A/N: Just a little thing I came up with a few months ago and it finally took off a few days ago. Definitely not a one-shot, but it will probably only be a few chapters. Just something fun lol. Hope you enjoy. I don't own TXF.


It had been years and years since Dana Scully had seen 3:47 AM in such an up-close and personal fashion. In her years working for the FBI and during her residency, she had undoubtedly been hard at work in the early morning hours, but she had been unaware that it was that time. The case always had to get solved and the patient was always the primary concern.

But that was a lifetime ago.

She had spent the last several hours on her feet, eyeing the kitchen clock in dismay each time the minute hand ticked closer to when her alarm would go off. Outside, the wind whipped at the windows and only managed to add to the incessant cries of her eight-week old son. She had officially diagnosed his colic by the fourth sleepless night at home and took him into his pediatrician on the sixth day for a second opinion. The doctor had asked her to estimate the amount of stress she endured during her third trimester; it was thought that this added stress was a contributing factor to colic. Scully had groaned and gave him the simple answer of, "Too much." Now as dawn crept up on her for the tenth night in a row, she was beginning to wear thin and knew that she wouldn't be able to soldier on for much longer.

The Fourth of July was now almost a week past. Scully, her mother, and William had all flown out to San Diego to be with her brothers for the holiday. He had managed to make the trip from Washington to San Diego happily, with little complaint. He had even slept through the fireworks on the flight deck of the USS Midway. It wasn't until later that night that the whimpering began. Not long after that, his whimpers turned into tonsil-numbing wails that barely stopped for the rest of the night.

While in San Diego, his crying hadn't been as bad. Her mother and brother's wife, Tara, willingly stepped in to help. By the third night, Bill even got up with him. They each took turns and woke up tired, but nowhere near the exhaustion Scully was now feeling a week later. Her mother's trip back was not scheduled for another few days, but Scully had been forced to come back and begin making arrangements to return to work teaching in Quantico. By the time she was scheduled to return to work, her mother would be back to care for William during the day. She thought they had planned everything out perfectly.

Scully looked at the clock on her cable box as she sank onto her couch. 4:08 AM, now. Sighing she looked down at William. His face was red and his cries were hoarse, sounding more like a bleating goat than an infant, but he was finally quieting down for the night, possibly too exhausted to continue on in the same fashion. Her eyes drooped and her head rolled to the side. She was having trouble fighting the fatigue now and soon she found herself drifting to sleep.


The next night was no different.

William was happy throughout the afternoon and into the early evening. Scully bathed him and got him ready for bed. She tried to sneak in a cat nap before William's witching hour began. By the time her eyes opened again, the sun was hanging low in the sky and the soft grunts coming from the bassinet in the corner were only an early precursor to the tempest yet to come. Her phone beeped on her night stand, signaling she had missed a phone call. Agent Reyes had called to tell her that she and Agent Doggett had received their first assignment on the X-files together. They'd be in West Virginia for a few days. Monica was always looking in on her, even more since her reassignment to the DC field office had been made official.

Scully was finding her pseudo-family worried more for her than even her mother did sometimes. Perhaps because they knew more than anything that she was willing to tell her mother. With Mulder's most recent disappearance fresh in their minds, they hoped to keep her from shutting them out. She was going to need help, but they knew they wouldn't hear her asking anytime soon.

Scully put the phone back on her table and lay motionless, drifting in and out of consciousness for a little while longer. William's grunts finally turned into whines and Scully groaned as she read the time on her clock by her bed. 9:12 PM. Right on time. She rolled out of her bed slowly and shuffled to her kitchen to begin boiling water to make tea. By the time her tea was ready, William was whining more persistently. She drank her tea slowly as she stood over the bassinet rubbing circles on William's belly, hoping that maybe tonight it may be the key to calming him.

She should have known she would have no such luck.

Two hours later, she was pacing back and forth in the hallway outside her room. As she passed by the bathroom, she caught a glimpse of her reflection. The woman staring back at her was nearly unrecognizable. Every physical symptom of fatigue was clearly evident on her face. Her eyelids drooped heavily and dark bags sat under her eyes. Long gone were her fitted suits that she had worn well into her last trimester, replaced by sweatpants and old t-shirts under a thin robe. Now that she was thinking about it, she couldn't remember a day that she had gotten dressed since returning from California. Shaking her head, she continued her pacing.

She wasn't supposed to be the only one taking care of William. Rubbing the heels of her free hand into her sleep-deprived eyes, she tried to quell the irrational sense of betrayal rising up from her gut. Mulder had gotten too close to uncovering a secret that he should have left alone once he discovered the fate of his long lost sister. He had been too driven, too passionate to let it be. When the colony of supersoldiers had walked away from William without so much as a second glance, the next logical assumption was that it was Mulder's DNA they were after. The ever-elusive they had caused the reconstruction of his genetic make-up and rationally Scully knew that she couldn't lay the blame on Mulder, but in her current state, rationality was hard to hold on to. She just wanted to sleep.

Perhaps she was wrong thinking that she would be alright alone. She had left California assuring her mother that if she needed anything she would be calling and Maggie promised to be on the first flight home. Maybe she was trying to prove something to herself. Admitting that she needed help would only solidify in her mind the single reminder that she wasn't meant to do this alone. Asking for help would be the irrevocable proof that Mulder wouldn't be coming back. The thought alone presented in a single, large tear that streaked down her face, splashing on William's hand. He hiccupped and his crying ceased for several long seconds. Holding her breath, she moved slowly to her room and laid the quiet infant on her bed. He closed his eyes and Scully sighed in relief. But when a knock sounded from her front door sent William into a fit again, she threw her head back and released a long, frustrated groan.

A quick glance at the clock told her it was the new neighbor next door. 11:01 PM, on the dot. Scully rolled her eyes as she looked through the peephole and pulled the door open. The woman was irritated, but remained sickeningly polite, gently reminding Scully that the nighttime noise ordinance was now in effect and that many of the other tenants had to be awake early in the morning. Scully rested her head against the door and closed her eyes, nodding in agreement with the woman, but not really listening to her. Noise ordinance? Really? Once she was finished talking, Scully smiled up at the woman.

"My son has colic," her voice sounded slurred even in her own ears. "The problem hasn't changed since the last time you came on Thursday night. The best suggestion I can offer is to buy ear plugs. I'll buy them for you if I have to, but until you've had any sort of true medical training and can offer me a proper solution to my dilemma, I'd greatly appreciate you keeping your comments to yourself."

The woman was frazzled, but remained cordial and polite. Scully didn't believe that the woman could have faked it if she had tried. She was too young and too genuine to really mean anything about noise violations. She probably still stayed up well past when she should and went to work hung over on Mondays. In fact, Scully guessed that she had grown up an only child, probably without cousins or any noisy family members. So while a raging party at the apartment below her may have lulled her to sleep, the noises of children were foreign and kept her awake. Frowning, Scully shut the door. William let out another wail, grating on her nerves and making her want to scream.

She needed help, but where to find it was a whole other problem on its own.