It had been six months since the birth of Mulder and Scully's baby girl, Melissa. For the first time in several years, Mulder had felt like a father again and for once he felt as if nothing else had mattered anymore besides Scully and their baby. He had made a promise that he would keep them both safe...that she would never again have to feel afraid for her baby's life and be forced to make a choice. Despite that though, something wasn't right with Scully. He knew from his Oxford days that post-partum was fairly common, but what he had been witnessing was unusual. It seemed as if Scully was making a conscious effort not to hold or touch the baby unless it was necessary to feed her, change her or put her to sleep. He was afraid to mention it to her...he felt a bit at a disadvantage since she was the Doctor. He felt terrible that Scully looked uncomfortable holding and bonding with the baby and tried to make up for that as much as possible. It wasn't his daughter's fault. He also felt for Scully and he knew that whatever she was going through right now that didn't allow her to properly bond with Melissa was probably due to the fact that she felt forced to give up William and was doing her best not to get too attached to this baby. But in a lot of ways, her maternal instinct still took over whenever she cried or needed her for any reason. Scully was still very attentive to those needs. Many years ago, he recalled Scully mentioning during therapy that she had always tried not to get too attached to people, because in some way she felt as if those relationships had failed and thus perceived those attachments as a bad thing. He was certain that was what was happening now and he was over come with an overwhelming love for both of them that he was admittedly scared. Did she realize she was acting this way? He lay awake as Scully put Melissa to sleep and came to lay in the bed with him. "Scully,"

"Hmm, what is it, Mulder?"

"Are you okay?" he was careful about his choice of wording.

"Yes, why?"

"Umm, it's just that...I've noticed...it just feels like you've built up this wall between you and our daughter."

"That's ridiculous, Mulder."

"Is it? I mean, after everything that's happened, it would be entirely understandable that-"

She pulled away from him and stopped him short. "I love my baby, Mulder."

He knew that she did and that she would risk her life to protect her. But the fact that she was separating herself emotionally wasn't good for the baby's health either.

"I know that, Scully. I know you do."

"Then there isn't a problem."

He sighed. There was just no way Scully was going to take this well at all.

He felt a little betrayed as Scully pulled away. He lay away until the darkness allowed sleep to consume him.

A few hours later, Scully awoke with with a sense of longing she could no longer explain. She looked over at the clock that read 2AM and gently slipped out of bed after taking one last glance at Mulder's sleeping form. Quickly putting on some clothes and throwing on a coat, he made her way into her baby's room. She stopped momentarily to watch her child's peaceful sleeping form. She looked over at the baby monitor nearby and turned it off. As if on cue, Melissa's eyes popped open and connected with her own. Her little arms reached up towards she as they often did. It was a gesture she usually ignored, but today she gingerly lifted the baby from her crib and began to change her into warm clothes for the snowy, cold weather outside. The baby whimpered slightly. "Shhh, it's okay," she whispered. Once she got Melissa changed, she looked back down the hall towards the bedroom to ensure all was silent before making her retreat from the house. She walked towards the Taurus she shared with Mulder, not paying any mind to the darkness of the night despite living in the middle of nowhere. She opened the door to the back seat and gently set Melissa down into it as she securely buckled her in. Then she got into the car and began to drive down the long, narrow roads away from their home.

She listened to the soft music on the radio as the time passed and she was the only driver on the road for quite some time. She continued looking into her review mirror at her baby, who was blissfully sleeping in her car seat, without a care in the world. She smiled to herself. It seemed like an eternity before she pulled up to her destination, about a few hours later. He has honestly lost track of where she was driving to until she pulled up in front of a fire station. She had looked over shortly before stopping to see her phone on the passenger seat light up a few times, not paying it much mind.

Scully brushed away the cold breeze as she opened the door of the back seat and began to remove Melissa from the car seat. As if on cue, her daughter opened her big hazel colored eyes and began to whimper. Scully paused for a moment and felt her hands trembling around her daughter. Something inside of her was screaming "No". Shaking it off, she began to lift her daughter out of the car when one of her little hands caught into the gold chain around her neck. She paused for a moment and looked down to see her daughter looking at it in awe. It was at that moment, she relived a similar moment with her first daughter, Emily. She felt a raw emotion she couldn't entirely comprehend, but the next thing she knew, she removed the necklace and placed it around her baby. It looked much too big for her, so she tucked it slightly under her the jacket she wore. "It will keep you safe, okay?"

She placed the baby on her hip and walked up to the station, which was entirely dead at this time of night with no one in sight. She came up to a large fire truck and as if her body was moving at it's own accord, found the latch and pulled the door open. She gently set her baby down inside and took one last look at her. The baby started to cry as if she just realized what was happening. Something in Scully yearned for her to grab her daughter, to console her and drive back to the safety of their home...but a force equally as powerful made her quickly close the door and run before anyone could see them.

To be continued...

A/n: sorry to leave you with a sad cliffhanger...please stay tuned to see what happens! Been playing with this idea for some time.