Title: Baby Blues (3/3)
By: Amanda Paweska
Feedback: please send, I love getting it. Greenfreakgirl@tomgreen.com
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Chris owns the boys. Sadly I don’t….but maybe, someday. *sigh *
Although, Anderea Jupitor is all mine. 
Notes: I think my Lone Gunmen/X Files time line is a little outta wack. But
shhhhhh!  No one needs to know. Also, to understand just who Anderea
is, I hope you’ve read “Project Jupiter”

Baby Blues PART 3 

When I brought the home pregnancy test I felt like I was sneaking top secret
information into the warehouse. In a sense I was. It was only John I had to
worry about. Uncle ‘Hike was still passed out from the night before when I
left. And anyway John didn’t seem to notice I even left, so he didn’t pay much
attention when I came back.

Ree followed me back to my room when I smuggled the plastic bagged secret in.
“So?” he shut the door after us. 
“The test takes ten minuets,” I read from the box.
“You’re gonna take it now?!” He almost looked scared. 
I understood how he was feeling, “Do you want me to wait?”
“No, no I was just…..” he gave up explaining when I nodded. 
“I know,” nervous, scared, anxious. “I guess I should do it then,” I smiled a
smile that could only be described as a brave little smile. 
“Right,” he seemed anything but sure.
I squeezed his hand, “I’m sure Lord Manhammer can handle this.”
The coy smile returned to his face, “Only wit his Lady beside him,” he squeezed
back before leaning in to kiss me.

He walked me to the bathroom, determined to stand guard while I took the test.
‘Pee on the stick and wait.’ It was the waiting that was the hard part. Ten
minuets can be an eternity. I’m sure staring at the stick doesn’t help, but
that’s what I did. Sitting on the edge of the tub staring at the little white,
plastic stick. 

“I need in there,” ‘Hike’s banging on the bathroom door broke my concentration.

“Ah, just a second,” I stashed the test under the sink and had just enough time
to grab the box before he opened the door, “How are you this morning?” I knew
my smile looked guilty, but damn it if I didn’t feel guilty. 
He just grumbled as he pushed past me on his way in.

Ree looked worried as I emerged obviously without the pregnancy test. 
“I hide it, under the sink,” I was still holding the box when John decided to
speak to anyone on his way for coffee. 
His face looked drained and tired, “Hide what?”
“Nothing,” Ree’s tone seemed a little defensive, raising John’s interest.
I shoved the box into my back pocket, just smiling.
He nodded slowly, still suspicious. 

“Where are the clean towels?” Frohike bellowed. 
I had to of had the deer caught in the headlights look on my face as John
replied, “Under the sink.”
It was only a second before Uncle ‘Hike threw the bathroom door open, his eyes
blazing behind the wire frames, “I’m gonna kill you Hippie!” He lunged at Ree.
John took his usual role, standing between them as the peacekeeper, “Calm down
Frohike.”
“Calm down? Calm down!” he waved the plastic tube in the air, “I’m supposed to
calm down?”
“Oh…..oh my,” John looked back and forth between Ree and I once it licked for
him just what he was holding.
“Exactly! That’s why I’m gonna kill him!” John still needed to hold Frohike
back with Ree hiding behind him.


It was the most humiliating moment of my life. Having a very private issue
waved in front of everyone like that. “Do you mind?!” I ripped the test from
‘Hike’s hand.
He hand an apologetic look when he turned to me, “Darlin’, I---“
“Don’t,” I held my hand up in protest, “I don’t even know if I’m pregnant or
not yet and I don’t appreciate the possibility being waved around like this.
Now, if you’d excuse me.” The test and I went back to wait in the bathroom,
almost slamming the door behind us. 
Even from behind the closed door on my bath tube perch I could still here them.
“see, she might not even be…..ah, with child,” It showed just how uncomfortable
John was in discussing something so private as he tried to reassure Uncle.
“But what if she is?” Frohike refused to relax, although he seemed to have
sobered up, “This is no place for a baby! That was crystal with the Senator’s
kid. And goldielocks is anything but paternal.”
The offence was obvious in Ree’s tone, “At least I didn’t hook him up to that
death trap you built.”
I could just imagine the look on ‘Hike’s face. One does not insult one of his
contraptions. And Langly was already on extremely thin ice…..actually he was
drowning in the water.
“Think about the new life a baby would breath in here,” John distracted them
from themselves, “And you two even managed to get alone after.”
“But that wasn’t my niece’s a la hippie,” he was as stubborn as ever, more like
himself. 
“True. This will be family,” John’s words tugged at my heart. A Family. It must
have panged them at least a little. 
“Yeah,” I could envision Uncle’s stance slumping down. Despite his gruffy
exterior, he’s really a softy, especially when it comes to family. 
“Right, so no murdering Langly. This baby will need a father, even if it is
him,” Byers’ subdued sense of humour had surfaced. In fact they all seemed to
have returned to their normal. 

“Hey!” Ree almost whined, “I don’t appreciate you attacking me like that!”
“It’s better than me attacking you,” Frohike reminded him. 
“Point taken,” Ree sounded like he was cowering. 

“How long does this test take anyway?” Uncle Frohike asked, tired and
frustrated with the task of waiting. 
I could hear Ree lean on the wall next to the door, “Ten minuets.”

I checked my watch curious as to how much time we could have left. None. The
ten minuets were up. The moment of truth. Now was it one line and you’re
pregnant and two you’re not? Or the other way around?
I pulled the crumpled bow from my back pocket; one line equals a baby. Okay…..I
took a deep breath before reaching for the while plastic stick that sat on the
edge of the sink. I closed my eyes like one does before going down a hill on a
roller coaster. This would be one hell of a ride. Starting a family with a
child just like Ree, or me for that matter. *sigh * I guess I’ve never realised
just how much I really wanted a family. One that could be mine and untainted by
the past.

With my eyes closed I reached for the test. Both scared and excited to read the
results. I opened my eyes, slowly focussing on the white form, than the display
box. Moment of truth…..two blue lines, No baby.

It hit me like a title wave. Knocking everything out of me. I was so wrong to
have wanted it so badly. I wanted to stay in there forever, never having to
deal with the disappointment. But the three men were waiting out there and
would stay waiting until I came out. They were getting a little restless out
there. Feet shuffling and weight shifting. I had better get it over with. 
Where was that brave little smile when I really needed it?

I left the room where my life could have changed, but didn’t and stepped into
the hall. There they stood, the three men in my life. All of them with the same
look of anticipation on their faces. 
Ree approached me first, “So?” he seemed unsure of if or how to touch me. 
I couldn’t look up from the floor. My eyes would betray how much I wanted to be
pregnant. Swallowing hard I replied, “It was negative. We’re safe.” My voice
crack and eyes welled, ruining my attempt to sound okay. 
“Hey,” Ree put his hand supportively on my back, “You alright?”
I forced my eyes off the floor and up to his. Giving him the answer since the
tears streaked down my cheeks, “I’m sorry, just that the thought of a baby, a
family,” I smiled briefly before returning to tears as he moved to hug me. 
“We know darlin’,” ‘Hike said before he and John joined the hug.

We had all missed the opportunity of a family. But actually we had a family, we
had each other. It’s not exactly the Webster’s definition, but it works. 


“Derea? Deara,” Langly snapped his fingers in front of Anderea’s face.
“uh, What?” she seemed groggy, like she had just woken up. 
“You seemed kinda spaced. Where’d you go?” he was now sitting next to her on
the couch.
“Geez Ringo, don’t tell me you need new glasses. Not being able to see me,” she
playfully teased him while the images of her memories left her brain. 
“Ha ha,” he sat back, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Jesus Langly, don’t sulk just because another man is in your girlfriend’s
arms,” Frohike laughed at his joke about baby William. 
“And he’s better behaved,” Byers added to the joke, “Mulder are you sure we
can’t trade?”
“No, I think Langly would be more work,” he applied logic to the situation,
“But if I could borrow Anderea sometime. She got both Will and Dana to sleep.”
Langly put his arms protectively over Anderea’s shoulders, “No borrowing.”

“Alright,” Mulder took the baby from Anderea, “but you should have a family,
you’re a natural.” He smiled, not knowing how the comment touched down on the
memory Anderea had relived. 
“Thanks,” she smiled a half smile before he put William down in his crib. 
“That’s where you were, right?” Langly leaned over to ask her. 
She nodded.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, fine.” She smiled a bit more brightly, “Everything worked out fine.
William is perfect and Fox is back. It all worked out fine. And hey, there’s
always later for us.” She leaned over to kiss him. 


THE END