Lucky Ones

Rating: It's fine.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Summary: What if Mulder had stayed after William was born?

A/N: So thank mariaw for this idea! It's all hers! I just wrote it! :) Listen to Lucky Ones by LIGHTS! :) Sorry for any grammar mistakes!

She couldn't remember a time being happier than the moment Mulder had walked through her bedroom door, with a hesitant smile on his face upon seeing her with their baby snuggled in her arms. She had gotten up from the bed, a smile on her face as she finally walks up to Mulder to show him his son… their son. Mulder moves the blanket out of the way to reveal the baby's tiny face and he's in awe. The amount of love that took a hold of him was overwhelming. She slowly hands the baby over to Mulder and as their hands brush against each other's, she goes back to the moment she had first walked through the basement office, peeking her head through first and noticing the newspaper clippings pinned to the wall, the desk spilling with paperwork and X-Files, and a certain FBI agent hunched over projection slides being illuminated by a light board.

She watches him cradle their baby, a smitten look on his face and she can't help but thank whatever forces out there for bringing them together. And she knows that given all the ups and downs, the truths, the lies, the abductions, the cancer, the heartbreak when learning she would never have children, that she would do it all over again if it meant she would end up with her soulmate and their perfect son.

"What are you gonna call him?"

"William. After your father." He's finally able to tear his eyes away from the perfect baby that's in his arms to look at his mother. Somehow, she knows the same thoughts are going through his head and that he's just as grateful as she is to be sharing this moment with her. And that the realization is finally hitting him. He's a father himself. This is his son.

She confides in him, spilling her fears about William being taken away, how and why he was born… but Mulder puts an ease to those fears. William wasn't what they thought he was. And William was here simply because of their love for one another. So when he finally leans in to kiss her, it puts an end to her worries and she seems to finally ease. She grabs a hold of his arm and their kiss deepens a bit. They stand there with lips pressed together until Scully pulls back a little when William begins to fuss.

"You're staying," she tells him rather than asking. "Let me put him to sleep."

"I'll come," he whispers, noticing how heavy William's eyelids are getting. He follows her across the hallway to William's room, which has been painted and decorated with pale blues and zoo animals. His crib is up against the wall with other pieces of furniture scattered about the room. There's a rocking chair and a changing table against the other wall and small bookcase already filled with children's books.

There's a wave of guilt that hits him when he realizes that he should've been here to help with all of this. He should've been the one to paint the walls while Scully sat back and watched, probably making comments all the while. He watches as she softly pats William's back and places him in the crib. He fusses for a few more seconds, but he's drifting off to sleep as soon as the mobile above him starts to play the soft music.

She turns on the baby monitor that sits in the corner of his crib and turns to look at Mulder, who's still staring down at his sleeping son. It was incredible how he could love someone he had just met so much. This little boy was half of him and half of Scully, and he refused to believe anything else.

/

The past few weeks have been nothing but a dream. Her son is healthy and growing. Mulder has been the most wonderful father, getting up in the middle of the night to help change dirty diapers. She marvels at how much of a family they have become in a few short weeks as she darts across her apartment, packing the rest of William's diaper bag and trying to find her purse. She unzips it, digs around until her hand comes into contact with what she's looking for, and she sighs.

Mulder had left her early in the morning to meet up with Doggett and Reyes, but had assured her that he would meet her for lunch and they would all go visit her mother after. His assurance wasn't complete without a kiss to the top of William's tiny head and then a kiss to his mother's lips.

So when he had called her to let her know he was heading for a small café where they could have lunch, she had finished getting ready and grabbed her car keys. William was already buckled into his car seat. Scully slung the diaper bag and purse over her shoulder, looped her arm through the car seat's handle, locked up her apartment, and headed for her car.

She secures William's seat into the backseat of her car, tugging on the seatbelts and making sure everything is in working order before she softly closes the door and heads for the driver's seat. She leaves the apartment, driving more carefully now than ever since she has her child in the backseat.

It's a beautiful day and the sun is shining bright. She can't help but think maybe things are looking up for them and then… her phone rings. She's approaching a red light and slows down the car, knowing she shouldn't reach for her phone, but she does anyway fearing that it may be Mulder.

She comes to a complete stop at the light, answers the phone when she reads Mulder's number and smiles into the rearview mirror when she sees William laughing at something.

"Everything alright, Mulder?"

"Peachy. Just making sure you two are okay."

The traffic light turns green and she lifts her foot off the break to advance through the intersection. The road ahead of her is clear of traffic, so she looks up into the rearview mirror one last time to smile at William as she goes to answer Mulder.

"We're fine, Mu-"

There's an ear shattering crash that makes Mulder stand from the small café table immediately and scream into the phone.

"Scully!" He's already reaching in his pocket for his car keys. "Scully, are you okay?! What happened!?" He dashes across the street, his heart nearly pounding in his chest. He's never been more scared than in this moment and he takes a split second to calm down before getting into his own car to find them.

He presses his ear harder against the phone, listening for any signs that they're okay. William's cries are all he hears and it's breaking his heart with every second he's away from them.

/

There's ringing in her ears and the sound of William's cry is muffled. There's a pounding in her head and she tries to open her eyes, but the sunlight pouring from her shattered windshield is nearly blinding her. There's dust and broken glass floating around in the car and she tries to free herself of her seatbelt, but it's stuck. The airbag has deployed and panics when she can't get out of her seatbelt. The ringing in her ears is slowly faded away and William's cries are becoming louder and louder.

"William, it's okay. Mommy's here." She knows he can't understand her, but maybe the sound of her voice is enough to calm him down. "It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay." She lets her head fall back against the seat as she tries to steady her breathing.

'Think, Dana…. The phone. Mulder!'

"Mulder," she calls out, trying to reach for the phone that's been thrown to the other side of the car. "Mulder, we need help. I can't-"

There are sounds of car doors slamming and she sighs in relief. Finally, someone was there to help her. She can hear the sound of glass crunching underneath feet as the person who was in the other car approaches.

"My baby," she calls out. "He's in the backseat. I can't get to him," she calls out. William's cries have died down a little, but he's still making a fuss in the backseat. "Can you help us, please? I'm fine. I just can't… get out." She tries her seatbelt one last time and when it doesn't come unbuckled, she whips her head toward the shattered window and see's the shadowed person standing in front of her door.

She stills, swallowing hard and squinting through the dust as she tries to figure out what's going on. She turns her head in every direction, trying to find a way out of the car. Her eyes catch a glimpse of a tall man in a dark suit through the rearview mirror she was just smiling at William through. He's standing behind the car, near the trunk, nodding to someone towards the backseat.

"No!" She screams desperately, her voice shaking with fury and anger when she realizes these men are here to take William. They've intentionally put them in danger to steal her baby away from her. Something overcomes her, some unbelievable strength that helps her squirm her way out of the jammed seatbelt. She crawls into the passenger seat, broken glass shards digging into her hands and knees, but she doesn't feel it. She reaches for her purse that's been tossed around like an old rag doll and pulls out her gun, sets it, and pushes through passenger side door.

The adrenaline is rushing through her body and she has no other care in the world right now than making sure William is not taken by these men. She steps out onto the glass covered road, drawing her gun out evenly against the car's roof and pointing it dead at the man closest to William.

"Step. Away." Her words are loud and meaningful, because for a second, she see's red and she doesn't care how many people she has to kill in this moment.

"The boy is coming with us," the one closer to the trunk calmly states.

"You are not leaving with my son," she screams over the sound of crying baby. "I will put a bullet through your head before you can even reach for the door," she threatens, fully intending to pull the trigger if they get any closer.

There's sounds of an ambulance and police off in the distance and it seems to spark the two men trying to take her baby. The one closest to William reaches for the door suddenly and there's one, two, three gunshots. The end of her gun is smoking as she watches the man in front of her stumble away from the car and fall lifelessly to the ground. Mulder comes into view standing across the road with his gun pointed also.

She points her gun to the ground immediately, her head turning sharply to the left to see the second man who was threatening to take her son away had fallen dead to the ground as well thanks to Mulder. Her shoulders hunch over as she lets her gun fall to the ground. She runs to the other side of the car, meeting Mulder at the same time as he pulls the door open and unbuckles his crying son, hugging him close to his chest before handing him over to Scully, who bursts into a fit of tears at the feel of her son safely in her arms.

"They came for him, Mulder," she spits out in an uneven, shaky voice. Her hand goes to the back of William's head as she holds him close to her, determined never to let go of him again. "They tried to kill me so they could get to him," she motions to the totaled car, its entire driver side obliterated. The damage is hard to look at when she realizes she could've been seriously hurt and unable to protect William.

Mulder stands close to his family, steadying Scully and making sure William is okay before leaving them to get a good look at the two dead men on the pavement. Super soldiers couldn't die from just bullets, but these weren't super soldiers. These were human men that were sent to kill Scully and take his son.

/

She's sitting in the nursery, watching William sleep and content to stay exactly where she is. Just a few days ago, someone had tried to kill her to get to her son and she was more afraid than ever. They were finally here to take him away from her. She had just finally gotten Mulder back and now they wanted her son? No. They couldn't have either one of them and she would make sure of it.

There's a soft knock on the door of the nursery and she looks up from her scared her hands to see Mulder standing there, leaning against the frame.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," she softly whispers, turning her head to look at William once more. He steps into the room and comes to stand in front of his sleeping son. There are no words to express how thankful he is that both Scully and William are unharmed. But even though her words are to make him believe she's okay, he knows her better… knows there something more that's bothering her.

"You can't blame yourself for what happened," he whispers, pushing himself away from the crib and bending down in front of Scully to see her face. He balances himself on the balls of his feet and places his hands in her lap. There's a lone tear that suddenly falls from the corner of her eye and rolls down her cheek. He instantly reaches for her then, pulling her up and out of the chair she's sitting in, careful to avoid the cuts and scrapes on her hands.

"Mulder," she cries into his shoulder, his arms going around her waist to hold her tight against his body. "They almost took him away from us." One of his hands goes into her hair and holds her head steady against his chest. "I can't keep doing this," she sobs, the tears falling quicker. Her body is shaking with the force of her sobbing and all he can do is hold onto her. "I don't want him to grow up like this, Mulder," he says nothing, but listens to her concerns. "Always running. Always afraid of what could happen. I'm not going to give him that kind of life."

"Scully, there's no one better to protect our son than us. What happened back there? You saved his life. You kept him safe." She manages to stop the tears for a moment to look up at him and his heart is breaking all over again. He reaches up to wipe away the tears that are falling down her cheeks and can't help but think that this is his family now. There's no more looking for 'the truth' and there's no more 'uncovering conspiracies'. The only thing that matters to him now is the woman in his arms and their son sleeping soundly a few feet away from them. "What can I do, Scully?"

There's a moment of silence as she heavily weighs what she's about to say. This decision would tear her away from everyone she knew and loved, but if it would keep her son safe, it was worth any price.

"We need to leave here, Mulder," she whispers, the mobile above William's crib slowly coming to an end as the soft music dies away. "It's not safe here."

The thought of leaving everything behind to start a new life didn't quite scare him as much as he thought it would, but it was still a hard concept to grasp. Where would they go? How would they get there? How would it keep William safe, if at all?

"Scully…" He begins to try to persuade her out of it, trying to rationalize that what happened a few days ago was certainly a scare, but that they had handled it well. There was still her mother and her own family that they would have to leave behind. He didn't have much, but that wouldn't stop him from missing the town he spent the majority of his life in. Maybe it was unreasonable to get up and leave just like that, but to Scully, it seemed like a good idea.

"Mulder, no. Do not try to convince me that we can stay here." She tries to push away from him, but William starts to fuss. She pulls him out of the room and into the hallway so they won't disturb their baby. "Did you not see what happened? Mulder, we had to kill two people. TWO people. Imagine how many more are out there trying to find us!"

"Scully, what's to say they haven't already found us? Are you willing to up root everything and move to a new place just to have them follow us?"

"People start new lives every day, like whatever happened in their past is completely obsolete. Just… please," she begs. There's a desperation in her eyes that twists at his heart and he suddenly knows what he has to do.

A/N: So there's the first installment. I plan to do a few short things after this that show them adjusting to their new life. Let me know if you like it! Again, sorry for any grammar mistakes! Hope you like it, Maria! :)