Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Maggie Scully lifted the pot roast from the oven and lifted the lid from the Dutch oven, the smell of slow cooked beef, rich gravy, rosemary and garlic filling her nostrils. She turned the meat which was almost at the point of falling apart, replaced the lid and returned it to the oven. She added butter to the mashed potato and checked the seasoning; more salt she thought. She moved to prep and chop the vegetables to accompany it, peeling and chopping carrots and cutting up a head of Broccoli. The she moved to the fridge and opened a bottle of white wine.

She loved it when the children were here. It always seemed silly going to all this effort just for her and Bill.

Dana had arrived straight from work. She and her new partner had flown in from Alaska earlier this afternoon; she had driven over to them straight from the airport. Bill had been annoyed that she had hired a rental car to get here having shared a ride with Agent Mulder on their way out.

“You should have called Dana,” he had grumbled as he had met her at the door when she had pulled up on the driveway in the unfamiliar car, “I would have come and collected you from the airport, you shouldn’t be throwing money away.”

She had kissed her father on the cheek and rolled her eyes.

“Don’t you start,” she had stated, her tone exasperated “I’ve already had this conversation with Mulder, trying to insist he’d drop me off even though it’s forty minutes each direction out of his way.”

Bill scoffed “So that young man even offered to deliver you door to the door and you still opted for the overpriced rental?” He had shaken is head in disbelief “I don’t understand your generation. So independent; honestly Dana, what’s the issue with a friend doing you a favour? He on the other hand has just gone up in my estimation on considerably.” He teased with a smile

“I’ll be sure to tell him Ahab,” She teased dropping her case and hugging her mother “Smells great Mom.”

As she pulled away her cell had started to ring. She pulled it out of her pocket, flipped the receiver and answered “Scully,” a moment of silence passed. “Mulder, I’m not sure let me check.”

They had both caught it, she and Bill; the change of expression that passed over her face when she had heard his voice. Their eyes met and a moment of silent communication passed between them. Quite what the expression was neither could explain but at the sound of his voice her entire demeanour changed.

She crouched down over her case and undid the zip, tilting her head to trap her phone between her ear and her shoulder. “Did you check your case and the carry on?” she asked quietly “Sorry, I know you wouldn’t have called me if you hadn’t”

She opened the case and instantly sighed, lifting out a manilla folder “Oh god, Mulder I’m so sorry it’s in my case, I thought it was in yours too,” she paused “do you want me to run it over to you?”

Bill looked over at Maggie instantly livid. She was offering to leave and drive to Alexandria; they’d cancelled this dinner four times already. Since her change of career it seemed like they never saw her, there was always something, a case that came up at the drop of a hat and a flight to catch. There was a pause a she listened intently.

“Are you sure?” she asked. Waiting for an answer intently “If you don’t mind it will be fine with Mom and Dad… but yes I will check if you want me to. Hold on” she said placing her hand over the receiver “Mulder needs this casefile to complete our paperwork for a meeting with our boss on Monday morning and I’ve packed it by mistake.” She paused “He wants to know if it’s alright to swing by and collect it? I said it would be fine but he won’t come unless it’s OK with you.”

Maggie’s eyes locked with Bill’s. She knew her husband; this very exchange was endearing him to her new partner. She was glad; since Dana had joined the FBI and left medicine there had been tension between her husband and daughter.

Dana had always been such a Daddy’s girl, and he’d been so proud to say she was going to be a Doctor. That was until that night three years ago she had brought home that man; closer in age to them than to their daughter. ‘Mom this is Daniel,’ she had said. They had shared a stilted dinner while both she and Bill tried to ignore the unmistakable indent on the left ring finger. His pager had vibrated incessantly until he excused himself to use the phone. He’d returned and apologised profusely but an emergency had occurred with his daughter and he needed to leave.

Bill was incensed “I take it that was your wife?” he had said angrily.

Maggie had been mortified, true as she knew it to be calling it out created some drama within their family she wasn’t ready to address. Dana had chastised him and followed Daniel to the car.  

When she had returned it had erupted into world war three. Dana explaining that he was leaving his wife, that the marriage was dead in the water and that the ring on his finger was no more than a technicality. Bill had erupted into a rage; ‘that man, that charlatan had left at a call’ he’d insisted ‘that is not dead in the water.’ Dana, his most sensible, his most level headed child had fallen for the oldest story in the book; two women, one man- trouble. He couldn’t look at her the same. His clever, beautiful girl had fallen for the pretty lies of a man barely his junior.  He was equal parts disappointed and infuriated.

She had needed to learn it for herself; learn she had and the consequence was running from medicine and into law enforcement.

Then less than a year later they had met Jack, five years Maggie’s junior. He was intense and domineering and they both disliked him instantly. He barked orders at Dana in their home in a way which had rubbed them both the wrong way. Even when it had ended things between Dana and her Father had been so very strained, Bill just couldn’t understand what she was thinking. ‘Where did I go wrong Maggie if this is her view of what love is?’ he had asked.

“Tell him its fine,” Bill had said and she had passed on the message.

“He’ll be about an hour,” she had said “Is there time for a bath before dinner Mom? I need to get the plane off me.” She had said.

And so this is how she found herself now; Bill sat in the living room watching Friday night football, Dana was in the bath with a glass of wine and she was in the kitchen putting the final touches to dinner. As she finished laying the table, an extra setting left to one side on the sideboard in the dining room in case he ended up joining them, as much as she had been looking forward to catching up with Dana, she couldn’t deny she was intrigued to meet him. Dana avoided talking about him in any depth, this told her a lot. Dana kept her heart close to her chest; if they weren’t hearing about him Maggie suspected that there was something her daughter was trying to hide.

The doorbell rang. She heard Bill get up out of his chair and head into the hallway as she saw her husband open the door. A young dark haired man wearing a long black trench coat standing on the other side; he was tall and arrestingly handsome. He was dark, brooding with a lock of hair falling over his hazel eyes. Suddenly Maggie understood the appeal. 

Bill shook his hand “You must be Agent Mulder. Fox I hear? That’s quite a name!” he teased

Mulder smiled and let out a low chuckle. “No need to tell me Sir; I’ve been having this discussion with my mother for thirty years” he quipped.

Bill chuckled and clapped him on the arm.

“Well come in,” Bill stepped aside “She’s upstairs. She was just having a bath I’m not sure if she’s out yet. Might have a few minutes wait”

He held both hands up “I’m so sorry about this. I really don’t want to intrude on your family dinner; Scully told me you’ve had to cancel your plans already because of work. I’m happy to wait in the car”

The corner of Bill’s mouth twitched upwards. Maggie knew that this boy had no idea that he was doing everything right to make her husband like him, she suspected that he wasn’t even trying.

 “I won’t hear of it, come in, it’s cold out there Fox.” He said ushering him inside and clapping him on the back gesturing to the living room. “Starbuck” he shouted up the stairs “there’s a boy here to see you!”

“Ignore him Fox,” Maggie laughed “He lives to embarrass his children”

Mulder chuckled and followed Bill into the living room.

Bill settled back into his chair. “Have a seat son,” he said

“That’s ok.”

“Would you like something to drink Fox? Soda? Beer?” Maggie asked

“No thanks Mrs Scully; like I said I don’t want to intrude. Soon as I get that file I’ll be out of your hair”

Bill turned from the screen. “You a football guy?”

“I follow it a bit,” he replied “Basketball and baseball are more my thing. I lettered in both in high school.”

“Really?” Bill said “Charlie was always into basketball, Bill was my best shot at the NFL and it wasn’t to be, distinctly average although don’t you dare tell him I said that. I had to settle on him following me into the Navy and he is much better than average at that. Did you carry it on into college?”

“I went to university in England, neither are very big there,” he said “picked up rugby for a while, similar to football.”

“That’s interesting Fox, I’ve always wanted to go to England,” Maggie said genuinely intrigued “Where did you go to college?”

“Oxford.” He replied

“Ooo Maggie,” Bill teased, impressed “We’ve got a smart one here!”

Mulder smiled and shrugged a little self-conscious.

Sensing his discomfort Bill changed the subject “Did you watch the Cowboys VS Redskins game? Dallas came out like they were already in the playoff’s”

Relieved the topic had veered from him “Aikman was surgical. Three touchdowns? Guy looked like he was playing Madden on Rookie mode.”

Bill scoffed, he really liked this boy. “And Emmett smith- unstoppable. That offensive line gave him lanes you could drive a truck through and he still couldn’t make it work.”

“Washington had no chance,” Mulder said shaking his head. “Defense was gassed by half time.”

Maggie caught her husband’s eye. Bill liked him instantly she knew. She was glad this had happened; she hoped it might alleviate some of his concern about Dana’s work.

They heard footsteps coming down the stairs, Dana walked into the living room wearing leggings a fitted t-shirt and an open checked shirt she was sure belonged to Bill. She had pulled her hair up into a messy pony-tail, tendrils falling around her face and neck where strands were too short to be held by the band, she still had make-up on.

Maggie loved how effortlessly beautiful her daughter was. She kept her eyes trained on Fox’s face. She suspected she wasn’t the only one.

He smiled at her and there was no denying that their daughter lit up. She looked at Bill and knew he’d caught it too. There was no denying it Dana had quite the crush on this man.

“Sorry about this, I was sure it was in your case. We should have checked at the airport.” She said handing over the file, Maggie was sure she saw their hands brush one another during the exchange, she didn’t think it was an accident “and for keeping you waiting Mulder,” she said “I felt gross after the plane”

“It’s fine; thanks for letting me come to collect it. I want to get it finished while it’s still fresh in my mind, I’ll fax it over tomorrow and you can let me know if there’s anything you want me to add.”  

“Would you like to stay for Dinner Fox?” Maggie asked “There’s more than enough and you drove all this way.”

Mulder looked over at Scully; Maggie watched as they conducted a silent conversation, a whole exchange wrapped up in one look. She and Bill did this after nearly forty years of marriage. Dana had known this man months, it was impressive.

“Thanks Mrs Scully, but I really should get back and get this report finished. I really appreciate the offer though. That’s really kind of you”

She caught the flash of disappointment on Dana’s face when he declined, just for a second before she composed herself.

“I better get going,” he said

“I’ll walk you to the door,” Dana replied. Maggie took a seat on the sofa closest to Bill’s chair and started studying the TV guide.

“It was really nice to meet you both,” Mulder said to her and Bill.

“You too son,” Bill said “Maybe you can both come to dinner next time, it would be nice to get to know you a bit better considering how much time you two spend together. We worry about her you know.”

Mulder smiled “That would be nice. No need to worry, she’s a fantastic Agent. She’s tougher than she looks this one”

Bill looked at Maggie and smiled before turning back to the game.

“See you soon Fox,” Maggie said.

They left the room and Dana pulled the door to but didn’t fully close it. Bill raised the remote and dropped the volume significantly, smiling at Maggie conspiratorially. She rolled up the TV guide and whacked him across the chest lightly, he laughed.

“She’s a grown woman William!” Maggie exclaimed

“Maybe so, but she’s still my baby” he replied.

 They listened in anyway.

“You really are welcome to stay Mulder, Mom wouldn’t have asked if you weren’t,”

“Scully, you’re here to spend time with your family.” They heard him reply; his tone was softer somehow. Whether it was from trying to keep down his voice or because now they were alone she couldn’t tell “You don’t get to do this enough. You’re stuck with me every day. I don’t want to intrude besides there’s leftover Chinese at home with my name on it”

“It’s not intruding if I want you to stay” she had replied. “I’d like you to stay.”  She and Bill had exchanged a look; it wasn’t like Dana to show her hand like this. Their youngest daughter kept her feelings close to her chest, they’d learnt to guess what she wanted or needed from a very young age. She was very rarely this direct.

“Maybe next time then,” There had been a pause and Mulder had chuckled. She could imagine the look her daughter had given him to illicit that laugh “Ok, definitely next time. See you Monday… Starbuck” She could hear the smile on his lips as he said it. She and Bill exchanged looks, Bill had cocked one eyebrow.

As the door closed Bill turned the volume up as though nothing had happened.

XXX

Hours later when Dana had taken herself off to bed she and Bill were in the kitchen cleaning up. Maggie was washing up as Bill dried and put away the crockery.

“He seemed nice,” Maggie said “He’s very handsome”

Bill nodded “He did, I liked him.” He paused “I think he’s the one, Maggie”

Maggie rolled her eyes “Honestly Bill, they’ve known each other for five minutes and you spoke to the boy for seconds.” She rolled her eyes “You’re just pleased this one’s closer to her age than yours! Leave her alone.”

“I’m serious; it’s the way he looks at her. I’d put money on it. I’m telling you Maggie, that boy’s smitten.”

“I’ll agree there definitely seems to be a bit of an attraction there but they work together, it doesn’t mean they’re going to act on it. I’m fairly sure it wouldn’t be allowed in her line of work”

“Come on now Margaret,” he teased “We all know those rules in the workplace get ignored all the time. They’re together more than she sees her own family; if there’s an attraction there something will happen”

“Well I’m not sure it’s any of our business,” Maggie retorted “She’s a grown up Bill.”

“I know,” he said “I’m just pleased she’s making better choices than she was.”

“You mean that he’s not old, domineering or married?” Maggie teased

“Well that’s definitely a bonus.” He laughed “He seemed…” Bill paused trying to think of the right words to describe it “kind. I think he’ll take good care of her.”

“Does it make you feel better about the FBI thing?”

“He nodded, It does. Sort out that dinner with her tomorrow, I want to get to know him a bit better.”

She laughed “You mean you want to meddle!”

He laughed. “Well that too!”

Chapter Text

She hadn’t been able to shift the dream; she knew exactly what Dana would say. She would roll her eyes and tell her she was ridiculous. Tell her she was being silly, maybe ask her if she needed to speak to someone and ask if this was linked to the loss of Bill.

Without Bill the house had seemed deathly quiet. During the day she could busy herself, he could be out running errands or even out at the base (though he had retired several years earlier), when night fell there was no denying it. He was gone. The loneliness and the grief seeped in through every crack, filling the quiet with a despair she had never known.

She had struggled with sleep in the aftermath of her husband’s passing and tonight the wave of fatigue had hit her like a freight train, she had taken herself off to bed at barely eight o’clock. Sleep had come easily, it had been a relief.

But by eleven she was bolt upright in bed, her skin coated in a thin sheen of sweat and her breath ragged and shallow. The ghost of a dream burnt to the back of her eyelids, Dana gone, lost without a trace. She had wanted to call. She knew what she would say. She had tried to settle. She had picked up the phone twice before throwing on some clothes and shoes. She had intended to drive by seeing her car, her lights off and curtains drawn and to drive straight home.

It wasn’t to be she had seen the flashing lights, the news vans with their oversized satellites and the police cordon from way up the street. She knew.

Dana was gone.

She pulled into a space and stepped out of the car. The beat cops manning the cordon were locked into an intense discussion with a reporter and cameraman. She heard the tail end of a plea as she slipped unseen past the barrier

“We need you to move on, you can’t show the building. We haven’t yet been able to contact the family…”

She walked up the steps and stepped towards Dana’s front door, trying not to notice thee broken window. Bill had viewed several apartments with Dana before she settled on this one. ‘It’s the prettiest,’ he had acquiesced ‘but I don’t like the idea of the ground floor Dana, not with you living alone.’ She had rolled her eyes. ‘You worry too much Dad’.  Perhaps he worried exactly the right amount. Maggie thought.

Her door was open, a uniformed police officer blocking her entry. She tried to explain.

“I'm sorry, ma'am, but you can't disturb a crime scene.”

She was incensed, he just wouldn’t listen. “But this is my daughter's apartment. Let me go, I have to get through. I have to get in!”

He was right in front of her before she saw him, his arm reaching out to her, his fingers stained with blood.

“Mrs Scully?” he said softly. “She’s not in there”

“Where is she?” she asks indignantly “Where is she?!”

Fox wipes his hands on his trousers and carefully guides her out into the shared hallway.

“I’m so sorry Mrs Scully,” He said placing a hand on her shoulder “I really wish I could answer that.”

“What happened?”

Fox rubbed his forehead and he looked suddenly ten years older.

“There was a case,” he said softly “A man, afraid of being taken. It seems as if somehow he found his way here. He’s not well. He seems to think he needs to offer someone else in his place. He broke in and took her.”

She looked at him indignantly, clutching at straws. “How do you know? Ok he broke in? Has anyone spoken to her?” She paused “I know they split up months ago but has anyone checked if she was with Ethan? Maybe…”

He reached over and placed a hand over her forearm. “She was leaving me a message on my answer machine…” he said gently “I heard it. She called for me. I drove over here and found her gone and police everywhere…” He placed a hand on Maggie’s back and guided her into the foyer. “I’m so sorry Mrs Scully; I don’t know what to say. I will find her,” he said softly “If I have to turn over every rock on earth I promise I will find her.”

She believed it. Something deep within her soul told her what he said was true. He would find her. She didn’t doubt it.

He would find her. He would find her if it was the last thing he did.

She placed a hand on his cheek and tried to smile. It wasn’t convincing.

“I knew it would happen this way. I had this dream about Dana being taken away.” She fought the tears threatening to fall.

Flashbulbs started going off ahead of her and Mulder gently placed an arm on her hand guiding her back into her daughter’s apartment and away from prying eyes.

“I, uh... I was going to call her but I was afraid I was going to scare her” she said taking a deep breath and sitting down in a chair by the door. Mulder takes a seat on the coffee table opposite.

“She would have laughed at me anyway. She doesn't believe in that kind of thing, you know.”

He scoffed “I know,” he said softly. “Come on, let me drive you home. You shouldn’t be driving right now.”

She reached over and placed a hand over his knee. “Are you sure? Aren’t you needed here?”

He hung his head “Honestly? You’re doing me a favor. I’m useless here until they find where he’s taking her.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose aggressively. “It will give me something to do.”

“Is there a phone I can use?” Maggie asked “I’d like to call Melissa and ask her to meet me there. I’m not sure I can be alone. ”

He nodded, “Let me find one” he said quietly, squeezing her shoulder as he walked away. He returned several moments later.

“Come with me Mrs Scully,” he asked “Please?” She followed him down the hall, knocking softly on the door.

A lady answered obviously well into her eighties.

“Mrs Thompson?” he asked softly “This is Maggie, Dana’s Mom.”

The older lady drew her into an embrace “Come in dear,” she said “Make whatever calls you need. Such a lovely girl”

She had a brief discussion with Melissa and the next she knew she was seated in Mulder’s car, her head leaning against the window the biting cold baring its teeth. He was silent, driving to the speed limit. He suspected this was for her benefit.

“I promise I will call.” He said as he dropped her off to her front door. Melissa’s silhouette visible in the doorway.

She nodded. As she climbed from the car he grabbed her wrist. “I’ll find her,” she said intensely “I promise I will find her Mrs Scully.”

She placed a chaste kiss to his cheek. "You're a good boy," she said quietly.

”I will," he said quietly “I promise “ He watched her retreating form. How could this be happening? How was she gone? His Scully; his partner, his girl... gone. His gone girl. He would get her back. He had to.

Or he would never live with himself.

Chapter Text

Every Friday since she had been taken he had come over to update her on his investigation. Some weeks he had news, a lead, a new direction or someone or something to look into and some weeks he had had nothing new to share. These weeks he was quiet and anxious, wringing his hands unable to meet her gaze. He still came. At six pm on the dot he had walked up the front steps and knocked. Maggie had been able to watch his decline, he had lost weight, dark circles had developed under his eyes and he looked less put together with every week that passed. Last week she was sure she smelt the acrid tang of alcohol, not on his breath but seemingly seeping from his pores. She suspected he was nursing one hell of a hangover.

As worried about him as she was there was something comforting about seeing someone else, another human being as affected by her loss as she was. Charting his unravelling comforted her in her own. She had started to look forward to his visits. She found comfort in him and she suspected he did in her.

At six thirty she had started to become concerned, by seven she was downright worried. She called his office number; an out of the office message greeted her.  She called his home number which was redirecting to answer machine. She called the number on the card Mr Skinner had left with her.

“Sorry to disturb you out of hours Mr Skinner but I haven’t been able to reach Agent Mulder”

Skinner sighed, “I’m sorry Mrs Scully Agent Mulder is currently on leave from the office. I can send someone to do a welfare check if it will reassure you?”

“On leave?” Maggie asked incredulously “There is no way Fox would take a vacation right now with Dana still missing.”

“I’m sorry Mrs Scully I’m really not able to discuss it further. I will send someone to check on him, it is a little concerning if he is unreachable.”

Maggie was an astute woman; it wasn’t easy to pull the wool over her eyes. There was something going on here that she was unaware of. Mr Skinner wasn’t disclosing what had happened but she felt certain that something had occurred over the course of this week that had changed things. If Fox was on leave she was certain it was not through any choice of his own.

“No need,” she said abruptly “I think I would prefer to do so myself.”

She realised she didn’t know his address. She headed over to Dana’s apartment, letting herself in with the key trying to ignore the musty smell of stale air; time was passing so quickly, how had it been eight weeks already since she went missing? She headed straight to her desk and pulled out Dana’s address book. She prayed her daughter had kept up her meticulous record keeping, she surely knew her partners address by heart but she really hoped she had written it down. She flicked through the pages; K, L, M… Mulder. There it was, in Dana’s precise hand; 2630 Hegal Place, Alexandria, apartment 42. She felt a swell of pride for her daughter grabbing a post-it note and a pen from the drawer and writing it down.

She locked up and headed back to the car, opening the glove box and pulling out the Map Bill always insisted on keeping in there and planned a quick route before setting off.

His building was older, she suspected it had once been nice but it needed a little work. She headed for the elevator and rode up to the fourth floor. She walked down the corridor and stopped outside number 42. She could hear the television inside. He was home.

She knocked, heard the TV volume drop and some movement inside but the door did not open.

She knocked again and still no answer.

The third time she decided to call out. “Fox, I know that you’re in there. I’m not going to leave until I’ve spoken to you so unless you open this door I’m just going to have to get comfortable here.”

She heard footsteps and the door opened a crack.

“Mrs Scully?” he said softly

“How many times? Maggie.” She replied “Can  I come in?”

He looked back behind the door “I wasn’t really expecting guests…” he replied

“Not to worry Fox, I raised four children with a husband at sea a little mess won’t phase me” She stated pushing on the door a little before he could change his mind.

She had not been prepared for the sight that she was met with. There was stuff everywhere; pizza boxes, glasses and crockery piled on the surfaces and on the floor, empty liquor bottles and beer cans. She didn’t care about the mess but it was very clear he was not in a good way.

“Sorry” he said “I’d have tidied up if I’d known…”

“Fox what is going on?” she interrupted “You didn’t arrive tonight and I was worried, you weren’t answering. Mr Skinner said you are on leave?”

He dropped to the sofa heavily and reached for his glass on the coffee table, it looked like water, she knew that it wasn’t.

“I couldn’t face you,” he said “After what I’ve done.”

She sat down beside him. It was only now she noticed it, the slight slurring of his words. He was at the very least a little tipsy she suspected he was on his way to blind drunk.

“Fox, whatever it is I’m sure it doesn’t warrant this.”

He snorted and drained the glass.

“It absolutely does” he said “It’s pretty unforgivable. You’d hate me if you knew. I fucking hate me.”

He sat forward and grabbed the vodka bottle he was nursing and knocked over an empty beer bottle that clattered to the floor, he started to pour himself another drink. She wanted to stop him but she wasn’t sure how it would be received.

“Well then you better tell me,” she said kindly “Although I’m fairly certain I won’t hate you, whatever it is.”

He tossed back the vodka, draining the glass. That was it she thought, whether he liked it or not the mother in her was going to take over. She took the glass from his hand, he looked up angrily for a moment and she  smiled weakly.

He dropped his gaze and pinched the bridge of his nose “I’ve been suspended.” He said barely above a whisper “Until Monday. I can’t look for her because I fucked up and I’ve been suspended. I can’t set foot in the office. Everything is there. I’ve let her down”

“You’ve been suspended?” she said softly “May I ask why?”

“I can’t tell you”  he said “I’m too ashamed.”

There was a brutal honesty to him; he wore his heart on his sleeve she had learnt. She and Fox Mulder had developed a little rapport since Dana had gone; for someone in a profession like theirs she had learned that he was remarkably sensitive and that he tended to internalise and blame himself for every bad thing that happened.

“I think I need to hear it Fox,” she said softly, she placed a hand over his. “Please”

He let his head fall backwards onto the sofa staring at the ceiling.

“I slept with a woman on a case” he said unable to look at her “she turned out to be involved in the… what was going on. Whether she was a killer or a victim isn’t really clear. I compromised the case. It was stupid and dangerous”

Maggie took a moment to consider what to say.

“Is that why you did it?” she asked “because it was dangerous?” he turned and looked at her clearly shocked, not having expected this response

His brow furrowed “Maybe”

“I have to ask,” she said “You and Dana, are you involved in that way?”

He looked surprised “No” he said softly “No, we’re not.”

She nodded “OK, so I think it sounds like you were feeling a little vulnerable and lonely and you did something a bit…”

“fucking stupid?” he offered venomously

She chuckled “I was going to say reckless but yes I suppose the sentiment is the same.”

“You don’t hate me?” he asked surprised. 

“No,” she said firmly “Many a man has done the same stupid thing for lesser reasons. I think you just wanted to forget for a minute.”

He bit his lip and she suspected that he was holding back tears.

“I need her back” he said his voice slurred and shaking “Nothing makes any sense without her anymore” she was almost certain he wouldn’t remember all of this tomorrow.

“Oh Fox,” she said taking his hand in hers.

“I think I’m in love her Maggie” a tear falling traitorously down his cheek and he wiped it roughly away. “When she was gone, when that man was there alone… I just knew.”

She squeezed his hand.

“I don’t think, Fox, I know that you are.” She said simply.  “and when you bring her home you can tell her.”

“I feel like I’ve cheated on her”

“You’re not a couple; you did a reckless thing that I think was probably entirely about her. You don’t even need to tell her if you don’t want to.”

“I’m so sorry I’m such a fucking mess” he said covering his eyes “I’m so embarrassed for you to see me like this.”

“Please don’t, it makes me feel better about how much of a mess I am knowing I’m not the only one.” She said. “Come on, you need to sleep it off. Nurse the hangover tomorrow, go for a run on Sunday and take a deep breath and sort yourself out. Monday’s a new day.”

She stood and grabbed the blanket from the back of the sofa. “Lie down,” she said forcefully. He didn’t argue, she laid the blanket over him bent down and tucked it in. His eyes slipped closed and within seconds he was gone; the alcohol and exhaustion claiming him easily.

She headed into the kitchen and looked under the sink grabbing two bin bags, she went around the room gathering rubbish in one and empty bottles in the other. She placed the rubbish by the door and then headed back into the kitchen, washing up and drying the glasses and crockery and putting them away. She found a cleaning spray and cleaned down the kitchen surfaces and pouring bleach down the sink.

She looked around, not perfect but better and hopefully he might feel a little better, a little more together in the morning.

She filled two glasses with water and grabbed a box of Tylenol from her bag and left it on the coffee table for the morning.

She looked at him a moment and felt a swell of affection. This man, complicated as he was loved her daughter. He was as broken as she was by what had happened. It made her feel less alone. They may be walking through hell but at least they weren’t alone.

She turned off the lights and picked up the rubbish bags and closed the door behind her; she hoped things would look better for him in the morning.

Chapter Text

She sat by Dana’s bedside holding her daughters arm so gently, watching the machine breathe for her. Her eyes taped shut, wires connected to monitors covering her face and head. She was unresponsive. Maggie could hardly believe that this was her beautiful, vital, independent daughter so full of life. The not knowing had been hell, this hardly seemed better.

She heard the commotion of him approaching. She heard the shouts to stop as he pushed through the door. He didn’t listen; this man who had tirelessly searched for her for three long months, tied himself into knots looking for every possible clue of her whereabouts wasn’t going to be stopped from getting to her by anyone or anything.

Then he was there on the other side of the bed; seeing what was left of her, the daughter that she knew he loved. She couldn’t tear her eyes from Dana’s face but she felt Fox’s eyes on her, the ghost of a question he couldn’t ask passing his lips.

Her reaction was to shut down.

His was to rage. She heard his demands, “How did she get here? Who brought her here,” escalating into shouting “How did she get here”

“Sir will you please…”

“How did she get here?!”

She heard the nurse’s tone firm and professional reply “Miss Scully was in this condition when I arrived for the evening shift, if you step outside perhaps Doctor Daly can…”

“Is that Doctor Daly? Are you Doctor Daly?” He demanded, she glanced over briefly; in his rage Fox appeared to have grown at least a foot  “What’s going on? How the hell did she get here?!”

“Would you settle down...” the doctor replied imploringly, confused by the sudden outburst.

“Was it, was it paramedics, FBI, military?” Maggie continued to stare at her daughter, the state she was in- surely he didn’t believe this was something to do with those agencies? Yet he had investigated this like a dog with a bone; he wouldn’t be asking the questions if there wasn’t evidence to back it up. “Answer me right now!” his voice was practically a scream at this point. “What, you’re telling me she just appeared?”

“Sir...” the doctor interjected

“Who did this to her!?” She could hear it in his tone, he was gone; red mist had overtaken him and he was no longer in control. Rational thought and the ability to self regulate gone.

“Sir..”

“I want to see her admission forms. Who did this to her? I want to see what tests have been done!”

Suddenly two security guards grab him by the arms and start dragging him away backwards through the door. As they drag him away, he fights, continuing to rant as he’s removed from the room. “Listen, if you’re hiding anything, I swear, I will do anything, whatever it takes, I will find out what they did to her!” She knows that it is a much a promise as it is a threat.

Doctor Daly headed over to her bedside.

“I’m so sorry Mrs Scully; we will make sure that doesn’t happen again. He won’t be permitted…”

She looked up “No,” she said firmly “I apologise for his reaction, I called him and asked him to come. Agent Mulder is my daughters’ partner,” she didn’t clarify the term wanting to leave it deliberately ambiguous. “I don’t excuse his behaviour but Dana has been missing for more than three months and he has been tirelessly searching for her, leading the investigation and it has broken him. He hasn’t slept, he hasn’t eaten all he’s done is search for her.”

She reached out and smoothed Dana’s hair against the pillow “Seeing her like this… was a shock. I’m sure you can understand that.”

The doctor nodded “I’m sure, but my staff…”

Maggie nodded “of course and I will talk to him; it won’t happen again but I think his questions are valid given the situation.”

The doctor nodded “If you assure me that an outburst like that won’t be repeated then I’ll permit it, I’ll look into what happened and meet with you both to address it further”

“Thank you, that would be very much appreciated,” she smiled weakly “he cares about her very deeply. It’s really not about you or your staff. If you knew my daughter you would understand how hard it is to see her like this.”

Xxx

She couldn’t take it. Listening to Fox and Melissa argue back and forth about the living will. Both made valid points. Melissa, as much as he new age nonsense rubbed her the wrong way was attempting to advocate for her sisters wishes. Fox wanted to give her a chance, to find a way to treat her or to at the very least get her justice. Maggie wanted the same, she didn’t want to let go but Dana had made her decision and Fox had signed the will. Tensions were running high, but no matter the mental gymnastics she attempted she knew there was nothing to be done.

“That’s very politically correct.” Fox shot venomously.

“That’s very human. I love her.” She replied.

So does he. Maggie thought.

“Dana has made our decision. Fox... you and Dana had a friendship built on respect. Now, in the last year...I have lost my husband. And God knows I don’t want to lose my baby girl. But like you, I have always respected her.”

Maggie walked to the door and turned back. She knew how this would hurt him but she didn’t think there was a way around it.

“Fox... this is a moment for the family. But you can join us if you want.”

He shook his head, No. He wanted no part in this. She respected his wishes but felt sad either way. She and Fox had walked through hell together these past few months but he wouldn’t take this final step.

She smiled weakly and walked away.        

Xxx

It was late. Doctor Daly had encouraged her to go home. Dana was holding on and seemed reasonably stable. She was declining but slowly. He had encouraged her to go home and rest while she had the opportunity; he expressed that in the coming days it may not present itself again.

He had promised to call and she had listened to orders. She had lain awake for hours before giving up, getting back in the car and heading to the hospital. She passed through the automatic doors and headed to Dana’s bedside.

She stopped in her tracks.

Fox was slumped forward in his chair, his head on the bed beside her hand. She took a step towards them and noticed that her hand was clutched tightly in his. He was asleep; she wondered how much of that he’d had in recent weeks.

She moved to the desk. “How long has he been here?” she asked the nurse.

“Since about eight” she replied. “He hasn’t moved in hours, he spoke to her for a while. Then held her hand and fell asleep. I was going to get him a blanket but I didn’t like to wake him.”

She felt an overwhelming flood of affection for this man; this man who loved her daughter and turned himself inside out trying to bring her home. This man who refused to give up and let her go. This man who in a moment of drunken honesty that she was almost certain he didn’t remember had confided that he loved her daughter. This man, who despite his best efforts would probably never be able to tell her that.

She would let him have this moment; it was more than likely the only one they would ever have.

“Would you like me to bring you another chair Mrs Scully?” the nurse asked kindly.

She smiled. “No thank you, I think I’ll wait in the family room. Don’t disturb them, could you come and get me if there is any change please?” she turned and walked away.

xxx  

She couldn’t believe she was making the call. She never dared to believe it but she couldn’t wait to tell him.

“I’m here,” he said softly.

“Fox she’s awake,” Maggie replied holding back tears “She’s talking, she’s lucid and she’s asking for you. Can you come?”

She could hear the smile in his voice as he replied “I’ll be right there”

She knew that he thought he’d hung up, but he hadn’t she could hear the tears of relief from all this way over town. She didn’t want to eavesdrop on his private moment. She hung up and returned to Dana’s bedside.

Xxx

She hears him coming before she sees him; the staccato of his heels now familiar to her “Hello, Fox.”

Dana smiles and chuckles “Not Fox, Mulder.”

She couldn’t drag her face from his; he was drinking her in. She suspects he has never felt the emotions coursing through him before. She knows it; knows it because she feels the same way.

“How you feeling?”

“Mulder, I don’t remember anything... after Duane Barry...” it is as though they are the only people in the room, she and Melissa need not exist.

“Doesn’t... doesn’t matter.”

He holds up a bag “Brought you a present.” He takes out a video and shows it to her "Superstars of the Super Bowl."

She thinks back to their first meeting. The only time he met Bill “You a football guy?” Bill had asked. “That boy is smitten”

Dana laughed “I knew there was a reason to live.”

He’s embarrassed. She suspects if she and Melissa weren’t here then the conversation would be different but she’s not ready to leave “I know you want to get some rest, I... just came by to see... how you were doing and say hi.”

He reaches out and takes her hand before heading for the door.

“Mulder?”

He turns back.

“I had the strength of your beliefs.” Dana says softly.

 It’s such and odd and specific sentence that she and Melissa look at one another confused.

He nods however and smiles a long enigmatic look passing between them. Whatever this is Dana is telling him she heard him. She thought back to her conversation with the nurse in the early hours ‘He hasn’t moved in hours, he spoke to her for a while. Then held her hand and fell asleep.’ Whatever it was he had said, Dana was telling him she heard him. He takes her cross out of his pocket, Maggie wonders if it has been on him this whole time. Dana reaches up and takes it.

“I was holding this for you.”

She looks at it, then at her mother, she smiles.

He gives her one last smile before turning and walking out the door.

‘I think he’s the one’ Bill had said in a distant memory. She wished he was still here so that she could finally reply ‘So do I’.

Chapter Text

She arrived at her daughters’ room to find the bed empty. It was late; she had gone back to her motel many hours previously but hadn’t been able to settle. Their confrontation from several days earlier still playing on her mind; while she didn’t believe she was wrong for what she said she knew that arguing about it achieved nothing. Dana was a grown woman; she had made a choice not to tell her mother. That was her right whether she liked it or not. She had said she didn’t know why she hadn’t told her, but if she were honest with herself she knew it wasn’t true. Since Missy had been killed so soon after Bill had passed Maggie had been vulnerable, she had relied on Dana and leaned into her unwavering strength. She had allowed her daughter to hold her up. When she had learned of her own illness Dana hadn’t felt her mother could deal with the strain. Even as Maggie ranted Dana remained calm and placated her “ Mom, I'm fine. I'm going to be fine, I'm just here for treatment” she had said “You’ll know Mom.”

She had confided in him. She had leaned on him and kept her mother in the dark. She was hurt but she understood.

She hadn’t seen him since their conversation on the phone.

“Maggie it’s Fox” he had said.

She could hear it in his voice, that something was badly wrong.

“What’s happened?”

He let out a long breath “I really don’t think I should be the one to tell you, Dana needs to be the one to do that. She asked me to call”

“Is she alright?”

“She’s admitting herself to the hospital,” he said softly “I’m sorry but I really shouldn’t say any more, she wants you to bring her some things at the hospital”

Maggie felt the panic rise in her throat. “Has there been an accident? Is she ok?”

“Not an accident no,”

“Is she Ok?” Maggie demanded angrily.

 “She is in no immediate danger.”

“You’re evading Fox,” she snapped a little angry “If it’s not an accident then why is she in the hospital? Is she sick?”

“Yes,” he replied “I’m so sorry Maggie, I hate this too but it’s really not my place…”

“Dammit Fox this is my daughter. What is going on? If you won’t tell me then tell me where she is so I can contact her myself?”

“She’s at Holy Cross Memorial, you can call her there.”

She sighed. “What unit?” she demanded angrily. He didn’t reply, she thought she heard a sharp intake of breath, and he let out a very shaky sigh she knew him well enough to know he was holding it together. “Which unit Fox, please. I can hear it in your voice that this is serious.”

“Oncology,” he had said quietly, his voice breaking.

The bottom dropped out her world.

“I’ll be right there.”

She had been surprised that he wasn’t there when she got there. She had questioned Dana and she had told her that Mulder was following an investigation into how this had happened.

“What do you mean? She had said “You’re ill, what is there to investigate.”

“There is some evidence suggesting that this illness has something to do with what happened to me when I was missing. I’m only here now because I met another woman with similar experiences as me who was also receiving treatment from Doctor Scanlon. She is down the hall. Mulder is continuing to pursue it” she said “He hopes that he might be able to find a solution, something to help me. You know how he is, he wants to feel he is doing something.”

When Maggie arrived back here neither Dana nor Fox were here, and a moment of panic started settling in on her, surely if something had happened they would have called and he would be here of that she had no doubt. She was about to go and look for someone to tell her where she was when a nurse whom she had met several times over the last few days walked into the room. She was an older woman similar in age to Maggie, if memory served she thought her name was June.

“Sorry, Mrs Scully” she apologised “I didn’t realise you were here or I would have knocked. I just need to update Dana’s chart, I’ve just done her vitals” she headed for the foot of the bed, lifted the chart and pulled out a pen.

“No apology necessary,” she said softly “Where is Dana, I was a little worried when I couldn’t find her.”

June smiled sadly. “She’s down the hall with her friend Penny, it won’t be long. She doesn’t want her to be alone when it happens, Penny doesn’t have much in the way of family.”

“She’s dying?” Maggie asked softly.

“Its very sad, she’s fought like trooper.” June said “At least now Dana’s here she’ll have someone to hold her hand.”

“Maybe I should go to her, Dana shouldn’t be alone.”

June smiled “Don’t worry she’s not, there’s a man waiting outside; tall, very handsome. I can’t remember what it was but he had a strange name. Think he said he was her partner.”

“Fox?” she asked.

“That’s right,” She said “She said she wanted to be alone but he’s been here hours just sitting outside, waiting. That’s devotion”

Maggie smiled.

“I think I’ll wait here for a bit. Could you tell Fox I’m here please?”

“Of course,” June said softly.

Maggie sat down on the chair beside Dana’s bed. She noticed a notebook open on the bedside table, half full, a pen sitting beside it.

As a teenager Dana had kept a diary, Maggie had never gone looking for it but when she had come across it she would always take a peek. Dana was a closed book; she had never really learned to read her. Bill on the other hand had always managed it. He’d always known when something was wrong.

She knew she shouldn’t but she picked it up. In Dana’s flowing hand his name jumped out at her immediately. She read the page ‘Mulder, I feel you close, though I know you are now pursuing your own path. For that I am grateful- more than I could ever express. I need to know you are out there if I am ever to see through this.’ She was taken aback by the raw emotional honesty of her daughters words.

She had thought it to be a diary, it seemed to be an open ended letter to him.

She felt guilty even as she did it but she flicked through the pages picking out passages. She settled on the first page and devoured her daughters’ words. ‘I feel time like a heartbeat, the seconds pumping in my breast like a reckoning. The luminous mysteries that once seemed so distant and unreal, threatening clarity in the presence of a truth entertained not in youth, but only in its passage. I feel these words as if their meaning were weight being lifted from me, knowing that you will read them and share my burden, as I have come to trust no other. That you should know my heart, look into it, finding there the memory and experience that belong to you, that are you, is a comfort to me now as I feel the tethers loose and the prospects darken for the continuance of a journey that began not so long ago, and which began again with a faith shakened and strengthened by your convictions, if not for which I might never have been so strong now. As I cross to face you and look at you incomplete, hoping that you will forgive me for not making the rest of the journey with you.’

He had drunkenly confessed to her that he loved her. Now she knew for sure that she felt exactly the same. She felt guilty for her intrusion and looked no more. She closed the book and placed it back on the table.

She walked out into the hallway intending to go to him, ask him how he was, apologise for her irritation with him on the phone. She was stopped in her tracks by the sight at the end of the corridor. Her daughter, tiny, dressed in a robe and slippers and fighting back tears enveloped in his arms his chin resting on her head. He rubbed her hair and placed a kiss to her hairline. An embrace full of comfort, longing and unresolved tension; They found strength in one another. She needed him as much as Maggie had already seen that he needed her.

He was talking but she couldn’t hear what was being said. She knew she was intruding on a private moment. She should look away. She found herself rooted to the spot.

Dana pulled away and he placed a hand on either side of her face. He closed his eyes and placed a long kiss to her forehead, brushing her temples with his thumbs. Their eyes met before Dana pushed away and started walking back towards her room.

Maggie slipped back in and sat down in the chair by Dana’s bed.

She had wondered why Dana had confided in him and not in her, she had been annoyed. She knew now she had no right.

She and Fox were a closed club of two. She wondered if he had ever confessed to Dana what he had to her that night during his suspension. She suspected not given the longing in Dana’s words. She hoped if nothing else this disease gave them both the courage to address it, to act on what was so obvious now to her before it was too late.

Chapter Text

‘I’m not sure how to explain it,’ Dana’s doctor had said ‘but your cancer appears to be in remission’. She had collapsed into her chair, in shock and relief, wracking sobs overtaking her body. She heard nothing more although the conversation continued, Bill’s hand on her shoulder squeezing tightly. The words had been ringing through her head ever since. She couldn’t believe it; she wouldn’t have even dared to hope.

The doctor had left the room, Bill let out a long breath he must have been holding and slumped down heavily onto Dana’s bed.

“Dana,” he had said “This is the best news. Mom…” he took Maggie’s hand reaching out and squeezing it.

“I need someone to call Mulder,” Dana had said “I need him to be here, I have to tell him”

Bill’s face had steeled. “Dana, this is time for the family.”

She had shot him down with a gaze the anger flaring “He’s my partner, I want him here.”

Bill stood, unused to not being in control of a room. He and Dana had been butting heads over this for days. “I’m going to get a coffee” he stated abruptly and walked out.

Dana had looked at her Mother. “Please Mom, his hearing should be finished by now. If there’s no answer call AD Skinner, he will be able to reach him. Please just get him here, don’t say why. I have to tell him.”

So here she found herself at the payphone down the hall punching in Mulder’s now familiar cell number hoping for an answer. It rang three times.

“What’s happened?” he said offering no greeting, she could hear the panic in her voice.

“Fox, I need you to get back to the hospital as soon as you can.” Maggie said softly

There was a sharp exhale of breath, and a hitch in his voice “Is it happening now?” he asked “already?”

“No,” she said firmly. She wanted to tell him, she could hear that he was tying himself into knots. Dana wanted to give him the news herself, anything she said now would deprive them of that moment. “She’s asking for you, she asked that you get here as soon as possible.”

She heard the sigh of relief and the abrupt shift in tone “I’ll be right there.

Xxx

Maggie heard his footsteps approaching, familiar now as his sharp staccato was. She looked up at Bill whose face was thunderous. He got up and left the room without a word, barging past Fox without even looking in his direction. She suspected that he was heading out to have a smoke. He’d given up several years ago before his wedding to Tara but she had smelling it on him for days. 

Maggie looked up and met his eyes and offered a weak smile. His sleeves were rolled up and a top button was undone with his tie askew. His hair was tousled from having run his hands through it too many times. He seemed a little out of breath. She suspected that he had practically run from the car.

Maggie stood. “I’ll give you both a minute.” She said squeezing his arm as she walked out of the door. She couldn’t help but shoot a glance backwards as she shut the door; he had moved to her instantly and was sitting facing her on her hospital bed, one of her hands in his. It was desperately intimate.

Her illness had lowered the barricades between them significantly. The walls they had constructed that hid their feelings from the world, from everyone but Maggie, had been shaken to the ground. It was plain as day their longing for one another.

She crossed to the window and stood staring out over the courtyard at the concrete wall opposite. The sun was setting and lights had started to prick the twilight.

She heard his exclamation, half of her name broken by a swallowed sob of relief and shock, “Oh Scu…”

She shot a glance back to the glass window in her daughter’s door.

He was unabashedly sobbing; his forehead pressed to hers, her daughter’s hands on his neck.

She averted her eyes, this was for them; a clandestine moment between them that needed to be protected. She decided to take a walk to stretch her legs, feeling lighter than she had in weeks.  

 Xxx

He hadn’t left the hospital since.

Maggie had been out several times to try to get him to join them, he’d smiled and declined.

“I don’t want to intrude” he had said each time “This is your time as a family. I’m happy to wait”

“You are more than welcome, Fox” Maggie had said firmly.

He had squeezed her hand. “I don’t want there to be any tension for her. We both know there will be if I’m in there with you. Really Maggie, it’s fine. I’m happy here.” He smiled “I’d be happy anywhere right now.”

He had waited outside, Mr Skinner had come and gone and visiting hours drew to an end.

“Come on Bill, we should all get some rest” She kissed Dana on the cheek and gathered her things. “Should I send him in?”

“Mulder?” she asked smiling “He’s still here?”

Maggie smiled “Where else would he be? ”

Xxx

Bill had joined her at the hospital later today; Maggie had woken early and wanted to get straight to her but hadn't wanted to wake Bill. She had left a note for him to join her when he woke. They were travelling in separate cars. She watched Bill’s rental pull away before she realised that she had left her glasses in Dana’s room. She briefly debated attempting to drive without them but knew that there was no way she would get there safely at night and as tired as she was.

Reluctantly she made her way back up to her daughter’s room.

She knocked softly; the light was off in the room. She was surprised, she hadn’t passed him leaving.

“Mom?” Dana whispered “Don’t wake him.”

She looked over, her eyes adjusting to the dim light. He was slumped in the chair beside her bed which had been pushed right against the bed. He was holding her hand and he was out cold. His breath even and heavy not quite a snore but telling of a deep sleep, the position looked uncomfortable.

“That didn’t take long” she said amused

“No, he was talking to me and just passed out” she said softly “I think it’s probably been weeks since he slept. The nurses said he could stay until he wakes up”

Maggie smiled. “I know how he feels. I suspect tonight I will sleep like a baby. I’m so relieved Dana, God heard our prayers” She bent down and kissed the top of Dana’s head.

“Or the chip he risked his life for has saved me”

“If that’s the case then someone guided him there Dana. Someone brought you together. God works in mysterious ways,” she squeezed Dana’s knee “Your Dad said he would take care of you; I wish he was here to see this. Sorry to disturb you I forgot my glasses.” She placed a final kiss to her cheek and grabbed Fox’s coat from the corner laying it over his legs.

 “Goodnight sweetheart.”   She said as she grabbed her glasses from the end table as she headed out the door and quietly closed it behind her.

Chapter Text

You could cut the tension in the house as she left to go to Emily.

She had called him and asked him to come almost the moment she had received the DNA results.

“It’s Christmas morning, he’ll never come” Bill had said dismissively.

Maggie knew that he would. She knew it would be hours. Christmas morning flights would be full of empty seats and she knew he would be on the next flight out. A flight from DC to San Diego took five hours and thirty minutes. She bargained that he’d be here within nine.

She had listened to the beginning of the one sided conversation.

“I need you to come out Mulder…” Dana had said. She was certain that was the moment he was up and packing. She could see Fox in her minds eye, phone tucked between his ear and shoulder as he shoved things into a bag.

She needed him. He would come. There was no doubting it.

Maggie had walked back into the living room where Bill sat in the corner seething while Tara tried hard to placate him.

“He’s going to meet me at the children’s centre” she announced walking back into the room.

“And where is he going to stay…” asked Bill

“Here” Tara replied cutting off her husband angrily, her gaze an angry challenge. Bill had the sense to back down.

“I don’t know,” Dana had said, hurt by her oldest brother’s reaction “He might want to stay in a hotel, I didn’t ask.”

“It’s Christmas, you’re family. He will stay here” Tara replied firmly “He is more than welcome, isn’t he William?”

Maggie was impressed. Her daughter-in-law was flighty and easy-going; it had never been lost on her how much Tara had in common with Melissa, a counterpoint to Bill’s serious and stalwart nature. They were Yin and Yang; opposite but complimentary. When it came to family Tara was a Pitbull; Bill didn’t stand a chance.

Dana nodded at Tara “If it’s an issue we will find a motel”

We. If he wasn’t welcome, she would leave with him.

Maggie knew the hand grenade that would throw at her family. She prayed that Fox knew it too.

Within ten minutes Dana had walked out of the door, presents forgotten under the tree, dinner abandoned to sit with this Orphan girl in an institution.

Maggie’s heart sank. She knew what was coming.

Xxx

They had arrived back so late that the rest of the family were already in bed. Tara had left two pillows and a comforter on the sofa. Maggie, still not sure of the status of their relationship wondered if they would find it untouched in the morning and Mulder in Dana’s bed.

 At five to twelve she heard footsteps on the stairs, one set she thought but she couldn’t be sure. She laid in bed as she heard Dana’s door close and lay staring at the ceiling for some time, although she wasn’t sure how long. She needed a drink.

She left her room and headed downstairs to the kitchen she was passing through the living room where she found Fox sat up TV remote in hand flicking through channels.

“Hello Fox.” She said softly. She saw the slight jump of his shoulders as he turned to look at her. “Sorry, I didn’t intend to startle you”

He smiled “Sorry, I didn’t think anyone else was awake” he said quietly “I’m sorry for intruding on your Christmas”

Maggie waved a hand “It’s not an intrusion, Dana called you” she replied “How did your mother react to you leaving?” she asked.

“My mother?” he asked softly “I wouldn’t know, I’ve not spent Christmas with my mother in quite some time. I called her and thanked her for the card and cash she sent first thing.” He smiled looking back to the TV “I’ll speak to her next on Mother’s day I imagine”

Maggie was taken aback.

“What were your plans today in that case Fox? Were you with friends?”

He smiled “In a way,” he said “I was in the middle of a twilight zone marathon and looking forward to a dinner of leftover Chinese take-out when Dana called.” She knew that he looked at her face and saw the horror etched on her features.  “It’s ok Maggie, I like it that way; Low key, no one to please but myself. It’s really not too shabby”

"I'm sorry for the tension," he said softly "I know this isn't the Christmas anyone had planned "I'd go and stay in a motel, but she'd come with me and I think that might create even more ill feeling. I'm sorry."

Maggie had no idea what to say. She understood now how glued to the phone Dana had been.

She didn’t know what to say.

“Would you like a warm milk Fox?” she asked in absentia of a calculated response

“Only if you’re making one for yourself” he replied.

Maggie nodded and headed into the kitchen, placing a pan on the burner and adding the milk on a low heat. She had not known Fox would be spending Christmas alone. It didn’t sit right with her; No wonder Dana was glued to her phone. She suspected that she felt very torn between a rock and a hard place.

Maggie poured the milk into two mugs and carried one through to Fox. She paused a moment hoping that he would pick up on what she wanted.

“Would you like to sit?” he said, moving his comforter out of the way.

Without a word Maggie sat down beside him.

“Do you believe this?” he asked “That this girl is her daughter? Surely the most logical solution is a mistake?”

“I’ve seen evidence that it’s more than that. Long before today; maybe I should have prepared her. I found it when she was sick. I thought I was protecting her.” He said looking at the TV screen “Maybe I should have prepared her, knowing what was done to her….” He trailed off and raised his drink to his lips.

“Did you meet her?” she asked softly “This little girl.”

He looked in her direction softly. “I did” he replied

“What’s she like?” Maggie asked

“Beautiful” he replied “She is all Dana” he said softly “One look at her and there is no denying it. That girl is a Scully, Maggie.”

Maggie looked down at her hands. “Dana said she is sick and that both her parents have been killed” Mulder didn’t respond “Is it dangerous? Trying to adopt her?”

Mulder looked down “I think so,” he answered truthfully “But she’s Dana’s flesh and blood. Emily has every right to a mother who is prepared to love her.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose “And it might be Dana’s only chance for biological children if what I’ve learned is correct, I won’t begrudge her that” he said softly.

She took a moment to let it sink in.  “What might that mean for the future?” she said “If her parents were killed because of this and if Dana adopts her? Surely she is at risk?”

Mulder took a swig of his milk “Someone will need to protect them, won’t they?” he said softly.

Maggie studied his profile apologetically. “I take it that someone is you Fox?”

He didn’t answer her, just looked down at his drink.

She heard it ringing in her head, a distant memory, a drunken confession she thought he didn’t remember “I think I’m in love with her Maggie”

“I’m not sure how to answer that,” he said softly “But I’m always there no matter what she needs.”

Maggie studied his side profile as she stood to return to bed.

“Goodnight Fox” she whispered as she headed for the stairs. 

Xxx

She had heard the discussion they’d had as they waited for the tiny coffin to be loaded onto the hearse despite her attempt not to listen in.

“You sit with your family” he had said softly, a hand placed to his cheek “I’m here. Just know I’m here”

"But I want to be with you," she had said "You're the only other person here who met her. You're the only person who can even begin to share this"

He took her hand discreetly in his. "Tensions are running high, Tara and Bill haven't slept, we both know I've overstayed my welcome; lets not add fuel to the fire. Not today. You'll feel me from back there. I'm going nowhere," he said softly "Sit with your family today, we've got all the time in the world when we get back to DC."

It wasn’t enough, Maggie knew. She should say something. She should put this thing to rest between Bill and Fox once and for all. Now didn't seem like the right time.

They got through the funeral service, everyone else together. He had sat at the back, a respectful distant for Bill's benefit but even Maggie had felt his presence throughout.

They had all ridden this wave with her but he had been the one strapped to her chest as she was cut adrift in the tide. He had held Emily in his arms, he had tried and failed to protect her side by side with Dana. None of it was enough and she was gone. He had been the one to call and break the news. He had been the one who lay by her side as she cried. The rest of them had heard from behind a closed door, he had seen it.

After the ceremony he had hung back at the car as she had said goodbye keeping a respectful distance. He had approached and hugged and thanked Tara and offered a hand to Bill who had begrudgingly shaken it. They had managed to book three seats back on the flight from San Diego, but been unable to sit together. They’d been left with two together and one a row back and off to the left. Maggie had insisted on sitting in the single.

She had watched her daughter who was convinced that she couldn't be seen. Maggie had observed it all; how she clung to and drew strength from him poorly concealed though it was. Maggie unapologetically and unknowingly watched throughout the flight as Dana fell asleep her hand on Mulder's thigh, her head lolling to his shoulder.

She drew comfort from his very presence.

She knew how that felt. Maggie drew comfort from knowing that Dana had found that.

Chapter Text

She didn’t know why she agreed to these things. She stood in the kitchen placing the pastry tops to the final two apple pies she’d offered to bake for the church fundraiser tomorrow, eight more sat cooling on the counter top. She checked the time. The reverends  wife would be around to collect them in two hours time. She was beginning to assemble the cardboard boxes she had bought to place them in when the phone started to ring.

‘Let the machine get it,’ she thought. If it’s important they’ll leave a message.

The machine kicked in. “I can’t come to the phone right now,” she heard herself say “Leave a message after the beep.”

“Maggie it’s Fox, I need you to pick up if you are there,” she heard the panic in his tone “It’s urgent”

She dropped the box she was holding to the floor and lunged for the phone.

“Fox?” she said abruptly “I’m here, what’s wrong?”

She hears his audible sigh of relief “Something’s happened Maggie; we need to get to New York. I’ve booked us onto the next flight. I’m on my way to get you; we need to leave within the hour. I’m not sure how long we’ll be, pack for a week and we’ll figure it out.”

She was confused “What…”

“Dana’s been shot,” he said “in New York, they were taking her to surgery when I spoke to the doctor. We need to get there now.”

Maggie’s stomach dropped “I don’t understand, Fox” she said hearing the incline in her voice “If she’s in New York why are you here?”

“I’ll fill you in on the plane but she was sent there with a new partner,” she felt the panic rising in her throat at his tone. “I got a call from the hospital as her medical next of kin; they said we need to get there as soon as possible,” his voice caught in his throat “It’s bad Maggie, really bad”

“Oh my God,” she exclaimed. “How far away are you?”

There was a pause “Twenty five minutes. Can you be ready for when I get there?”

She was already half way up the stairs. “I’ll have to be.”

“See you in a minute” he said disconnecting the call as she raced up the stairs.

Xxx

They stood at the Taxi rank waiting in line to get a Taxi, Fox was becoming increasingly agitated. Ever since they had disembarked he had been frantically calling the NYU medical centre trying to find an update. He had had no luck.

“Yes I’ll hold,” he snapped at the receptionist on the other end of the line. “We need to get there now, we don’t have time for this” he said slinging his bag over his shoulder and passing Maggie the phone. He picked up her suitcase in one hand and grabbed his ID from his pocket with the other and started flashing it at those ahead of him.

“FBI, coming through” he said as he moved to the front of the queue. Bundling their luggage into the trunk of the cab as Maggie climbed in, the hold music still ringing in her ears. Fox climbed in beside her and slammed the door.

“NYU medical centre,” he said panic evident in his tone “As quick as you can please. The quicker you get us there the more I’m paying”

She passed the phone back to him as a voice came back on the line.

“I told you this already, Dana Scully, she’s been taken to surgery, she’s an FBI agent?” He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration “Well can you put me through to the surgical extension please.”

Xxx

It was rush hour. They crawled through the streets, inching closer to the hospital painfully slowly.

He was still trying to find information, they knew little more. She had been taken to surgery with extensive internal bleeding three hours ago, no one seemed to be able to tell them if she was still in surgery, recovery or…

She could feel it coming off him in waves. The fear. The fear they would get there to find her gone.

“How long?” he asked the cab driver

He looked back into the rear view mirror, he had heard all of this. He had asked Maggie who they were trying to get to almost half an hour ago and she knew he was doing all he could “My daughter,” she had replied “his partner, she’s been shot”

“In this traffic? Thirty minutes at least” he said apologetically “You could walk it in half that if you head down sixty ninth street”

“Let’s go,” he said to Maggie grabbing his wallet and shoving a wad of cash into the cabbie’s hand.

“Woah, woah,” he said “This is too much…”

“Bring our luggage up to the surgical waiting room and I’ll double it,” Mulder said getting out of the door and gesturing for Maggie to follow.

Xxx

They arrived at the desk out of breath.

“Scully,” he said “Dana. Dana Scully, I’ve been calling for nearly an hour”

“The last update we had was that she was still in surgery, I can try to find out for you” the young woman said picking up a phone

“Don’t try,” he growled “Make it happen right now.”

Maggie saw the man approach. He was wearing a suit, his tie loosened and pulled to one side. His shirt stained with blood.

“Agent Mulder,” he said quietly. She caught it, the fear the man had in approaching him,

Fox Spun around. His face thunderous.

“What the fuck happened Ritter? When I last spoke to her she was fine” he demanded “You’re supposed to be watching her back!”

“I don’t know,” he said softly, Maggie watched him wither under Fox’s scrutiny, he was certainly younger than Fox and probably Dana she noted. If he was out of his twenties, she’d be surprised. “Fellig was there and I thought it was a gun…”

“What?!” Fox demanded.

“I didn’t see that he was cuffed. It was dark. I saw the metal glint and I thought it was a gun. I’m sure it was,” he was stuttering and looking anywhere but at Mulder “They haven’t recovered one, they think it was a camera. I fired two rounds.”

“And?” Fox demanded

“I didn’t see her behind him until he fell”

She could see Fox grow in his rage. Before she could even move to stop him his forearm was at the younger mans neck and he was up against the wall.

“YOU!” he shouted “YOU DID THIS?!”

“It was an accident” he spluttered, Maggie could see that he was almost off the floor

“Fox!” she shouted as an alarm started sounding and two security guards came through the double doors “This isn’t helping.”

He shot a look back at Maggie and she saw him surrender. He drew his face to the other mans and snarled “If anything happens to her you’re a dead man” before pushing him away and storming off in the direction of the door. “I’m fine, Give me a minute” he shot at the security guards “Get him out of here or I’ll kill him”

Maggie turned to the receptionist, frozen with the phone to her ear.

“Sorry,” she said softly “It’s been quite a day. We’ve come from DC. We’ve been on a plane unable to get an update and then stuck in a cab trying to find out what’s happening. We’re not even sure if she made it out of the surgery… tensions are running high”

She smiled “its OK,”the girl said softly. She rested her hand on Maggie’s briefly “You’d be surprised how often this sort of thing happens. Let me see what I can find out for you.”

XXX

She was out of recovery. She was hooked up to all manner of machines. She was still intubated and unconscious. She looked tiny in the hospital bed, the quiet beep of the machinery and the mechanical hiss as the ventilator breathed for her.

They had tried to extubate yesterday but she had failed to breathe for herself and they had watched as a resident tilted back her head and re-inserted the tube.

Later the attending had told them how critical the next twenty four hours would be, if she failed to breathe for herself it would be unlikely she ever would. Fox sat one side, she sat the other. How were they here again? How?

She had survived her abduction. She had survived the cancer. Surely it couldn’t be something like this that took her? An accidental shooting.

She looked at his face. He was stroking her hand softly.

He looked up and met Maggie’s eye. He was scared. He was losing hope.

XXX

They had extubated and she had breathed. She had slumped to her chair in relief. He had stood at the foot of the bed and laid his hands over her toes, squeezing softly. She had noticed it; his hand had not left her, except for when he had left to use the bathroom or when directed by the doctors and sometimes not even then. His touch was a constant. If she was aware of anything she knew that he was here.

She hadn’t awoken. It had been two days. Two days of sheer hell.

They had been told that the swelling on her brain seemed to have subsided and there was nothing obvious preventing her from waking. It was a waiting game.

She would wake or she wouldn’t. The longer it went on the more the odds seemed stacked against her.

Maggie needed a break, she was tired and suspected he wanted to be alone with her. She decided to head back to the hotel opposite. Fox had booked it for proximity, she didn’t dare to imagine how much it was costing him a night, especially given that neither of them had really been there.

She kissed Dana on the forehead gently and walked round the bed and did the same to him. He looked at her surprised but she saw the tears prick his eyes. She suspected that he was as much in need of mothering as she was right now.

“I need a lie down” she said softly “Call me if there’s any change”

He nodded and settled back into his chair.

“Shall I bring you some fresh clothes?”

He nodded. “Yes please, I can’t leave her”

Maggie gave him a squeeze round his shoulders and headed for the door.

Xxx

He was asleep when she returned.

He had moved his chair to the side of her bed and pulled Maggie’s in front of him, his feet resting on it. His hand was encircling her palm with his forearm pressed against hers. His head was leaning uncomfortably against the railing of her bed, his discomfort finally giving way to his exhaustion.  

She crossed to the other side of the bed. Dana’s eyes moved under their lids.

She blinked. Did they? Were her eyes playing tricks on her? She so wanted it to be true that she didn’t dare to hope.

She studied her face. Nothing more.

She was about to go and get another chair when she saw her fingers flex over his. She knew she hadn’t imagined it. He felt it and his eyes instantly shot open and he sat forward. She stroked Dana’s forehead and she saw her eyes flicker and her lips part.

“I’ll get someone” Maggie said, elation and panic exploding within her.

She heard it as she headed for the doorway, barely a whisper “Mulder…”

xxx

Chapter Text

xxx

She pulled up Dana outside Dana’s apartment building and put the car in park. She stepped out of the car and reached behind her for the dry cleaning that she had collected and the bag of groceries and home cooked meals she had made to place in Dana’s freezer. She had called her earlier in the week to tell her they were going out of town to a movie premier. Dana had mentioned that her dry cleaning would need to be collected Friday afternoon. Maggie had offered to collect it and drop it off for her.

She walked up the steps and headed along the corridor to her front door and unlocked it. She stepped inside and shut the door behind her.

She headed to the kitchen and started to unpack the groceries into the fridge. As she did so she noticed a strange smell, heavy and oppressive; like stagnant water. She turned around and noticed the flowers on the table behind her, a beautiful but loose and informal arrangement that she suspected had cost a pretty penny. They had past their prime, a little wilted but still alive and kicking and too beautiful to let go.

Maggie’s grandmother had a keen interest in the language of flowers and their meaning and it had been something they’d spent a lot of time on in her childhood. When her mother had dropped her off at her Grandma Katherine’s they had spent countless hours pressing, arranging and growing flowers. It had been a game, Maggie would bring a flower from her garden, or the park or a neighbour and ask what it mean. Her Grandma had always known; it had fascinated her long into adulthood.

This particular arrangement was very interesting indeed; freesias and iris’s both symbols of trust and fidelity, yellow roses for friendship and pink camellias for passion. There was a card, she knew she shouldn’t but she reached for it and opened it.

‘Forever thankful you saw God in a Buddhist temple’

There was no name, there didn’t need to be, Maggie would know that scrawling hand anywhere. She had never known Fox to buy her flowers before, though that wasn’t to say he didn’t. There was so much between them that she didn’t know or understand. She didn’t see Fox any differently from her other children’s spouses these days yet technically she didn’t know what they were to one another. The card was ambiguous and clearly something only Dana would understand.

She decided to change the water. She carefully took hold of the vase and gripped the stems carefully holding them in place.  She set it back on the table and reached for her purse, taking out her wallet and removing two copper pennies. Her grandmother had sworn the copper would prolong the stems. She wasn’t sure she believed it but it was something she had always done; she figured it would do no harm. She dropped two into the water and replaced it to the table’s centre. She reached under the sink and poured bleach down the drain and wiped the ceramic sink down to eliminate the smell; there was nothing worse than coming home to housework.

She knew Dana would admonish her for her impromptu grocery shop, she always did but she loved doing little things like this for her children. It was harder to do for the boys with them both stationed so far away. She had stopped by Trader Joes on the way here and bought a few of Dana’s favourite things so that she wouldn’t have to rush out when she first got home. She missed taking care of them, little things like this gave her joy.

She opened the freezer and started placing in the individually packed meals she had made. She opened the fridge and noticed that something was different; a carton of Sunny Delight and one of Sweetened Iced tea sat in the door.  Dana had been watching her figure, though she wouldn’t admit to it since she was fifteen; these things were not hers. The most you would see was a diet soda. She opened the cupboard to add in the loaf of homemade bread she had baked. Pop-Tarts- Dana wouldn’t touch them if you paid her. Her stomach flipped a little.

Maggie turned back to the hallway. She grabbed the dry cleaning and opened the hallway closet to place in Dana’s winter coat, sent for a clean in preparation of the rapidly changing temperature. She hung the hook on the railing when she noticed it. Two men’s suits hanging in the closet, matching plastic covers over them, a paper tag attached saying Scully. Dana had been dropping off and collecting his dry-cleaning; maybe nothing new but she had never seen any of his clothes here before and popping in to do a task while Dana was away was nothing new. On the floor underneath was a pair of men’s running shoes kicked haphazardly into the cupboard, Dana’s shoes stacked as they always were neatly on the shoe racks to one side. They stood out in their difference.

She felt a tingle of understanding starting to dawn at her consciousness; for years she had wondered, studied and tried to decipher. Had it finally happened after all this time? She so hoped so.  Suddenly answers seemed to be within reach, presenting themselves unexpectedly to her.

She had always hung up Dana’s suit in the bedroom closet. She decided to do the same today, in the past the decision had been innocuous; if she were honest with herself today she was snooping. She pushed the bedroom door and initially nothing appeared to have changed. She opened the closet and started to hang Dana’s suits. She shut the door and saw a pair of Men’s jeans, a pair of running shorts and a faded New York Knicks T-Shirt folded neatly on the chair by the door. The ghost of a smile started to form, as she stepped out into the hallway and pulled closed the door to the bedroom she noticed the book on the bedside table a bright red cover she could see the title in bold from here ‘Mythology of the Folktale’. She knew her daughter; this was certainly not Dana’s bedtime reading. On top, still opened as if just laid down momentarily was a pair of men’s glasses. 

A knowing smile broke across her face. She knew. A mother always knows.

She went back into the kitchen and started clearing the paper bags folding them and placing them in the recycling. She picked up her purse and began to head for the door.

She was just a few steps away when she heard a key inserted into the lock and a very uncharacteristic giggle. “Mulder,” she heard her daughter say softly “That tickles.”

She heard him chuckle “I can’t help it, you just smell so good” he replied.

Maggie’s grin felt as though it would split her face in two.

The door swung open. Fox stood behind her, his arm around her waist. He was bent over her his face buried into her hair. Dana was smiling but squirming as she tried to wriggle away. “Can we please get inside before you…?” Dana looked up and her face froze in shock “Mom, Hi!”

Fox looked up and started to laugh, releasing her instantly

Dana was bright red and clearly mortified.

“I wasn’t expecting you, Mom” she said quietly.

“Clearly,” Maggie replied “It’s Friday, you asked me to pick up your dry cleaning.”

Understanding dawned on her face but she seemed unable to speak.

Sensing her discomfort Mulder stepped in “The movie was awful. It turns out L.A isn’t for us so we decided to head home early. We flew out this morning instead of tomorrow.”

Maggie smiled.

“Beautiful flowers Fox,”

He nodded “I thought so too.”

“Expensive I imagine, an arrangement like that?” She teased.

“I wouldn’t know, picked them up in the supermarket.”

She chuckled “Of course.”

Dana suddenly seemed to have composed herself “Do you want a coffee Mom?”

“No, No..” Maggie said firmly “I don’t want to interrupt your plans.”

Dana was mortified. Fox on the other hand was tickled by the whole thing.

“I’m sorry Mom, I feel like I’ve sprung this on you. I don’t want you to think I was hiding it from you, it’s…” she paused looking for the word “New”

“No it’s not Dana,” she said softly reaching over and placing a hand on her face “It’s been years, this is hardly a shock. At a push maybe it’s a pleasant surprise. Maybe you could both come for dinner tomorrow? If you’re free”

Fox answered “I’d love that, great idea isn’t it Scully?”

She nodded. “Yes”

“See you at six tomorrow then,” Maggie said. “Have fun you two” she walked out into the hallway and pulled the door shut she hovered and listened as she heard Fox erupt into full muffled laughter

“Mulder it’s not funny, I’m mortified”                       

“Why? It’s your Mom, she’s known how I feel about you longer than you have,” there was a pause. “We were going to tell her anyway. If you think about it we just saved ourselves a trip and we got dinner out of it. Win, Win if you ask me.”

“I guess. It isn’t how I would have told her”

“I imagine not, she won’t care.”

She didn’t care. She was just thrilled to see them happy. She was looking forward to dinner.

xxx

She stood to clear their plates. It had been a nice evening. Not the first time Fox had joined them for dinner, and in some ways no different.

Dana had mostly pushed her food around her plate, she had felt a little queasy today, she had explained putting it down to bad airline food.

They had talked about the movie, about his mother and about Fox’s trip to England a few weeks before. They had talked about crop circles and his meeting with some old university friends. Dana had talked about their experience being on COPS and Bill’s reaction to it. 

Maggie had noticed that mostly the dynamic between them on these rare dinners hadn’t changed. Mostly, she thought but one thing, Fox’s hand never seemed to leave her. He was always holding a hand, a forearm a knee. She recognised it from her hospitalisation last year, but this was more overt. His eyes and his hands didn’t leave her. He was drinking her in. It was as if he was relieved at finally being permitted to touch her and he found himself unable to stop.

Dana had seemed tense when they arrived but had warmed up and settled in to it. She had always been a little self-conscious under scrutiny but she seemed relaxed about this.

She had brought out dessert and they all eaten in companionable silence. It was barely eight thirty and Dana’s eyelids were drooping.

“You look tired Dana,” she said softly.

As if on cue she yawned. “I am,” she said “I think I’ve over done it. I’m so fatigued at the moment. Do you mind if we head out Mom, I’m so exhausted.” She yawned again burying her face into Mulder’s shoulder “If I don’t get to bed soon I’ll crash right here”

Sickness? fatigue? If she didn’t know better she would be wondering….”

XXX

Chapter Text

The phone rang. Maggie startled awake, abruptly she reached blindly for the phone. She shot a glance at the alarm clock beside the bed, twelve fifty two. Her stomach lurched, since Fox’s disappearance a call this late, could only mean news. Whether it was good or bad remained to be seen.

“Hello?” she said her voice cracking slightly with the remnants of sleep.

“Mrs Scully?” the voice was deep, gruff and somewhat familiar though she couldn’t place it. “It’s Assistant Director Walter Skinner.”

She sat up abruptly “Is Dana OK? The baby?” she asked

“It’s Agent Mulder…”

She expelled a huge sigh “You found Fox? Is he OK?”

He cleared his throat. “We did, he’s…” he was choosing his words carefully, she could hear it in his tone “I’m afraid we were a little too late.”

She refused to believe it even as the tidal wave of disbelief and sorrow for her daughter threatened to wash her away. “What do you mean too late?”

“Agent Mulder is dead, it seems as though he has been for several days.”

“No,” Maggie said firmly “No. I won’t accept it. Check again. I want to speak to Dana”

“That’s why I’m calling,” he said kindly “Dana is in a very bad way, she’s in shock and almost completely unresponsive. We were concerned for the baby she’s been admitted to hospital. I’ve got a car on it’s way to you and a flight for you booked to Montana. She’s in a bad way”

“My God,” Maggie said “How… I don’t think I can believe it until I see him with my own eyes. How will she...? The baby…” she wasn’t sure she could hold it back, the tears were silently falling already. She knew she would be a mess on the plane.

“Did Dana see him? Did she confirm it? When she was brought back everyone said she was gone, he never believed it and he was right. She’s still here now. Is she sure? Is Dana sure there is nothing to be done?”

She heard his inhale a little and wondered if he was struggling to hold back tears “She saw him,” he said a distinctive crack in his voice “I pried her from him myself Mrs Scully.”

The bottom dropped out of the world for just a second. How would she get past this? How could she possibly help her through this? How could this ever be ok? How would she help her bring up this baby without him, without its Daddy? What if she lost it? It had already been so complex. Dana would never survive it.

“How long until they get here?” she asked softly.

“Half an hour,” he replied.

“I’ll be ready” she said hanging up the phone.  

  xxx

Dana was still in the hospital, the baby hooked up to a monitor as she swung between expressionless staring and falling apart. She had been sedated yesterday, today she had lain on her side clutching her bump and crying. The noise that escaped her was like a wounded animal. Maggie wasn’t sure she could bare it, but bare it she must. If there was a hell it would be listening to that noise from her daughters mouth infinitum; it was torture. She held her hand and stroked her hair and whispered nonsense about time and healing.

It was bullshit and she knew it. Dana would never heal from this. She would learn to live with it, but she would never heal.

Maggie had seen the body as Dana had, she had stroked his soft hair that was longer than it should have been telling of the time that had passed since his abduction in Oregon. She had pressed a hand to his cheek marred by ugly circular scars.  He was cold, grey and undeniably gone. She had no idea how those marks could have been made, she asked the coroner he couldn’t give a definitive answer ‘Some sort of metallic instrument’ was the best he could offer. Her son-in-law, because that is what he was had been tortured; that beautiful, kind and open face marred by marks left by an unknown metallic instrument.

What he must have gone through.

Why?

“We need to conduct a full post-mortem, Agent Scully needs to give consent as his next of kin…” the coroner started.

“No,” Maggie said firmly “Dana already said no, he’s been through enough. Do whatever you need to do to get answers but you do not cut him open.”

The coroner looked to AD Skinner for support.

“We need to do a full post-mortem to gather evidence,” he was exasperated she knew

“She gave you her answer already.”

“Maggie we were hoping you might try to convince her…”

Maggie drew herself up “Why would I do that? Will it bring him back? We never found answers from Dana’s disappearance, cutting Fox open won’t tell you why this happened or who did it”

“Maggie…” Walter pleaded

“No.” she said “Dana said no. I’m saying no, end of discussion. If any other metal instrument goes anywhere near my son-in-law’s body so help me.” She stared skinner down, a five foot four tigress challenging him to a fight “The answer is no.”

xxx

Watching him lowered into the ground was heart breaking; She could feel the grief coming off her like waves. Her daughter had been sleepwalking through life for the full two weeks. There had been so much to organise and implement and Dana, her ferociously independent girl had merely deferred to her.

She was shell shocked.

She understood the grief of losing the father of her children but in a way that didn’t quite equate, that she couldn’t quite understand. When she lost Bill she mourned the years that had passed; the good memories they’d shared. She mourned the family Christmas's and Fourth of July's, the weddings he wouldn’t attend and the grandchildren he would never meet. They had had their time and for that I could be thankful.

Dana had no such luxury. She couldn’t mourn the loss of the happy memories, the years they’d shared as a family, but those the can never have. Fox and Dana have not had their time together. They had not lost their past, but their future.

Maggie knew that she could never understand how alone she must feel without him at this time.

How unfair to find out that she has lost the only person she has ever truly allowed herself to love, in exchange for the only thing she has ever really wanted; A child of her own.

It seems so unfair that the child they had prayed so frequently for; that Maggie had prayed so desperately for will never have a chance to know its father.

Although Dana has never told her that Fox is the babies' father she knew that he is. She sees it in her eyes when she hears his name. Maggie sees the loss. That wholly unselfish loss she knows she feels. Not for herself but for the man she loves and their unborn child, who have been cruelly ripped apart by the stony hands of fate.

Dana had told Maggie that she and Fox tried to conceive scientifically, before they had even become a couple they had undergone three rounds of IVF but that the procedures were unsuccessful. She had told Maggie that it was only after she had 'given up on her miracle' that it happened. But she couldn't just enjoy the shock and pure bliss she should have felt finally getting the baby she wanted so very badly. As they say "God giveth and taketh away". It would appear that this particular miracle had a hefty price to pay.

It was then that Fox was taken her. It was the cruellest of Ironies.

Maggie wondered if she was ever given the chance to tell him about the baby. She had never told her either way. She hoped she did, for all their sakes; hers, Fox’s and their child's. One day Maggie would ask, but not today.

Today is the day they lower his coffin into the frozen ground in Raleigh, North Carolina, laying him to rest in a grave with the mother who had barely bothered to call him during the holidays. He would spend an eternity with a woman whose relationship with him seemed defined by indifference. It had been his wishes, very recently updated since his mothers’ suicide to be buried in the grave with his mother, Samantha’s name added to the headstone.  Buried with the mother who she had never once seen at the hospital when he was injured, who had left him alone on the holidays and didn’t return his calls.

It enraged her, but it was his wish, and so it was done.

She had moved away after the ceremony, leaving her for a moment with Mr Skinner at the graveside. Dana had told her how he had been with Fox when he was taken, he wore his guilt like a shackle and she could see it weighing on him.

They had spoken briefly and Dana had stepped into his arms briefly, her steely strong daughter was broken and accepting of comfort wherever she could find it. Eventually she walked away. Away from Fox and back to her mother.

However would they do this?

They would find a way. There was no choice.

Xxx

THREE MONTHS LATER

The phone rang. Maggie startled awake, abruptly she reached blindly for the phone. She shot a glance at the alarm clock beside the bed, twelve fifty two. Her stomach lurched, since Fox’s death and Dana’s pregnancy not yet at full term a call this late, could only mean bad news.

“Hello?” she said her voice cracking slightly with the remnants of sleep.

“Mom?” She heard a quiet voice whisper

“Dana? Are you ok? The baby…”

She let out a noise, whether a cry or a laugh she couldn’t say “You need to get to Raleigh as soon as possible” she said

“Raleigh?” she was confused “What?”

“He’s alive, Mom” she broke down into hysterical tears, a laugh mixed with a profound sorrow “Mulder; he’s alive”

Chapter Text

It was a beautiful mid- October day, the leaves were a parade of Orange, red and yellow and most had not yet started to fall. It was glorious sunshine, though not too hot, one of those last days of sunshine before autumn gave way to winter. Maggie pulled up outside Dana’s building and stepped out gathering her bags from the backseat and headed in. She reached Dana’s door knocked quietly and let herself in with her key. Since William’s birth they had told her not to wait for a response, she had learnt the hard way that she might be waiting some time if someone was settling him or nap trapped.

He was such a contented little man during the day but sleep was fractured at best and non-existent at worst. Will had had horrific colic until twelve weeks and at the four month regression sleep had completely gone out the window.

Dana had been up constantly cluster-feeding and pumping to build up a stash ready for her return to work. She was exhausted. She had said were it not for Fox’s insomnia she wouldn’t have known how to cope. Most nights he had taken his son into the sitting room and Will had contact napped, skin to skin on his chest while he watched re-runs of the twilight zone.

Maggie had worried that he might not cope; it had been an intense few weeks and for most men she suspected it might be a bit much. She had started coming over during the day while Dana was at work to clean a little just to help out.

“How are you doing really?” she had asked him.

“Me? I’m great Maggie.” He had answered.

“Are you sure? Dana said the nights had been tough and he’ll only sleep on you at the moment.” She had paused “I remember it well, Melissa was the same. It’s pretty tough”

He had smiled, staring down at his son stroking a finger so delicately through the smattering of chestnut hair by William’s ear “I guess; I am pretty tired.” He kissed the top of his head gently “I love those hours though when it’s just me and him and it feels like the entire world is sleeping. I’ve spent my entire life trying to piece my broken family back together now I know I just needed to move on. I never imagined I’d be a Dad; I look at him and it’s like he heals something in me I didn’t know was broken. Him laying on my chest sleeping in the dark is the happiest I’ve ever been.”

He had taken to parenthood like a duck to water, it just came naturally.

She had walked over and leant over the back of the sofa and stared down at the scene that just a few months ago had seemed so impossible. She had seen him grey and decaying, they had laid him to rest in a snow covered ground, he had remained there for three whole months and yet here he was warm and vital and beautifully alive sitting on Dana’s sofa cradling their son as he slept. Maggie was a woman of faith; Fox was a modern day Lazarus. She didn’t understand it, she didn’t try to. How didn’t matter, she was just grateful to whatever deity was listening that he was here.

She let herself in and headed for the kitchen. She checked the nursery and stuck her head around Dana’s bedroom door, the apartment was empty. She checked her watch, five fifteen. Fox had said to come at five thirty so while she was early it wasn’t alarmingly so. She hadn’t expected to be alone.

She picked up the phone and dialled Fox’s number.

“Mulder,” he answered

“Fox its Maggie, I’ve just arrived, I’m a little early.” She said softly “Am I OK to wait here for you all or would you like me to come back later?”

“Sorry Maggie, I didn’t realise the time” he said “Will wouldn’t settle for his afternoon nap so I decided to go for a run with the stroller; we’re in the park”

“That’s lovely” she replied smiling “No rush, would you like me to start dinner?”

“No, it’s all prepped and ready to go. Dana called she’s going to be late home tonight an autopsy overran; she said she’d be back about six fifteen. Why don’t you come and meet us? It’s such a beautiful day. I’ll even spring for a coffee if you like Nana”

She chuckled “If you’re sure?”

“We’re at the playground. See you in ten”

Xxx

She stopped at the gates just to watch for a moment.

Fox was wearing running joggers and a t-shirt. The stroller abandoned next to the swing set. Six month old William was sitting in a bucket swing, his father sat on the dusty floor in front pushing him gently back and forth and saying “Boo” as his face met his sons. On each swing forward he pushed him gently back again eliciting a hysterical melodic laugh.

It was lovely and she was instantly choked up at the sight of this beautiful man playing with his beautiful son. A cursory glance around the play space showed what she already suspected. Maggie was not his only spectator, several of the other Moms were also watching. Fox was oblivious to anything but his baby boy and the laugh that continued to tumble from his mouth. Each time she saw his shoulders shake in his own quiet chuckle

‘He’s the one Maggie, that boy is smitten’ How right her husband had been all those years ago. She so wished he had lived to see this.

She pushed the gate and headed over. She felt his eyes turn before she saw them. 

“Look Will, Nana’s here!” he paused “Maggie you have to see how much he loves this…”

Xxx

The sun was setting. Maggie sat on Dana’s sofa opposite her daughter marooned by a nursing pillow as William cluster fed. The lights were low and the only sound was Fox as he busied himself in the kitchen putting the finishing touches to dinner. She looked around at the quiet domesticity of it all. Dana’s apartment had never been messier and yet it had never felt more like a home.

William had dropped off. Dana unlatched him carefully. Maggie heard an audible pop as she hooked her finger in to his mouth and released the suction from her breast. She did up the clasp on her nursing bra and rearranged her sweatshirt. She paused a moment her hand over her son’s chest waiting for sleep to fully claim him before attempting to lay him down. She stared down at him, a disbelieving smile on her face. The unconditional love Maggie saw there made her want to cry, after everything that it had taken to get here seeing her like this was almost too much to bear.

“Is he down?” Fox’s voice shattered the silence, Dana looked up and nodded.

“Here let me” he said reaching down and taking him “You’ve been on your feet all day, relax, I’ve got it” placing a kiss to Dana’s lips as he did and walking off into the bedroom.

Xxx

The monitor sat on the table in front of them as they ate and so far not a peep had been heard.

“How’s the sale going?” she asked him over her pasta

“Good,” He replied taking a sip of his beer “I accepted an offer earlier this week, we’re going to view a house on Sunday. It’s not too far from you. Three bedrooms, a porch and a garden, space for a swing set. Scully where is the listing”

“Pinned to the fridge she replied”

He removed the stapled paper and handed it to Maggie, it looked nice, pretty with a tree in the back yard that would be perfect for a treehouse.

“That’s exciting,” she said “and your Dads did you make a decision?”

He sat back down and took hold of Dana’s hand. “We’ve decided to keep it and rent it out like I have to tourists for now.” He rubbed her thumb absent mindedly “It’s a good little earner and if we try to save the proceeds and do it up it would make a lovely holiday home”

“It would make for beautiful summers Mom, even as it is its beautiful”

“We’d never afford a house on the vineyard like that again.” He smiled “The amount my parents made is eye watering. It will be nice to take Will when he’s old enough and the real estate prices are insane; it’s a sensible retirement plan.”

There was a crackle and momentary pause before Will started to cry. Dana sighed but Fox placed a hand on her shoulder

“I got it,” he said kissing her forehead “Let me see if he’ll settle first. Have a rest, talk to your Mom”

Maggie looked over at her daughter as she watched him walk away.

“What?” she said as she noticed her Mother’s scrutiny.

“It’s nothing,” she said softly “I’m just thinking about something your Dad said.”

Dana looked at her raising an eyebrow and lifting the camomile tea Mulder had made for her to her lips.

“That day he met Fox.”

She smiled, “I’m surprised he had time to say anything, he was gone within fifteen minutes.” She paused curiousity getting the better of her “What did he say?”

“He said that Fox was the one”

Dana snorted softly, disbelieving her mother but hoping it was true.

“He said ‘I think he’s the one, that boy is smitten’; you have no idea how often I’ve thought of that”

She smiled a tear sneaking from Dana’s eye. “He always did know me better than anyone else.” She paused “I really wish he was here to see this Mom, to see me so happy”

“He see’s it Dana. I know he does”

Xxx

As she climbed in the car to head home and pulled out into traffic she felt it. Felt his presence; felt him, as she sometimes did. This time sitting beside her. She reached a hand over to the empty seat feeling nothing but cool upholstery but she was certain that he was there.  

“He’s the one; that boy is smitten” she said out loud. “How right you were Bill”

XXX