The Emilys: Tomorrow
by RocketMan
lebontrager@iname.com

Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013, and Fox. No fringe is
intended.

DEDICATION::::This is for my petitioner, who convinced me that we needed
a look at how everything really ends, and actually came up with the
premise for this one.

~~~~~
Tomorrow
~~~~~

Scully turned around again in the seat, checking the kids as they slept
in the truck, as far away from each other as they could possibly get.

Mulder smiled at her sigh and switched lanes, easing into the fast lane
and putting pressure on the gas pedal.

"They hate each other," Scully said resignedly.

Mulder laughed. "You had a younger brother, Scully. You have to remember
hating him at one point."

"Yes, I do. But not like this."

Mulder reached over and took her hand, squeezing it lightly. "She's just
mad cause she's not the baby anymore. She'll get over it. Besides I
think they grow out of this."

Scully watched the countryside flash by them, the last leg of their
cross country trip almost over.

"I'm afraid Mulder," she said suddenly, her eyes cast far out into the
night, hand clenching his tightly.

He knew what she felt, he understood the gnawing fear that grew in the
back of her stomach.

"Me too. I have no idea how they'll react. I want to say your mother
will forgive us, but I can't say that. I don't know what she's done to
close herself off to your death."

Scully struggled not to cry, but tears escaped her eyes and streamed
down her cheeks. "I can't believe I did that to my mother."

"We had to. We had no choice. Your mother had to believe so they'd
believe it."

Scully suddenly looked over to him, her brows knitting in concern.

"Are you going to call your mother, or do you want to drive over there
once we see my mom?"

"I'll call. If I showed up, she'd have a stroke."

Mulder wasn't joking around either.

Scully unbuckled her seatbelt and came to sit close to him in their
truck, sliding her arm loosely around his waist and kissing his
shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Mulder. We can do this."

He nodded grimly.

In the backseat, their two-year old son Benjamin yawned and shifted his
pillow, then fell back into sleep. Libby remained oblivious.

Scully hoped they would sleep for the rest of the drive; she couldn't
take another screaming/crying match between the two. She kept having to
remind Libby that Ben was only two, and she a big six year old, but that
didn't seem to mkae much difference.

They were still too far apart in ages to get along all the time.

The road was flashing with the white lines, the stationary stars made it
seem like they weren't moving at all, and Mulder's touch along her arm
was making her relax. She didn't want to fall asleep; this was the only
tome they got to themselves anymore.

"Mulder?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever dream this could happen?"

Mulder glanced quickly to her, then tapped his fingers on the steering
wheel.

"No. Not like this. But, us, yeah I dreamed that a lot. During your
cancer I dreamed it quite a bit."

She grew silent, playing with the cuff of his shirt. "I dreamed this
after Emily died. Something like this anyway. That you'd somehow find a
way to make her better, like you did for me, and take us away to a place
they'd never find us."

She fell silent and then took in a deep breath. "At first, I was angry
that you hadn't come up with some magic cure for her. That you hadn't
been able to save her like you had saved me. But then I realized I was
being unfair, that I was projecting my own anger at myself for not
helping Emily, and the guilt had slid inside me."

Mulder kissed her finger softly, and she smiled.

"But this wasn't ever something I really thought would happen. I knew in
my heart that it was Emily's time to die. I can't tell myself she wasn't
meant to live, but I can tell myself it was better for her not to."

Mulder made a muffled noise with his mouth, like he was struggling to
hold back his own guilt, his own tears.

"What brought all this up?" he said suddenly.

"I was thinking what I'd do if Emily suddenly came back alive, just as
I'm doing to my mother now."

"And what would you do?"

Scully's eyes were wide, lonely. "I don't know."
~~~~~

Margaret Scully was secretly dreading the Christmas holiday, especially
if it was anything like Thanksgiving.

She only had her boys now, and Tara and Bill were so sweet to her, but
they quickly got tired of her sadness, and her lack of energy, and would
try and coax her into doing something she didn't want to.

It wasn't like she was in some horrible black depression over Dana's
death three years ago, but it was just too soon to be thinking about
'getting on' with her life. Her children were her life. There was no
getting on.

But Charlie was here this year too, with his wife of four years and she
almost blessed him for still being childless. She didn't feel up to
handling any more grandkids, not when half her children were gone.

Maybe if William had been there, things would look brighter, but she
didn't think so. Her husband's world was his navy and his family,
especially the look on his daughters' faces when he came home.

He would be disappointed in her, she knew that.

Charlie came into the kitchen and sat down with her, holding out a
peaceful air that seemed to envelope her and almost, almost make her
forget.

"Momma, you okay?"

"I'm fine, Charlie. Just thinking about my girls."

Charlie nodded, shaking his head to rid himself of tears. The death of
his younger older sister, as he jokingly called her, had left him bereft
for a long time. Dana had been his hero for a long time.

"I bet Missy and Dane are watching us right now."

Mrs. Scully smiled at the name. When Dana was in third or fourth grade,
Bill had taken to calling his littlest sister Great Dane, teasing her
and being uncommonly mean. Charlie had taken it up simply to prove to
his older brother that he was not a sissy, that he was not a girl.

But then, he called her Dane in such a reverent tone, with such
admiration, that Dane stuck for him. Dana had been Dane ever since he
was three.

And he missed her achingly.

"Momma, I don't know why I'm telling you this. Bill always reminds me
that we have to get on with our lives. But I had a dream about Dane a
few weeks ago, right after Thanksgiving. I can't remember what the dream
was about, but it was a good one."

Margaret smiled and felt a little bit of peace settle into her.

"Maybe she's letting us know she's okay."

Charlie nodded and stood back up. "Well, Mom, I got to go help Bill with
the tree. When I get back in there, he'll probably yell at me for
shirking my responsibility."

Margaret reached out and stopped her youngest with a quivering hand.

"As long as you're shirking, let me tell you something."

Charlie nodded and waited for her words.

"Of my two sons, Charlie, I am most proud of you," she whispered and
kissed his cheek softly.

Charles reared back, his face flushed and pleased, despite the tears in
his mother's eyes.

He knew what it took for her to recognize this, to compare him against
Bill. To give him this small gift even when it really didn't need to be
said.

It made him think maybe he was doing all right, maybe it didn't matter
that he didn't have kids and that, before Dane died, he hadn't seen her
in three years.

He quickly left the kitchen, brushing by his wife who was on her way in.

Caroline, that was his wife. Margaret loved her completely.

She smiled warmly and pushed the chair out that Charlie had just
vacated.

"Sit down, Carrie."

Carrie smiled back and sank into the seat. "Hey, Momma."

"You and Charlie with this 'momma.' Do you know that's what he and Dana
both called me when they were babies?"

Carrie smiled at her, and Margaret smiled back, pleased that Carrie
hadn't frowned at her mention of Dana. Tara always frowned when she
mentioned Dana.

Carrie's smile faltered and then she glanced to the door.

"Momma, do you think you could tell me what Dana was like? Charlie talks
about her all the time, but he doesn't give me specific things about . .
. about her as an adult. He didn't get to see her."

Margaret's face must have paled because Carrie reached out and touched
her hand, squeezing it. "I'm sorry, Momma. You don't have to."

Mrs. Scully shook her head. "No, no. You ought to know about her. Since
it's the reason I'm so out of it around the holidays."

Carrie shook her head. "You don't have to explain that to me. My mother
died the day before Christmas when I was thirteen. I know how it is
around the holidays."

Mrs. Scully took her other hand and shook her head softly.

"I'll tell you whatever you'd like to know, Carrie. You're like a
daughter to me, you know?"

Carrie's eyes shone and she smiled softly. "Really?"

Mrs. Scully laughed softly. "Really."

Just then the doorbell rang, causing Margaret's heart to jump and flip
around in her chest.

Carrie saw the look on her face and helped her to her feet, guiding her
to the door, going fast enough to beat Charlie and Bill and Tara from
the living room.

The door knob was stuck slightly from years of neglect, but Mrs. Scully
tugged it and the door slid open and the moonlight from the dark night
pierced into the hall.

Pierced into her soul.

Illuminated the face of an angel.

Mrs. Scully stared, then turned to Carrie.

"You wanted to know about my baby girl, well there she is."
~~~~~

Standing outside the truck, lifting Ben into her arms, Scully felt a
tingling sense of joy and fear escalating in her. She shifted under her
son's weight and locked the doors once Mulder had Libby firmly in his
grasp.

Libby blinked sleepily and opened her eyes, brushing the hair from her
face and yawning.

"Where are we Daddy?" she whispered.

Mulder kissed her cheek and smiled. "Good sleep, baby?"

"Yes. I'm still tired. Where are we?"

"We're at your momma's mother's house."

"Hunh?"

"Your grandmother."

"Oh. Is she mean?"

Mulder looked to Scully and then answered her question. "No, Libby,
she's very, very loving."

"Have I seen her before?"

"Once, before we left for New York. Do you remember that?"

Libby shook her head and lowered it to her Daddy's shoulder.

Scully glanced back to Mulder once more and drew strength from his eyes.
She started down the path to the front door, clutching Ben tightly.

She was still standing there when Mulder got to her, and he reached
forward and rung the bell, drawing her from the trance she was in.

There was a moment, then the door rattled and there was her mother.

Her mother.

Mrs. Scully stared for a moment, then turned to the woman beside her.

"You wanted to know about my baby girl, well there she is."

And her mother turned back around and faced her.

Staring.

~~~~~
~~~~~

Ben was like a shield, keeping Scully from the worst of her mother's
loveless stare.

Mulder stayed behind her, one hand on the small of her back and giving
her a strength she desperately needed as she watched her mother.

Just as she was ready to flee, to run back to the truck and never come
home again, her mother stepped outside, into the light from the moon,
and touched her cheek.

"My baby," she whispered.

Dana bit her lip and felt her chin quiver. "I'm sorry, Momma."

Mrs. Scully threw her arms around her youngest daughter, giving her a
crushing embrace, oblivious to the little boy getting caught between.

Scully closed her eyes and felt the tears trickle through as she hugged
her mother. After the lonely nights spent wondering if living with
Mulder was the right thing, after the frustrating mornings needing her
mother to reassure her that she was being a good person, a good mother,
here she was, holding her.

"I missed you so much, Momma," she whispered, sobbing now, her arms
weakening and Ben waking as he felt the bodies pressing around him.

Mulder slipped in and took Ben in one arm, cradling him so that he might
fall back asleep.

Free of her son, Scully let both her arms encirlce her mother, burying
her nose into her mother's neck, smelling the kitchen and the soap and
the old perfume that made up her mother's scent.

Margaret Scully pulled back, taking her child's face in her hands and
gazing, as if she'd been granted only a few minutes and was memorizing
her face for the lonely, sorrowful times ahead.

"I'm back, Momma."

Suddenly, Mrs. Scully laughed. She gave up a bitter, sorrowful noise
that healed her soul of the gaping hole and finally helped her move on
past it.

"Come, come inside. Before we all get colds."

Scully let her mother release her, even though she felt like curling up
in her mother's arms, and turned back to Mulder.

She took Ben from his arm and turned the boy around, letting his face
catch the moonlight.

Mrs. Scully was looking at her with something akin to dread and hope.

"This is Ben, Momma." she said, and smoothed his cheek with her palm.

Margaret looked to Libby, remembering this child, then back to Ben.

"There were more?" she whispered.

Scully smiled brightly and let her mother usher her inside.

"Yes, but Ben's. . . natural."

She glanced back to Mulder and grinned at the blush creeping up his
neck, reaching back to take his hand.

They were herded into the living room, Mulder having to run the gauntlet
of her entire family as they came in, dodging stares of accusation from
Bill and shock from Charlie.

As she reached the tree, the lights splayed hapharzardly in Charlie's
special style, she felt the tears slip again.

A crushing hug from behind her caught her off guard and she turned
around.

"Dane, Dane, I missed you."

She smiled and rubbed Charlie's head affectionately. "Sure you did,
Charlie. I bet you had fun without me bossing you around."

He kissed her cheek and whispered tightly into her ear. "Bill's been
doing your job for you."

She laughed, feeling good again to laugh with her family, her old
family, the feeling being somehow different than laughing with her new
family, with Mulder.

Mulder sat on the couch, pulling Libby into his lap and straightening
her tangled hair with his fingers, knowing that Scully would want her to
look presentable for her mother.

Had it not been for Scully slowly building his self-confidence in the
last three years, he would have felt awkward.

Guilty even.

But now he recognized the facts of their situation. It had been
unfortunate, a tragic thing that had come about, but for him, had turned
into the best thing of his life. He knew Scully felt the same and he had
no qualms about facing her family with this.

He knew she did though. And he wondered how he'd face his mother too.

Mrs. Scully pushed everyone into chairs or on the floor, in Carrie's
case, and then took a large look around at her family.

"Fox," she said softly, and Mulder glanced up in surprise.

"Yes, Mrs. Scully?"

"Call me Momma, Fox. Momma."

Mulder grinned and glanced to Scully, letting Libby squrim in his lap as
he untangled her hair.

"All right," he said and leaned into the couch as Scully came and sat
next to him.

There was a long moment where everyone sort of looked at each other, too
shocked or overwhelmed to say anything.

Mulder nudged her and threw her a look.

She licked her lips. "So, how do I explain this?"
~~~~~

Mulder listened to her finish her long explanation, the words tumbling
from her mouth like honey and sugar, mixed to sweeten the romantic idea
of them spiriting Libby off like heroes to some unknown locale so that
she would be safe. She didn't leave anything out.

She spoke about their marriage, about how it'd been a sheet of paper
first and then, slowly, very real.

She explained everything they'd found, all the other Emilys they had
watched die. She had no tears, only smiles, and glossed over the rough
parts with soothing words and a genuinely happy contentment that leached
into everyone surrounding her.

She paused only once, before she told her family about the angel, as if
asking him permission, and he nodded slightly and rubbed Libby's back as
she grew sleepy again.

There was an angel, she said, and there was a miracle, and then there
was Benjamin. Named aptly because Benjamin means 'son of my right hand'
or beloved son.

When she stopped, Mrs. Scully held out her arms and took Ben into her
soft grandmotherly hug, as if welcoming a grandchild she had just seen a
few days ago.

Ben woke and looked around from the new lap, screwed up his face as he
yawned then mumbled something.

Scully smiled as she watched her family watch her little boy, and turned
to Libby not forgetting her other miracle.

"Momma, this is Elizabeth. I know you met her once, but what I didn't
get a chance to tell you is. . .she's Mulder's and mine. We call her
Libby."

Margaret looked up from her grandson to the little girl asleep in her
father's arms.

"I knew then, Dana. I knew then."

Scully looked quickly at Mulder, read his face, and took Libby from him
softly.

"Momma, is it okay if he uses the phone?"

Mrs. Scully seemed surprised that he would have anyone to call; she
always assumed that Dana was his family, and now, her mother and
brothers.

"Sure. Of course. Right through there."

Scully left Libby on the couch, curled into a cushion, and walked with
Mulder into the kitchen, letting her family have time to talk to
themselves, and look over Ben and Libby.

Mulder glanced once to her, kissed her mouth soundly, then picked up the
phone before he could change his mind.

~~~~~
~~~~~

She watched his face as he placed the call, slipped her hand into his
back jean pocket, pushed her body in close to his. When he spoke to his
mother, he needed to have all of her support, physical as well as
emotional.

She heard him say hello, heard the silence, heard the weary explanation
cut short, the resounding slam of the phone.

She closed her eyes, tears coming again, pressing her face into his
side, not wanting to have him go through this.

But when she looked up at him, he seemed to be taking it all right. His
face was a little pale and she could feel his hands shaking, but he took
her chin in his hands and softly brushed her lips with his.

She had never kissed Mulder in her mother's kitchen before; it made
things a little more real, a little more definite.

"She didn't believe me. Didn't want to have to deal with it."

Scully nodded and then cast around for something to say. "We can try
later, when she's absorbed the shock-"

"No. We won't try later. I love my mother, but I don't want her
influencing my children."

He said it with such finality, such calm, that she knew he was being
noble about this, knew it was killing him inside.

She closed her eyes and leaned into him, listening to the sounds of her
family in the other room.

"I'm glad your mother welcomed us," he said softly.

She nodded.

"I feel safer, more loved here anyway."

She glanced up at him. "I hope you always feel like that."

He gave her a forced smile, then let out a long breath. "Let's go make
sure your family's not spoiling our kids."
~~~~~

Libby proceeded to tell Carrie, and the entire room, about the most
horrible thing that had happened to her, namely the car wreck Scully had
gotten into years ago.

She then told all about her school, without bothering to finish her
first story so that everyone looked wide-eyed to Scully when they walked
in from the kitchen.

They had to stop Libby and explain the accident, then let her finish her
own story because she had started to pout, and after that, Libby decided
that she was too sleepy to finish that and she crawled up into her
father's lap and closed her eyes.

Mulder laughed and gently shook her awake. "Baby, you won't be able to
sleep tonight if you sleep now."

"That's okay."

He smiled and tapped her nose. "No, baby, it's not. You have to stay
awake for now. I'll let you go to bed in an hour. Don't you want to talk
to all these new people?"

Libby opened her eyes and popped her head up.

"Gramma, do you have a dog?"

Scully was about to reply, when she realized she didn't even know
anymore. The strickened look on her face told Mulder what she was
thinking and he gently rubbed her back with one hand.

"Actually, yes. He's outside."

"Can I play with him?"

"Sure, Libby. Come with me. We can let him inside."

Just then a boy about Libby's age came running into the room, hollering
at the top of his lungs as he swung a helicopter in the air and dangled
GI Joes from his fingers.

Bill caught him and held him still, then turned him around to face his
sister.

"This is Matthew. Matthew this is your Aunt Dana and her husband Mulder,
and then these are your cousins, Ben and Libby."

"Libby?" the boy sneered.

Scully felt her heart sort of jump and she almost jerked Libby back to
herself, feeling sort of panicked about letting her daughter run off
with her brother's son.

"Matthew?" Libby sneered back.

Scully felt pride spiral through her and she knew Libby would be tougher
than her, able to resist Bill's kind of torment.

Matthew followed Libby and his grandmother out to the patio and Scully
glanced to Mulder with an amused look.

Carrie spoke up then. "Dana? I don't think I ever got the chance to meet
you. I'm Carrie, Charlie's wife."

Dana reached out and embraced her sister-in-law, something Bill and Tara
were surprised to see. Dana had always been so cold when someone
touched, never the one to let a stranger initiate anything.

Bill had to admit grudgingly that maybe this had been good for his super
cold sister.

Ben was peering under the tree when he shrieked and laughed, running
back to Mulder with joy on his face.

"Big cat!" he yelled and pointed over to where a fat black cat sat
staring owlishly at them.

Scully smiled as Mulder looked impressed and squatted down next to his
son.

"Really? Let's go pet it, Ben."

Ben nodded with extreme seriousness and walked solemnly over to the cat,
then squatted down on his haunches to examine the dark feline.

"Fat," he said suddenly and reached out to pat its head.

"What's the cat's name?" Scully asked Carrie.

"That's our cat, Moses."

Scully stood and went over to her son. "Ben, that's Moses. Can you say
hi?"

"Yes, but he won't say hi back," Ben said, his voice pitched low so as
to not disturb the cat.

Carrie laughed and Charlie smiled.

"Hi, Moses," Ben continued and held out his hand as if waiting for the
cat to shake.

He petted it some more then turned and ambled back to the couch, where
Matthew had left some of his toys. Ben picked them up, making noises for
the cars as he pushed them along the cushion.

Scully sat in the floor near the tree with Mulder, watching Ben play
happily, watching her family talk and relax.

"It feels good to come here, Mulder," she said softly.

He turned to her, brushed the hair from her eyes. "But?"

She leaned forward and quickly kissed him. "But it's not home."

He shook his head and left his lips on her skin, hidden from the rest of
the family by the back of the chair.

"Anywhere is home if my family's there."

She smiled and turned her cheek into his lips. "That reminds me. We need
to go Christmas shopping for this family."

He groaned. "Aren't you enough of a present for them?"

She laughed and twined her fingers through his. "My brothers will be
pretty ticked if this is their present."

"Let them be ticked. They just don't know how great you are."

He pulled her into his arms tightly and closed his eyes.

"I feel like we've finally stopped running," he said suddenly.

She stilled, inhaled the wonderful combination of Mulder and her
mother's home.

"The day I had Ben I thought it would always, always feel like that. But
it's stopped feeling so tense all the time. We really have stopped
running."

Ben let out a growl as he made one car crash into another and then
glanced up at his audience with a Mulder smile placed to charm his
family.

Scully laughed and shook her head. "They're both like you."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

"Not at all. Not one little bit."

~~~~~
end