Title: Life Changes
Author: Katilina
Written: April 1997
Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/1513
Disclaimer: I don't own or claim to own any of the X-Files characters. They belong to Chris Carter, TenThirteen Productions, and twentieth Century Fox. No copyright infringement is intended. The character name of Brianne Shaffer belongs to me, but essentially the character doesn't. Get that? You'll see what I mean. The character and name of Emily Shaffer belongs to me.
Classifications: S,R,A
Spoilers: None
Rating: PG13

Summary: Mulder gets information on Samantha and they finally meet but with tragic results.

Note: I noticed how many Samantha return stories there are out there and I figured that it was about time I jumped on the bandwagon. Please forgive me! I would like to thank everyone that has ever sent me e-mail on my stories. I really appreciate it! I love e-mail, so please e-mail with questions, comments, ideas, or just plain talk.

Oh! Please come see my X-Files webpage! It is located at: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/1513

Thanks for reading my story! If you end up missing any parts just e-mail me and I will be happy to send them the you! I'm choosing to ignore that "Momento Mori" ever happened. Well, maybe not that hug and kiss.smirk

Dedicated: I dedicate this to Natasha. We will really, really miss you! Thanks for all the hard work!

June 27, 1997
2:01 a.m.
Apartment of Fox Mulder

Knock. Knock.

Fox Mulder slowly awoke from his first deep sleep in weeks. He wondered who could be knocking at his door at 2'oclock in the morning. He groggily opened the door and noticed a manila envelope sitting on his doorstep. He cautiously picked it up, and then almost dropped it on the ground. On the opposite side, written in black bold permanent marker was Samantha Mulder.

3:15 a.m.

He couldn't do it. It comes down to the wire, Mulder, and you just can't cut it he thought to himself as he held the envelope in shaking hands. He just didn't think his psyche could take another clone. He just couldn't do it.

8:13 a.m.
J. Edgar Hoover Building- X-Files Division

"What's this?" Dana Scully asked as she walked into the office and picked up the manila envelope sitting on her desk. She looked at Mulder carefully, who looked like he hadn't slept a wink all night. He also looked extremely stressed out.

"That was on my doorstep last night," Mulder said, almost sadly as he closely scrutinized her face.

"What is it? Did you open it?" she asked worriedly. Mulder looked like he was going to be sick at any moment.

"I don't know what is, I couldn't open it," he said, his hands shaking.

"Why not?" she asked, looking at him like he had finally gone crazy.

"It's about Samantha. Scully, I don't think I could handle it if it's another clone. And I don't think I could handle it if she's alive and broken, like Lucy Householder," he said, evading her questioning eyes.

"Did you run it through the lab?" she asked worriedly, getting a strange feeling. Almost like intuition. She just didn't know if it was good or bad.

"Yeah, it all checked out. No fingerprints or hazardous materials on the outside. I wouldn't let them open it. Will you open it?" he asked, almost pleaded, still staring past her. She just nodded at him and then carefully opened the envelope. She read over it for a few minutes and then looked up at him, the anger clearly flashing in her eyes.

"Dammit! How do we know that they're not just playing with you? That they're not setting a trap?" she asked, outraged.

He slowly took the file from her hand. As he held it, a picture fell to the floor from the inside. It was a picture of a beautiful young woman, with long, chocolate brown hair and stunning eyes. The thing so stunning about the eyes was that they were familiar. They were his eyes.

"Scully, it's her. It's Samantha," he said shocked, sitting down from fear that his knees would give out.

"Mulder, you don't know that yet," she protested weakly, even though she knew that he was right. Those eyes could belong to no one else. Those eyes that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

He saw right through her weak denial, and quickly picked up the rest of the file. The only thing in it was a long series of numbers and a small piece of paper that contained an address. He handed the slip of paper over to Scully that contained the address. She just looked at him and he knew. She believed him.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked eagerly, grabbing his coat.

"Why not?" she said casually, and pulled on her coat. The feeling was definitely bad.

9:03 a.m.

They pulled up in front of an apartment building that looked old and falling apart. The went cautiously inside looking for Apartment 12 that was specified in the folder they got. The reached it but was met with a sign on the door that said: Hi! I've moved! Sorry for the inconvenience. You can find me at 24670 W. Carolina Ave. Apartment 21. Sorry for the inconvenience.

"Scully, let's go," Mulder urged.

"Why don't we go after work. I want to some checking on this lady. Please! She'll be there when we go tonight," she begged.

"Scully! This might really be her! Why do you want to do checking when we could find out first hand?" he asked, a slight bit of anger in his voice.

"Mulder, you're right, it might really be her. But, you have to consider that it might not," she said reasonably. He nodded to her. He figured that he would rather not walk into a trap. He could wait for a few hours. Even though it would be the longest few hours of his life.

10:13 a.m.
Hoover Building

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing existed on the woman that was supposed to be living at 24670 W. Carolina Ave. Apartment 21. So, either it was a trap, or she wasn't in the system. I guess we'll have to wait to find out, Scully thought as she searched through every known data bank available, trying to figure out exactly who this woman was.

5:32 p.m.

"This address says 24670 W. Carolina Ave. Apartment 21. Dana, that's two blocks away from my apartment! She's been this close all along!" Mulder exclaimed, not even realizing he used her first name.

"She could have just moved there. Don't make automatic assumptions," she chided as she glanced over at him from the driver's seat but couldn't help wondering what cruel twist of fate had caused this.

"There! There's W. Carolina!" he exclaimed, barely able to hold in his excitement and apprehension at the same time.

"Okay I see it. Now calm down! We can't do anything if your so keyed up you can barely talk," she reminded him as she turned easily on to W. Carolina. He nodded is assent and then settled back against the chair. He knew she was right. Hell, she was always right when it came to him.

"Here it is," she said, slightly nervous as she parked the car in front of a very pretty apartment building. They got out slowly, and Mulder waited for Scully to join him before starting towards the building. He started to pull open the door to the building when Scully stopped him.

"Wait. What if she is known by a different name? Surely the Consortium wouldn't have allowed her to go by the name of Samantha Mulder," Dana pointed out softly.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" he reproached himself aloud. She just turned and smiled a tight, quick smile and tenderly squeezed his hand before looking at the address's listed on the wall outside of the building.

God! She is so beautiful! Not on the outside but on the inside, too! he thought to himself, not having enough patience to look at the lists.

"Bingo! Her name is Brianne Shaffer. Mrs. Brianne Shaffer," Dana added softly, turning to look into his eyes, their hands still connected.

"If she's married, why isn't her husband's name on the list?" Mulder queried, enjoying the feel of her hand in his.

"That's something you'll have to ask her when we get up there, isn't it?" she pointed out and then pulled open the door. He slowly followed her up to the second floor and to apartment 21. She knocked softly and he stood rigidly behind her, nervously fiddling with his hands.

The door was opened two seconds later by the woman in the picture, who was wearing green hospital scrubs and a white lab coat. The resemblance to Mulder was even more uncanny in person.

"Mrs. Shaffer?" Dana asked, kindly but got no answer. The woman was staring at Mulder and Mulder was staring back.

"Fox?" the woman asked softly, her voice cracking.

"Samantha?" he whispered, barely audible to anyone besides Mrs. Shaffer or Dana. Scully instinctively moved out of the way as Sam launched herself into Mulder's waiting arms. She couldn't go far, though because just as he wrapped his arms around Samantha one of his hands grasped hers. It was over. His quest was finally over. But theirs had just begun.

6:54 PM
The Apartment of Brianne Shaffer/Samantha Mulder

They were seated inside of Samantha's home, sipping tea. She had called into the hospital and got someone to cover her shift.

"Tell me about you, I want to know everything," Mulder said, not being able to tear his eyes off of his sister to even look around the apartment.

"Well, I'm a neurology resident at John Hopkins. I was married for about 8 years which resulted in the birth of my beautiful six-year-old daughter, Emily," Samantha said with a pride that only a mother can have.

"What happened to your husband?" Mulder asked quietly, not realizing how quiet Scully was being as she looked around the room.

"He was in a car accident about a year ago...he died," Sam explained, the pain clearly still fresh on the surface. Suddenly, Dana spoke up.

"Where is Emily now?" she asked urgently.

"She's next door with the baby-sitter. Why? And may I ask who you are?" Sam asked, puzzled.

"You need to get her, now. I have a really strange feeling, and I think we need to get out of here," Dana said, getting very worried because the feeling she had earlier intensified.

"Why? What kind of feelings?" Sam asked, not really knowing if she should trust this strange woman.

Mulder, who had long ago learned to trust Dana's instincts, turned to Sam and said, "Don't ask any questions, just do it. Dana's not usually wrong about these things." Samantha just glanced into her brother's eyes and then bolted from the apartment to the apartment next door. She pounded urgently on the door. The woman inside finally opened it.

"Brianne? What's wrong?" The elderly woman asked.

"Nothing, Mrs. Lang. I just decided I was going to take off of work to today and decided to pick up Em," Samantha explained, looking worriedly over the woman'sshoulders. Emily, evidently hearing her mother's voice ran around the corner.

"Mommy! What are you doing here?" Emily asked, launching into her mother's arms.

"I decided to take off of work today. I want you to meet some people and then we're going to go on a little trip, okay?" Samantha explained to her daughter as she thanked Mrs. Lang and then herded Emily into her apartment.

"Who're they?" Emily asked curiously, as she looked at Mulder and Scully.

"This is Uncle Fox and..." Sam trailed off, not knowing what Scully's name was.

"Aunt Dana. Dana Scully," Scully supplied, shaking Emily's hand warmly.

"Why don't you go grab your p.j.'s and we can go on a little overnight trip," Samantha said, nudging Emily towards her bedroom.

"Where can we go?" Sam asked as soon as her daughter was out of earshot.

Mulder just look at Scully, puzzled.

"Why don't we take them to my mother's?" Scully suggested, staring into Mulder's eyes.

"Good idea. Emily? Come on! Let's go!" Mulder called out. Emily scurried back into the room, pulling a duffel bag and a large oversized rabbit with her.

"Where're we going?" Emily asked innocently.

"We're going to go to Grandma Maggie's house, okay sweetheart?" Dana said opening the door of the apartment and holding it open as Sam and Emily walked past. Mulder grabbed the door above her head.

"I got it," he said, holding the door for her as she exited the apartment. He quickly followed, and as he turned around to lock the door with the keys that Samantha had handed to him, he caught a glint of metal from the corner of his eye. A knife.

"Attacker! Run!" he yelled, running with Dana and Sam who was carrying Emily.

"Mommy! We forgot Billy!" Emily cried, staring at the stuffed bunny that had fallen to the floor.

Sam just ignored her as she ran, even though she was slowly starting to slow down as they reached the stairs.

Mulder immediately lifted Emily gently from Sam's arms as they started down the stairs, the attacker gaining rapidly.

Suddenly, Dana, who had sprinted ahead to open the door, stopped in her tracks. Standing in front of her was a man with a gun pointed directly at her.

7:46 p.m.

Sam stifled a sob as she felt the man with the knife come up behind her.

"Stay away from her!" Mulder growled, keeping Emily's head pressed against his shoulder so she couldn't see what was happening.

Suddenly, all of their head turned as they caught a flash of color in the doorway behind the man with the gun. They heard a gun go off and the man fell. As he was falling he squeezed off two shots into Scully.

"Dana!" Mulder choked out, wanting to run to her but not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, they saw a gun in the doorway. It was being pointed at the other attacker. The man saw it and he swiftly shoved his knife into Samantha's back before taking off up the stairs. He was shot in the back before he had gone up three steps.

"Samantha!" Mulder screamed, but still working on keeping Emily's face away so she couldn't see.

The gun disappeared and suddenly a security guard appeared. "I heard shots and a sc...Oh, mother of God!" the guard said, looking at the two injured women.

"Call and ambulance!" Mulder screamed, handing Emily over to him and running back to the ladies.

The guard quickly took Emily out of the room and ran for the phone to get an ambulance.

Mulder kneeled down on the floor in front of Samantha since she was first. He searched for her pulse. There was nothing. The tears started to roll down his face, but he said nothing. He knew that there was nothing that he could do.

He hurried over to Scully, all the while chanting in his head Pleasedon'tletherdie! IloveherandIpromisethatIwilltellher!Ipromise! He felt gingerly, her pulse was there, weak but steady. He covered the wounds in her shoulder and arm with his hands to try to stop the blood flow as he sank to the floor. He just let the tears come. They were for the sister he had searched for that was now gone and the woman he loved that was slowly dying in his arms.

The guard came back minus Emily.

"Where's the ambulance?" he yelled at the guard, trying to stop the blood flow the best he could.

"It's on its way. I left the little girl with my wife down the hall, she'll be okay there, is there anything I can do to help?" the guard asked gently, seeing the look of pain on his face.

"Get me some towels and a sheet that I can cover her with," he said, motioning with his head to Sam. He just couldn't bear to look at her lying there anymore.

"You got it," the man said and then hurried out of the stairwell. Mulder could faintly hear the wails of an approaching ambulance. Just then, Dana's eyes fluttered open.

"Mulder?" she croaked out, obviously in a lost of pain.

"I'm here, Scully. Just rest. You're going to be fine," he said, trying to will her to ignore the fact that his hands covering her wounds were basically all that was keeping her from bleeding to death.

"Samantha?" she whispered, closing her eyes with the pain.

"She's gone. But you're going to be okay. You'll make it," he reassured her, trying to keep himself from totally losing it.

"I know, I'll be fine. I just want you to know in case something does happen. I love you. And I don't regret one minute of my life since I've been with you. Please remember that," she whispered, barely audible.

"I love you, too. Oh God, how I love you. And don't talk like that. You have to make it through. You're all I have left," he whispered back, his voice cracking and the tears starting to fall. She just closed her eyes. Suddenly, the paramedics came barreling into the stairwell.

"What happened?" one yelled, pushing him out of the way to check the her vitals while the other one pulled the sheet back that was on top of Samantha. Mulder hadn't even realized that the guard had come back with the sheet and towels.

"She was shot two times. The lady covered up was stabbed by a average kitchen knife from a steak knife set," Mulder said, not willing to stop hovering over Scully.

"Who are you?" one of the medics asked, staring at him in sick amazement because he was completely covered in blood.

"I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder with the Federal Bureau of Investigation," he answered, not really paying attention.

"Who are they?" the other medic asked, pointing to the women.

"This is my partner, Special Agent Dana Scully. The other woman is my sister, Samantha Mulder," he said, a broken sob escaping from his throat.

"We have to go, NOW!" the medic said who was attending to Scully. They gently lifted her up onto the gurney and wheeled her out of the room. A second set of people entered the room as Mulder left, chasing after the gurney. On their coats was the word coroner.

He chased the gurney to the ambulance. He started to get on but was stopped by one of the medics. "I'm sorry, sir, but you can't ride with us. Only her immediate kin, and being her partner doesn't qualify. I'm sorry," the medic explained, gently pushing him from the ambulance.

"Please! She's all I have left!" Mulder explained, the tears that weren't falling down his face filling his voice.

"Mulder?" a voice called weakly from inside the ambulance.

"Scully!" he yelled and then jumped into the ambulance, no medic in the world would have ever been able to stop him.

"Emily?" she asked weakly, barely getting her eyes open.

"She's with a neighbor. She's safe," he said, stroking her face.

"Agent Mulder, we have to leave. NOW!" the medic said, returning from the front of the ambulance.

"Go to her, Fox. She needs you more than I do. I know you love me. She doesn't have anyone anymore," Dana said, her voice starting to waver.

"Okay, love, I'll see you soon," he said, planting a kiss on her forehead and jumping out of the ambulance.

"Oh, and Mulder? Behave yourself!" she called, barely audible just before the ambulance closed its doors and sped out of sight. Mulder trudged back into the building with the unenviable task of having to tell a little girl that her mother was dead and she had no more family.

He knocked softly on door number 16, where he was told the guard lived. The door was answered by a plump, pleasant looking woman who could immediately sense Mulder's sadness.

"Where's Emily? I have to talk to her," Mulder said, sadly.

"Not like that, you aren't. Why don't you go into the bathroom and clean up a little. She just fell asleep," the woman said kindly, trying to remind him of his loss but not wanting to terrify the little girl anymore. He looked down at his clothes, which were caked with now drying blood. Scully's and Samantha's blood he reminded himself

"Thank-you. Do you mind if I use your phone, too? I have to call a few places," he asked, nervously wringing his hands.

" Sure, help yourself," she said, closing and locking the door behind him.

"Thank you, very much. Where is you husband, by the way? I would really like to thank him for calling the paramedics," he said, sadly.

"Why, honey. You must be mistaken. My husband's been dead for 20 years. I was the one that called the paramedics when I found Emily crying and shaking on my doorstep," the pleasant lady said.

"Isn't he a guard in the building? I talked to him!" he said, confused.

"He was a guard in this building. Twenty years ago," the woman explained, before briefly disappearing into the bedroom. She quickly returned with a clean towel and washcloth.

"Thank you, very much, Mrs....?" he asked, trying to find out her name.

"Vera. Vera Owens," she explained, and the pointed out the door down the hall which was the bathroom.

"Thank you, Mrs. Owens," he said, and then walked into the bathroom pondering over where he had heard the name Owens before.

"Honey, I have to tell you something," he said, sitting on the bed next to Emily thankful that it was dark and she couldn't see his blood stained clothes.

"Uncle Fox?" she said softly, fear filling her eyes.

"Yes, darling, it's me," he said soothingly.

"Where's Mommy?" she asked, getting very worried.

"Mommy, has gone on a little trip. She's going to be taking a very long nap. Now, I don't want you to worry. Aunt Dana and I will make sure that you're taken care of," he explained gently.

"Did she go off to join Daddy in heaven?" the little girl said softly, nervously biting her lip.

"Yeah. She went to join your daddy in heaven," he admitted gently. She started to cry softly, but Mulder knew that the full impact hadn't hit her yet. It might take a few days for that.

"Where's Aunt Dana?" she asked quietly. Mulder knew now that he was dealing with a very intelligent child just by the look in her eyes hazel eyes. His eyes. Her mother's eyes.

"Aunt Dana is sick and is in the hospital. I have to go visit her, so I want you to spend the night with Mrs. Owens." he said, tenderly pushing a couple strands of hair off of her forehead.

"No! I want to go with you! Please don't leave me, too, Uncle Fox," she pleaded.

"I'm not going to be leaving you. I will be back by the time you wake up. Don't worry. It's too late for a little girl to be out. Why don't you just go back to sleep and I'll be here by the time you wake up?" he suggested, to a very sleepy little girl.

"I'm not tired," she complained, even though she was yawning.

"Well, what was that I just saw?" he teased, pulling the covers up around her shoulders as she laid back against the pillows. He laid a light kiss on her forehead and then left the room to talk to Mrs. Owens in the hallway.

"Thanks for watching her tonight. I'm going to the hospital to check on my partner and then I have to go file a report at the police station. I should be back around 7:00. Will you be up by then? I don't want to wake you," he said, looking down at the woman gratefully.

"I'm up at 5:30 everyday. It's just a habit. Don't worry about waking me up," she said reproachfully, as if he should have known she woke up early.

"Okay Thanks again. You can reach me on my cell phone at any time, it's always on me," he said, handing her one of his business cards.

"Get going, now. Hurry back. Godspeed," she said, opening the door to let him out. He smiled at her and then hurried from the apartment on his way to the hospital.

"I'm looking for Dana Scully. Where is she?" he impatiently asked the nurse at the admissions desk. She slowly typed her name into the computer.

"She's still in surgery on the 9th floor," the nurse said, reading off of the screen.

"She's still in surgery? She's been here for 3 and a half hours! What do you mean that she's still in surgery?" he asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, sir. I can't tell you anything more. You'll have to go upstairs to find out her status," the nurse said, looking genuinely sorry. He just nodded and then ran off towards the elevators but was stopped by a security guard.

"Sorry, sir. You need to run over to Visitor Admissions right down the hallway. They will give you a pass," the guard said.

"Is this enough of a pass?" Mulder yelled, not really caring who he was talking to as he pulled out his badge.

"No, sir. I don't care if you are the President of Microsoft. No one short of the Director of the FBI is going up there without a pass," the guard said.

"Am I close enough?" a deep male voice asked from behind them. They turned to look at Assistant Director Skinner. He handed over his badge to the guard who carefully studied it.

"I guess so. But Agent Mulder will still have to get a pass," the guard said, unwilling to back down.

"Mulder, go get your pass. I will go on up and see how she is. If anything dramatic has happened I will come back down and get you immediately," Skinner said, not really suggesting but ordering.

Mulder just nodded glumly and then sprinted over to the admissions desk. Thankfully, since it was around 10 'o clock at night there weren't many people there. It also meant that visiting hours were over, so he would really have to fight for a pass.

"Sir, right over here. May I help you? Visiting hours are over, " a woman called from her desk inside the huge room.

"I don't really care about visiting hours! I need to go up to the 9th floor and see my partner," he said, sitting down in the chair in front of her desk and rubbing his forehead.

"Your partner?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him, reminding him of Scully. He laid his badge on the desk and then scooted it over to her. She looked at it carefully for a few minutes before handing it back to him.

"Okay What's your name?" she asked with a sigh. He assumed that she was just as tired as he was.

"Fox Mulder. I'm here to see Dana Scully," he said, trying to remain seated. He wanted to just run upstairs as fast as he could.

The woman handed him a pass as she said, "I'm not supposed to do this, but you seem like you really want to go up. She probably needs you right now as much as you need her. Now hurry up. And don't tell anyone that you got that pass from me."

"Thank-you, very much. I really appreciate this," he said, sticking the tag on his shirt and running out the door. The woman just shook her head. Ah, to be a young couple in love....

He went directly to the O.R. wing on the 9th floor. He had this gut feeling that that was where she could be found. He walked quickly into the waiting room and then stopped in his tracks. Mrs. Scully was sitting across the room next to the Assistant Director. On the other side of her was a tall red haired man in a Navy Uniform.

Ah, one of the Scully brothers. He's going to kill meMulder mused, still not moving. Finally, Mrs. Scully noticed him from across the room.

"Fox!" she exclaimed tiredly and then rushed over to him and hugged him.

"Hi, Mrs. Scully. How's Dana?" he asked, quickly. He was always uncomfortable around Mrs. Scully. He didn't know if it was out of guilt or out of tremendous respect. He figured that it was a little bit of both.

"She's still in surgery. One bullet went straight through her shoulder, similar to the place that she shot you. The other bullet went into her arm hit the bone. The doctors are working on removing it now, trying not to cause anymore damage than was already done. Fox, are you okay?" Mrs. Scully asked, worriedly. This man, whom she loved dearly as a third son and possibly son-in-law, had turned deathly pale in front of her eyes.

"I...I'm f...fine. I am very sorry about this, Mrs. Scully. I didn't mean for any of this to happen," he stuttered weakly, gaining strength as he talked.

"I know. Nobody ever means for these things to happen. I heard you found Samantha. I'm so happy for you. How's she doing? I heard she was injured, but these people won't tell me anything," Mrs. Scully said, genuinely happy for him.

"Um, she didn't make it. She was stabbed in the heart and died almost immediately," he explained, trying to hold back the tears that were quickly squeezing into his eyes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Is there anything that I can do to help?" she said kindly, pulling him into another hug.

"Actually, there is. Samantha has a small daughter named Emily. She is currently staying with some of Sam's neighbors and I would really appreciate it if you would watch her for a few days," he asked, praying that she would say yes.

"Of, course. No problem. She's going to need a lot of love and care for the next few weeks," Mrs. Scully said.

"I'll be right over. I'm going to go see if there has been any progress," he said, going over to the nurse's desk after squeezing Mrs. Scully's hand one last time. He went over and stood in front of the desk and waited for the nurse to acknowledge him.

"May I help you with something, sir?" the male nurse asked.

"Yeah, I was wondering if there was any news on Dana Scully?" he asked, hoping with all his might she would make it out alive. He knew that without her that he couldn't live. He couldn't even survive.

"Nothing yet. We'll...." the nurse started but was interrupted by a doctor coming out the doors and calling for the Scully family. He rushed away from the desk and stood around the doctor with everyone else.

"Okay guys, here's the deal. She came out of surgery about 20 minutes ago and we've been waiting to see if she would make it through. She seems to be doing okay We will allow one visitor at a time as long as you change into scrubs and wash very good. We don't want to allow unnecessary germs into the environment because infection is a very serious risk. Any questions?" the lady surgeon explained and then left after receiving the thanks of everyone in the room.

"Okay Who wants to go first?" the nurse asked, after the surgeon left.

"Mom, I think that you should go first," the one Scully brother said, grasping his mother's hand and squeezing it briefly.

"I don't know if I have any say in this, but I agree," Skinner said, happy to see the color returning to Mrs. Scully's face.

"I think Fox should go in," Mrs. Scully said quietly, looking at Mulder who was still very pale and shaking slightly. He was also completely silent. He hadn't spoken a word since the surgeon left. Skinner just nodded to her.

"Fox, why don't you go on in?" Mrs. Scully said, showing him her warmth without getting too close. She could tell that he was feeling intensely guilty and the death of his sister along with the trauma of Dana's injuries were starting to set in. She knew that if she got too close he would withdraw even more.

"Thank you," he whispered and then followed the nurse to change and scrub in. Mrs. Scully just smiled at his retreating back. She felt that she had accomplished something with one of her children tonight, even if he wasn't biologically her child.

Physically, he was cleaner than he had ever been. He just felt dirty. Maybe it was the fact that he had both his sister's and his partner's blood on his hands.

"Mr. Mulder? Are you changed and cleaned up?" a nurse called into the washing room.

"Yes, ma'am," he called out and then walked over to her, careful not to touch anything.

"Okay Why don't you follow me? I'll take you over to Miss Scully's bed," the nurse said.

"Thank you, very much," he said, following her slowly, being very careful not to touch anything along the way. He had gotten this far. He didn't want to ruin it now.

"Here you go. To get to her bed you can walk down this hallway right here until you get to room 923 on the right side of the hall," the nurse explained and then bustled off without waiting for him to ask any questions.

He took a deep breath and then walked off to find room 923. He found it quickly, it was right where the nurse said that it would be. He opened the door and walked quietly into the room.

"Dana?" he asked quietly, looking at her slim form that was surprisingly free of tubes minus the IV tube sticking out of her hand. He was surprised when she opened her eyes to look at him.

"Would it be too cliche if I said that I had the strength of your beliefs?" she asked weakly, but with a small smile. To Mulder, that small smile was breathtaking.

"Definitely," he answered, smiling back at her.

"Too bad, I thought that it was pretty funny," she said, wheezing slightly.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, caressing her cheek gently.

"Better now that you're here. And the fact that the bullets are gone helps, too," she joked, trying to keep things light and to keep him from seeing how much pain she was in.

"Are you on pain killers?" he asked, seeing right through her act.

"Yep. Lots of them. How are you doing?" she asked, changing the subject as quickly as possible.

"Better now that I'm here," he answered, back with a smile.

"Where's Emily?" she asked, but then started to cough.

"Be careful. I don't want any internal bleeding," he warned, smoothing her hair away from her face.

"Neither do I. Where is Emily, though?" she asked again, after the coughing had stopped.

"She's staying with a neighbor of Sam's. What are we going to do with her? She's an orphan now," he said, worrying about this a lot.

"Mulder, you know that you are going to be her legal guardian, right? You are Sam's biological sibling, it doesn't matter if she has adopted parents or any adoptive siblings. You have responsibility of Emily now, whether you like it or not," she said, very seriously as she looked deeply into his eyes.

"What am I going to do with a six-year-old kid?" he asked, holding his head in hands out of frustration.

"You're going to have to figure out something, because she's yours," Scully said, stroking the top of his bent over head.

"Dana, I'm sorry about all of this," he said, stopping her hand from caressing his head by wrapping his around hers.

"What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything," she said, her brow crinkling in confusion.

"What do you mean I didn't do anything? If I would have let things be, you wouldn't have been shot, Sam wouldn't be dead, and Emily wouldn't be without a mother," he said, with a guilty sigh as he put he rested his chin on the edge of the bed.

"This is my fault as much as yours. If I would have canceled our meeting with Skinner we could have gotten there in plenty of time to get Sam and Emily out," she said, with just as much guilt.

"Look at us! We're pretty pathetic, aren't we? We're both blaming ourselves for something really that neither of us could have prevented. I am glad you're okay," he said, standing up as he gently caressed small circles into her hand. She just smiled at him and he started for the door. Before he got there, though, Scully spoke up.

"Mulder, did you really mean what you said to me before I got on the ambulance?" she asked quietly. He stood for a few minutes with his back to her. How was he supposed to answer this but not change their friendship? He finally decided to be honest.

"Every word. I do love you, Dana. With all my heart," he said, walking back over to her side.

"Good, because I meant it all, too. I love you, too, Mulder. Probably more than you'll ever know. And I just want you to know that I will do whatever is necessary to help you take care of Emily," she said.

"Thank you, Dana. That means a lot to me," he said and then kissed her softly on the forehead.

"You better go. My mother is probably pacing the waiting room and waiting for you to come out," she said, caressing his face that was still close to hers.

"You're probably right. But, it just breaks my heart every time I have to walk away from your side," he said, this time kissing her softly on the cheek before going to the door. There would be other times for more intimate kisses.

"Oh, and Mulder?" she called after him.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning back and laying his sexiest smile on her.

"You look really sexy in scrubs," she said, slyly. He just turned and left, his laughter echoing down the hall after him.

One Week Later

He stood as straight as possible, glinting against the sun. He looked ahead as the priest was doing some ceremony or the other over Sam's coffin. He looked down at Scully who had Emily resting on her hip even though it was probably hurting her.

He bent down and lifted Emily into his arms to take the weight off of Dana. She smiled up at him slightly and then turned her attention back to the front, resting her casted arm on the bench that was set up in front of her. She wasn't even supposed to be out of the hospital and on her feet yet. He turned from looking at Scully to look at the little girl in his arms, that resembled so much the sister he had lost all those years ago and had just lost again.

He still hadn't made up his mind about what he was going to do with her. Since Sam's adopted parents had already passed away and she had no other siblings plus the fact that her dead husband's parents didn't even want to see Emily, caused no complications if he wanted to adopt Em. There also wasn't a scapegoat is he didn't. He glanced back over at the little girl.

"How are you doing?" he whispered into her ear.

"Fine," she replied, struggling to hold back her tears.

I know what she's doing. She's trying to protect me. A poor 6 year old girl is trying to protect a 35 year old manhe thought to himself as he smoothed her hair back slowly. He realized that the full trauma hadn't hit her and when it did there would be hell to pay for. This poor little girl had lost everything that was dear to her in her life and was currently living with an uncle that she didn't know existed until a week ago. Oh man, would there be hell to pay for.

"Mulder, who is that man?" Scully whispered quietly, pointing to a man who had joined the outskirts of the small crowd surrounding the graveside.

"Oh, my God! I can't believe it! He had the nerve to show up," he whispered back, more to himself than to Scully. She didn't want to ask him again who it was so she just shut-up and figured that she would find out soon enough. She turned back to the front and almost winced in pain. Her head hurt, her arm hurt, and her shoulder hurt. Both physical wounds were burning like fire.

The headache was more mental, she realized. She was so worried about Mulder and Emily that that was probably the cause of the headache.. More so about Emily, though. The whole time she had known her she hadn't seen her cry, which greatly worried her because either it meant she had everything bottled up inside or she hadn't admitted it to herself yet. Both options scared her. And Mulder seemed to be handling his sister's death A LOT better than she thought he would.

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she barely realized that the ceremony was over. Mulder took her good hand and hoisted Emily up a little bit more on his hip before they all walked to the edge of the grave. He and Scully each threw a red rose into the grave and Emily threw a white rose. Then they all walked down and back into the crowd together, Mulder still clutching Scully's hand. By the time they got back into the crowd, the man was gone.

"Mulder, are you sure? We can share the bed. We are both responsible adults. I don't expect you to jump me the first time you get the chance. I trust you," Scully said, trying to get him to share the bed with her instead of sleeping on her couch which was about 6 inches to short for his frame.

Emily was already settled into her guest bedroom. She had been staying at Mrs. Scully's for the previous week, but they had decided that it was about time that she got used to Mulder. And since his apartment was dark, dirty, and scary they had decided to stay at Scully's much cleaner, and definitely brighter apartment until they got a chance to whip it into shape

"Are you sure? I have no problem sleeping on the couch," he said, slightly worried that that was exactly what would happen.

"Don't be silly! Besides, you can hear Em better from my bedroom than from out here," she said, walking down the hallway to her dark bedroom. She reached over and turned on the lamp by her bedside.

"Do you mind if I take a shower now?" he asked, sheepishly. He wasn't used to being around her 24 hours a day and felt that he had to be extra polite our he would get on her nerves.

"No, go right ahead. There are clean towels in the linen closet right outside the bathroom door," she said, opening her drawer and digging around.

"Thanks," he answered and then made his way to the bathroom. On his way he stopped in the family room and dug around in his suitcase until he found the pair of boxer shorts and tee shirt that he slept in. He carried them into the bathroom closed the door. He turned on the water and felt the warm water emitting the soothing steam.

He quickly stripped and got into the shower and drew the curtain and just let the warm water roll over his body. He felt the last bit of tension slowly leave his body and put his head against the tile and just let it rest there. He just stood like that for what seemed like mere seconds to him but was in actuality more like twenty minutes. He was in such a trance that he didn't hear Scully open the door to the bathroom.

"Mulder, you okay?" she called out, barely stepping into the bathroom, but closing the door so that the room wouldn't lose its warmth.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" he questioned, still not moving from his position in the shower.

"Well, you've been in here for twenty minutes and I just wanted to warn you that the water is going to be getting cold in a few minutes. I also brought you in a towel, I noticed you didn't get one before coming into the bathroom," she explained and then turned to go as he turned off the water.

"Scully, will you hand me the towel? Please don't leave. We really need to talk," he called out, finally moving from his position to stick his hand out between the curtain. She handed him the towel and then hoisted herself up on the counter and leaned against her steamed up mirror. Mulder quickly exited the shower, the towel securely wrapped around his waist and his hair slicked back from the water, his bare chest glistening.

"Mulder, we can talk later, if you would rather get dressed," she offered, feeling extremely turned on by him in his semi-naked state.

"No, this can't wait," he said, also feeling *steamy* by her presence since she was wearing only a white bathrobe that was gaping opening in certain *spots*, obviously waiting for the shower.

"Mulder..." she started but was stopped when he laid a finger against her moist lips.

"No. Let me talk first," he said and then waited for her nod before he dropped his hand. "Dana, I know I already told you that I love you. I really do. And I want to know how far you're willing to take this," he said, worry lines creasing his face.

"How could you ask a thing like that? You know that I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you didn't, you're a fool," she said, outraged that he would think she didn't want their relationship to continue.

"I just want to make sure that you realize the risks. That once we take that step, that we can never go back to the way we were before," he warned.

"I'm willing to take the risks if what we will have is a 1000 times better," she said, acknowledging that she realized the risks, and was willing to take them.

"I guess I'm also a fool, too. I never thought that a beautiful, intelligent woman like you could love such a loser like me," he said, wryly.

"You're not a loser, but if you were one at least you'd be my loser," she drawled. He let out a low growl in his throat and then slowly lowered his lips to her. She responded fully, and his hands were resting on the belt of her robe and starting to tug while his mouth was slowly ravaging hers. Suddenly, they were interrupted by a short scream of terror from outside the room. They both immediately bolted from the bathroom to where Emily was sleeping, leaving what they were doing unfinished.

"Em, are you okay, sweetie?" Scully asked, smoothing the whimpering little girl's sweaty forehead. Emily, presumably didn't hear her, still trapped in her nightmare.

"Em, wake up, baby. It's only a dream, you're safe," Mulder said gently, cradling her small body in his arms. Emily awoke with a start and then started to cry.

"Mommy! I want my mommy," she sobbed. Mulder just looked at Scully. The natural process of healing had begun.

Two Months Later

"All rise. The custody hearing of Emily Shaffer will now begin," Judge Haynes said, taking his seat in front of the court.

"Your honor, here is the petition of Fox Mulder to gain official custody of the minor child," Mulder's lawyer said, taking up Mulder's request to the judge and setting it on the desk in front of him. The lawyer then sat back down next to Mulder and Emily at the table on the left. A lone lawyer was seated at the right table looking over some notes.

"Is there any opposition to the petition?" the judge asked, looking out at the court that contained Mrs. Mulder, Mrs. Scully, Walter Skinner, and of course Dana Scully.

"Your honor, the state has no objections," the lawyer, seated on the right, said.

"Okay, then. I only have one question. Miss Shaffer, would you like to live with your uncle?" the judge asked Emily, smiling gently at the little girl.

"Yes, sir. I would like that," she answered, her S's slurred a little because she was missing one of her front teeth.

"Okay I see no reason to deny this ruling. Mr. Mulder, you are now the proud parent of a 6 year old," the judge said, signing the petition and bringing his gavel down to signify the ending of the session. Emily leaped into her uncle's arms and hugged him with all her might.

"I love you, Uncle Fox," she whispered to him.

"I love you, too, Em," he said, giving the top of her head a kiss and then watched as the little girl hopped over and hugged his mother. He slowly loped over to where Scully was standing. He swept her into his arms and hugged her similar to the way that Emily had just hugged him.

"Well, we are now the proud parents of a six-year-old little girl," he said, still clutching her to him.

"What's this 'we' stuff? I thought the judge just said that you had custody of her," she teased, burying her head into his chest.

"Potato, potatoe," he said, acting very seriously but his eyes were twinkling. He lightly pressed his lips to hers and then they slowly pulled away and walked over to where their friends were standing.

"Congratulations, darling," Mrs. Mulder said, hugging her son as they watched Emily talking to Skinner like he was her best friend.

"Thanks, Mom. I can't believe that I'm doing this, but I am," he said, shaking his head.

"You're doing the right thing. I am very proud of you," she said, smiling up at him.

"Y...You've never s-said that to m-me before," he stuttered, tears on the edges of his eyes.

"Well, son, that makes me a fool. Now," she said, her voice getting lighter, "we have the problem of Emily needing a mother. What can we do about that?"

"I don't know what we can do about it, but I know what I can do," he said, looking over at Dana who had Emily in her arms, the cast finally off.

"Well, then be quick about it. Margaret and I are fairly dying with anticipation," she said and then walked over to where Skinner and Mrs. Scully stood, silently observing Scully with Emily. And strangely enough, they were holding hands. He decided to forget about and walked over to where his partner and newly acquired daughter stood.

"Well, ladies. Would you like to go out for some ice cream now?" he asked, resting his hand in the small of Scully's back.

"Yeah!" Emily squealed, and then ran to retrieve her coat from her grandparents.

"What were you and your mother conspiring about over there?" Dana whispered into his ear, leaning into his familiar bulk. Even though they hadn't *consummated their relationship* yet, ever since they had decided that they were going to be more than friends, they had been spending every waking and sleeping moment with each other.

Literally.

Emily was very protective of both of them, she had been ever since she realized that her mother wasn't going to come back to her. She would barely let them out of her sight, which meant that Mulder had been sleeping with her every night with Emily right next door once they moved into Mulder's place. That was the only way that Emily could sleep. And the partner's found that that was the only way that they could sleep, too. They each felt that something was missing when the other person wasn't next to them.

"Oh, Mom's only trying to fix me up with some intelligent, beautiful woman," he said, smoothing her hair down.

"I hope you turned her down," she said slyly, as she looked into his beautiful hazel eyes.

"Nope. I'm going to meet her tonight," he teased, laughing at her feigned shock.

"Mulder, you never told me and I didn't want to drag up and bad feelings but I figured that it's about time that I ask. Who was that man that came the Samantha's funeral and made you upset?" she asked, worrying that she was dragging up some very bad feelings.

"He is Samantha's father. My mom had an affair with him while she was married to Dad. He then left her high and dry and deserted her to raise Sam by herself. He knew that my Dad would hate her for it, as did my mom so Mom just told him that Sam was his child and the other man left and she never heard from him again. When Sam was 8, Dad found out about Mom's affair so I guess he didn't have a very hard choice to make, did he?" he said bitterly.

"Are you saying that Sam was your half sister, her father was not the same as yours? And that your dad had her taken to get back at your mom?" Dana asked, shocked by this new piece of news.

"Exactly on the mark, Agent Scully. I'm sorry I never told you about this earlier, but I just couldn't tell anyone. I was afraid I was putting Sam in more danger if I told anyone. I trusted you, but you never know where there are bugs anymore. I kind of forgot about it after the funeral because I was too preoccupied with Em and you," he explained, feeling guilty for not telling her sooner.

"Let's go!" Emily explained, bounding over to them with only the energy a seven year old can have. She was fine during the day but she still had dreams about her mother.

"Okay Did you say goodbye to Grandma Mulder and Grandma Scully?" Dana asked, kneeling down so that she was looking her straight in the eye.

"Yep! I said goodbye to Uncle Walter, too. He said to tell ya that you need to come into work tomorrow. Your 'cation is over," Em explained solemnly.

"Okay Thank you, sweetheart. Why don't you go with Uncle Fox to the car? I'll be there in a minute," Scully said, and then stood up. Em scurried over to walk with Mulder out to the car as Dana walked over to the grandparents and Skinner.

"Well, grandmas. Would you like to watch the munchkin while we go into work this week?" Dana asked, talking to her mother and Mrs. Mulder.

"We'd love it!" they both exclaimed.

"Who's house should we drop her off at in the morning?" Dana asked, smiling at their enthusiasm. Emily wasn't even her mother's biological grandchild, yet Margaret thought of her as her own.

"Why don't you drop her off at Maggie's? It's closer. I'll meet you there," Mrs. Mulder suggested.

"That's fine. Mom, is that okay with you?" Dana asked, thinking how odd it was that her and Mulder's moms were such good friends but had total opposite personalities.

"That's fine, darling. What time should we expect you?" Maggie asked, handing her daughter her coat and then leaning in for a hug.

"Around 7:30, probably. Well, I better get going. Mulder and Em are waiting for me in the car, we're going for ice cream. Thanks for being there for us today," Dana said and then quickly left the courthouse to join them in the car. Ruth also left soon after them, leaving Maggie and Skinner alone.

"You know, your daughter is a really great person," Skinner complimented, his arm around Mrs. Scully's waist.

"I know. God, do I know," Maggie said, smiling up at him as they walked to his car.

"Hmmm. I wonder why my mom's car isn't in the parking lot," Dana mused as they drove away from the courthouse and towards Valentino's Ice Cream Shoppe (this place really exists).

"She probably came with my mother. Now, gals. Would you like to go in or would you like me to pick it up?" he asked, turning slowly into the parking lot. They barely had to drive a block.

"Let's go in!" Em suggested, with a toothless smile.

"Your wish is my command, madam," Mulder said, getting out of the car and opening the door for Em. They walked into the ice cream shop and placed their orders before sitting down in a booth, licking their ice cream cones.

"Well, Em. Would you like to go back to school next week?" Dana asked, thinking how fast July and August had gone. It was already the first week of September and an unseasonably cold snap had settled on top of Washington, DC.

"Yeah! I'm going to be in first grade! And Mom said...." Em started, but stopped abruptly.

"Honey, it's okay to miss your mom. What did she say?" Mulder asked, putting his arm around his niece.

"She said that she would come to school with me for the first grade career day on the first Friday of school," Emily explained, looking like she was going to cry.

"Well, how about two FBI Agents come to school with you instead?" Scully suggested, finishing off the end of her cone.

"Wow! Would you do that?" Emily asked, excitedly.

"Sure! We would do anything for you, Em. All you need to do is ask. How about when we get home from work tomorrow Aunt Dana will take you out and buy you some new school clothes?" Mulder suggested. Emily just smiled contentedly and sat back to finish licking her ice cream cone. Mulder and Scully smiled at each other from across the booth. He knew he had made the right decision.

"Okay honey, we'll be home around 5:30 to pick you up. You be good for Grandma Scully and Grandma Mulder, okay?" Dana said, wiping a smudge off of Emily's chin while Mulder rang the doorbell at her mother's house. They knew that it was only 7:00 and that they were a half and hour early but Mulder wanted to get an early start today.

"Okay Aunt Dana, I'll be good. I promise. When you get home are we going to go shopping?" Emily asked, wrapping her arms around Scully's neck.

"I promise," Dana answered and then turned to the door as it was swung open. Her mother stood there with her hair wild and she was wearing a man's dress shirt. Skinner rambled into the room behind her, half clad. When he saw the door open he froze in his tracks.

"Dana..." her mother started but was cut off by Scully.

"Uh...here's Em. We'll be back around 5:30," she stammered and then retreated hastily to the car.

"Oh, God. Fox, I'm sorry," Maggie said, opening the door further to let Emily in. Em when straight into the family room and started to play, oblivious to the problems going on in the front room.

"Why are you sorry? What you do is your own business. You could have at least told her though," Mulder said, laying Emily's bag down in the foyer.

"We were going to. I never wanted her to find out like this. You guys were just earlier than I expected. I'm sorry. Please try to tell her that for me," Maggie said, extremely distraught.

"Why don't you tell her? She would probably take it better from you," Mulder suggested.

"I know her. She won't even talk to me now. Not until she cools down. No, I'll talk to her tonight," Maggie said as Skinner came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"We better get going. We'll pick Em up around 5:30. Thanks," Mulder said, after a few moments of uncomfortable silence and then slipped out the door. Maggie just watched him go and felt the tears start to fall onto her cheeks. She couldn't help feeling that she had lost her last daughter.

Mulder quietly got into the car and then backed out of the driveway. Once he got on the road he glanced over at Scully.

"How could she?" she whispered to him, her eyes full of tears but none of them falling.

"Dana, she's a woman that has a life you don't know about. I can think of people a lot worse than Skinner for her," Mulder said, laying his free hand on top of hers.

"I just thought that she loved my father unconditionally, and that that would carry over to the grave," Dana said, more control coming back to her.

"I'm sure it did. This is a different kind of love. When you die, wouldn't you want me to love someone else?" he asked softly.

"Yes, but do you think you could?" she asked slowly.

"No, but it's just the idea. It's your mom's happiness that counts, isn't it?" he said, after thinking for a few minutes.

"Yeah, I guess. I just..." she started but then stopped suddenly in fear. "Mulder! Look out!" she yelled as they came into the direct path of an oncoming semi.

One Week Later

"Scully! Hold on!" he yelled and then swerved as far as he could to get out of the path, but he didn't get them out of the way far enough.

The semi crashed into the back end of the car sending them into a tailspin and a roll off of the road. Only once the car had stopped spinning and rolling did Scully lift her head.

"Mulder? You okay?" she asked gently, looking at his hunched up form over the steering wheel. The dashboard was pressing up against her legs.

"Ugh! What happened?" he asked, blinking as he sat up a small dribble of blood running from the cut on his forehead. Other than that, he was uninjured.

"We were hit by a semi and sent in to a spin. Come on, let's get out of this car," she said, pushing open the door and trying to ignore the pain in her leg. She stood up slowly and immediately her leg buckled under her. "Dana, you okay?" he asked, leaning across the seats. "Damn! I think I broke my leg. Just when I get the cast off my arm...." she said, through clenched teeth as she sat on the ground directly outside of the car.

"I'll be right there," he said, and then tried to get his door open. It wouldn't budge. It was probably the fact that it was almost completely caved in. "Scully, I have to come out your door. Can you scoot over enough to let me out?" he asked, scooting over to where she was sitting earlier.

"Yeah, hold on a sec," she hissed and then dragged herself away from the door. "Thanks, love. I'm sorry," he apologized and then got out of the car.

Only once he was standing did he notice that the car was smoking. "Dana, we have to get away from this car. Now!" he said, nervously and then went over to where she was half sitting up.

"Mulder, I can't walk like this. It hurts too much!" she said, and he could tell that she was in a lot of pain. For Scully to admit that she couldn't do something because of pain meant that she needed to get to the hospital.

"Well, then I'll have to carry you. Sorry, but this might hurt a little," he said softly but quickly as he lifted her into his arms.

The only noise that she made was a hissing sound through her teeth. "I'm fine. Just hurry!" she said, replying to his inquiring look.

"I'll try to make this quick, I'm sorry," he said, running as fast as he could to get away from the car. No sooner had he gotten 25 feet away from the car did it explode.

The explosion sent them flying, but only sent him to his knees allowing him to somehow hold on to Scully. "You okay?" he inquired, as he wrestled back to his feet, her weight in his arms feeling as soft as a pillow.

"I'm okay Are you okay? You're bleeding," she said, releasing the one arm that was around his neck to touch the small trickle of blood that dripping down his forehead.

"It's just from when I hit my head. I'm fine," he said as he staggered to the shoulder of the road where some motorists had pulled over. One of the drivers ran over to him and tried to take Scully from his arms. He wouldn't let her go. He just sat down and laid her down on the grass beside the road.

"I called an ambulance. They're on their way," a lady said, as she got out of her car.

"Thank-you, ma'am. Has anyone seen the truck that hit us?" he queried, not looking up as he smoothed Scully's hair around her face.

"I'm right here, sonny. I sure am sorry 'bout what happened," a burly man said, his words slightly slurred together.

"Are you drunk?" Mulder asked, looking up for the first time with his eyes flashing fire.

"No, siree," the driver stated, but was staggering on his feet.

Mulder looked at the people standing around him for confirmation.

"He's drunk," one of the bystanders said, smelling an overpowering smell of alcohol.

Mulder stood up and walked quickly over to where he was standing, glowering look on his face. "You picked the wrong day to drink and drive, buddy!" he said angrily, pulling his fist back making two men standing around hold him back.

"I'm okay," he said, the men dropping their hold on him. Mulder reached into his back pocket and pulled out his handcuffs. He cuffed the man right there even though he could hear the police sirens in the background.

"Who are you, man? A cop?" the truck driver sneered.

Mulder pulled out his badge and held it in his face. "Special Agent Fox Mulder, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That is Special Agent Dana Scully, whose leg is broken over there. That car that is in flames is a Bureau issued car. Which means you have drunk driving charges, destruction of government property, and criminal negligence on your hands. Get him out of here," Mulder said, with a wave of his hand at an approaching police officer.

The officer was happy to oblige, and Mulder walked back over to where Scully was now being tended to by the paramedics.

"I do not like riding in ambulances. Mulder, I'm starting to think that you're a curse," she grumbled as she was loaded into the ambulance.

He got on with her this time, the paramedics didn't stop him. "I think your right. How's the leg?" he asked, holding her hand as they closed the doors and started to move.

"Hurts like hell. What else is new? You better call Skinner and tell him we won't be in today," she said with a frustrated sigh. He rubbed her arm gently and then turned on his call phone. It was going to be another long day.

"Mom, calm down, I'm fine," she said into the phone, slightly colder than necessary. "Okay Hold on a minute," she said, after a few seconds. "Mulder, my mom wants to talk to you," Dana called to him, holding the phone out.

He looked at her puzzled and then took the phone, trying to resist from scratching at the 6 stitches on his forehead. "Hello?" he asked into the phone. "Yeah, she's fine. Don't worry," he said, after presumably listening to her mother talk. "I'll tell her that. She would like that," he said, smiling down at Dana. "I'll pick-up Em at 5:30," he said, caressing Dana's hand softly. He hung the phone up and then turned to her. "What was that all about?" Dana inquired. "You mom wanted to make sure you were okay. She also wanted me to apologize to you, but she wanted me to explain to you that she loves Skinner and she wants to marry him," Mulder said gently, trying to break it to her as softly as possible.

She turned away from him for a minute and just stared out the window. "Why didn't she tell me this herself?" Dana asked, after a few minutes. "She said that you would take it better from me than her. Don't be upset, beautiful," he said, rubbing his hand up and down the rough cast that was currently on her leg. She had changed into scrubs because her suit was ruined and they were currently waiting for the doctor to come in and talk to them.

"How can I not be upset? My own mother can't even talk to me, she had to relay messages through my partner! Mulder, why didn't you just tell her to tell me in person?" she asked angrily, upset that her mother couldn't talk to her but could talk to Mulder.

"I tried this morning and she said it would upset you more if she told you versus me," he said guiltily. "If she or you knew me at all she would know that I would rather hear it from her mouth that have you relaying messages," Dana hissed, still very angry.

"Calm down, we both thought it was the best for you," he said, getting angry himself. He didn't understand why she was getting mad at him for.

"Well, you were both obviously wrong!" she snapped. He just got up and walked confusedly toward the door. "That is so like you, Mulder. Always have to just walk away from your problems instead of facing them," she said coldly.

He whirled around, fire flashing in his eyes. "I know that you've been under a lot of stress lately, but there is no reason for you to be mad at me," he hissed.

"Well, you have no reason to walk away from me or your problems," she threw back.

"I have had more problems in my life than you can ever dream of! Don't you dare say that I walk away from my problems. At least I'm not the one that has to have science explain everything. After everything we've seen I don't understand why you can't see that there are things outside of the realm of science! But, no. You always have to have science explain everything," he snapped back, "Sorry I've been such a PROBLEM to you! I've had my share of problems too, you know. I never expected that I would lose 3 MONTHS of my LIFE just because I work with you," she seethed.

He just stared coldly at her and then stalked out of the room and slammed the door.

"Good riddance," she whispered after him, even though the first of many tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"God, I was right. She does blame me for he abduction. She has no right! I would have done anything to protect her," he said angrily to himself, feeling the wind rip around him as he sat on *their* bench overlooking the reflection pond.

He knew he was acting like a jerk, but he just left her at the hospital. He figured that she could call a cab. He just didn't understand why she had gotten mad him. He knew that he should have just told her mom to tell her in person, but he thought that she would take it better from him. He just shook his head in frustration. He had a sinking feeling in his chest that usually meant bad things were on the way. He just didn't know the extent of it. "What am I going to do without Scully?"

He took a puff of his cigarette while he sat listening in his unknown Washington Office. It was finally paying off to have taken the risk to bug the bench so long ago. He also had immediately put a bug in Scully's room at the hospital, so he had heard everything. He smiled maliciously as he took another drag of the cigarette. This might just be the answer to their prayers.

She opened the door to the taxi and while she supported herself against the cab, stuck her crutches in the backseat. After that she got and then told the driver to take her to her mother's house. She knew Mulder wasn't in his right mind to pick up his adopted daughter. Even though they had gotten in a fight she still loved both Mulder and Emily.

30 minutes later "Will you wait for five minutes while I pick someone up?" Scully asked as she opened the door and using her crutches pulled herself up. "Sure, lady. You're on the meter," the cabby said and then went back to singing to the radio.

She painfully hobbled to the front door and rang the bell.

It was immediately thrown open by Emily who launched herself at Dana. "Aunt Dana! Are you okay?" the little girl asked, severely frightened. She was deeply afraid of someone else being taken from her life.

"I'm fine, sweetie. Why don't you get your stuff and go wait for me in the cab?" Dana asked, trying to remain upright under the little girl's weight.

"Okay," Emily answered good-naturedly and ran to the cab after grabbing her bag.

"Dana, how are you feeling?" asked a very guilty looking Margaret Scully. "I'm doing okay," Dana answered, coldly. She just couldn't forgive her mother. She just felt as if she was betraying her father.

"Where's Fox?" Maggie asked, the guilt still weighing heavily on her features.

"Who knows, who cares?" Dana answered with a noncommittal shrug of her shoulders.

Maggie stared at her strangely. She had the uncomfortable feeling that she was the main cause that "Mulder wasn't there". Dana turned to walk back to the car but was stopped when Maggie called to her.

"Dana, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Walter and me earlier. I love him, but in a different way than I loved your father. Your father and I made a pact a few weeks before he died. We both agreed that if one of us was to die before the other, that the remaining person would try to find happiness with someone else. That's all I'm doing, trying to be happy," Maggie explained.

"Are you happy?" Dana asked, turning to her mother with tears rimming her eyes.

"Yes, Walter makes me happy," Maggie said softly, not even pausing to think.

"Then I fully approve, Mom. You couldn't find a better man. Just make sure that he takes care of you. If he even ticks you off just let me know," Dana said with a smile and a weight lifting off her chest. She actually thought she was going to be okay with this. Now, if she could only make-up with Mulder.

"You've reached the apartment of Fox Mulder. If you work for the government or you are an alien bounty hunter please hang-up now. If you are a beautiful woman looking for a date go ahead, leave a message but you're taking you're own risks on whether Agent Scully comes to hunt you down. If you're a salesperson, go ahead leave a message. I dare you. Anyone else? Beep."

"Hi, Fox. This is Phoebe Greene. I'm in Washington for the weekend and wanted to see you again. Call me and we can get together. My number is 202-555-1376. See you soon."

Mulder slipped the key into the door and quickly unlocked it. He was still angry at Scully. He was so angry that he had totally forgot about Emily. He threw the grocery bags that he was carrying down on the kitchen table and then pressed the blinking play button on his answering machine. What he heard was the sexy drawl of Phoebe Greene. Maybe that's just what I need to get my mind off of Scully. A date with Phoebe, he though to himself before picking up the phone and dialing her number. Within moments he was talking to the good Inspector.

25 minutes later

"Mulder? We're home," Dana called out into the dark apartment after she had unlocked the door. She hobbled inside with a very sleepy Emily trailing behind her. She escorted Emily to her bedroom and helped her change before tucking her snugly into bed.

" 'Night munchkin," she whispered as she kissed Emily's head and turned off the light and closed the door.

She then hobbled over to her couch and settled in to wait for Mulder to return home.

3 hours later

He pushed her up against the wall outside his apartment and pressed his long, lean body against hers as he soundly and passionately kissed her. "Fox, I did't know you still had it in you," Phoebe drawled, running her long nimble fingers up and down his back to finally rest on his buttocks.

He wrestled around her to reach his keys in his pocket. He finally found them and haphazardly unlocked the door while Phoebe clutched him and thrust her tongue into his mouth. He fully responded, not feeling Dana's eyes on him from inside the dark apartment. He didn't even hear her as she got up and hobbled to *their* bedroom.

"What was that?" Phoebe asked, pulling away from him to inquire about the slamming door. "Don"t know. Wait here," he said, giving her another kiss before pulling his gun and walking unstadily towards his bedroom.

Once he pushed the door open her saw Scully pulling clothes from drawers and throwing them into a suitcase. "Scully! What cha doin'?" he slurred, obviously drunk.

"What's it look like?" she snapped, trying to wipe as many of the tears off her face as possible.

"Packing. You going somewhere?" he asked, wobbling where he stood.

"Out of here. 'Bye, Mulder," she said coldly, and then tried to push past him to get out the door.

"Don't leave, Dana. I love you," he cried.

Dana had never, ever seen him this drunk before. "What about, Phoebe?" Dana asked, the contempt obvious in her voice.

"Let me tell ya a secret. She's just my plaything," he slurred, leaning in close to her ear.

"Then go play with her," she snapped and then succeeded in pushing past him by using her crutch as a leveling device. She entered the family room with a wobbling Mulder trailing behind her.

Phoebe just smiled spitefully at her as she opened the door to exit the apartment. "Dana! Don't leave me!" he sobbed, falling to his knees in front of her.

"Shut-up! You'll wake up Emily!" she whispered harshly to him.

"Oh, right! I'll wake-up Emily," he said and then tiptoed over to the couch to Phoebe.

"Who's Emily?" Phoebe asked from the couch, getting up to stand in front of Scully. Dana wouldn't even look at her.

"Yeah, Dana. Who's Emily?" Mulder called over from the couch, staring into his fish tank that was currently minus any residents.

"She's your niece! Your adopted daughter! She's sleeping right there," Scully said, pointing to the guest room angrily.

"Whoa! You've got a kid?" Phoebe asked suspiciously.

"Yep! She's great!" Mulder slurred as he laid down on the couch.

"I'm outta here. I don't need to cause havoc on another family," Phoebe said and then scurried from the apartment, straightening her clothes as she went.

"Don't leave me, too!" Fox wailed and then succeeded in passing out on the couch.

Dana sighed in frustration and then closed the door after her. She was mad at him, she hated him at this moment but she had and obligation to Emily. Plus, all the hating in the world couldn't make her not love Fox Mulder.

After she had covered Mulder up on the couch she hobbled over to Emily's room to make sure that all the commotion hadn't awakened her. Thankfully, for once she was sleeping peacefully through the night. She sighed again and then crawled into their bed. It was going to be a long night.

5 hours later

She had finally fallen asleep 2 hours after she had originally laid down. It was fitful sleep and she couldn't stop tossing and turning. Around 5 AM she felt a body slip in next to her. She immediately bolted awake and sat straight up. She knew it was Mulder.

"Dana, it's okay It's only me," he said soothingly, laying his hand on her arm.

She assumed that by now that he had one hell of a hangover. "I know its you. That's why I'm leaving," she said coldly, and then went to grab her crutches.

He wouldn't let go. "Dana...." he said softly, tightening the grip on her arm. She realized that he was still drunk. He must have just had some more.

"Let go of me. I don't want to hear it. What kind of parent are you, drunk like this? I'm taking Emily home with me," she said, trying to wrench free of his grip. She was surprised by what happened next.

Mulder slapped her hard across the face. She stared at him in shock. Never in a million years had she thought that he would resort to physical violence.

He was just as shocked as her. "Oh my God. I'm sorry," he whispered, immediately dropping his grip on her arm. She flew to her feet and got out of the room as fast as she could. Mulder made no move to follow her.

"Come on, Em. We're going to go for a sleep over at my house for a few days," Dana said, trying to rouse Emily while she packed her a bag.

"Why?" Emily asked, sleepily blinking her eyes in confusion.

"Uncle Fox isn't feeling well, so we're going to go away until he feels all better," she explained and then took by the hand and led her as quickly from the room as possible to go outside and wait for the cab.

"Aunt Dana, what happened to your face?" Em asked, staring at Dana's face in confusion as they stood outside and waited in the slight drizzle. They had thankfully left the apartment with no intervention from Mulder. They didn't even see him. Dana raised her free hand to her cheek, the other hand was holding on to Emily. She pulled it away and saw that her lip was bleeding and that she most likely had a shiner.

"I ran into the wall in the dark. I'll be okay," she said soothingly. A wall made up of Mulder's hand, she thought wryly, leaning on the crutches as much as possible. She didn't have time to think anymore because the cab pulled up.

She shuffled Emily into the cab as quickly as possible and then pulled herself in awkwardly. She told the driver her address and then leaned against the door as the cab started to drive. She didn't see Mulder looking out at them from his window, as he watched the cab drive away from his apartment.

What have I done? How could I have ruined the only two relationships in my life worth caring about? Mulder asked himself the next morning. His head was pounding and his vision was blurred, but he distinctly remembered everything that had gone on the previous night. He picked up the phone and punched in Scully's familiar number.

RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG. RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG.

"Hello?" Dana asked into the phone, sounding like she was just waking up.

"Dana. It's me," he said, but was greeted by the forceful click of the phone. He sat down heavily as he hung-up the phone. He had a pain in his chest. It was as if his heart was breaking.

I just hung-up the phone on the man that I love. The man cheated on me, hit me, and went and delivered messages from my mother when she should have told me in the first place. Then why do I still love him? she asked herself, after slumping down into the chair next to the phone and propping her foot up on the footstool.

RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG. RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG.

"Mulder, if you didn't figure out that I didn't want to talk to you before well then you can...." she started as she snatched up the phone, but stopped when she heard Skinner's voice.

"Agent Scully?" Skinner asked questionably into the phone.

"Skinner. I'm sorry. I thought it was Agent Mulder again," she said, a chill coming into her voice.

"I was calling to see how your leg was feeling. I also wanted to call and apologize about what happened yesterday," he said apologetically.

"My leg is a little sore, and currently in a cast, otherwise I'm doing just fine. I really do forgive you about what happened yesterday. Mom and I talked about it and I understand. Now, I just want to know what your intentions are toward my mother," she said, trying to get her mind off of Mulder.

"My intentions? I want to marry her. Maggie and I would both love it if you would give us your blessing," he said softly.

"I would love for you two love birds to get married. All I care about is mom's happiness. I hope you make sure that's how she stays," she said, a slightly threatening tone entering her voice.

"Don't worry, Scully. Now, what's been happening between you and Mulder?" he finally asked, not being able to wait any longer.

"It's nothing. Just a little argument," she explained, thankful that Emily was next door playing with her friend.

"Well, it didn't sound too much like a little argument to me," he said gently.

"Its nothing. Really," she said, trying to convince him to drop the subject. He finally took the hint.

"Okay If you need to talk to me, you know my number. I'm here 24 hours a day," he suggested and then hung-up the phone. She hung-up the phone on her end and sighed deeply. She needed to talk to someone, just not her mother or Skinner. She didn't realize how much she had given up by working in the X-Files division. She had drifted away from all of her friends. What was she going to do?

I'll try her one more time he reaching for the phone for about the 20th time in 10 minutes. He finally conjured up the courage to punch in her number.

RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG. RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG.

"Hello?" she answered, her voice sounding exhausted.

"Dana, please don't hang-up. Let me explain myself," he begged, praying she wouldn't hang-up. When he didn't hear a click, he continued.

"I'm sorry about telling you what your mother should have told you in person. That was wrong, and it was wrong of me to get between you two. I'm sorry that I called Phoebe and went on a date with her, I was upset and angry and drunk. I'm sorry I hit you. That was the worst thing I have ever done in my whole entire life. Being drunk is NOT an excuse. I fully intend to go into counseling. Dana, I'm sorry. Please come back to me," he begged, feeling the tears roll down his cheeks.

"Were you drunk when you called Phoebe? What were you thinking then?" she asked softly, trying not to let him hear her breath hitching on the edges of sobs.

"I was angry and wanted to get my mind off of you. I'm sorry," he explained, trying to get her to forgive him.

"Is this what's going to happen every time we get into an argument? You going to go find another woman? I don't think I can deal with that, Mulder. I don't think Emily can deal with that," she said, an edge coming on to her voice.

"Dana, please! It will never happen again! I love you. I will do anything to get you back. Please!" he begged.

"I don't know, Mulder. I don't know if I trust you after this," she said quietly, her voice cracking on the word trust.

"Don't say that, please don't say that!" he begged. She could hear his anguish through the phone.

"I'm going to have to think about this. I want you to wait until I call you. If you call me for anything short of an emergency, it will definitely be over. Understood?" she asked, swallowing hard to try to keep her breakfast in her stomach.

"I understand. Just please don't take long," he pleaded quietly.

"I don't think that you're in any position to ask that of me, are you? I'll talk to you later. I'll drop Emily off at you place tomorrow at 2:00. You had better be sober and your apartment spotless. I'll pick her up at 9:00 the next morning. You can walk her down to the front door, but I do NOT want you coming over to the car. okay?" she said, making sure he understood that she was not going to compromise on this.

"Okay," he answered meekly, realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere by arguing.

"Talk to you later," she said softly and then hung-up the phone. She leaned back once again, hung her head, and just cried. What was she going to do?

The Next Day
2:03 p.m.

"Em, if you even smell alcohol anywhere near Uncle Fox, I want you to call me right away, okay?" Dana said, smoothing Emily's hair down as they sat in the parked cab in front of Mulder's apartment building.

"Okay Why though?" Emily asked innocently, gazing at Dana with her uncle's large hazel eyes.

"Just do this for me. If you need anything, call me," Dana said, handing her her suitcase.

"Why don't you stay, too?" Emily asked, worried that someone else was going to leave her life.

"I can't. Go on now. I'll see tomorrow at 9:00," Dana said, reaching across Emily to open the door. Emily hopped out, and with one final wave to her aunt, skipped inside the building. Dana slowly told the cab driver her address, ready to wait by her phone for 19 hours.

Fox Mulder threw open the door even before Emily had a chance to knock.

"Uncle Fox!" Emily exclaimed as she launched herself into his open arms. Her hugged her tightly.

"Hi, sweetheart! How are you?" he asked tenderly, smoothing back her long brown hair that was braided into a braid. She looked so much like Samantha.

"I'm okay What are we going to do today?" she asked eagerly, looking into his eyes.

"Well, I thought that we could watch one of the movies I rented. How about we watch... Cinderella?" he asked, pulling the tape from behind his back. He knew that it was her all time favorite movie.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed, following him over to the television and watching him as he put the tape in the VCR. She curled up on the couch and turned her eyes to the screen as Mulder grabbed the freshly made popcorn. He stared at the TV in silence, his thoughts far away from the movie.

The farther she got from Mulder's building the stronger the pain in her head got. She finally had to tell the cabby to pull over pull over when it got too bad. She suddenly realized what was happening. Mulder and Emily are in trouble! she thought, extremely frightened. As soon as that thought came into her head, her headache disappeared. She told the driver to go as fast as he could back to Mulder's apartment, offering him an extra $50 for his troubles. He didn't complain. What a day to forget your cell phone at home....

Emily was intently watching the mice sew when they were interrupted by a frantic knocking on the door. Mulder popped to his feet and dashed to the door, he would recognize that insistent knocking anywhere. He threw the door open.

"Mulder! We have to go! Now! I have a very bad feeling! I have a cab waiting downstairs!" she exclaimed, resisting the urge to wrap her arms around his neck. Emily, sensing trouble appeared by his side.

"Aunt Dana!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Hi, Em. Let's go!" Dana exclaimed, starting down the hall. Mulder and Emily had soon passed her up, because of her casted leg.

"Em, I want you to run down as fast as you can and get into Aunt Dana's cab. We'll be down there right after you," he said, and then scooped Dana into his arms without barely breaking a beat. He was still right behind Em, but was quickly slowing down.

"Mulder, just leave me. Go! Be with Emily," she tried to convince him, watching as Emily got farther and farther out of sight. She knew they weren't far from the cab.

"No! I can't leave you, Dana. I love you. I could never leave you," he said, looking lovingly at her, as he tried to sprint around the corner. He saw Emily climbing safely into the cab and two seconds later, they were also in the cab, Scully nestled on Mulder's lap, her arms still around his neck.

"I want you to get as far away as possible. Just drive as fast and far as you can," Dana commanded, still not loosening her hold Mulder's neck.

"Dana, I'm sorry for everything," he said, tears filling his eyes.

"I'm sorry, too. I was so scared I would never see you again. I was...." she started, but was interrupted by a large boom that came from the vicinity of his building. Everything shook. Luckily they were about a mile away from his building.

"Could you please take us to the J. Edgar Hoover Building?" Mulder asked the cab driver.

"Why?" the driver asked, pulling over and glancing back at them. It was the familiar face of Alex Krycek.

"Krycek? What the hell?" Mulder asked in shock. Dana just stared at him, sliding off of Mulder's lap to sit between Mulder and Emily.

"Dana, I'm surprised at you. You didn't even notice that it was a different driver when you got back in," Krycek sneered. Emily just stared at him, confused.

"Don't call her that!" Mulder said angrily.

"Why not? She won't be hearing it too much longer after today," Krycek threatened.

"People are going to notice we're gone. You won't get away with this," Scully rationalized as Krycek pulled away from where they were parked, the doors locked to a point where they couldn't get put.

"No they won't. See, that's the beauty of it. Everyone thinks you died in that explosion at Mulder's apartment building. There's no one to know you're missing," Krycek said maliciously, turning the corner unto some alleyway in downtown Washington, DC Suddenly, they stopped in front a broken down warehouse. Krycek pulled out his gun, much to Emily's dismay, who started whimpering.

"Sorry, honey. okay Everyone out," he said, gesturing with his gun as he unlocked the doors. Mulder got out of the left side and Dana and Emily got out of the right side. Krycek came up behind Mulder and stuck the gun into his back as he waited for Dana and Emily to come around the back of the car. As they were rounding the back of the car, Krycek glanced away from them for a moment. Emily took off running. She was around the corner before Krycek even realized she was gone.

"Shit! Where did she go?" he screamed, slamming Mulder into the rough brick wall and smacking Scully across the face with the butt of his gun. Mulder snarled as Scully crumpled to the ground.

"Down, boy. Come on, let's go. Pick her up. We don't need the girl anyway," Krycek said, laughing evilly at Mulder's anger. Mulder quietly went over and lifted Scully easily into his arms, careful not to hurt her leg.

"You okay?" he whispered, as he saw her blue eyes flutter open.

"No talking! Come on! Get inside!" Krycek ordered, pulling open the door of the side alley. He quietly carried Scully inside, while Krycek pressed the muzzle of the gun into Mulder'sback.

"Sit down, right there," Krycek said, pointing to two chairs. Mulder gently set Scully down in one and then sat in the chair next to her. To men came out of and inner room, toting machine guns in their hands. For the inside of a falling down warehouse it was pretty plush. There was brand new carpeting and furniture located around the room, with potted plants sitting besides glass coffee tables.

"Hey, guys. Pretty big artillery for two unarmed federal agents," Mulder antagonized, trying to plant guilt in their heads. They just threw him a dirty look and advanced on them closer.

"Bad move, Mulder. They *hate* feds," Krycek said, advancing towards them with his arm behind his back. Mulder looked at him suspiciously. Krycek pulled out two syringes filled of a light blue liquid. He injected the first syringe into Scully who, after and brief squeak of pain, fell promptly asleep. Krycek moved over to Mulder and plunged the syringe into his arm.

"Nighty night, Mulder," Krycek taunted as Mulder's eye lids got heavy and he surrendered to the darkness.

Emily ran as fast she could as far as she could. She knew she was somewhere in downtown Washington, but everything looked so huge to her. People looked at her strangely as she ran by, probably wondering what a six-year-old girl was doing in downtown Washington all by herself. When she realized that no one was chasing her, she stopped. She had no idea what direction she had come from or what direction she was going. She sat down on a bench and pulled her knees up to her chest and sobbed. Once again, she felt all alone.

"Honey, what's wrong?" a man dressed in a suit asked, sitting down next to her.

"I'm lost," she explained tearfully, not looking up.

"Well, where do you want to go?" he asked kindly.

"I...uh...want to go... to the J. Edgar Hoover Building," she said, after thinking for a few moments. She knew that Uncle Walter worked there, and if anyone could help, he could.

"Why do you want to go there?" he asked, puzzledly.

"I need help and my Uncle Walter works there," she said, looking at him with her eyes full of tears.

"Your Uncle Walter. Do you know what your Uncle Walter's last name is?" he asked, getting interested.

"Skinner," she said, after thinking a few minutes. The man looked at her in shock.

"Assistant Director Walter Skinner is your uncle?" he asked in shock.

"Yeah! Do you know him? Can you take me to the Hoover building?" she asked, almost begging.

"Well, you're in luck. That's where I'm headed. Special Agent Jim Mickelson at your service. You can just call me Jim, though," he said kindly, showing her his badge.

"Will you give me a ride?" she asked hopefully.

"Yep! Well, actually it's just down the street over here. We can walk there," he said, standing up. They walked together to the Hoover building and up to Skinner's office. Jim left her here. She snuck into the office when the secretary wasn't looking. Unfortunately, he was in a meeting with two agents and didn't see her right away, because his back was to the door. The agents he was talking to, did see her right away, though and took the chance to interrupt Skinner. They figured 6 year old girls didn't sneak into and Assistant Director's office everyday.

"Uh, sir. Sorry to interrupt, but....," a female agent said softly, but was interrupted by Skinner's roar.

"This better be good, Carlen." He snarled, his back still to the door.

"Sir, there is a small child standing right behind you, sir," Carlen said just as softly, fearfully. Skinner spun around. When he saw Emily standing there, looking disheveled and her face tear stained, he rushed over to her and lifted her tenderly into his arms.

"Your dismissed, for now. Don't think you two are getting off of this," Skinner said to the two agents, who scampered out of the room as fast as possible with a sigh of relief.

"Honey, what's wrong?" he asked gently.

"Uncle Fox and Aunt Dana, they're gone," she said, starting to cry again.

"Sweetheart, I need you to stay here with me and be strong. Can you do that? Where did they go?" Skinner asked quickly, trying to get as many answers out of her as possible.

"A man took them. Uncle Fox called him Kry...Krycek," she stumbled, trying to remember everything.

"Krycek! Where did Krycek take them?" Skinner asked hurriedly, extremely worried about their well-being.

"To this warehouse in this alley. The warehouse looked abandoned, but it had a security keypad next to the door. It was by Vine Street," she said, scrunching up her face as she tried to remember.

"Thanks, sweetie. We'll save them," he promised, reaching around her to pick up the phone. He barked some orders into the phone, and then gave the coordinates. Soon he had every agent in the building, on foot and in cars, searching Vine Street and its alleys. He called Maggie as soon as he gave the orders to the agents. She was getting ready to leave even before they hung-up the phone. Skinner left Emily with his secretary and went off to join in the search. He had to keep his promise.

"Where's the girl?" the Cigarette Smoking Man asked Krycek, who was standing in front of his desk in the inner office. Mulder and Scully were seated back to back with their hands and feet tied together, currently unconscious.

"She got away," Krycek said ashamedly.

"She what?" the Cigarette Smoking Man asked in disbelief.

"Got away. She ran away," Krycek said, having a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He glanced over at Mulder and Scully, both a little worse for wear. Scully had a cut along the side of her cheek that was already turning black and blue. Mulder's lip was swollen and bleeding, a little bit of blood dripping down onto his chin.

"Do you know what a huge risk to security you've caused? What if the girl noticed something and can direct people back to our location? What do we do then? Kill the whole FBI?" the Cigarette Smoking Man snarled.

"You don't have to worry about her. She was so scared at the sight of my gun that there is no way she would have seen anything," Krycek declared confidently.

"You never know. She is a Mulder. I learned a very long time ago to never underestimate a Mulder," the Cigarette Smoking Man said, calming himself down. After all, how much of a threat could a frightened 6 year old girl be?

"Sir! Over here! I think we found it!" a voice yelled out from inside the alley off of Vine Street. Skinner came running.

"What've you got," Skinner asked, jogging over to the Agent.

"A metal door with a security keypad, just like the little girl said," the agent replied, as he checked around the door, looking for weakness.

"I want in there, and I want in there now! I don't care if you break down the door. I want to get inside," Skinner ordered.

"Well, there is no way we could knock the door down, but we could explode it. I can get a few small explosives and put them around the frame of the door and effectively blow it off its hinges. The only problem would be if anyone is sitting against the door," the agent said, after thinking over his options.

"Do it," Skinner said quietly, praying to God that Mulder and Scully were far away from the door.

Mulder involuntarily groaned as he regained consciousness. He could feel Scully behind him, her head lolled to the side so she was obviously still unconscious. His eyes fluttered open and he saw both Krycek and the Cigarette Smoking Man looking at him.

"Hello, Agent Mulder," the Cigarette Smoking Man said pleasantly, hiding his malice for the younger man. Mulder didn't acknowledge that he was spoken to.

"Agent Mulder, that was very rude. I go out of my way to be kind to you and you don't even answer me. Mr. Krycek and have to discuss some business, I hope you don't mind if we make you leave the room," the Cigarette Smoking Man said, trying to sound like he had an option when he obviously didn't have the choice. He didn't wait for Mulder's answer before opening the door and motioning for one of the goons to come.

"Yes, sir?" the *large* man asked.

"Please take these two into the sitting room for now, Charles," the Cigarette Smoking Man ordered coldly. Charles nodded sharply and then picked up Scully and threw her over his right shoulder, not caring about her leg at all. He then went to pick up Mulder, but was interrupted.

"I can walk. Jeez, be careful with her! Can't you see she has a broken leg already?" Mulder said, looking at Scully to see if she was waking up at all. Charles shrugged his shoulders brutally and the roughly grabbed Mulder's arm and pushed him out the door. He started to push them toward the door, but decided against it. He put them on the wall facing the door, once again back to back. Scully started to move around after they were situated.

"You okay?" Mulder asked quietly, squeezing her hands with his.

"Besides this splitting headache, I am just dandy," she whispered back sarcastically.

"No talking!" Charles ordered, from across the room. The immediately shut-up. There was complete silence in the room for several moments until it was unnaturally broken by the fireball that was once the door. With a loud boom, everything went black.

"Go! Go! Go!" Skinner yelled to the team of agents who were standing ready with their guns aimed. The agents jumped through the burning door, their guns pointed in front of them. The first thing they saw was Agents Mulder and Scully, leaning against the wall across from the door, both unconscious from the force of the explosion. They were okay for now, so they continued to search the building. They found the unconscious bodyguard, but no one else.

"Clear!" the lead agent called out after securely cuffing Charles and handing him over to two other Agents who drove him to the police station.

"What? Where the hell Krycek?" Skinner demanded, storming into the smoking room.

"He wasn't here, sir," the agent said again. Skinner growled, and glared at everyone in the room until he saw Mulder and Scully.

"Did someone call an ambulance?" Skinner asked, rushing over to their sides.

"Yes, sir. It's on its way," an agent from the crowd called out. Skinner checked each of them for a pulse. They both had strong, steady pulses. They were also cut up pretty badly. Skinner couldn't tell if it was from the debris of the door or from being hit.

"I want an all points bulletin put out on Alex Krycek," Skinner ordered, as he heard the ambulance approaching. To paramedics rushed into the room. The check vitals and made sure that they could be moved before loading them into separate ambulances. On the way to the hospital, Mulder woke up. Scully didn't.

20 minutes later

"Why hasn't she woken up yet?" Mulder demanded, sitting next to her bed. He had already been checked out and bandaged up. Scully, on the other hand, was still unconscious.

"We don't know yet, sir," a nurse said, trying to stay as far away as she could from a glowering Mulder. The nurse was saved when Mrs. Scully glided into the room, Emily scurrying after her. The moment that Emily saw Mulder, she launched herself into Mulder's arms.

"Fox, how is she? What's wrong?" Mrs. Scully asked, sighting down at Dana's bedside once again for the third time in six months.

"The doctors don't know. She's in a coma," Mulder explained tiredly, Emily in his arms as he looked at her from the end of the bed.

"What happened to Aunt Dana?" Emily asked, worried that she was going to lose another important figure in her life, so soon after her mother.

"She hit her head and is just asleep for awhile," Mulder explained, but only ended up making Emily break down in tears.

"What's wrong, honey?" Mulder asked, seeing her sobbing on his shoulder.

"T...that's what y...you t...told me me when m...my mom d...died," she explained between sobs.

"Oh, sweetie. I'm sorry. Don't worry, Aunt Dana's going to wake-up," Mulder soothed, hoping he could keep that promise.

"Come on, munchkin. let's go home and let Uncle Fox and Aunt Dana get some rest," Maggie offered, after kissing her daughter gently on the head. She sent Emily out into the hall to wait for her and then approached Mulder.

"Fox, I know you love her. Thank you for that. You brought her out of it last time, I know you can do it this time. She loves you so much, and she loves Emily so much. Now, don't worry so much and promise me that you'll sleep a little bit," Maggie said, giving Fox a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He smiled reassuringly at her, but didn't promise. Maggie shook her head and left the room. She knew he would never promise to that.

"Dana, you have to come back to me. I can't live without you. I love you too much. When you wake up I want to marry you. Please, you have to wake up," he said, almost begging as her caressed her arm. He laid his head down on the mattress next to her hip and closed his eyes. He wouldn't sleep anywhere but next to her. He couldn't.

The next morning

Maggie walked sleepily into the hospital room, after a rough night of Emily sobbing. Even though Mulder had reassured her that Dana was going to wake up, Emily wasn't convinced. Who could blame her?

"Fox! What are you doing here? Were you here all night?" Maggie asked, as she saw Mulder sound asleep, sitting beside Dana with his head resting on the bed, and somehow Dana's hand had gotten on top of his head. Mulder jolted awake at the sound of her voice, his neck stiff from laying strange all night.

"Dana! Oh, it's you," he said disappointedly, sitting straight up in surprise. Maggie sounded so much like Dana sometimes that it was uncanny.

"Thanks for the warm welcome," Maggie joked, pulling up a chair next to his.

"No problem, any time," he joked back, but with no heart in it. Maggie looked into his eyes for the first time. They were cold and lifeless. Maggie knew that if her daughter didn't make, then neither would Fox Mulder.

"Fox, why don't you go home and rest a little bit? You can change and take a shower," Maggie suggested, smoothing his disheveled hair.

"No. I'm no leaving her," Mulder said firmly, looking back at Dana lovingly.

"Yes, you are. I want you to go home and rest. Fox, if you don't leave by your own will, I will call Walter and have him come and carry you out," Maggie threatened.

"Please, Mrs. Scully. Let me stay here," Mulder whined. He felt like he was 8 again and he was begging his mom to go to a party.

"Fox, you look like hell. Your not doing yourself or Dana any good by wasting away. Please, do this for her. Go rest and freshen up," Maggie rationalized. Mulder knew he couldn't win.

"Okay Call me if anything happens. I'll be back in 2 hours," he said, letting Maggie know that that was the most she was going to get from him. Maggie nodded agreeably at him and then stepped discreetly out of the room so he could say goodbye to Dana. He leaned down and tenderly kissed her forehead, letting his lips stay there longer than necessary.

"Dana, I love you. Please snap out of this," he begged, his lips moving against her forehead. There was no response. He lightly kissed her lips and then left the room. Maggie reentered the room after making sure he left.

"Dana, you have to wake up. I don't think Fox can live without you. And where would that leave Emily?" Maggie asked softly, not expecting any response. She pulled out the book that was halfway finished and started reading out loud. They had read the first half while Dana was in her coma after her abduction. Maggie hoped and prayed she wouldn't have to finish it.

On his way home from the hospital he stopped at a jewelry store. He went straight to the engagement ring section. The first ring he saw, he loved. It was a simply cut, not to large diamond in a platinum setting. It just yelled out Dana to him.

"Can I help you with something?" a salesman asked, scurrying over when he saw Mulder looking at the ring. It was the most expensive ring in the store due to the quality of diamond and the intricacy of the setting.

"Yes, I would like to see that ring," Mulder said, pointing down into the case.

"Sir, before I can show you this ring I'm going to need some identification. This ring costs about $12,000," the salesman "Mike" said.

"Okay, Mike. Here you go," Mulder said after searching around for his wallet. Inside was his FBI identification card and his driver's license. The salesman gaped at it.

"Sir, you work for the government. How can you afford a $12,000 ring?" Mike asked rudely.

"Don't worry about it. I can pay in cash," Mulder said. He had a large trust fund from his father. His father had to make many sacrifices for the Consortium, one of them giving up his sister, but at least he was paid well. His trust fund held about 5 million dollars. In theory, he didn't have to work but he wanted to work. He needed Scully, more than he will ever admit.

"Here you go," Mike said, handing him the ring after unlocking the case. Mulder looked it over critically. It wasn't a huge diamond, but it was large. It had a very intricate cut and was sitting on a platinum filigree setting.

"Is there any chance that the diamond could come loose from the setting?" Mulder asked worriedly, afraid that the design of the platinum made it weak and the diamond could come loose.

"No, sir. The diamond is reinforced in the bottom, plus the filigree may look weak but it acruality very strong," Mike explained.

"What size is this?" Mulder asked curiously. He knew that this was the ring for Scully. He could just picture it on her hand.

"I believe that this is a size 5," Mike said, looking it over critically.

"I'll take it," Mulder said, pulling out his checkbook.

"Will you take a personal check or would you rather have me come back with cash," Mulder asked, walking over to the register.

"Either is fine. If you pay by check, I'll have to call your bank and make sure you have a sufficient amount of money in your account," Mike said, putting the ring in the box carefully and removing the price tag.

"I'll pay by check now, I really don't want to carry $12,000 in cash on me," Mulder said, scribbling out the check. He handed it to Mike he called the bank and checked on his credit.

"You're clear," Mike said, after hanging up the phone as he punched in the numbers on the register.

"Thanks, Mike," Mulder said, taking the box and walking out of the store, leaving a very confused, but happy salesman.

RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG

"Hello?" Mulder asked immediately, jolting out of sleep as fast as he could.

"Fox! She's improving. The doctors say that she has slowly been improving for the past 8 hours. They think that she should wake-up soon," Mrs. Scully said hopefully through the phone.

"Okay I'll be there soon. By the way, where's Emily?" he asked, suddenly worried because he hadn't seen his adopted daughter since last night.

"She's with your mom, don't worry. Walter was going to stop in and check on her in a few minutes anyway," Mrs. Scully said, smiling into the phone at his concern.

"Thanks. I'll be there soon," he promised, and then hung-up the phone. He got dressed fast and brushed his still damp hair and got ready for another long dash to the hospital. This time he was smiling.

"How's she doing?" Mulder asked, sliding into the hospital room with his hand in his pocket wrapped securely around the ring box.

"I think she's starting to come around. Let me introduce you, this is Dr. Jake Nichols. Dr. Nichols, this is Fox Mulder. Fox, Dr. Nichols has a theory on why Dana's in a coma," Mrs. Scully said, motioning to the man that was standing against the wall whom Mulder didn't see at first. Mulder looked at him suspiciously.

"First off, please call me Jake. I think I have a theory as to why Dana has fallen into a coma," Jake said. Mulder narrowed his eyes at him.

Dana? I don't even call her Dana, and I have an engagement ring sitting in my pocket for her Mulder thought, looking coldly at the young, handsome doctor.

"I think that Dana has slipped into a coma because she is tired. As I understand, she has been injured several times in the past several months and she has recently taken on the shock of acting a mother to Agent Mulder's niece. This can be terribly shocking to a person, and I think that she is just recovering in her own way," Jake explained, looking at Mulder who had lost all color in his face.

I'm responsible for this. She's in a coma because of me! Mulder thought, feeling like he was going to faint.

"Agent Mulder, are you okay?" Jake asked, worriedly when he saw the greenish color of Mulder's skin.

"Um...yeah," Mulder answered back softly. The doctor looked at him strangely.

"Since she should be waking up soon I want you all to leave the room so she can slip easily from unconsciousness to sleep," the doctor ordered. Margaret quickly complied but Mulder sat there scowling at the doctor.

"Mr. Mulder, please," the doctor said holding the door open for him.

"No," he said forcefully to the Jake. There was no way hat doctor was going to et him to leave Scully's side.

"Excuse me?" Jake asked incredulously. He looked as if he had never been said no to in his life.

"You heard me. There is no way I'm leaving her side," Mulder hissed, fingering the ring box in his coat pocket.

"Mr. Mulder, unless your relationship with Dana is different than I think, I demand that you leave the room or you will be escorted out," Jake threatened.

"Fine! Nothing short of being shot will get me out of this room. I will be here to give her this ring when she opens her eyes," Mulder said, and Jake immediately backed off. After checking Scully's chart nervously one more time, he left the room.

Mulder heaved a sigh of relief. One battle over, several to go.

She groaned deeply and her eyes started to flutter. Unlike last time she felt as if every bone in her body hurt. She slowly opened her eyes and squinted against the harsh light.

"Dana?" she heard Mulder ask from her side as he slipped his hand into hers. She opened her eyes completely and turned to look at him, ignoring her pounding headache.

"Hi," she said softly. She had this uncontrollable feeling that he was supposed to ask her something, but she couldn't remember what.

"Well, you know how I promised you something, here it is," he said, and held out the ring box.

"Dana Scully, will you marry me?"

He had expected her to say yes right away, but was surprisingly greeted with silence. He stared at her face, waiting for her to say something.

"Are you doing this because you promised, or because you mean it?" she asked finally, searching his face for hidden answers.

"Because I mean it! You know I wouldn't promise it in the first place it I didn't! You mean the world to me, Dana, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you," he said, caressing her face tenderly.

"What about work?" she whispered, a lone tear rolling down her face. He couldn't tell if it was from happiness or sadness.

"What about work? Skinner already knows about us, for Gods sake, he's having an affair with your mom! I don't think that he'll give us any grief," Mulder said, aching to slip that ring on to her finger.

"Then, I would love to marry you. I love you. Only one condition. I want you to promise me that you won't run off by yourself, and the next time we get into an argument that you will not launch yourself into another woman's arms," Dana said, letting him know that it was all or nothing.

"I promise, believe me. I will never do that stuff again," Mulder promised solemnly.

"Then your answer is yes," she said softly and popped open the ring box. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. Mulder smiled happily at he way her eyes lit up. He slowly eased the box out of her hands and took out the ring. He slipped the ring on to her finger and grinned. It was a perfect fit.

"Oh, Mulder! How did you afford this?" she asked, leaning into kiss him. Their lips touched for a few moments, their kiss being interrupted by Mrs. Scully.

"Dana! You're awake!" Margaret exclaimed, running over to her daughter and giving her forehead a huge kiss. As she was backing away the sparkle of the ring caught her eye.

"Congratulations! I'm so happy!" Mrs. Scully gushed, and gave Mulder a big hug.

"Thanks, mom," Mulder said teasingly. She took it with a smile.

"It's about time you called me something other than Mrs. Scully," Margaret laughed and then moved toward the door.

"I believe that there is a little person that would like to see you," Margaret said happily and then disappeared into the hall. Suddenly, Emily flew into the room.

"Aunt Dana! You're awake!" Em exclaimed, running over and hopping up on the bed with the help of a boost from Mulder.

"Yep, I'm awake. Good as new," Dana proclaimed, even though she hurt all over.

"I'm so glad," Em said, and then clutched Dana around the neck. Mulder came up behind her and encircled both ladies in his arms. They finally felt like a real family. Though all three lives had changed, not one person regretted it, because they had each found a great thing. Each other.

The End

I know this was a shorter part than the rest, but I though it was a good way to end it. Questions? Comments? Threats? Send them the Thanks for reading!