Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Doggett walked to the door of his apartment as the bell ran, looking for through the peephole. He saw Scully, with Sam right bye her side. He opened it up, "Hi."
"Hey, Doggett." Scully greeted him, "Thanks so much for doing this again."
"Scully, have I ever turned you down?' Doggett countered as the redheads walked into the room.
"Not often." Scully admitted, "But, if something really big happens, we can still be reached by phone, and we'll be at the K street courthouse."
"Got it." Doggett assured her.
Crouching down in front of Sam, Scully told her, "Mommy and Papa will be back to get you tonight. Until then be good for Uncle Doggett, okay?"
"Okay, Mommy." Sam agreed morosely.
Scully gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I love you." She said before walking back out, "See you later, John."
"You, too." Doggett agreed.
"Love, Mommy." Sam added.
And with that Dana Scully took leave, leaving Doggett and Sam to their own devices.
There was silence for a minute and then it hit Sam that she got to spend a whole day with her uncle and she threw herself at him, wrapping herself around his legs. He managed to pull her off, flying her around in the air eliciting a happy squeal. When he put her down, he asked, "Any ideas kiddo?"
"I brought some of the stuff I got for Christmas." Sam answered, "Wanna see?"
"Sure." John said, crouching down.
Soon the pair of them were both on their stomachs, on the floor, each with their own coloring book.
"How are you so much better at this then I am?" John asked, looking over to the girls neatly, in-the-lines picture, then back to his that was much less neat.
"Some people got it, some don't." Sam replied, like a little adult, not looking up from her coloring.
"Oh, is that so?" Doggett asked, smirking.
Sam nodded.
A few hours, later, after Sam got board with coloring Doggett found himself "locked" in a closet, waiting to be recused. He had bee waiting for a while now, actually. "Can't I even try to escape?" He called out.
"No!" Sam called back, currently fighting imaginary ogres, "You're tied up in chains and stuff and in the middle of the ocean!"
"Must be a high-value prisoner." Doggett murmured to himself, deciding to give it a few more minutes.
"Besides, I've only got a few more!" Sam reasoned, kicking at one of ogres that only existed in mind then stabbed another, rolled under another and stabbed him from behind. The she hopped on a series of imaginary rocks, then standing on her tip-toes, opening the door.
"Help, finally," Doggett breathed as she cut through the imaginary chains.
Sam grabbed Doggett by the hand, as if she were the adult and he the child. "Be careful." She instructed, "We need to stay on the rocks."
"Okay," Doggett agreed, carefully stepping where she stepped.
They carefully walked through the "water" and the "rocks" until they reached safely. "It's okay." Sam assured him, "You're safe now."
Fighting back a chuckle Doggett crouched so that he was as tall as she was. "Thank you for saving me."
"No problem." Sam replied, then broke character, her eyes going down to the ground as she said, "Um, I'm hungry."
"Think you can play by yourself while I attempt to cook something?" Doggett asked.
Sam nodded as Doggett stood up.
John was a little worried, but it turned out he could make a decent, if a little brunt, grill cheese. And it turns out, that was still a big hit with kids. Sam practically inhaled the thing.
"Can we go outside?" Sam asked as she downed the last of it.
Doggett looked out the window. It was sunny out, nice even. It was a shame to be in on day like this, especially for someone as active as Sam. And there was kids' play set in the courtyard.
Sam was all over the place in the courtyard. Frist the swings then the slide, then the monkey bars then back again.
"Uncle Doggett." She called out from the monkey bars, "Watch me!"
"I'm watching!" Doggett called back to her. Actually, he had been watching everyone else and their proximity to her. Then it occurred to him that phrase 'watch me' and monkey bars were probably a recipe for disaster. "Wait, what are you gonna do?"
"This." Sam answered trying to pull herself up over the monkey bars.
"No, no, no, no." Doggett chanted, running over to her before she could do it pulling her down.
"Hey!" Sam protested.
"Sam you cannot do that!" Doggett snapped, afraid to let go of her. Getting himself back under control he explained, "Its too dangerous. If you fall while under the bars its probably just a few scrapes. But if you far from on top, that much worst hurt. A really bad hurt. Do you understand?"
Sam nodded. "I'm sorry."
"Okay then," He said, before giving her a kiss on the forehead, "Sorry I kinda snapped at you. I just-don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." After he quipped, "Except, you know, beg your parents for mercy."
Sam giggled, then got back up to continue playing.
"Uncle Doggett why don't you have a wife?" Sam asked, as they were walking back that afternoon.
"Huh?" Doggett responded, as he honestly wasn't expecting that.
"Why don't you have a have a wife or kids or anything?" Sam rephrased.
Doggett felt a sharp pang hit him. It was an innocent question, it was doubtful she had ever been told, but it still hurt.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked, noticing the change, "Why did you get so sad?" After a beat she added, "Did I do something wrong again?"
"No," Doggett assured her quickly, crouching down, "No, honey, it was nothing you did. It just I had a wife, a long time ago, but things-things didn't exactly work out." He stopped short of telling her about Luke. He highly doubted that Mulder and Scully would take kindly to him revealing those particular details of the evils of the world just yet, short of basic warnings not to go off with strangers, even if he for some psychotic reason would want to thrust them upon her.
Suddenly Sam looked like she might cry, then lunged at Doggett, throwing her arms around his neck.
"Whoa, what is this for?" Doggett asked, genuinely surprised by the turn of events.
"Because you're sad." Sam answered.
John returned the embrace, picking Sam up and carrying her inside.
Some time around five Sam took a little impromptu nap, curled up in a little ball around Exley on the couch with Doggett next to her. The phone ran and her quickly picked it up, looking at the caller ID before he answered. "Hey, Mulder." He answered in a whisper, as not to wake her up.
"Hey," Mulder repeated, "They finally let us go, we're on our way."
"How'd it go?" Doggett asked.
"The jury's still out on that." Mulder replied, "Literally."
"She's asleep, you want me to wake her up?" Doggett asked.
"How long has been out?" Mulder questioned.
"Just a couple of minutes." Doggett answered, stroking her hair with his free hand.
"If she doesn't have anything to clean up, let her sleep for a little bit." Mulder said, "We'll wake her when we get there."
"You sure you that?" Doggett asked, thinking about how hard it can get a kid who took a nap too late to get to sleep that night.
"If it causes a problem, we'll deal with it." Mulder assured him, "See you in a few."
"You too." Doggett replied, hanging up.
However, something, the talking or the movement or something had caused Sam to wake up. "What happened?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.
"That was just your dad, they're on their way to come get you." John explained.
"Oh." Sam responded, her voice still laddened with sleep.
Looking out at living room and realizing, that yes, it was covered with evidence a kid had been staying here, Doggett said, "I think we have so cleaning up to do."
And so, Doggett helped Sam gathered up the coloring books, that had been neatly stacked by the backpack, and the cow he was sure Mulder and Scully had slipped in just to punish him for giving it to her, however, there was the issue of a little lost barbie.
"She's gone!" Sam moaned after a while, starting to cry.
"Now, calm down." Doggett assured her, "It's got to be here somewhere. Now, where was the last place you remember having it?"
"I was fighting it on the couch…." Sam began.
"Fighting it?" Doggett repeated.
"It was siren." Sam explained.
"How do you know what a siren is?" Doggett asked, momentarily distracted by this development.
"Papa told me." Sam answered.
Of course. Doggett, then remembered the matter at hand. "And after that."
Suddenly Sam's face brightened with realization and she went to the couch, scampering under it. After a few seconds she came back up, holding her barbie in the air in victory. "I found it!"
"See?" Doggett responded, "What did I tell you?"
Overjoyed, Sam ran to the backpack and placed the little doll inside, "And stay in there!" She called ion.
A few minutes after the Barbie was successfully rescued, there was Kock at the door, which Doggett opened to reveal a certain couple of married FBI agents. "She's ready to go." Doggett informed them, gesturing to where Sam was sitting on the couch with her backpack on.
Sam lept off the couch and ran over to Doggett wrapping herself around his legs. "I changed my mind." She declared, "I can't go."
"And why not?" Mulder spoke up.
Sam stuck her head out. "I don't want Uncle Doggett to be alone."
Everyone exchanged looks. How do they respond to that?
"While that's very nice of you to offer." John began finally, "I'll be fine. I've been alone for years and I've been fine. And besides, I'm not really alone, even when I am."
"What does that mean?" Sam asked looking loosening her grip, but looking up at him, perplexed.
"Yes, Doggett, what does that mean?" Scully asked, just as perplexed as her daughter.
"Because, I got you and your Mommy and your Papa, and a couple of other people even if you're not physically with me." Doggett assured Sam.
"Oh." Sam responded, letting go, seemingly cheered up a bit.
"But thanks for the offer." Doggett replied, kissing her on the forehead, "Now go on."
Sam walked over to her parents, giving them both a hug.
"Good to see you too, kiddo." Mulder said, picking her up.
"Good to see you." Sam repeated, then turned to Doggett, waving, "Goodbye, Uncle Doggett."
"Bye, Sam." Doggett replied, giving her a small bye.
"Bye Doggett." Scully added as they began, "Sorry, we can't stay longer."
"It's okay, I get it." Doggett assured him.
"And again, thank you." Mulder added.
"It was by pleasure." Doggett assured them, smiling as they walked off.