't met yet!  And maybe the one in
your imagination.  Now, you have a bug up your ass over John Doggett.
Why, for heaven's sake?"

" .... How could you do it, Scully?"

"Do what?"

"Trust him as a partner so quickly."

"It took the same time as you did for me, three cases.  And what
choice did I have.  It was him or no X-files.  We really lucked out
getting him, Mulder."

"Yeah, yeah. Beyond reproach .... "

"Is this the end of it or is there more?  I need you to talk to me,
Mulder."

"How could you be so at ease with him after only ten months?  When I
watched you two this morning, it was almost like evesdropping on a
couple married ten years... "

"You are hyperbolizing, Mulder.  Let's see, I answered the door.  He
gave me a present for William."

"Which he indubitably chose himself."

"Okay, I can see that."

"Oh, now I'm not hyperbolizing?"

" ....  Then, I thanked him with a peck on his cheek.  Asked him to
have coffee and danish.  Put his jacket over the sofa and we joined
you in the kitchen and chatted until he had to leave for a meeting
with Skinner.  Oh! Are you angry because he gave me a goodbye peck?
Mulder, you've been out of society too long."

"But it looked so effortless and natural.  Almost like he belonged
here and not me .... Scully?"

"Mulder?"

"Tell me the truth?"

"If I can."

"How would you describe his actions as your partner?"

"Undeviating.  Always solicitous and caring, sometimes exasperating,
humor used as a condiment.  Never really condescending."

"Did, did he help during your dark times?"

"Do you mean did we have comfort sex?"

"Yes."

"Would it bother you if we did?  I mean you were dead and I had
every reason to fully expect it to be a permanent condition."

"I know all of that...but yes, it bothers me."

"Then, I can't answer that question on principle.  Since you are not dead now, it doesn't apply anymore."

"If I didn't come back when I did...."

"Would I have accepted him as a mate?  Sought him out even?"

"I don't like that you're anticipating my questions."

"I don't have to be a psychiatrist, Mulder."

"Well?"

"He did offer to attend Lamaze classes with me...has experience
raising a son, owns a house, makes good salary but is in a rather
shaky department now.  If he left that job I don't think we'd be
hurting for long.  Yes.  I could see myself loving him, but firstly
for all the answers I gave before starting with 'solicitous'.

"Oh."

"Mulder, don't think.  Look in my eyes and listen to me.  All that
doesn't matter now unless you get splattered by a truck.  I am not
going to play  the shoulda, coulda, woulda games.  I have what I
want.  I know it took me forever to figure out what I wanted.  Now
that I have you back too, I swear to you, you have nothing to worry
about."

"Except getting splattered by a truck.  Scully?"

"Now what, Mulder?  Your seminar is in..."

"Will you marry me?"

"Oh, Geez, I don't know, Mulder.  It's not as easy as all that.
There's the license, Pre-Cana, announcing the bans, choosing rings,
wedding preparations.  And most important, you'll have to get
permission from my next of kin which might be very difficult."

"BILL?"

"No, WILL.  He is quite particular, you know, about who fools
around with his mother."

"Not a problem, Scully, I have him wrapped around my little finger."

"Now go, Mulder.  You have fifteen minutes to your seminar.  Enjoy
it.  Dinner's at seven.  OUT!"

"I'm going. I'm going!  MAGGIE!!  I know you heard all this.  Just
Father whathisname and family and Skinner and Kim, the LGM, Doggett
and Reyes and some of your friends, but not the immediate world."

"Mulder, please, that is the immediate world.  Put on your jacket."

"Okay. Okay.  Just tell me when and where to show up.  Hey!  Doggett
can be my best man.  Yeah!  I like that.  He'll get me to the church on time and he won't lose the ring either."

"GO.  Mulder.  Watch out for trucks."

"Sure Sunshine.  Seven?  See you then if not sooner."
 

So, Sis, as you see, nothing is ever easy with my daughter.  Dana has said nothing to me yet about a date for either a christening or a wedding.  I think if she has learned anything in her life, it is to keep her options open.  Meanwhile, I still have Mama's motto buzzing in my head.

But for now, Fox is chomping at the bit to meet Dana's "Irish Aunt Olive." and wondering if you can make it rain.  I don't get it either
but Dana and Fox have promised a gr-and explanation for her favorite aunt when you visit to meet William.  Do visit soon.

Take care of yourself and, Sis, watch out for trucks.
Maggie