When Tom Colton invited Scully to lunch, she was a little leery. As much as she enjoyed seeing her old classmate, she knew he would have something to say about her new assignment. Plus, he had a certain heir about him.
She had barely taken two bites of her food and he was already on the subject of the X-Files. "So how are you doing? Have you had any 'close encounters of the third kind'?"
Suddenly her food seemed less appetizing. If he didn't ask her to help out on a case that didn't involve aliens she probably would have smarted off to as soon as the words "Spooky Mulder" came out of his mouth. Mulder was her partner and she was oddly protective of him. Though his ideas were, well, peculiar, he was a good agent and a great profiler. Plus, he always got her daughter's name right.
"How's Shanna? Or is it Shannon?" Tom asked taking a bite of his
"It's Shiloh," Scully said coldly. "And she's good." Not that he really cared. He was just trying to make conversation. She would help him because they were old friends and respected him as an agent, but she had a feeling she didn't want to make a habit of it. Even if being Mulder's partner made her "Mrs. Spooky."
When lunch was finally over, Scully was happy to find her way back down to the basement office where Mulder was already sitting there. She filled him in on the case and of course he took minor offense to not being asked himself, though she could tell he expected it.
Of course, the moment Colton walked in Mulder decided to be a little more obnoxious than usual. Scully almost wished she had some sort of leash for him when he behaved like this, even though she found it oddly cute.
Two days later Scully had gone from helping out an old friend to pretty well telling him to screw off after telling him she'd stick with Mulder. She'd always stick with Mulder, she decided. But that moment he reached out and hooked his finger through the chain on her necklace and played with it slightly while he told her that he enjoyed her company and was appreciative toward her, she melted slightly.
Mulder had charm, looks, and her daughter's heart. Was he beginning to get hers too?
The evidence that they followed apart from Colton's case let them right back to the suspect she had found in the ventilation shaft. A finger print, stretched or not, did match Eugene Tooms all connected to cases in 1903, 1933, and 1963. Eventually the evidence did lead them to a hole in the wall. Quite literally. They had the guy, they just had to find him.
Still, Scully was glad to get home and hold her daughter in her arms. The scenes she had viewed in the past couple days had left her desperately needing a hug from her daughter and that's exactly what she got when she walked through the doors of her apartment. As usual, Missy kissed her sister's cheek and headed out to her usual night life. Quickly putting her gun in one of the high cabinets, she pulled Shiloh into her arms. Scully on the other hand just loved holding her little girl for a little while longer, that was all the night life she needed.
"Mommy, what's wrong?" she asked, the worry obvious in a six-year-old's voice.
Scully just smiled down at her daughter. "Just a long day, sweetheart."
The little girl beamed at her mother and hugged her again. "Two hugs for long days," Shiloh insisted as her arms wrapped around her mother's neck.
Of course every parent said their kid was amazing, but Shiloh was definitely that. For a child she was extremely insightful and a heart of gold. Of course she had her ornery moments, but that was just another thing Scully loved about her.
"How'd I get so lucky to have such a lovely little girl?" Scully asked her daughter, rubbing their noses together in an Eskimo kiss.
Shiloh only giggled in response as Scully scooped her up and carried her into the bathroom. "You, young lady, need a bath!"
When Shiloh could decide on a temperature, Scully knelt down to her daughter's level. "Okay, you go get your pajama's while I call Mulder, okay?"
"Kay!" Just like that the munchkin ran to her room while Scully picked up the cordless phone.
She hadn't been able to get a hold of him to let him know that their stake out had been called off, but another message wouldn't hurt. She stood in the bathroom, holding the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she untucked her shirt and the call went to his machine. It's Mulder, I'm not here so leave a message.
"Mulder, you much have gone out since Colton gave us the night off. I say we file a complaint again him. I am furious. Call me when you get in-" Just then Shiloh came running into the bathroom.
"Can I talk to Mulder?" she asked dropping her clothes on the floor at her feet and reaching up for the phone.
Scully looked at her daughter. "It's just his machine, sweetie."
"Please?" Shiloh tried, using her big blue eyes.
Scully rolled her eyes as she smiled and shook her head, "You're admirer would also like to say a few words," Scully told the phone as she offered Shiloh the phone.
"Hi Mulder!" Shiloh exclaimed as Scully sat her down on the toilet lid to remove her socks. The little chatterbox kept going to tell him about her day while Scully went over to turn off the water. As she dried her hands with a towel, a familiar orange goo fell from her ceiling on to the white cloth.
Scully gasped and grabbed her daughter. Her motion was so quick, Shiloh dropped the phone. "What's wrong, Mommy?" she asked, sensing her mother's panic.
But Scully didn't reply. She sped across her apartment to the cabinet she kept her gun in and continued her fierce hold on her daughter with one hand. She ran out of her apartment to across the hall. Banging on her neighbors door like a maniac, she pleaded that Mrs. Williams would hurry up and answer.
The door opened to a familiar grey haired lady, who smiled gently at the two girls. "Hello, Dana, is everything alright?"
Scully pushed her daughter into the other apartment. "There is someone inside my apartment, I need you to take Shiloh and call 911. Can you do that for me?"
Scully didn't wait for a response, instead she just spun around back into her apartment and held her gun with certainty. Training always said to stick close to the walls, but the walls meant vents, which he had already proved in past cases to be able to crawl through.
She eased her way back toward the bathroom, stopping short of it to point her gun at the vent and listened harder. There was no sound, so she quickly spun around and took a step toward her bathroom.
Suddenly the sound of metal hitting the hardwood floor shocked her and something grabbed her ankle. She went forward, landing hard on her hip bones and elbows as a force drug her toward the vent.
Grabbing hold of the door she looked down at the glowing green eyes of Eugene Tooms. She wanted to scream, but what would that do? Instead, she kicked hard until her ankle was free, but Tooms wasn't giving up. He shot out of the vent toward her, knocking her gun from her hands and forcing her onto the floor.
Scully swung hard with her right hand, but he saw it coming and stopped it. Still, he wasn't expecting an even harder shot from the left. Still, he recovered quickly forcing her hands above her head, straddling her. Fear pulsed through her.
"Scully!" the familiar voice called catching Tooms off guard. Quickly, he jump off of Scully and bolted for the bathroom window, putting his fist through the glass.
Reacting quickly, Scully grabbed him. She wasn't alone anymore, she could do this now that Mulder was here. Tooms turned around and grabbed Scully by the throat.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mulder finally appear in the bathroom, grabbing her attacker with one hand and attempting to handcuff him with the other. Tooms had surprising strength, especially for his size. With one swift movement, he knocked Mulder back growling at him like no sane person should.
Letting go of Scully, Tooms lunged for Mulder but was jerked back in mid lunge. Scully had managed to link the handcuff to her bathtub before he could reach her partner.
He lunged again and again, before realizing he was getting nowhere. Finally, he seemed to relax. The glowing green eyes faded back to normal and he just kept hissing through his teeth at them.
Mulder looked past him to Scully who was bracing herself against the wall. "Where's Shiloh?" he asked her, panic and concern filling his voice as he reached for her. Her blouse was ripped open and she looked shaken.
"The neighbors," Scully panted as she willingly went toward him.
He held her by the arm as he checked her over. She seemed to be physically unharmed. They both looked at each other, a conversation happening in their eyes before Scully slowly went into his arms.
"How did you know?" she asked him, her head resting on his chest.
Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the golden cross that she always wore around her neck. "I think this belongs to you."
She touched the cross as he hooked it behind her neck. As she turned around to thank him, there was a shocked gasp that pulled her attention away. Looking around him, she saw Mrs. Williams and Shiloh standing in the doorway of the bathroom.
"Mommy!" Shiloh cried extending her arms toward her mother as Tooms lunged and hissed again, acting like a rabid animal.
Scully glared at the older woman. "Everything is taken care of, you did call 911 didn't you?"
Mrs. Williams didn't take her eyes off than man but nodded slowly as Mulder guided them out of the bathroom into the hallway.
"Good, now if you would please wait in your apartment…" Scully didn't have to tell her twice. The elderly woman rushed back into her apartment and most likely locked the door behind her. It was also Scully's guess that she would be getting a new neighbor after all this.
Shiloh looked at her mother and Mulder, completely horrorstruck. "Is that the boogeyman?" she asked, her blue eyes shimmering with tears.
Scully shushed her girl, and stroked her hair. "No baby, just someone that Mulder and I have put in jail, okay?"
Shiloh looked between the two adults. "Was he trying to hurt us?"
The question hit Scully hard and Mulder could tell. Putting his arm around Scully's shoulders he touched Shiloh's arm. "Remember how I told you I'd take care of your mother?" Mulder asked and watched the little girl reluctantly bob her head. "That goes for you too. Everyone's okay, and that's all that matters."
Shiloh wasn't complete sold, but her tears stopped at least. When other agents came to take Tooms away, Mulder attempted to say his goodbyes to Scully and Shiloh, but Shiloh clung to him. Her little arms wrapped around his neck, ignoring any of the other agents that tried to talk to her. Any hope that Shiloh was growing out of her shyness was gone.
When the final agent left, Mulder put Shiloh in her bed. She had not had a bath, but that was going to have to wait for now. Scully wasn't even sure how easy it would be to get her back into the master bathroom again.
Standing by the door, Scully watched as Mulder pulled the cover up to her chin and pecked her forehead. She couldn't hear was he was saying, but she could tell that whatever it was it was making Shiloh feel better.
Finally the Mulder stood and walked over to Scully. "She wants her kiss goodnight," he told her, smiling softly.
Scully moved to the side of her bed and brushed the mess of brown curls off of Shiloh's face. She leaned down and looked into her daughter's eyes before finally pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Goodnight," Scully told her daughter, standing up and moving back toward Mulder who was waiting at the door.
"Sleep tight," the girl yawned in response.
"Don't let the bed bugs bite," Scully finished before following Mulder out of her bedroom and leaving the door cracked behind her.
For a moment they both stood there, Mulder looking down at Scully as she stared at her feet. "Mulder," she said finally, looking up at him with teary eyes.
Mulder immediately put both hand on her and held her shoulders. "Scully," he replied softly, wanting to keep the tears from falling.
"Mulder, if it was just me, I would never ask you this, but," her voice cracked and the first tear slid from her cheek. "Will you please stay tonight. I can't be brave for two people right now."
For the second time that night, Mulder pulled her into his arms and held her tight. Before, Scully would have never let herself be so weak. She had always been strong, but part of being a mother was sharing her strength. Right then, after being attacked in her bathroom, he daughter seeing the man and being so afraid, she needed someone else to help her be strong too.
