Title: Chapter 8- The Waiting Game

Author: Gillian Leigh

Summary: The time has come to take the blood samples and see what can be done to save Will, Weston, Charlie, and the unborn Mulder child.

-X-

Scully was still trying to get her heart rate to return to normal and find something to eat that she could keep down. It wasn't that she was ill, or that it was late pregnancy morning sickness, she'd cried and then thrown up when they'd taken blood from the twins, who were coherent, and cried hysterically, reaching for her and Mulder the entire time. Weston actually bit the doctor, and if she hadn't been so upset about everything else that was occurring, she could have laughed at her son. But not while his older brother was comatose down the hall, and his life, and his siblings' lives hung in the balance. Once Monica had gotten the twins calmed down enough that they slept in the other bed in Will's room, Mulder and Scully headed up two floors for the sonogram. Maggie hadn't left Will's bedside though her daughter protested, as though she felt some responsibility for his condition.

'If only I'd caught his fever earlier...' she'd uttered her concerns to Walter Skinner, who refused to leave her side as long as she stayed at the hospital. It *was* true that romance could spring up in the weirdest places. The rhythmic beeping of Will's heart monitor put Maggie to sleep, but even when she closed her eyes, she kept seeing her ailing grandchild, with the oxygen tube in his nose, the IV in his arm, his pallid skin covered with sweat, the paper gown that hung limply on his lifeless-looking form.

At the same time, two floors up, Mulder helped hoist Scully up onto the examination table so the doctor could perform the ultrasound. The conductive jelly had been applied, and the image of their child popped up on the screen.

"The baby is perfectly healthy," Dr. Beecher said, smiling nervously at the two of them. "Heart rate is strong, you could have this baby any day from now forward and she would be fine." Scully looked up quickly at the doctor.

"Did you say 'she'?" Dr. Beecher looked embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let that one slip," she said.

"No, it's alright. We agreed this morning that we wanted to know. We *needed* to," Mulder said, kissing his wife's hand, which still firmly held his.

"I was so sorry to hear about William. I hope everything works out," she said, using a cloth to clean off Scully's stomach.

"Thank you," she said, almost inaudibly.

"Can you take the sample?" she asked, a hand resting on her exposed stomach.

"Yes. But you're going to be on bed rest for 10 hours following the procedure, or it could send you into early labor, which isn't something you want."

"I thought you said the baby would be perfectly fine," Mulder interjected.

"But if Dana goes into early labor, she'll be off her feet for days, and complications are more likely to ensue the earlier she goes into labor," Dr. Beecher said, heading over to the cabinet and putting on sterile gloves.

"And if I'm off my feet, I can't run these tests as quickly. Will might run out of time before we find an answer," Scully interjected. The doctor joined them, holding a monstrous syringe.

"Your wife is right, Mr. Mulder. Now, during this procedure, it is very important that Dana not move, or even flinch."

"It might be best if you left, Fox. If you make a face, I could move, and the placenta or amniotic sac could rupture, and we could lose the baby, or I could go into early labor," Scully said, squeezing his hand. He looked concerned.

"I've had this done before, Fox. Don't worry about me. You can wait right outside the door, and the doctor will send you in when she's done," Scully said, smiling weakly at him. He nodded, and kissed her forehead.

"I'll be right outside," he said before leaving.

Mulder paced up and down the hall, kneading his forehead with his knuckles. He'd never had more anxiety in his life, even after being on the X-Files for eight years, seeing his wife disappear once, battle cancer, being compromised by many people he thought he could trust, disappearing himself... All that stress, fear and pain didn't even amount to what he felt at that particular moment.

"Mr. Mulder? Mr. Mulder," Dr. Beecher said, touching his shoulder. Your wife's procedure is finished, and she'd like to see you."

Eighteen hours later, Scully was still in the lab, having secluded herself in there with the Gunmen, for six hours. Mulder sat by Will's beside, holding his son's hand, and fighting back tears. He prayed, something he hadn't done before. He prayed that his wife's brilliance would shine through, and she'd discover a cure. He prayed that their twin sons and daughter wouldn't be affected. He heard the door slide open behind him, and saw his wife standing in the entryway, wearing a lab coat, carrying a folder, and crying buckets-full of tears.