By shawntaw
shawntaw@hotmail.com

Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Their not mine, although I think I might've done a better
job exploring the depths of some of the secondary characters...
Spoilers: Um, Season 8, I guess.
Summary: Who's the Daddy?

feed the author at shawntaw@hotmail.com  :)

Thanks to The Haven for the inspiration!:)  No one could rec me a
story like this one, so I wrote one!! (Although it didn't go QUITE
where I thought it would..)

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Kim was definitely beginning to get suspicious.

Every since his return from Oregon, her boss had been
decidedly....distracted.
And Kim suspected it centered around the recently ditched Agent
Scully.

For Agent Mulder had disappeared, presumed dead by some.  When Kim
had expressed her sympathies to A.D. Skinner and asked what had
happened, he simply avoided the issue by saying the two of them had
been in Oregon looking into something when Mulder had vanished.

But, why was Skinner with Mulder instead of Scully?  Skinner was
saved from hearing Kim's unasked question by Agent Scully's entrance
into the outer office.  To Kim's shock, he'd become doting and
nervous around his agent.  Not at all like his usual self.

"Oh for goodness' sake, sir, cut it out," Scully had said in an
exasperated voice and instead of the brusque retort Kim had expected
from Skinner..he'd tried to back off.

The difference in the way Skinner acted toward Scully became so
pronounced that they became the subject of idle speculation around
the watercooler.

Was it because he felt guilty about Mulder's mysterious
dissappearance?

Perhaps a more..personal..relationship was forming between the A.D.
and his fiery, red-haired agent..

Only Kim was privy to information that would have shocked the
watercooler gossips.

Instructions to order a small bouquet for the X-files office on the
day of Scully's return from an undisclosed medical leave after the
case in Oregon.

Walking in on her burly boss holding a weeping Scully in his arms on
the couch in his office.  He had merely given Kim a solemn look and
she had backed out quietly so as not to disturb them.

And like a good secretary, she never breathed a word of it.

Not until the night she'd found the A.D. himself crying.

It had been late at night.  She normally wouldn't have even been
there, but she'd taken some typing home that night and had found
several pages missing.  Kim was retracing her steps when she heard a
muffled sound from Skinner's office.

Surely he wasn't here?! It was 10 o'clock at night!

She carefully opened the door without making a sound, hoping to catch
the intruder unawares.  Kim hefted her stun gun in her hand.

It was Skinner, sitting in his chair in the dark, lit only by the
faint moonlight filtering through the blinds covering his window.

And he was weeping with deep, bass, gasping sobs into the shaking
hands he held so tightly over his face that Kim wondered how he could
breathe.

That was it.  She couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

But, Kim also knew that her boss was a proud man and would not
appreciate a witness to this breakdown.

Her internal argument ended when Skinner sensed her presence and
looked up suddenly.

He wasn't wearing his glasses and his wide, brown, tear-streaked eyes
were unguarded and glinted in the pale light as they stared at her in
shock.

"I-I'm sorry, sir.  I heard a noise-" she stammered.

"What are you doing here?" he said roughly, sweeping his glasses from
his desktop and setting them on his face.  He did not wipe the tears
from his face or acknowledge them in any way.

He couldn't help snuffling a bit and clearing his throat through and
it melted Kim's heart.

This decided it.  He obviously needed someone.  She stepped all the
way in the doorway and shut the door behind her.  She made no attempt
to turn on the light.

"I took some work home and discovered I was missing some papers.."
she trailed off and gestured, the rest of the narrative obvious.

He cleared his throat.  "You shouldn't take work home, Kim.  You do
enough as it is."  He was standing and putting files into his
briefcase.  She realized he was making chit-chat and trying to
distance himself from the situation.

"Sir?" She began hesitantly "Do you need to..to talk to someone?"

He paused in what he was doing and without looking at her, said ever
so quietly, "Please just let it go, Kim."

"But, sir-"

"Please," he said, louder, in a strangled voice and she realized he
was barely holding it together.

"So," he continued, almost normally, "I'll see you tomorrow then,
Kim.  Have a good evening."

He rushed past her too fast to hear her faint, but unsure, "You too,
sir."

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It was Agent Scully who finally - and inadvertently - gave it away
the next day.

She was sitting on the outer office couch in front of Kim's desk
waiting to see Skinner when she'd turned white as a sheet.  Scully
had bolted to her feet, but it was obvious to Kim exactly what was
about to happen and she'd stood and shoved her small wastebasket at
the agent.

Scully quickly brought the trashcan up to her face and retched....and
retched.

"uhhhh.." Scully moaned and retched again.

"Agent Scully?" Kim shifted from foot to foot, not quite knowing what
else to do.  She was glad she'd thought of the wastebasket.  She'd
seen that look on her niece's face plenty of times when she was sick.

"I'm fine," her voice sounded muffled from where she hunched with her
face practically in the trashcan, "really.  Just give me a minute."

There was quiet for a moment and she thought it was over, when Agent
Scully retched again even louder than before.

Kim was startled by a muffled thump thump of rushed footsteps from
inside Skinner's office right before the door swung open.

Skinner looked startled and more than a little worried as he rushed
forward.

"Scully?" he said as she lowered the trashcan.

Scully gave him a weary look before turning to Kim.  "Sorry about
that, Kim.  Thank God there wasn't anything in my stomach to come
up.  I appreciate the quick thinking though."

Kim smiled, "No problem, Agent Scully.  Are you really o.k.?"

She smiled a little, "Yes, I really am o.k."  Her answer was directed
more at Skinner than Kim and he nodded at her slightly.

"I was here to see you, sir," Scully continued, straightening up, "Do
you have a minute?"

"Of course," Skinner said, even though Kim knew for a fact that he
was supposed to be on his way to a meeting with the Director.

"Hold my calls, Kim," he said as held open his door for Agent Scully.

Kim started to say "Yes sir" when suddenly Scully wobbled to one side
as she stepped into Skinner's office.

Kim rushed forward and grabbed one arm about the same time as he
grabbed the other.

"That's it," Skinner said with his mouth in a grim line and abruptly
bent and swept Agent Scully off her feet into his arms.

"But-" Scully tried to object, but the look on his face must have
changed her mind.

He carried her into his office while Kim flitted about the two of
them, feeling useless and left out of the loop.  Skinner kicked his
door shut with a backwards kick and set Scully gently on the small
couch inside his office.

"When is the last time you saw the doctor, Dana?"  His use of
Scully's first name caused Kim's eyebrows to arch in surprise, but
she said nothing.  She just stood there, staring at them.

"I saw him this morning and don't 'Dana' me, WALTER," Scully blue
eyes sparked at him.

Kim's mouth made a small 'o.' She'd never heard them speak like this
to one another before.

Skinner glared at her, communicating his disapproval with his eyes.

"Go ahead and say it, sir.  Between the two of us, we've already
given enough away to fuel the rumor mill for months," Scully said
nastily, gesturing with her chin in Kim's direction.

Now Kim was offended.

"Agent Scully, I would NEVER-"

"We can trust Kim," Skinner cut Kim off and her mood softened.

Scully immediately closed her eyes and sighed.  When she opened them,
she fixed Kim with her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Kim.  Its the hormones," she explained, "I'm pregnant."

Kim felt floored.  PREGNANT?! THIS was what her boss was so stressed
about?  This was why he'd been acting so differently?
Is the baby the missing Agent Mulder's as most would presume?  Or is
the baby HIS?

"Wow," was all Kim said, pulling a chair from the conference table
over to the couch and sitting heavily in it.

"That about sums it up," Scully agreed blandly.

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The next morning, Kim could feel the difference in the air.  Now that
there was no longer this huge secret floating between them, Skinner
was much more relaxed around her.

But whenever Scully was around, he still doted on his agent like she
was bone china.  Kim realized this was going to have to stop or he
was going to give it away when Scully started showing.

Everyone would, at first, assume that the absent Mulder was the
father as Kim had.  But once they saw the way Skinner looked at
her...the way he had begun acting around her...well, then the truth
would be known.

For Kim had decided that there was no doubt in her mind that Skinner
was the father of Agent Scully's child.  She'd never seen him so
besotted...not even with his own wife years before.

Kim clutched the impulsive gift she'd bought her boss to her chest as
she listened to him packing up for the day.  It was 5:45p.m. and
normally she would have been gone by now, but she wanted to be sure
they were mostly alone in the building when she gave him this present.

Kim listened to the thump, click, click that signaled Skinner closing
and latching his briefcase and then knocked on his door hesitantly.

"Come in," Skinner said in his usual manner.

Kim walked in and shut the door behind her.  She stood there,
clutching the gift bag to her chest.

Skinner's eyebrows knitted. "Kim?"  His eyes fell to the bag.

"Um, I wanted to talk to you about something, sir.  Its pretty
personal and I wouldn't even bring it up if I didn't feel it was
vitally important.." She realized she was babbling.

"It-It is personal and very likely none of my business, but.." Kim
faded off again, unsure of how to proceed.

Skinner still looked confused and concerned, but he gestured to the
chairs in front of his desk.

"Have a seat, Kim, and tell me what's going on."

She sat and he came around to the front of his desk and leaned his
backside on it, crossing his arms.

"Go ahead," he encouraged, still frowning with curiousity.

She took a deep breath and looked down at her lap.  *Just spit it
out, Kimberly!* she thought.

"Sir, now that I know that Agent Scully is pregnant I realize why
you've been acting so..so different around her as of late and I
realized that if I could add two and two together then so would
everyone else when she starts to show and I thought maybe the reason
that you're hovering so much is that you don't know what's normal and
what's not for pregnancy so I bought this for you and I marked the
chapter for fathers and I hope it is helpful," Kim blurted in one
long breath, stopping only when forced to inhale.

She glanced up at him and found an absolutely stunned look on his
face.  Kim suddenly had the thought that she would have shocked him
less if she'd stripped and done the can-can on his desk...He looked
that shocked.

Trance-like, he reached out and took the gift bag..walked around to
his chair..sat..and reached inside.

He drew out "What to Expect When You're Expecting."

To her surprise, a short, surprised huff of a laugh pushed from his
lips as he flipped open the book to the bookmarked chapter.

He looked up at her, eyes amused, "Kim, I-"

"I also never got the chance to congratulate you, sir.  You and Agent
Scully.  I didn't even know you were seeing each other," she spit out
the second part of what she'd rehearsed saying before she lost her
nerve.

He shut the book, placed it on the desk in front of him and
intertwined his hands atop it.

"Kim, Agent Scully and I are NOT involved.  The child is NOT mine.  I
apologize for the misunderstanding," he said quietly.

He cleared his throat as this stunning news soaked in for Kim.

"I feel very..strongly for Sc-Agent Scully.  She is like family to
me.  And so is Agent Mulder.  I feel responsible for the fact that he
is not here to share in this and have been..perhaps.." He stopped for
a moment and then continued, "..too attentive trying to act in his
stead."

"Mulder is the father," Kim whispered, almost to herself, "Of course."

Skinner nodded and she noticed him tear up a little.

"But he is not able to be here and I am," he stood and moved toward
his briefcase, "so I will definitely keep your gift and put it to
good use," he said brightly, trying to lighten the atmosphere in the
room.

Kim watched him pick up his briefcase, open it and stuff the book
inside.

"You're right.  Maybe if I read this, I won't hover so much.  Dana
keeps fussing at me for that," he smiled a little at Kim.

Kim wondered if he realized he just called Agent Scully 'Dana' and
how much he gave away when he did so.

"The baby may not be yours, but you still have some very real
feelings for her.  Don't you?" She whispered before she could censor
herself.

His facade twitched once, almost imperceptibly.  "I'll see you
tomorrow, Kim.  Thank you for the gift and you have a good evening,"
The A.D. said and hefted his briefcase.

She blushed furiously when she realized what a personal comment she'd
just made to her boss.  Kim couldn't meet his eyes as he started to
make his way from the office.  She heard the door open.

"Kim?"

She turned.  He stood and looked at her for a moment if unsure why
he'd spoken her name.

"Thank you.  Really," he said.

She smiled.  "Your welcome, sir."

He nodded once and then left.

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