That's the thing. Even the size of an elephant - a baby elephant, the cute kind that keep tripping over their own trunks - and covered in snot, she's the most precious thing in the world. Beautiful, brilliant, and so brave, and now she doesn't have to be. Even if it's just for the night, they're safe, and they're together; after everything she's given him, he wants to be able to provide her with that certainty.

"This is a holiday," he insists, because making her laugh in the middle of a crying jag might be the only real way to deal with anything. They've both come through so much, all for this moment. "We'll celebrate it every year from here on out: Mulder Comes Home Day. There'll be an exchange of gifts in the traditional location, my living room. You and me and William and the fish. And then we'll watch Manos: The Hands of Fate on TV."