Title: Chapter 11: Finally a Little Closure (no creativity, I know, but bear with me, people, it's finals time again!)
Author: Amanda "Gillian Leigh" Rosemergy

"Hi, Mom," Scully whispered when Maggie appeared in the doorway of her hospital room. Maggie's face lit up at the sight of her daughter and newest grandchild.

"She's gorgeous," Maggie said, lifting the blanket so she could see Ava's face. "What're you going to call her?"

"Ava," Scully replied, stroking the baby's cheeks.

"She's so tiny, Dana," Maggie said, examining one of Ava's hands.

"She weighed even less than the twins. 5 lbs, 5 oz." Scully paused. "She doesn't know how much of a miracle she is for this family. She can't understand how special she is." Maggie nodded.

"Well, she wouldn't be the same kind of miracle if you hadn't figured out how the gene was passed." Scully's smile did not hide her fear.

"I can't help feeling that this is my fault. I never thought this could happen, but maybe I should have seen it coming. It happened to Emily, I don't know why I thought it wouldn't happen to my other children," Scully said, shifting Ava as she repositioned herself on the bed. Maggie sighed, and put her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Dana, this isn't your fault. You can't help what's in your genes," she said, trying her best to smile, but not doing a good job of it.

"I just can't understand why these things are still happening. It's not fair," she said, sighing exhaustedly.

"I wish I knew, sweetheart," Maggie said, and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Why don't you let me take Ava, and I'll put her in her bassinet so you can get some sleep."

"No, Mom, it's alright. I'd rather have her here with me," Scully said, leaning back and closing her eyes. "I want to have her near me while Fox and the boys are gone." Maggie nodded, understandingly.

"I'll be just down the hall if you need me," she said, stepping out of the room. Scully watched the door close behind her mother, and then glanced down at her daughter, who was sound asleep. She was content just to marvel at the simple beauty, the magnificence of Ava until the fact that she had had only four hours sleep in the past thirty six hours caught up with her, and in moments she was sound asleep.

Halfway through Will's procedure, Mulder was informed that there would be enough blood to perform the procedure....on *one* of the twins. He would have to choose, but he couldn't do it alone. He opened Scully's hospital room, and had to stop himself from launching into a panicked explanation of what was going on when he saw that she was sound asleep with the baby in her arms.

Sinking into the chair beside her bed, his fingers barely brushed her forehead before her eyes fluttered open. Apparently the sleep wasn't as sound as it had seemed.

"What is it?" she asked, her brows knitting together. "Is everything okay?" He shook his head, doing his best to keep the tears out of his eyes. Her eyes widened and glistened with tears, but she didn't speak.

"They only have enough blood to do the operation on one of the twins. We have to choose." Her face dropped.

"No," she said, adamantly. "I will not choose one of our children over the other. No."

"Then what are we supposed to do, Dana? They'll die if we don't have the procedure done," he said, feeling defeated.

"We can't quit, Fox. If we quit, they win."

"But...what options do we have?" he questioned, the dull ache in his head growing worse.

"We'll wait. They can freeze the cord blood; it's a new procedure. It'll keep for as long as it's frozen."

"That still leaves only enough blood for one twin. Freezing it won't change that. How do we get more blood?" he asked, looking into his wife's eyes. She glanced down at Ava.

"We'd need more of the perfect genetic makeup like Ava has."

"But how?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

"Another baby?" She shrugged.

"It's our only option," she replied, feeling her eyes welling with tears. Mulder sighed, cradling his head in his hands.

"All I want is one normal day, Dana. Just one," he said, his voice cracking. She ran her fingers through his hair as her tears flowed more steadily. "Just one day where we don't have to worry about whether or not our children will live or die the death Emily did."

Mulder stood up abruptly and pulled the empty food tray with the metal soup bowl and plastic dinner tray on it off of its cart, and threw it against the far wall. Scully jumped at the crash and clatter, and Ava woke and began crying. Her mother, though she tried, couldn't adequately comfort her, because her nerves were so worn. She shushed her, and said quietly,

"Shh, Ava, it's alright. Shh, baby. Mommy's here." Ava reached for Scully's hand, and began sucking on her index finger.

"Damn it, Fox, you scared her. Hell, you scared me too. Look, I know how this is weighing on your nerves, and I know how frustrated and scared you are, but right now we need to be rational, and level headed. We need to be there for our kids," she said, sounding defeated.

"I have to go back and check on Will. They said it should still be quite a while before his procedure is finished," Mulder said, unable to meet his wife's weary eyes. He left her room, and began walking, trying to ignore the migraine that was building behind his eyes, making him feel like someone was driving knives through them. He reached Will's room, and relinquished his place in the chair outside it. The stillness of the hospital was driving him crazy.

The procedure was a success, but while Will's immune system rebuilt itself, he was in a hermetically sealed, germ free environment. His parents spent all the time they could with him, but it wasn't much. Maggie watched the twins, while Scully toted Ava around the hospital with her, while acting as Will's doctor and mother. Husband and wife took turns comforting, and being comforted, and finally after three weeks, Will was allowed to come home.

x-X-x

Author's Notes: Have no fear, you haven't heard the last from me. You're *stuck* with me. I'm flying blindly through this story, and all the medical stuff I talk about I've either heard mentioned on TV (The X-Files or Trauma: Life in the ER, or Maternity Ward for that matter) or in my Biology class. Alright, this will probably be the last or second to last chapter posted for a matter of at *least* twelve days, because I have finals this week and I'm going on vacation the week after. I hope this one isn't so much of a cliffhanger. [Psst, I'm currently working on another one, an AU story...maybe I'll have some of it up before I leave. :o) ]