Go lightly from the ledge, babe,
Go lightly on the ground.
I'm not the one you want, babe,
I will only let you down.
You say you're lookin' for someone
Who will promise never to part,
Someone to close his eyes for you,
Someone to close his heart,
Someone who will die for you an' more,
But it ain't me, babe,
No, no, no, it ain't me, babe,
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.
-Bob Dylan-

He was frantic, not to the point of crashing the car into a wall, or driving off of a bridge. He would never hurt Dylan. That meant physically or emotionally. Leaving her to fend for herself was cruel at any age of development.

She had no one, literally but him. A flash of anger at this surprised him. How did he get left holding the bag on this one, when five months ago he had considered sliping Scully a quinine cocktail that would have rectified the entire situation.

His guilt after this thought was horrendous. He pulled the car over in thee first parking lot he could find. He reached for her in back, gently taking her out of her seat. He held her then, crying in thick husky wails.

"Mom, I don't want to talk about it." It had been the twelfth time that day that Dana had uttered those words to her mother. She had begun to keep count as a means of keeping her sanity.

"Eventually dear we are going to have to discuss it, and you know there are reprocussions that have to be addressed." Maggies had tried everything to get through to her daughter. The phone call she got that Saturday afternoon was the answer to her prayers. She was never one to speed, but she had broke all kinds of laws getting to the Centre that day.

What she couldn't understand was why Fox was not there. When she walked into the room, she smiled warmly expecting to see a warm little family reunion, with Fox hovering over her and Dana holding Dylan waiting for the stregnth to smack him over the head once he told her the baby's name. When she arrived, her daughter was sitting up, she had the Scully look of death on her face, and something about her eyes seemed all wrong. Tenatively, with a little fear she had approached her daughter's bedside, not sure what to expect.

"Mom," she breathed, her voice sounded course and cracked, but it was the most beautiful thing that Maggie had ever heard in her life.

"Dana, Honey, I am so glad to hear your voice, to see you awake." She didn't know what to say, so much has gone on in the last year. Where to start?

"Mom, where is Muldr?" she asked, with a little knot of fear in her voice.

"He has been here Dana, Just about every day til recently. Then things got-busy for him. She smiled at her, smoothed her hair down away from her face. Dana was too thin and she intended on taking good care of her daughter. Get her back on her feet again.

Maggie noticed a photo on the side of the bed. Mulder had left it there almost two months ago. He had wanted her to see it in case she woke up without his being there. She did not know if it was such a good idea for her to see it right now. Without drawing attention to it, Maggie surreptitiously crossed to the opposite side of the bad, trying to not let Dana see it.

Too late, Maggie also forgot that her daughter had spent five years with the FBI, it was her job to notice everything. "Mom, I want to see it Mom. What is it you feel you have to hide from me?"

Sighing, not waiting to upset her already fragile daughter, Maggie handed over the picture.

Dana held it in her hands, trying to study the two faces, trying to figure out. Understanding suddenly dawned on her, she flung the photo across the room, relishing in the loud crash as it made contact with the wall.

"I want outta here, now Mom."

Dana had closed off to her then, ever since that she refused to speak about Mulder or the picture. She was only adamant about two things. Getting the hell out of the Centre, and not calling Mulder. She had threatened her mother with various forms of mental anguish if she even tried to contact him behind her back.

Maggie wasn't sure of what she interpreted from that photo. She saw the look of horror and disgust and then the hand toss.

.The doctors had to examine her Maggie realized there was a time constraint. Three days, Fox had called her last week to let her know that he would be visiting Chilmark with Dylan for three days. She knew he had been here yesterday. If he showed up now and she treated him the way she treated that picture. Well, there was no telling what would have happened.

After giving her a relatively clean bill of health, the doctors wanted to transfer her to Georgetown General for a week or two of observation and rehab. Dana flatly refused going anywhere near Georgetown, or even any hospital for that matter.

The first Day, Dana had tried to stand out of bed. Legs wobbly, knees knocking to gether as if she were shivering in the cold. If it weren't such a stark contrast to her old self, Maggie would have found it funny. Dana looked like a baby deer trying to get up and walk for the first time. She held on to the side of the bed, taking careful and steadily more sure steps til she reached the foot where the doctors examining her case had assembled.

I want out, sign me AMA just get me the fuck outta here."

They complied.

She watched emotions crawl across her daughters face. Confusion, anger hurt, then nothing. Dana had shut down and no one was getting in. There was one that could get in, and maybe that was the reason she had beat a path away from him. From Them.

It was Maggie's idea to come to California. Going to her house was out of the question. There was so much there that spoke of Dylan. Thr toys, small furniture pictures by the hundreds. There was no way Dana was going to be able to deal with any of that at this point. She called in a favor from her neighbors, had them secure the house and pack a couple of bags for the road She had dipped into her savings and purchased two last minute one way tickets to Bill and Tara's.

She didn't dare call Fox, not only because she could not let Dana out of her sight long enough to call, but she was sure he would talk her into a meeting, or at the least letting him talk to Dana on the phone.

After seeing her daughter, Maggie wasn't sure that was such a good idea yet. There was something here that she herself was missing, something in that picture that Dana was not talking about. Or maybe something about that night that Fox had eluded to. The night Dana went to sleep. She would call him, once things were calmed and Dana got settled into a routine she would call him, demand some answers.

The guilt hit her the second day that Fana had been awake. Making an excuse of having to make arrangements, she quickly penned a letter on the Centre stationary, no more than three pages just to try to explain things to the father of her only grand daughter. It wasn't right to leave him without knowing what was going on.

After obtaining a sworn promise from the receptionist she handed her the letter to be placed in the outgoing mail. If she had left it for him here, he would have torn the place apart brick by brick.

Mulder had no other options. With Dylan in tow he made the hour trip to the house of Maggie Scully. He knew no one was there when he pulled into the drive. The house had a haunted look, its windows were dark and foreboding. Leaving the car running, he ran up to the front door and rang the bell. He walked around the house trying to find any clues any sign of where she and Dana had gone. He knew they would not have come here. If they were trying to avoid him it would have been the first place they looked.

He slid into the front seat of his car, having fewer answers than when he first slid out. "I picked a hell of a day to leave the FBI.' He mocked to himself. Sighing deeply, he dialed the only numbers of that could help him.

"Langley, turn that damn tape off."

I have to say that you guys are such an inspiration for me.

—Rosie, you have a wonderful soul and thank you for the kind words

—Samandabear Your website made me laugh til I cried it was so dead on LOL I love those quotes! And sweety, I really wish I could tell ya the end, but then I would have to kill you LOL Plz don't send the little grey guys, I'll be good

lil gillian–cliff hangers are the scurge of fanfiction, but they do keep em around LOL

Well u are wondering why I am updating. My sister surprised me and brought me home for the weekend where the internet runs wild and free. Expect pretty frequent updates for a couple of days.

Thanx to you all and I hope you all enjoy–the rest of the story. Thanx for sticking around