Mulder was a trooper, especially with the drugs making him quite malleable-okay, maybe unconscious was a better word, but it had been necessary.
When Scully had arrived, she'd found a panicking Mulder trying hard to breathe and not bear down, and an equally worried Walter, patting Mulder's hand and imploring him to breathe and not bear down. Neither man seemed to be accomplishing anything beyond making the other one crazy, and Scully had waded in without comment, determining that her priority was in giving herself a proper area to work in, with a complacent patient.
Once that was accomplished, Scully was able to work without much fuss. She had strapped Mulder's ankles and wrists down, needing to ensure that he did not make any sudden movements while she performed the procedure. She insisted that Walter would have to stay out of her way, but relented when she saw the worry in his eyes. So she told him that if he wanted to stay, he could keep the sweat off her brow and off of Mulder's as well. Otherwise, it would be best if he left the room so she could have the space she needed.
Walter stayed briefly, but he was so anxious, he began to pace. Dana just glared at him and he sighed, shrugged helplessly, and left the room to pace upstairs instead.
Dana knew what she was doing was potentially dangerous, slightly unsanitary and, medically, she could be committing professional suicide if this ever got out. The only thing she had any confidence in at this point was her own ability as a doctor. Since she had left the FBI, the number of times she had performed this procedure had grown to where she was completely familiar with every step. She took a moment to touch the side of her sleeping partner's face, knowing she had an added incentive to keep this one by the book and running smooth. A shudder through Mulder's abdomen got her back to work.
Walter was pacing in his room, wondering when he should go downstairs, or if he should, or if he even could. He felt like an idiot. He felt faint. He felt like he could leap out of his bedroom window. He didn't know what to do with himself. He froze, frowned, and then began to pace again. A thought filtered into his head. He had been so tense about what was going on with his lover that he had totally missed the state Scully had been in when she walked into his apartment. She looked like she had been in a boxing match. Her face was flushed, her lips slightly swollen, and a niggling part of his brain said she smelled a little ripe. He wondered briefly, then, with growing suspicion, realized that she hadn't been boxing, just maybe wrestling a little, and he knew whom it had to be with. 'That little prick!' he growled to himself. 'He has taken Dana to bed with him. Well, I will show him!'
Such thoughts were quickly eaten away by worry over the surgery downstairs. He looked at his watch. It couldn't have been more than thirty minutes. He steeled himself and went downstairs, reaching the makeshift surgery room just in time to see Scully removing the baby from Mulder's belly. He felt faint...but the sight of that lovely baby in her hands, all wet and mewling and-he rushed over to the bed. He was shocked when Scully handed the baby to him. He held the baby awkwardly, realizing the umbilical cord was still attached. Scully proceeded to cut the cord, and then clamp the end.
"Well, daddy, why don't you siphon the nasal cavities." She sounded both sweet and absurdly practical as she handed him a funny looking plastic thing. It dawned on him what to do suddenly and he moved the baby to an awaiting basinet lined with a clean blanket. He put the baby in it and began to muck about delicately, thinking somehow that it looked much easier on ER ... Scully sighed heavily, grabbed the instrument out of his hand and in two seconds it was done.
"Put some drops in his eyes, then wash him off, Walter." She returned to her duties of stitching up Mulder...the mother...father. Walter shook his head trying to clear away the fatherhood shock he was feeling, and then found the eye drops. He smiled stupidly into unfocused brown eyes as he squirted first one, then another drop into them, causing the baby to cry out. He rushed to dampen a cloth to wipe his healthy baby boy down. By the time the baby was cleaned off to Daddy Walter's just slightly anal-retentive specifications, Scully had finished sewing Mulder up. The line on his belly was amazingly small, as were the stitches. It looked only a little swollen and pink. Whatever else could be said for or against Dana Scully, she did good work.
She looked faint, so Skinner asked her, "Dana, do you want to sit down...take a breather? Mulder is okay now, right?"
She sighed. "He should be fine, Walter. I think the nanobytes, if anything, will help. Makes me wonder about how they are -" she stopped, knowing it wasn't the time to discuss her desire to find out about the nanobytes in his blood.
"Dana...thank you, from the bottom of my heart. The baby is so beautiful."
She smiled tiredly and he removed the basinet from the sofa and let her lay down on it.
"Walter, see if the baby can nurse." Her soft, sleepy voice infiltrated Skinner's focused thoughts and he jerked his head to look up from his baby to Mulder lying supine with his belly exposed, still completely out of it. He walked over to the bed slowly, uncertain if trying would be a good idea. Skinner knew that Mulder had not wanted him to touch his chest at all while he was pregnant. He had kept whining that his nipples were way too sensitive and it had completely weirded him out whenever Skinner had begun to play and milk had leaked out. "No way. Anyway, its for the baby," he had grouched.
Skinner pulled off the sheet draped over Mulder's chest and looked at the swollen ... breasts. That was the only thing he could call them. 'They look good enough to eat,' Skinner thought then snorted. 'Mulder would kill me...' He looked at the baby and then at the swollen nipple. He lowered the baby and watched as the baby just lay there. He sighed then rubbed the baby's nose against the nipple; the baby sneezed. Walter felt a rush of delight run through him.
"Come on, you're a Skinner. You want to eat hardy!" he softly urged the baby. The baby still lay inert. 'Shit, what is wrong?' A bright thought illuminated his mind like a cartoon cliche light bulb, and he bent and proceeded to show the baby what to do. Feeling the taut nipple against his tongue sent a shiver of desire down to his groin. 'Fuck,' he knew this was not the route to take, getting turned on by trying to show the baby how to nurse. He wasn't surprised, though. He knew that no matter the situation, or circumstance, Mulder would always give him this, make him feel this way. He returned to the task at hand, and suddenly noticed that the baby's eyes were not focusing. He groaned in frustration then took the nipple in his fingers and rubbed it against the baby's mouth. The baby nuzzled, then began to suckle properly. Walter sighed in relief. His arm was getting tired keeping the baby propped up against Mulder's chest, so he reached with his leg and hauled the chair by the corner to him so he could sit in a more comfortable position. Before long, both baby and daddy were sleeping contentedly.
*****
Alex was having a wonderful time playing with Jennie's one Ken doll, removing the clothes on it, and then removing an arm, while she played with her baby doll. There was a knock at the door, and Alex wondered who could be coming to see Dana in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday. He looked out the peephole and recognized one of the men instantly.
"Fuck!" he rushed to grab up Jennie, motioning her to be quiet as he grabbed up several things and went to the large window on the far side of Scully's apartment where there was a sill that he and Jennie could hide on while the men searched the apartment.
"Come on, Jenny, your baby wants to go outside and get some fresh air," he spoke softly to Jenny so as not to alarm her as he picked her and her doll up, added the carry case that held all the essentials, and then opened the window and crawled out, keeping Jenny facing the wall. He moved very slowly away from the window along the side of the apartment complex, thankful that this side of the building did not face the entrance but rather the side of an old theater. No one would come down this alleyway, he thought. But then saw movement. He slowly inched away from Scully's side of the building and found another window ledge to perch on. He looked down at it and almost cried out with elation. It was cracked open. With the edge of his shoe, he began to work it open very slowly. Jenny was watching in fascination. When he opened it he sighed in relief and said, "See Jenny, Uncle Alex opened the window."
She looked into Alex's eyes and kissed him soundly. Alex was amazed at her apparent grasp of the grave situation and thought she must be gifted, being the baby of Scully and Mulder.
He set the case down inside the room, wincing slightly when it thumped on the floor below. Then he leaned down to wiggle both of them in awkwardly.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
The Goddess Michele deserves major kudos for helping me smooth some rough edges:)