"What does that matter, Scully?" He'd like to think that this isn't the actual proposal, simply the recon mission. Does she want to be married? Should he be thinking about asking? He still has his mother's rings someplace in his bedroom, but that doesn't mean she's looking to get that quite entangled.

(She could be. She's been clinging to him like he might fade away if she doesn't keep hold of him. They both know she loves him, and vice versa, but she's independent. She's been planning motherhood as a personal project. She might say yes, but she might say no, and he'd like to be sure.)

His gaze is soft on her, a little sad. "If you're interested, you don't care about the paperwork. If you aren't, the paperwork's irrelevant."