Thank you to those of you who have reviewed and those who have added this to a subscription or favourite.

Sorry I didn't update last week – third time writing this chapter and it's came out different every time. Now I'm just getting sick of it. Chapter is a mix between 'Nothing Important Happened Today, Trust No 1 and William' because I'm lazy and never have time to write properly. I am so going to hate myself for posting this when I wake up.

The poem is mine, although inspired from a phrase a teacher once said to me – no idea where she got it from though or the logistics of the actual words. It's a shit poem, so really there shouldn't be a problem.

Part 24

Suffer the Little Children

Suffer the little children

They're the centre of our universe –

Yet, who cares, at the end,

If our name is their curse?

Suffer the little children while they sleep,

Seldom do they know as to why they weep.

So, suffer the little children,

There's no more time to sleep

There's a crack in the door

But they shan't not dare to peep –

Fate has been decided without a single blink.

There will be no Papa in the morning and all that's left of mom is weak.

"I don't understand." Her head cocked like an eager puppy, one little arm dangling across the gap between her mother's bed and her brothers crib. She would have found some humour in her daughter's actions. The confusion as to why her father wasn't present that morning was so complicated but as an adult she was trying to make it simple. She had to pull herself down to her daughter's level, she was just a child her feet barely touched the floor at the dining table and yet she was being expected to understand what happened between her parents and some unknown higher power as she slept peacefully.

How she missed it, Scully hadn't known. Their voices had been raised enough between the bedrooms of two sleeping children enough to wake one but leave the other still completely unawares. "Where's Papa?" She asked for the second time, her legs kicking behind her as she pulled faces at the sleeping newborn.

Scully let out a heavy sigh. 'Don't make me choose between you and William, Mulder. It's not fair.' Her own voice echoed in her head as she thanked small miracles for the children before her providing wealthy distraction from her own the edge emotions. "He had to go." She answered trying to make it simple.

"I don't understand." Danica repeated again as she tossed a look over her shoulder her voice irritable towards her mother's inability to provide her with a straight answer.

A hand found its way through her hair as she once again tried to even out her breathing. "He went away Danica."

"Where?" Was her next question, pronounced with slight disinterest.

Her mother's shaky exhale didn't interest the girl at all, well at least that was what her mother had thought. "I don't know, Danni. Just drop it" She snapped a little at the end her own irritation setting in. Continuously reminding herself that Danica was only seven wasn't helping the situation any more.

"He's not coming back." The girl's words were stuttered and when Scully turned back around to face the bed she once shared with the father of her children she found Danica standing there, rainbow socks at odd lengths up her leg clothes, crumpled because of sleep and her face completely crushed. "Why not?" She sounded like a small child, a fragile one at that when she spoke again her bottom lip quivering even though she tried so hard to control it.

What a peculiar thing, the little girl thought, her life had been turned upside down with her father's return and that it seemed as though it could not be set right again until he was gone. She hadn't wanted him to leave at all, only wanted her Papa back. Funny that, how life played tricks on her; the little girl with a peculiar story and a broken heart.

Her bottom lip curled again as Danica's eyes searched her mother's face. "He didn't say 'goodbye'." She whispered as a lone tear streaked her pale complexion. Scully knew the feeling, the man she trusted more than life itself had failed to say goodbye to her as well, he told her of his need to leave at that it would be done in the morning. He told her that in order for her to keep her son he had to go, she didn't actually think he would. Until she woke up. "But he promised." Her eyebrows knitted together, her little head full of the world's largest wonders and stories was trying to sort out the single most confusing thing she had ever been handed; why her Papa left without a goodbye.

She turned on the bed for a moment as though she suddenly found herself lost and needed to reassess where she was. Her hands clasped at the edge of her shorts, her eyes wide as she found herself feeling as lost as she looked. Taking a step towards the edge of the bed Danica allowed for her body to drop off and hit the floor with a soft thud. The action caused her mother to flinch as she thought of the potential damage the young girl was doing to her ankles and knees. "Can I go to the Zoo with Uncle John today?" She asked as though nothing had happened, her little thumb pressed between her teeth as she chewed on her cuticles.

Scully shook her head with a hum. After everything, everything that had happened in a matter of days her daughter wanted to go to the zoo. She had denied her daughter the opportunity in one second yet in the next thought that perhaps it would be good for the girl. She just hadn't been too sure as to whether John Doggett would be up for the job.

It didn't take long for Danica's admiration of her brother to dissipate when the phone rang. Scully saw the look in her eye, the hope that it was her father and even though she had reprimanded herself on his being gone the girl continued on with a brave face.

She was practically hanging off her mother's hip as her ears strained to hear the voice on the other end of the line. The seven-year-old had been confidant it was the man who promised her the zoo.

Doggett had known of Mulder's leaving, he wasn't supposed to but the man had informed him hours before it happened. They had had a tireless few days and although he was leaving his family he still wanted to make sure they were looked after.

John Doggett was letting himself into the large Mulder household at the same time Danica came bounding down the stairs weary of her adventurous pet that seemed to want to get crushed under her owners feet. "Let's go!" She grabbed for his hand as she shuffled her feet into her shoes. "I have a William but he's sleeping." She told John causing the man to stop.

"Your mom named him William?" She nodded.

"William John for my Opa and you." Her tone was no nonsense as she moved once again in an attempt to pull him out of the door. The man looked down at the eager little girl, informing her that he needed to go up and say hello to her mom before they left. "No need." She told him. "William's sleeping they'll be there when we get back." He hadn't been too sure on just leaving but had felt the girl's urgency and went with it. Scully would know to call him if there were any problems.

Danica hadn't stopped talking their entire way to the zoo, it was nothing important. Pointless chatter, she was good at that but even now she seemed distracted. Her interest in the animals was that of complete disinterest. "What's wrong, poppet?" He asked her with a playful nudge.

A scowl set across her face, lines appearing in the soft flesh as though they held permanent residence. "My Papa left," She looked up at him from the park bench she was sitting on. "did he tell you?" He couldn't lie to this child, he lied to his own far too much. But although he didn't want to lie he had to conceal the truth for that pouting and worried face. "It's not very fair. I get in trouble for not saying goodbye." She was so trouble, concerned with herself and the things she was taught against what was happening in the world around her.

How was a child supposed to learn wrong from right, when she found confusion in the simplest of actions gone undone by the man who was supposed to raise her? Doggett watched the confusion play across her face as the small girl bit into her bottom lip. She had always been able to hide a specific feeling on her face, but when it came to schooling her features altogether without prior thought the girl couldn't do it, they flashed in intervals real emotion, real thought was revealed so easily without her being aware. He hated watching it sometimes, in moments like this when he got the girl on her own and she found it safe to process her darkest thoughts

She turned to him, her brow knitted and her lips pursed. "Can we go the planetarium?" The question was asked softly as a little head adjusted the angle in which she looked up at him at due to sun streaming across her face. Doggett shrugged, he wasn't going to deny her the privilege of the stars, that was something he couldn't take away from her, ever.

They walked side by side along the street, neither caring to soak in the people around them or the pleasant day that graced their outing. Stoping to cross the road, Doggett found himself moving without a counterpart. "I hate him." She hissed, her fists clenched by her side. "I hate him!" She spoke a little louder, one foot raising from the ground. "I hate William John!" She squealed her resolve falling. Tears cracked her porcelain skin and blurred her eyes as she looked at John Doggett with the faith in his ability to fix things for her. "I want my Papa back, he took him away." She whispered as she hoisted up from the ground by the man she regarded highly as an Uncle. She fought against the hold as her Uncle carried her back to their waiting car. "I'll trade," Her head nodded. "I'll take Papa back and someone can have Willy."

It would take a few months but Danica had regrated uttering those words the night her brother was taken and she was spared. No one was looking for the ordinary redheaded girl, giving her the chance to hide in her mother's closet while her brother was taken.

A rift between the siblings had been established but only slightly, Danica still loved her brother, was in complete awe of his existence but she took a step back more often than not. Disassociated herself with babyish things in order to separate herself from the very different attention he got compared to herself.

She had been somewhat glad when she watched her brother being taken away, she was scared and had understood the consequences that would befall her brother but for a singular moment she thought perhaps she would be granted with the opportunity of having her father back.

She never did get her Papa back, days turned into weeks and before she had realized her brother was already months old marking the time of her father's departure. But it was that night, when her brother was returned safe that someone came to visit. Someone, who to Danica was better than Father Christmas himself.

Her father came back, only for a night after her mother tried to organize a way to bring him home. That failed though, or so she thought. Danica was tucked up in bed, unaware as to the fact that it was her father who was stroking her head and switched off her light before moving down to William's own bedroom.

Scully had greeted his arrival with a frozen shock, she hadn't known what to do with the man standing before her and a baby sleeping in her arms. "Give him to me, Dana." It wasn't a request to hold his son and she knew it. He was going to leave again and this time he had intentions to take the boy with him. "I was stupid to think that leaving would be the smart thing to do." He swallowed, hard. A flicker of fury burnt in his partners eyes. "They won't stop coming while they know where he is." His eyes pleaded with her worry as she clung to her infant son. "Please, Dana. Give him to me." He was only trying to protect them, all of them. "I'll bring him back. I promise." She looked down at the cubby baby in her arms, an internal battle taking arms.

He stopped pleading with his words and instead he approached her slowly. His hands found her forearms as his lips made contact with her own. Suddenly, from the briefest of touches he found that he was holding all of her weight against the palms of his hands. "He has grown so much," He whispered his forehead pressed to his partners. Admittedly he had not seen the boy in months from the night he was born, of course children grew. Especially in their first years. "I missed you guys." He freed on of his hands from holding her up as he ran it across the boys' soft scattering of brown hair.

Mulder took a step back from his partner, allowing the woman to stand on her own two feet. She looked as though she had seen a ghost. "Have you seen Danica?" She asked curiously as to how easy it was for him to just pop in and out of their lives like tuning into a television programme each week. He nodded, of course he had. He saved the girl's life and in turn she had changed his for the better. He could never forget her, she was his daughter no matter what, he never would forget about her.

He watched his partner suck in a breath as he internal battle made a final decision. She shoved the little boy into his father's arms rather harshly causing William to hiccup in protest. "Take him." She ordered, her hands crossing over her chest as she fought back emotion. "Take him, Mulder before I change my mind." He saw her walls fall and in a second they were built back up.

Taking a step back Scully busied herself with packing items into a diaper bag, mumbling to herself through tears as she went. He heard things about upkeep with doctors' appointments and teething about naps and feeding schedules and the biggest one of all. If a single scratch was brought to that boy not by his own inquisitive doing there would be bloodshed on her behalf.

Mulder paused in the doorway, sleeping child unawares in his arms. He didn't think she would actually do it, he just came to try. Her back was to him, although he could see her stare through the window reflection. "You're making the right decision." He told her as he stepped forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek. Who knows where things would have led them if the pursuit for their son continued to persist on her doorstep.

William was safe and in his father's care. That was the best she could hope for.

He could not believe the weight of the child in his arms, to think that William had barely been the length of Scully's forearm when he was born and how he was getting almost too big to fit in her tiny arms. People always told him 'children grow up in the blink of an eye'.

He never believed it.

He still held doubts even after watching Danica grow.

Then suddenly, he blinked and there came a time where both of his children were too big to carry like infants all together.

So this is where the Saturday morning after thing comes in and I will hate myself for allowing such a huge time jump to happen between this chapter and the next. You'll kill me, but it gets me that little bit closer to being finished.

If I change my mind I'll let you know.

Until next time,

A