A/N: Here’s the next chapter; It is unbeta'd so any errors are all mine. I have upped the rating for this fic to T, to reflect some stuff later on in this chapter.

Also, I would like to point out that I am English and because of this I may spell words differently to how Americans spell them. I’ve made a conscious effort with the word “Mommy” (which the English spell Mummy) because it’s used a lot, but there may be others you come across which I have not noticed or changed. Hope that’s okay.

It had now been several weeks since Emily had come to live with Scully. There had been a few tantrums in this time but Scully had, with Mulder’s help, taken control of the situation and implemented the same strategy as Mulder had that first night. To Scully’s delight, the strategy seemed to be working and Emily was a lot calmer and less likely to throw a tantrum.

While that issue was well on it’s way to being resolved, Scully had another one deal with…Mulder. Or to be more precise; her and Mulder. Since he’d slept beside her that first night, he’d barely gone home. It wasn’t that they planned it, but he would come round after work have dinner with them, and after helping put Emily to bed, the two of them would hang out watching TV or going over case files or just talking and then they would both go to bed, her bed. The first few times they had both made excuses as to why he should stay, his being, “I’ll stay in case Emily wakes up and you need a hand” and hers being something like, “you shouldn’t go home tonight Mulder, it’s late, you’re tired and the roads look pretty bad,” but after a while neither of them bothered with excuses any more; they had fallen into a strangely comfortable routine and they both just assumed that he would stay. In a morning, he would join her and Emily for breakfast before calling at home to change on his way into work.

Neither of them had brought it up, nor had they mentioned the snuggling on the couch in an evening or at weekend or how they ‘accidentally’ came to be holding hands in the park when they took Emily last week. Scully had been happy to let it this new found closeness go unmentioned; scared that if she said anything it would cease and she would begin to feel lonely again

However, all that had changed this afternoon after an innocent comment made by Emily.

****FLASHBACK****
They had just had lunch and had finished a game of hungry hippos when Emily asked if she could go into her room and colour,

“Of course you can sweetie. Let’s just tidy this up first, okay?” Emily nodded and they began to help Scully put the game away. As they were doing this, she asked,

“Mommy, what time will Daddy be home?” The question had stopped Scully in her tracks and thinking she was talking about her ‘old’ daddy said,

“Emily, honey, we’ve been through this. Your Daddy isn’t coming home, he’s in heaven, remember? We said goodbye to him and your other Mommy when we let the balloons off in the park.”

“No, not that Daddy – my new Daddy,” said Emily as though it should have been painstakingly obvious what she meant.

“Emily, I don’t understand…”

“My new Daddy; Mulder.”

“Mulder? What makes you think he’s your Daddy?”

“Well, he lives here and you are like a Mommy and a Daddy; you hold hands and cuddle and stuff. Is he not my Daddy?”

Scully couldn’t believe it, had their behaviour been that obvious that her little girl had noticed. But thinking about it Mulder had been practically living there over the last few weeks; who could blame her for assuming that he was her father?

“Well no, Mulder’s not your Daddy, sweetie. Not really.”

“Why?” queried Emily.

“Why? Well, I suppose because I’ve never asked him to be.”

“Why?” pressed the little girl.

“I don’t know honey. Probably in case he didn’t want to be. When I agreed to be your new Mommy it was just going to be me who looked after you.”

“But Mulder looks after me. Why wouldn’t he want to be my Daddy?”

“Err...I don’t know,” answered Scully. How could you explain these things to a 3 year old?

“Can we ask him to be my Daddy? Please?”

“I suppose so. Let me talk to him tonight and see what he says.”

“Okay Mommy,” she replied, seemingly content with Scully’s offer before skipping off to her room.

“Oh and Emily…” Scully shouted after her, “Don’t call him Daddy until I’ve had a chance to talk to him.”
****END FLASHBACK****

So that brought her to now; waiting for Mulder to tuck Emily in so they could talk. She had already told Mulder, when he came in from work, that she had something that she needed to discuss with him once Emily was in bed. Emily had been as good as gold; she hadn’t mentioned their conversation from the afternoon and she hadn’t called Mulder ‘Daddy’ once. Scully was really proud of her.

She wasn’t really looking forward to this conversation with Mulder. She didn’t want him to start sleeping at his own place; she would miss him far too much. They had both slept much better over the last few weeks, while they had shared a bed, than they had slept before. Scully didn’t think Mulder had had one nightmare while he had been staying with them.

“She was out like a light – asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow,” informed Mulder as he entered the living room and took a seat on the sofa, facing Scully, “So…you said you wanted to talk?”

“Yeah…Emily said something today that made me think about our situation.”

“Our situation?” asked Mulder.

“Yeh. Let me start from the beginning. Emily and I were tidying up earlier and she asked what time her Daddy was coming home.”

“Her Dad, but he’s de-“

“Dead, I know. And I explained that to her and she said she didn’t mean him. She meant her new Daddy...she meant you Mulder.”

“Me? Emily thinks of me as her Daddy?” While Mulder was shocked, he also couldn’t hide the happiness and pride that he felt at the fact the Emily thought of him as her Daddy. S

Scully noted this and chuckled slightly, “Seems you’ve made quite an impression on my little girl,”

“It would appear so. What did you say to her?”

“I explained, as best you can to a 3 year old, that you weren’t actually her Daddy and she wanted to know why.”

Mulder laughed at this, “Why is it that kids always want to know why?”

Scully joined Mulder in his laughter for a few seconds before continuing, “Anyway, the long and the short of it is that she wants me to ask you if you will be her Daddy?”

Mulder was too shocked to speak. Emily actually wanted him to be her Dad. It was a big responsibility and Mulder wasn’t sure he was up to the job. I mean, his Father wasn’t exactly a great role model. His experience of what a happy family was supposed to be consisted entirely of the 12 years before his sister was abducted (and he probably didn’t remember anything before he was 5 or 6).

Mulder thought back over the last few weeks with Scully and Emily. It had been fairly successful. Emily had had a few tantrums but together he and Scully has managed to deal with them and she appeared to be more settled now. The three of them had fun together and Emily obviously had no problems with his ability to be a good Dad or she wouldn’t want him to be.

When Mulder didn’t say anything, Scully continued, “I know it’s a big decision to make Mulder and if you don’t want to answer now, that’s okay. Take some time to think about it; the last thing I want is for you to rush this decision and it be the wrong one for either you or her.”

By this point Mulder had finished his musings and managed to find his voice, “There’s nothing to think about, Scully. I committed myself to Emily ’and you’ he added silently at the adoption hearing and I don’t intend to go back on that. If you’re okay with it then I would love to be Emily’s father. I don’t know how successful I will be but I am willing to give it a damn good try.”

“I’m more than okay with it Mulder. Emily needs a father and I can’t think of anyone else who I’d want it to be,” replied Scully, a blush forming in her cheeks at her response.

“We should celebrate, Scully,” exclaimed Mulder as he rose from her couch and headed to the kitchen. “I thought I spied a bottle of Merlot in here the other day.”

She heard him rustling around the kitchen and a few minutes later he re-appeared with the wine and 2 glasses.

“Your powers of observation and investigation astound me, Mulder,” she quipped.

“Well that is why they put the I in FBI, Scully,” replied Mulder with a smirk as he took a seat next to Scully on the couch and poured them both some wine.

Scully smiled as his words conjured up the memory of her first day on the X Files. It would be 6 years in March since she’d been assigned to partner Mulder. They’d come so far in that time and had experienced so much together. About a year ago she had told him she wouldn’t change a day and that was still true now, even after her cancer.

“So, Scully when do you think we should tell Emily? Should we wake her?” asked Mulder, passing a glass to Scully. Scully could tell Mulder was excited at the prospect of telling Emily he would be her Dad but they had to be sensible about it,

“If we wake her and tell her now, we’ll never get her back to sleep,” she reasoned, taking a sip of her wine. “We can tell her tomorrow.”

“Over breakfast?” suggested Mulder.

Scully wasn’t sure if the questioning tone in his voice meant he was asking if it was okay to tell her at breakfast or if he was asking if he would be here for breakfast, but she decided now would be a good time to discuss their ‘arrangement,’ “Mulder about you staying for breakfast…”

The apprehensive tone of Scully’s voice immediately sent Mulder into panic mode, “Is it not okay Scully?? I mean if you don’t want me to stay, you can always tell me to leave, you know that right?” offered Mulder, while silently pleading ‘please don’t tell me to go. I really want to stay and hold you.’

“It’s not that I don’t want you to stay. I do…that’s part of the problem.”

“I don’t understand, Scully”

Scully sighed, “I need to say some stuff Mulder, but I’m probably going to stumble over it, so I need you not to say anything until I’m done okay?” She stood up and moved in front of him, sitting on the coffee table so she could be face to face with him.

“Okaaaay…and if I want to reply you will afford me the same courtesy?”

“Of course.” Scully took a deep breath and put her glass down next to her on the table. “The reason Emily has come to think of you as her father is that you’ve practically been living here for the past few weeks. Ever since that first night you’ve only gone home to change and I’m worried about the effect that this ‘situation’ is having on Emily…and on me.” Scully paused to allow her words to sink in and to watch Mulder’s reaction. It was hard to pinpoint the exact look that was on his face but Scully could see traces of hurt, rejection, worry but also of resigned understanding. She reached out and touched his hands, hoping that in some way her touch would make him feel a little more at ease decided to continue, “Mulder, we have been best friends for a long time and I don’t want that to change. But I need to know what is going on with us. I mean, how many best friends do you know who share a bed on a regular basis; sleeping wrapped in each others arms, how many of them snuggle up on the couch together watching a film or hold hands when they go to the park? How many people keep toothbrushes and razors in their best friend’s bathroom?” Scully had got herself so worked up by this point that she was now pacing the living room, “What exactly are we, Mulder? How would you define our relationship?”

Scully flopped back down on the couch and put her head down; looking at the floor. Mulder took this as indication that she had finished.

“Scully, I’ll be honest; I have no clue what we are at the moment or how to define us. But I do know that my feelings for you go beyond what someone should probably feel for their best friend.” Mulder paused at this point and put his hand under Scully’s chin and lifted her head so their eyes met. “I’m in love with you Scully, I’m sure of it.” Scully’s eyes went wide He feels the same?! “I don’t know if you feel the same way,” he continued, “and if you don’t then that’s okay; I don’t expect anything from you, just please don’t hate me. I don’t want to lose you. We can go back to the way things were or we can-“

Mulder didn’t get any further because while he’d been babbling Scully had closed the gap between them and was now kissing him. The kiss was a slow passionate affair. Mulder couldn’t help but smile as he cupped Scully's face in his hands. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and opening her mouth to him. Mulder gladly accepted her invitation and swept his tongue over her lips and into her mouth. He moaned as she flicked her tongue against his. Mulder lowered his hands to Scully’s shoulders and gently pushed her backwards so she was lying on the couch. He followed her down, never letting their lips break contact. Scully moaned into Mulder’s mouth and intensified the movements of her tongue, touching and tasting every inch of his mouth. Their kisses continued for several minutes before Scully put her hand on the centre of Mulder’s chest and pushed up, signalling that she wanted to stop. Mulder complied, albeit reluctantly and broke the kiss,

“You okay, Scully?”

“Yeh, I just think we should stop for a bit, that’s all.”

“Oh, okay,” said Mulder his voice full of melancholy.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to do that Mulder,” she reassured, “or that I don’t want to do it some more – I just think we should talk first. Plus the fact that I don’t really want to grope on the couch like a couple of horny teenagers.”

Mulder relaxed a bit at her words and even managed a small chuckle at her comment about horny teenagers.

“So…” began Scully, trying to find the right words, “how long have you felt…how long have you been in love with me?”

“I only realised I was in love with you when you were in the hospital, with your cancer, but looking back I guess fell in love with you for a few years before that…possibly around the time of your abduction?” Mulder felt strangely exposed, pouring his heart out to Scully with no confirmation from her that she felt the same way. Okay, yes she’d kissed him and indicated that she wanted to kiss him some more, but she hadn’t actually voiced her feelings. Mulder thought that it was way overdue, “Y’know Scully you’ve not actually clarified how you feel about me?”

“What, the kiss wasn’t enough?”

“Well you see; I’m one of these people that need hard, undeniable, irrefutable proof before I’ll believe!” Mulder explained a glint of amusement in his eyes. Scully just laughed and Mulder continued, “Seriously though, as great as the kiss was; and oh boy was it great. I’d like for you to tell me.”

“I don’t know when exactly I fell in love with you Mulder, I’ve had these feelings for you for a long time; at least since my abduction, maybe earlier,” she told him, feeling relieved that she didn’t have to keep this to herself anymore. “I didn’t actually come to realise that they were anything more than very strong feelings of friendship until Emily’s custody case. Hearing you make such an impassioned speech was like a switch had been flicked. It made me finally realise what was right in front of me all these years; I’m in love with you too, Mulder.”

Mulder leant towards her and began kissing her. His kiss was slow and unbelievably erotic. The kiss lasted a few minutes and when Mulder pulled away, Scully got up and walked to her bedroom door and lent seductively against the door frame,

“Come to bed Mulder,” she said in the sexist voice she could find.

Mulder didn’t need to be told twice. He gathered the wine and their glasses and headed for Scully’s bedroom. He guessed he would be here for breakfast after all.

A/N: Well this was the last chapter I had planned but if you guys want some more then just leave me a review letting me know. I’d also like your suggestions on what kind of situations you would like to see them in, if I were to continue. I though about maybe doing a Christmas one, but that would involve a big jump in the time line…and maybe one about Scully’s first day back at work but it’s up to you guys. Let me know what you want.