It's still the weekend, right?

Thank you to the very few of you who reviewed last chapter and added this to some form of subscription - the rest of you. Tisk, tisk. No, I tease. :)

If you haven't noticed, when I write an episode that's been done, I'll stick to the transcript while shifting it to fit a little miss into there, but I won't really go along with stage directions and the acting. Purely, with these two episodes because I haven't had time. I know it's a bother, but it might freshen things up. Maybe. Ahh, please tell me if I'm ticking you off.

I haven't had time to edit as I literally finished this five minutes ago and it's 2 o'clock Monday morning here - I have to be up for school in 5 hours. I'll give it a quick read over, but my editing is never any good anyway.

Enjoy, this has been haunting my nightmares.

Part 33

Silent Night

She felt disorientated when she woke, like she had fallen asleep somewhere that wasn't traditionally used for sleeping. Sun was warming her face and there was a quiet voice humming beside her. When she let her eyes flutter open Scully was greeted with the sight of flashing scenery as the beige sedan she and Danica were forced into the night before continued to push along the road. "Oh, god." She mumbled, her hand moving to cover her face while she collected her bearings. "I was hoping this was all a dream." She shifted to get a look in the backseat making sure Danica was still there and in one piece.

The girl, who had suffered through so many ordeals in her life was sleeping uncomfortably on the backseat of the car, Schatz was tucked under one arm as she used the loved bear as a pillow. "When did the sun come up?"

"About six hours ago, Somewhere back in North Carolina." Monica Reyes' voice was apologetic. Scully huffed softly when she asked as to where they were. "We just crossed into Georgia. Long way from home, Agent Scully."

Scully stifled a scoff, understatement of the year. "Well, under the circumstances…" Reyes chanced a look at the heavily pregnant woman beside her.

"Right." She nodded. "We can't be too safe." Her words weren't all that convincing which left Scully to ask if she was okay. "I should ask how you're doing. I mean … you're the one who's going to have this baby."

Her face softened sympathetically. "That's it, isn't it? What you're really worried about?"

Reyes shrugged. "Aside from whatever danger we're in … where we're going doesn't sound like …" She paused for a moment, thinking of the right words. She was startled enough and she knew Scully had had a longer night than she. "there's all that much in the way of a … facility. You know what I mean? I've never delivered a baby." Scully nodded, she understood the jitters. But they had to get past it.

"Well, I've never had one. That makes us both beginners." Reyes offered her a soft smile, her nerves still running rampant in her mind. "Has Danica woken up?" She asked, knowing very well that the girl had fallen asleep before she did, but had also woken up a number of times during their long drive.

Reyes nodded. "Few hours ago, I stopped at a gas station because she was hungry. No one followed us," She promised. "No one was suspicious at all. I know I shouldn't have stopped but she needed to get up and stretch her legs out." Scully nodded, she understood. She wouldn't expect Danica to be fine with this, with any of it really but she knew the girl would take it in her stride and do what she had to do for her mother, but when a kid needs to get out of a car – you let them out. "She's a great kid." Reyes praised. "Beautiful and very well spoken. She is still a bit shaken about last night, that's to be expected." Scully nodded again, humming as a form of response towards the other woman.

"Mommy," A little voice echoed from the backseat tired and dry from crying. She shifted in the front seat as best she could so she could see the girl who was calling out for her. "I want to go see, Papa now." It wan'ts a question or a statement, Danica's words were spoken with a soft demand.

Scully sighed. "Danica, you can't honey." The girl pouted at her mother harshly, tears rimming in her eyes and her mind fighting the battle between anger and tears. "Danni, as much as you want to talk to Papa, I want to as well. But it's not safe." The girl shook her head, she wouldn't accept it, not for a minute. Her mother gave her a heavy sigh, pleading silently with the child to understand that they couldn't turn around. "I shouldn't be letting you do this." She grumbled as she pulled out her phone and dialled her partner's number. The girl's excitement when her mother handed her the phone had been contagious. "Five minutes." She told the girl with a phone to her ear and large smile across her face. "I know I shouldn't." She mumbled to Reyes as the other woman watched her daughter in the rear view.

"Happy child, easy trip. She's had a big few days, I think it would be good for both of them." Reyes offered her a smile.

"Papa!" Danica shrieked alerting to the fact that her father had picked up. As soon as Reyes checked over her shoulder to grin at the child Danica's tone shifted and her language changed all together. Her mother hissed at her, scolding the child for her language shift. Danica had once known German like the back of her hand, but growing up had taken it from her and granted her father a chance to learn the foreign language at a far slower rate. Now it had become something they were learning together, the little girl still better than her aging father. But they shared it and that was enough.

She caught the girl's eye and glared. "English." Danica pouted a moment before slipping back to English slowly. It was idle chat, Scully could bet that the girl was hardly speaking because her father was on the other end talking nonsense just so the girl could hear his voice.

She shook her head when the girl asked her if she wanted to talk. She did, but she couldn't. This was wearing on her last tether and she knew it would take a matter of seconds before she told him where they were and broke down due to the strain.

A simple shake of the head was all Danica received as she regretfully hung up on her father.

[...]

It was dark when Monica stopped the car in the middle of some countryside nowhere. The place was abandoned and Scully had to admit it looked a lot like something out of an old western film. Stepping out of the car her hands found the small of her back in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure her stomach was causing on her lumbar.

"End of the road." Monica announced as she joined Scully beside the car, things in her arms and Danica by her side, Schatz clutched to her chest.

Scully scoffed. "Yeah. Literally." Her hand found Danica's hair as the girl joined her in their inspection of their sudden living space. "Anybody finds us out here; it really will be a miracle. Where exactly are we?"

"Democrat Hot Spring. According to Agent Doggett this is where people used to come for the waters – until they springs dried up and they quit coming. He was born here." There should have been comfort in that fact but Scully couldn't find it. The dusty little town made goose flesh strike against her skin.

"Really?" She asked surprised. "Well that's … comforting. I guess." She wasn't comforted and Monica knew it, but there was a young girl who was standing next to them, tired and scared. If they weren't keeping brave faces for each other they were doing it for her. "So, where do you want to set up?" There was no telling how long they were supposed to be there, but standing in the cool night air wasn't going to get them started.

Straightening her back confidently Reyes took the lead, a small girl following in the steps behind her. "Why?" Danica asked curiously as she followed the woman she remembered from when her father had been missing.

Monica smiled at the girl as Danica fell into step beside her. "I feel these energies about people and stuff and places." She explained simply. "I found it works best to go with my instincts." The girl nodded.

"Sometimes I get a feeling, Miss April…" she started again, her head checking over her shoulder to watch her mother's eye roll "first impressions count. I didn't like Lizzie Gill, did I Mama?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Don't gloat, Danica. It's not attractive on Papa and it's not attractive on you." Scully teased out.

Shaking her head Danica went back to her conversation, "I knew, sometimes adults don't listen to me. They only want to talk about boring stuff. But not my Papa! He believes in aliens and space." She beamed, her grin impossibly wide.

"Sounds like you're very proud of your Papa, Danica." The girl nodded. As she carried on about her father and the things they did in her childish yet sophisticated way.

Stepping into one of the abandoned buildings they found everything covered with thick layers of dust and cobwebs. "You were talking about feelings before. I'm getting a feeling myself." Scully mocked, the whole place sending tingles down her spine.

Crossing to a small cobweb covered sink Scully tested the tap. Nothing. "Well, there's no water from this rock. We're going to need some water and a place to boil it. Along with sterile supplies and a clean place to do this delivery."

Craning her neck in order to work out a kink. She offered a weak smile. "I'm a little stiff from the drive." She handed over the flashlight as she moved to take the door. She hadn't noticed that she had a follower until she turned to tell Scully that she would be back in a minute.

Scully laughed as the other woman noticed her shadow. "You have yourself a follower, Agent Reyes. Guard her with your life, my children mean everything to me … and their father."

Stepping out into the moonlight Reyes observed the stars with the little girl beside her as they walked the dirt road. Danica chatted about what she knew and stopped at the bright light in the sky, unsure of its nature.

While the girl spoke Monica fumbled with the pack of cigarettes in her pocket, she needed to light one up but couldn't bring herself to do it with the child around. Danica was pointing to the stars again talking about her friend Molly and her cat Polly, who she apparently hadn't named like that on purpose and how her father called Polly Curiosity because she was always following Danica curiously. The girl brought up how her father had once said that when people died they found their place amongst the stars.

Danica knew a lot of people in the stars.

She once thought her Papa was one of them.

Danica was back to talking about the bright light in the sky for the third time when Monica felt a little hand slip into her spare one. "You're going to look after us, Agent Reyes?" She asked with a beautiful curiosity. Her eyes were large and lit up like a lake during a full moon in the dark light they were provided with. Her hair always seemed to be on fire and her skin illuminated with crystal purity. Monica nodded. "Good. Because, I'm scared." She told her softly as her little green pair of Chuck Taylor's kicked the dirt. "Babies are 'upposed to be born in hospitals and nothing goes right for Mama. And Papa, he always says he'll protect us but he doesn't do a very good job sometimes." She didn't raise her face to Monica's instead she found her green coat and dark leggings far more exciting.

Monica crouched down in front of the girl, her hand still holding on to Danica's. "Your dad is doing everything he can, as am I. I'll look after you and your mom." The girl searched her eyes, it wasn't the answer she was looking for but she took it anyway with a shrug and forgiving smile before she let the other woman take her back inside.

[…]

Billy Miles' hand and flown into his face, that would be a story for the scrapbook Mulder decided as he looked down on his sleeping friend's face. Skinner had a lot to explain, especially to a curious Danica who would ask instantly about the gash on his head before anything else.

He wasn't impressed with Doggett's inability to be present when Skinner was attacked and had pushed to know more about whom it was that he was meeting with. Doggett couldn't blame him for his curiosity and anger – it was permanent in his presence but it had doubled tenfold ever since Danica and Scully had left. This man didn't do so well when his family was away from him and in serious danger.

"He's an old friend." Doggett explained as they moved out of the room. "He tells me stuff I'm not supposed to know. I didn't want to believe it." Stress lines were appearing on Doggett's face, as well as well as the dilemma in his eyes.

Crossing his arms over his chest Mulder was ready to be defensive. "What exactly did he tell you?" His words were slow as he tried to punctuate their importance.

"He said that Billy Miles isn't what you think he is. He's a product of a government program looking to build a super solider. He said Agent Scully is a part of that program, too; that her pregnancy was triggers by a chip they put in her neck." Mulder stiffened as cuss words found their way to the forefront of his mind.

His eyes were as cool and hard as his tone when he spoke, demanding to know who Doggett was talking too. "His name is Knowle Rohrer. He's deep inside US Intelligence. I don't know much more than that."

Mulder cocked a brow, this was sweet. He had had the same troubles and now so was Doggett. "Did he ever lie to you? Give you bad information, false leads?" With Doggett's pause Mulder's blood started to run cold and his nerve endings giving up. "Well, you have to think about it?" He almost shrieked.

"He says Scully's in danger. He wants to stop this guy. How's that so different than what we're saying?"

"You didn't tell him where she is, did you?" His mind panicked for the moment. He would not lose his partner to this man's stupidity and bad moves.

Doggett shook his head. "No, but I'm beginning to think that the fact that I know is going to catch up with me if AD Skinner's any indication."

"You don't tell anybody where she is." He repeated for good measure. "That's the deal, right? Not even me." He hated not knowing, but he couldn't. He would go to them the minute something went sour and everything would bite the dust. It was bad enough that Danica had called him earlier in the morning just because she wanted to speak. It took all of his self-control not to call his partner back, but he knew she would have had her phone off by then.

"What if something happens to me?" Doggett asked, worried.

Mulder gave him a sorry look. "This, uh, trusted source of yours told you he knows how to stop Billy Miles. Did he happen to tell you how he plans to do this?"

"No." That was what he thought.

Sighing with frustration, his hand in his hair Mulder took a step and then turned back to Doggett. "Right. Well, what do you say you and me go find out how trustworthy he really is?" Doggett nodded slowly, knowing he was going to be in for the ride either way.

[…]

She watched Danica play in the dirt and dust, her own mind in a world of fantasy unaware of her mother's worrying towards how they were going to clean her clothes. She had a set of pyjama's. She had worn them in the car and later changed at her mother's insistence but that was all. Luckily the clothes she had matched, but Scully had hoped they wouldn't have to throw them away because they got dirty.

She had been wandering their little Hot Springs lot for two hours now, watching as her daughter ran between inside and out when Monica requested her help. Scully was to stay out of the building they claimed as their own while Monica did, well, whatever Monica was doing. "Dana … Come see what you think." Monica called using her first name.

Scully waddled towards the building as fast as she could while Danica tugged on her hand a large smile on her face. She gasped in surprize at the sight before her, there was a bed in the centre of the room – one of the spare ones they hadn't slept on from upstairs the night before – Monica had found sheets and bowls, there were candles too. "Oh, my goodness. Look at this. Look at you. Wow." She praised her like she would have praised Danica's handy work on a drawing, although childish she was completely in awe.

She moved to the daybed and sat herself down, her hips finally having enough of the weight. It is there Scully notices the whole room is void of dust and every surface tries to gleam in the sunlight.

"I found them folded up in a cabinet upstairs. And a nice porcelain basin and a whole box of candles." Monica beamed proudly as she moved around the room. Her proud smile slipped to something of embarrassment when Scully asked if they had matches for the candles. "I have a lighter." She offered meekly. "Now all we need is some mood music. Like whale song."

Scully turned to her sceptically. "Whale song?"

Monica nodded. "Yeah, they've got these recordings of whales talking to each other, calling back and forth." She hadn't cared that Dana Scully was staring at her when she tried to mimic the moaning of the whale song, Danica was on the floor not too far from her mother, Schatz in her lap, giggling with childish abandon at the dark haired woman. "I … I don't know. It's like … it's almost metaphysical." She blinked a moment, taking in Scully's far off look. "You're looking at me like … I don't know, I probably sound like a goof." She shut herself down, her cheeks flaring with embarrassment.

She shook her head. "No, no, it's not that. Um, I was thinking that you reminded me of someone that I was close to – my sister." Her voice was soft when she spoke, her mind in another place all together. When Reyes asked why she wasn't close to her now Scully's heavy eyes raised to hers slowly. "Uh, she was killed … about five years ago, before we got Danica." She sighs heavily and catches her breath. "It was a terrible time." She shook her head to collect her bearings when Monica's hand found her shoulder. "Thank you for, um … putting this together and … it's not what I planned but, um … it's very nice." Reyes smiles, assurance that things were going to be okay. Catching a shadow cross the window, Monica stoped. "What?" Scully asked.

"There's someone out there." She whispered. "Stay here." She reached for her gun as she took it out of the holster and left the building.

Danica was trembling when she reached her mother's side. Her little fingers shook atrociously as she wrapped them around her hand and climbed onto the daybed beside her mother. To say she hadn't been shaking since their run in with Billy Miles in the middle of the night would have been a lie. Danica had been in a constant state of fear for days, although it pained her mother to see the girl tremble and never stop there was nothing she could do to calm the girl's fears, in fear of lying to the child. The hand that wasn't been held onto like it was the last sign of life, ran through the girl's hair as she buried herself in her mother's side.

"Dana?" Monica called out causing the shivering girl to jump.

Moving to stand slowly she pulled her badge out of her pocket, while her other hand was still being clung on to by a frightened child who couldn't possibly get any closer to her mother's side. "I'm sure that this looks untoward but my life is in danger. And my baby's. There's a man who is pursuing us and it is very important that he not find us here." She pleaded as the woman looked both her and Danica over.

"We get hunters in here taking deer and game off-season. I've heard every excuse in the book but this one's far too original. You don't, uh, plant to have it here?" The woman pointed to her stomach. Monica jumped in, her voice a little shaking for she knew of the risks and had never done this kind of thing before. But they needed the Warden to leave, they couldn't risk being found out or forced to a hospital. "And what if something goes wrong? If you're a doctor you know the risks. You're unprepared here."

Scully nodded, she knew this but she was trying not to let herself think about it. "This man …" She spoke weakly. "He's extremely dangerous." She needed the understanding, practically begged for it.

The Warden nodded. "I got a first aid kit in my track. It's pretty basic but better to have than not. I'll be back with some towels and proper swaddling." Scully nodded, her hand in Danica's hair again as the girl's trembles subsided a little.

"Thank you."

Danica broke away from her mother when the Warden left, having found the strength to be away from the woman who cared for her she joined Monica on the little porch still covered in dirt. "I want my Papa." She spoke as she sat next to the other woman.

Monica gave the girl a smile, "Why's that?"

"She feels like the bad man." She whispered into the warm air as her head found Monica's shoulder. She looked down at the girl in surprise, although Danica had reached out for her hand the night before Danica had kept away from Monica when her mother's comfort was easily accessible.

Tilting her head a little to better look at the girl. "What did the bad man feel like?" She encouraged the child's fancies, knowing very well that children were far more observant then their adult counterparts.

"Cold" The girl mumbled, "almost like they are not actually there. Something's missing." When Monica asked her to elaborate the girl shrugged. "Mommy and Papa are warm because they love me and Miss April is warm because she cares. You're warm and Uncle John." She explained. "That lady wasn't warm."

Monica hummed. "Did you think that maybe you thought that about her because you don't know her." Danica shook her head, it was simple to the girl. You could tell when someone was going to be nice and when they weren't she explained people in the street came off in different temperatures, but never were they as cold as the Warden and Billy Miles.

"Have you ever, when you were scared, had a chill? Like ice running down your back and all of a sudden your whole body was awake?" Monica nodded, her eyes sympathetic with the girl. She had heard the rumors, the first ones when Fox Mulder had been taken to court on a matter of abducting the child from her country. She had heard about this child's terrors and had been there when her father went missing. She was there to collect the girl and her mother from the arms of Alex Krycek, she had no doubt in Danica's judgement but did wonder if her fears were set in place permanently and could never be shaken in fear of strangers invading her home and hurting her family. "I felt like that when she was here. She's not going to hurt mommy is she?"

Monica paled. She couldn't make that promise, she couldn't say that everything would be okay when the Warden could hurt Dana just as easily as she.

It was surprising when they thought about it, how easily a child - even one whose mind was clouded in fear - could entertain themselves. Danica would hide away in the room upstairs with Schatz and the little things that she found in the bottom of her bag, or she would stand contently by her mother's side while she and Monica learnt to better get to know each other.

The girl barely complained and offered soft entertainment when she felt the adult conversation was dwindling.

It had gotten dark out again and Danica had been desperate to see the stars. Content that they were alone out there, aside from the shifty Warden the girl was allowed to sit on her own in order to admire the countryside stars that were so much more vibrant than that of what she could see in the busy city that contained her home. But she wasn't alone for very long, a shift in the cool breeze caused a shiver far greater than it should have and when she turned to go back inside the girl found herself flat on her bottom in the dirt. But it hadn't been anything to fear, just her adrenaline spiking and Monica Reyes leaving the small building that had become their temporary home.

"Your mother wants you." She told the girl with a sympathetic smile when Danica turned wistful eyes on her with the hope of getting a few more minutes of serenity and starlight.

The girl pouted at the dark haired woman but got up off the ground anyway, dusting off her back she looked up to the night sky. "Isn't that one peculiar?" She asked with earnest, pointing up to the bright star that had caught their attention the night before. "D'ou know, you can find which why to go if you follow the stars. And my Papa," She puffed up her chest with pride, "my Papa said that the stars will always guide you home." She grinned proudly at Monica's impressed look.

Humming she grinned at the girl. "Maybe that star is out there for your Papa so he can find you."

The girl considered her new friend's words. "Maybe. It is in the same spot." She smiled before disappearing to find her mother indoors and leaving Monica to collecting more water in the dark of the abandoned hot springs.

Danica chatted happily to Scully retelling the conversations she had with Monica outside. The little girl ignored the danger trigger that was still running down the back of her spine, playing it off as over wrought emotion, until she heard the sound of a shotgun echo through their unknown hideaway.

She jumped, both the girl and her mother. Danica's hand seized Scully's, as her face paled and her mother's breathing quickened. Getting up as fast as she could the two women crept to the door, their hearts in their throats.

"Go back inside, Dana." Monica called when they stepped out onto the porch. The Agent along with the Warden were dragging a body through the dirt.

With Danica clinging to her hand, she used the other to hold the girl's head to her hip. "Who is it?" With the sound of dead weight and rustling clothes hitting the ground Scully couldn't help the gasp that left her lips and the pain that rippled across her stomach. Monica tried to sooth her with the information that he was no longer living. "No, it's not okay. What do you mean?" She was upset, her breathing rapid and her heart racing. He wasn't supposed to be able to find them, he couldn't, he couldn't know where she was.

Danica stood more still than any seven-year-old could muster. Goose flesh was trailing her spine as panic seeped in further rather than settled. "Exactly what I said. Now go on inside, she doesn't need to see this. We'll take care of him." She used Danica to get Scully to fold, but it hadn't worked.

Maybe it was the paranoia that Mulder had seemed to plant in her mind - too many years with him was starting to affect her. Or maybe, with a slight possibility it was pain she felt in her stomach when she saw the dead man that refrained her from wanting to move. Either way, she couldn't leave, even for the sake of scaring her already damaged young daughter. "They said that he couldn't be stopped!" Her voice quivered as she held onto Danica tighter, forcing the girl's head away.

"Dana," Monica pleaded. "He's got no vitals. He's lost too much blood." Scully couldn't take her eyes of the young boy she had helped so many years ago. She could have believed anything of him, but it was the hardest to swallow when Monica revealed the lumps along the back of his neck.

"Is this the man you're afraid of?" The Warden asked. "How did he find you out here? I do have to report this thing." She looked on with a sympathetic shrug.

Scully shook her head as she felt the same ripple across her stomach and her hand gripped tighter to the little girl beside her. "No, you can't do that."

The Warden shrugged. "I don't have any real choice."

With a deep breath she tried to level her breathing as panic started to override fear. She chided herself for looking panicked but at the same time laughed inwardly at how much Mulder would have enjoyed too see that look on her face. "No, I mean, I, um …" She struggled to put her words together, not wanting to admit it herself. It was still too early and right now wasn't the best of times. "I just felt a contraction." She looked up with wide eyes to Monica begging the woman with no experience to help her.

[…]

She told herself she wouldn't be one of those mothers, so carried away in another person that she completely forgot the other. But to be honest, Dana Scully hadn't thought of what to do with Danica when the case of delivering her baby came up. There wasn't really anywhere for the girl to go and she had been desperate to stay by her mother's side, but her mother hadn't wanted her there in fear of things going wrong. Danica had seen so much in her life, but there were still something yet to be seen by her and her mother wanted to keep it that way.

She was sitting on the daybed fighting to keep her breathing at a normal rate and the pain in the back of her mind, but she was failing horribly. She was panting, out of breath sweat dripped from her forehead and every time another contraction rolled around she couldn't help the groan that rolled from her lips.

Danica on the other hand, the quiet little mouse was sitting on the stairway watching her mother in pain intently, Schatz gripped so tight in her little hands that the poor bear was facing the possibility of blowing a seam and losing some stuffing. "Danica," Her mother seethed through gritted teeth. "I know you're behind me."

Monica chuckled as the girl slipped up a few steps out of sight and hopeful out of her mother's odd senses that always knew where she was. "She's worried, Dana."

"She's her bloody father's child that's what she is. Won't give up and certainly won't listen to me." It was all good humor, Monica knew it she could see the smile in Scully's eyes but it hadn't quiet made it out with her tone.

Moving towards the stars Monica whispered something to the worried girl, a task that would occupy her mind for at least a few minutes. "They're two minutes apart now. It's not going to be long." The Warden announced, her First Aid basics soothing Monica a little more.

The girl came flouncing down the stairs and ran across the wooden floor, a grey shirt in her hand. Passing it to Monica she disappeared back to her place on the stairs. "How's this?" Monica asked in regards to the grey shirt, something she noticed Danica had slept with the night before – her father's shirt, something big enough for her mother to wear.

"That's great." Scully nodded as a hand played with the end of it, she recognised the shirt alright. With shaking fingers Monica dropped the cloth, only to have it picked up by the Warden. As she crouched to pick it up, Monica caught glimpse of the same bumps on the back of her neck, the same ones as Billy Miles.

It had taken her ten minutes to lose the sakes after she caught the Warden's secret. Danica had been right, yet again on the assumptions of people and their intentions. Monica was yet to make a move, she didn't know what to do. They needed her help, she obviously knew more than Monica herself, but she wasn't there to help out of the kindness of her heart, she was sent for some other reason.

She had been boiling water to sterilize it for a while now, when opportunity stuck her. Unbeknownst Scully had handed her glass of water back to the waiting Warden when Monica struck, a bucket of boiling water in her hands when flying for the imposters face.

The Warden screamed out in agony causing Scully to stare at Monica in shock and the worried little girl to jump up from her step and run, panicked to her mother's side. "Move!" Monica screamed once she tore her eyes of Danica who was crying into her mother's already sweat soaked hair.

"Agent Reyes … what?" Scully stares on in shock.

"Move out of here!" She called as she cocked her gun and held it to the Warden's face. Scully called out as she watched Reyes follow the woman outside, but she wasn't granted with a response only her daughters hiccupped breathing. The Warden was kneeling on the porch, her face blistering from the head of the water. "Who are you?!" Monica demanded as the headlights of cars and trucks started to arrive around them.

"This baby will be born." The Warden announced, causing Monica's heart to quicken. She lowered her gun as car doors opened and the once dead Billy Miles started to rise from the ground. She couldn't focus, not on them, not on the possibility of what was happening, but on Scully's voice as she screamed out for her.

Reyes walked back into the building as though nothing had happened outside. She approached Scully with her usual confidence even though her mind was racing. "What's happened?!" Scully panted, her brow covered in sweat, one hand was above her head, holding onto her daughter's back in her best attempt to comfort the child without severely hurting her.

"It's okay, Dana." Monica breathed. "It's going to be okay." She soothed, a part of her mind begging that her words were true.

The doors to their hideaway opened as people started to pour in all of them lead by Billy Miles. Scully let out a groan from deep in her throat as her head rolled and her hand tightened protectively on Danica. "No!"

A grimace graced Monica's face as she watched the little girl, the terrified child step back from her mother to greet the intruders with wide eyes and paled face. She flinched when her mother cried out in pain yet again, her little mind having experienced so much already. Her mother spoke her name, one word that told the girl to behave, to get out. "Papa will find us." She whispered to her mother as she fell to her knees. "The star is out there, Papa will find us." Her lip quivered and tears burned her eyes as she begged Monica to tell her it was true like she had said it outside only a few hours ago.

On her knees the girl tucked herself under the daybed, the space big enough for her to hide under. With Schatz in her hand, and her green coat tucked over her ears along with her hands the girl cried. Harrowing sobs along with her mother's groans as every few words that left her lips was her father's name. A mantra, a prayer for him to find them, to make these bad men go away and leave them alone.

"This is my baby!" Scully screamed as she glare at the people around her. Monica couldn't help but think that this woman was a lioness protecting her cubs. She coached her as the woman cried out and Danica's cried quietened. The girl was turning her emotions into steel while her mother let them go. "Please don't let them take it!" She pleaded taking Monica mind back to the day before when she told her to protect Danica, for she meant the world to Dana and Fox.

"Guard her with your life, my children mean everything to me … and their father."

This baby, on the cusp of being born had its place. Had parents and a sister counting on it, begging for its survival for the sake of their own. "Please don't let this happen." She cried as her head rolled and Monica told her to push again. She was giving up, the emotional and physical turmoil becoming too much.

Doing as Monica said Scully pushed a scream racking through her body and being directed at the unnatural beings before her. "It's mine!" It was only a few moments after that, that her desperate yelling had stopped and transformed into whimpers. She was pleading still, begging for Monica to protect this child that she didn't have the energy to deliver. Her cries peak then fall again as the sound of a babies cries filled the full room.

The other beings were silent, the Warden and Billy Miles stared on as though they were expecting something that was yet to happen. Exhaustion and adrenaline fought in her body as she let her arm fall over the side of the bed to reach for the little girl under there. Danica's fingers around hers confirmed the child was okay. "It's a boy Dana." Monica whispered as she handed the small bundled to his mother. One hand holding onto her daughters as a life line, the other cradling a child whose cried slowed to a whimper Scully couldn't help but feel something was missing.

Their intruders were turning now, leaving the building as though the hype was for nothing. But in their silent leaving she heard something else, something cutting the air at a high speed and voice, although very faint calling out a name she had been called since the day her meet her.

The feeling of something missing was filled as the panicked voice got louder. "We're okay here." The tired woman told Monica. "Go get him for me or I fear he'll continue to fret." Her eyes drooped, Monica couldn't help but to worry. She was a strong woman, Dana Scully, but everyone found a day that tore them down – this could be it, or there was a darker day waiting that Monica could not hope to fathom.

Scully felt the girl shift against her hand as she stared at the baby in her arms with awe, "So much trouble, just for you, Little Man. Don't make a habit of it. Your father is already like that." She grinned through tired eyes. She heard Danica's footsteps across the floor paired with the sound of her partner's name. It was seconds after that that Monica was removing the baby from her arms and Mulder was leaning over her with tender promises to get them out of there and safe as he lifted her into his arms, Danica clinging to his side as he walked his family towards the elevator.

Standing behind her father, in the vacant, although once thriving hot springs Danica took a moment to stare up at the stars, the brightest one was gone now. Now that her father was back home, she mused. Although, still shaking she walked with a new step, a new strength and better yet – a baby brother.

Oh, the stories she had to tell him of monotonous men and snowflakes that burn, of their dashing father and patient mother, of bedtime stories and a sister who passed, of months spent alone and the adventures to be had.

But most of all she had the story of a silent night, that was crowded with men and atrocious things. She had to tell him about her mother's bravery and her father's resilience, that although they were taken away from family their father, her Papa always found a way to them. She had so many stories and now, so many opportunities. She wanted a tree house again and to show her brother the auditorium that filed with stars on the weekend. She wanted to tell him that there was always a guiding light that could bring him and anyone home and that this light was found in the best place of all.

This light was her brother and he was only a couple of minutes old.

Last part of this chapter will be in the chapter due on Friday - it's easier for me that way and gives me leeway for the heartbreak I inevitably have to cause.

Hope this chapter wasn't all that bad, I am so tired it just all reads the same.

Let me know in a review guys, they really make my week. Honestly.

Until next time,

A