Title: A Power You Never Knew You Had
Rating: R
Disclaimer: X-files belong not to me, but to the all powerful C-man. Please don't sue!
Summary: Mulder and Scully are on the run, trying to evade the government after "The Truth". New adventures await them, but maybe more than X-Files are in store?
Spoilers: Any and all X-Files episodes, FTF, IWTB

"Blind?" Scully asked, sitting up straighter. "No, that can't be...no...that's...I..." Words failed her as she attempted to communicate. Her mouth was opening and closing, but very little sound was coming out.

"This is the worst diagnosis for me to deliver." The doctor sighed and leaned on his knees. "As far as I can tell, all that Evelynne can see is large shapes – they appear as shadows to her. Of course, this is speculation. Her vision may be better, or worse. We'll have to wait until she's older and can communicate better with us." He was visibly weighed down by the bad news.

Scully looked desperately from the doctor to her now sleeping daughter. Blind? "But, Mul-" She stopped herself suddenly, catching the mistake as it tumbled out of her mouth. "Daniel, this can't be happening. How?"

He shook his head, never gave her a verbal response. Scully reached out her arms, begging to hold her child and Mulder wordlessly placed the infant on her chest. He turned to the doctor. "Thank you very much for your time." The words were difficult to get out, they hardly passed over the large lump in his throat. Mulder grasped Scully's elbow and helped her to stand, grabbed the baby carrier off the floor. Dr. Fabrie stood and opened the door.

"My assistant will contact you some time in the near future with any outstanding bills, and to set up another appointment."

Mulder nodded again, What else can you say? and continued to lead Scully out of the building. Numbly, she let him take the baby from her arms and place her in the car seat. Mulder opened Scully's door for her, gently pushed her into the car and went around to the other side. Scully did not speak the entire ride home, and he knew better than to attempt to start a conversation. When they arrived home, he took Evelynne inside, placed her on her play mat in the living room and went back to the driveway when he saw Scully had not followed him inside. She was sitting, still in the passenger side of the car, sobbing.

He opened the door and she spilled into his arms, her seat belt cutting into her collar bone. "Scully, it's going to be okay." He rubbed her back, unbuckled the restraint and tugged it out from under her arm. "Come inside, please." She let him lead her in the house, limply hanging off of him. He sat her on the couch, and was about to go put on some tea, when her choked voice stopped him.

"It's not fair, Mulder." He turned, she was looking at him with red rimmed eyes, her mascara running a little.

"I know," he told her, moving back to the couch to sit next to her.

"I've had three children in my life, and I've only had the opportunity to keep one of them – to experience the joy of raising her with you. All of my children have been in some way...defective."

"Don't say that Scully." He tried to pull her into an embrace, but she pushed back.

"It's true!" She yelped, and Evelynne stirred. "It is true, and you know it. Emily was so sick, she was just a lab rat-"

"Scully, she was the result of scientific tests. She was an experiment. She was a beautiful child, and having her in our lives would have made them better, but she wasn't born to live."

"William, William should have been ours, Mulder!"

"I know, he was."

"But he was always in danger. He was different, too. He would have died if I had kept him."

"I know."

"I had to give him up. My beautiful boy." Mulder rubbed her back as she buried her face in his chest, crying harder. "And then we get Evie. She's a blessing, I know. She was a miracle we never thought we would have. Are we being punished for something? Were we not supposed to procreate?"

"Scully, she's still a miracle. She's a gift – from God, or science, or the government, I don't know. But she's a gift, and we've faced worse than blindness. She's not defective, Scully, she special. And she's ours. And she's here, with us. We can raise her together, we can do this. You can do this." He pulled her tighter to him, kissed the crown of her head.

Scully tipped her face back to look at him, still crying lightly. "I'm sorry I used that word. I didn't mean it."

"I know that," he said, bending over to kiss her lips.

"Of course I know she's a gift. I wouldn't trade her for anything. I just...we have the worst luck when it comes to having a family."

Mulder sighed, ran his hands over Scully's arms a few times. "Let me go put some tea on. You need to relax." When he left the living room and went to the kitchen, Scully got up and walked over to Evelynne.

"I love you, baby." One finger stroked over the soft expanse of skin on the baby's cheek, her eyelids fluttered open momentarily and shut again. A soft hush of air rushed out of her mouth. Scully lay down next to the infant, closed her eyes, and promptly fell asleep.

********M&S********

"Hi mom, it's Fox." Mulder had found Scully sleeping on the floor and scooped her up, carried her to bed, placing Evelynne next to her. Now he was reclining in the bed next to them, gently twirling the small tuft of hair on Evelynne's head around his finger. "Um, I'm not sure if everything's okay. Scully's been worried about Evie's eyesight lately, so we took her to a paediatric ophthalmologist. He diagnosed Evie with infantile blindness." Scully moaned in her sleep, rolled over, placing a hand on his chest. "I figured you would want to know right away. Scully's sleeping right now, today really wore her out. Yeah, she's pretty upset over the whole thing." Evelynne was snuggled tightly between the two of them, her drool moistening Mulder's t-shirt. "I'll tell her I called you. Okay, yeah. I love you, too. Talk to you later." He hung up the phone and rolled on his side so he was facing Scully. "Scully?" He bent down so he was close to her face, rubbed her arm.

"Huh?" She opened her eyes a little, looked around the bedroom before making eye contact with Mulder. "Where am I?"

He laughed gently. "Our bedroom. I found you asleep on the floor, so I brought you two in here." He ran his hand down her side, delighting in the curve of her waist to her hip. They hadn't done anything since Evie had been born. He missed his wife's body. "Do you want some dinner?"

Scully sat up a stretched, letting out a low groan as she did so. "How long have I been out?"

"About four hours. You must be hungry. I am."

She nodded. "I'm going to take a shower, I think."

Mulder scooped up Evelynne and took her into the kitchen with him, dropping her into the baby seat on the table. "What should we have for dinner tonight?" he asked her, pressing his index finger to her nose quickly, watching a smile grow on her face. "Hmm...spaghetti? Steak? What do you think mommy's in the mood for?"

Scully's voice traveled out of the bedroom, "Spaghetti!" Mulder looked up just in time to her naked leg going back into the room.

"Spaghetti it is," he told his daughter. He continued to talk to her as he prepared supper, she contributed a constant chatter throughout. After a while, Scully came out of their room, her wet hair pulled back into a ponytail, one of Mulder's shirt draped over her thin form. She had lost all of the baby weight immediately, without trying. Dr. Grey had voiced her jealously on more than one occasion. Mulder pulled Scully into a hug, kissed the top of her head and held out a spoon with spaghetti sauce on it. "What do you think?" he asked her, delighting in the way her delicate lips closed around the spoon, licked off every last drop of the sauce. Only his Dana Scully could look so erotic at a time like this.

"Delicious." She smiled up at him and then turned to talk to her baby. "Hello, beautiful. Hello! How are you?" She held one tiny foot in her hand, let her thumb trail over the sensitive skin there. Evelynne jerked her foot back, but giggled none the less as she was tickled. "Did I hear you on the phone while I was sleeping?" Scully asked Mulder while she was still trailing her nail over Evelynne's skin, tickling the baby.

"Yeah, I called your mom. I'm sorry. But I thought she would want to know right away."

"It's okay. You're probably right. And I don't know..." she took a breath, "if I'm really ready to face this yet. Saying it out loud will make it seem real."

"Scully...Dana...we need to face this. You need to face this. I can help you, I want to help you. But this isn't something we can just brush under the carpet. Our lives are going to change. I did some research while you were sleeping. I...everything we do, everything I ever knew about raising a child, it's all different when a child is born blind."

"I understand the severity of the situation, Mulder." Her voice was steely, her back was to him, but he saw her hand still on Evelynne's elbow.

"I didn't mean to make you angry." He turned the stove off before he burned the sauce.

"I know." Her shoulders slumped and she turned to him. "I know that I have to deal with this right now. I know everything will change." Scully swallowed thickly, and looking for something to do, picked up the pot of pasta, and poured it into the strainer over the sink. "I feel so terrible. Could we have prevented this, Mulder? It's eating me up inside. Is this my fault? Or is it the tests that were done on me? Or on you?"

"Scully," he took the pot from her hands and put it in the sink, grabbed both of her hands and held them, "I don't remember anything that happened when I was abducted. Maybe they did do something. Maybe they didn't. Either way, these are the cards we've been dealt, and this is the way things are going to be. Why should we place blame?"

"Excuse me?" She pulled her hands away from him. "Are you even the Fox Mulder I knew? Where's the man I fell in love with? The man who always wanted to know the truth? There's no blame here, only a search for an answer. You of all people should understand that." She was worried, this didn't sound like Mulder – why was he so indifferent to the entire situation? He had been all day. "Mulder, what's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing Scully, I'm not keeping anything from me."

"Fox William Mulder." She poked him in the chest. "You are keeping something from me. The man I thought I knew would already be hunting for answers. He would be searching for the reason his daughter's life had been turned upside down. He would certainly NOT be cooking pasta in the kitchen!"

"Scully!" He back away from her, bumped into the counter. "Scully, I was just...I was going to start looking, tomorrow. I wanted to give you time. Give you time to deal with this. I need you...to help me look. To help me find the answers."

"No, that doesn't make sense. Why would you be waiting?" She felt like maybe she was being paranoid. His answer made some sense, but she still wasn't sure.

"Look, Scully," he reached out a tentative hand to rub her shoulder, but she pulled away from him. "When we found out today, that Evie was blind, you were so shocked. You were so upset. I've rarely seen you like that. I didn't know how to react. I thought the best thing would be to take control of the situation, and get you home. I figured you could deal with it and be back to yourself by the time we got here. But you were still so angry, so sad, I just wanted to...be there for you. Okay? I'm angry, too. I'm extremely mad. I'd even go so far as to say I was livid. I want the truth, too. I want to know why this happened – why someone tried to destroy our miracle. I won't let them, Scully. I'm going to find out what happened, I'm going to find out for you. And for Evie." She stared at him for a moment and took a nervous step forward. Finally she crumpled against his chest.

"Mulder," she whispered, "never, ever worry about my feelings again."

He laughed quietly - she could feel the vibration in his chest. "Sorry, Scully. I was trying a new tactic."

"You scared the shit out of me."

"Yeah, I know that now." He let her go and grabbed two plates from the cupboard. And so they sat down to eat, Evelynne between them, bouncing in her seat, the trio ready to fight a new battle as one.

********M&S********

"Scully?"

"Mmm?"

"I think Evie's asleep." Mulder's hand snaked up Scully's leg, danced to her inner thigh, made the heat move down her abdomen.

"Me, too," she whispered, rolling over to face him. The moonlight cast a light glow across his face, he was smiling at her. Scully sat up momentarily, let him pull the t-shirt of her body.

"You're so hot," he purred, leaned in to put his lips to her clavicle. He let his tongue dart out, hot in the cool air of their room, and dance over her skin. She dipped her head, wrapped her fingers in his hair and guided him to her mouth. He kissed her hungrily, pushing his tongue into her mouth. Before soon, she was tugging at his pyjama pants, wanting to free the arousal that was pressing at her leg. He pulled back, helped her tug the garment off, before continuing his ministrations, moving down her neck. She shuddered, felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Mulder," she said, pushing him back, "lay down." It wasn't an offer, it was a command. He moaned, letting her climb over his body. His hands reached up, running over her milky, smooth arms. She straddled him, just below his knees and bent so that she could kiss him. It's been so long. She trailed heat down his body, wet lips kissing every inch on the way down. She swirled circles around his nipples, making him arch his back, groan, pleading for more. One of her hands moved to his erection, palming him, teasing him.

"Sculleee...." this was painful, after three months of no sex. She smiled up at him, continued her trail south, and took him in her mouth. He thought he might explode. Slowly, her mouth a vacuum, she bobbed her head up and down, only breaking eye contact once when she almost lost her balance. Mulder let his hands tangle in her hair, it had grown long in the past year. "Scully," he panted, "so close."

She licked him from base to tip, and left his stiff cock wet and cold as she slithered up his body, and whispered in his ear, "Me too." He grabbed a hold of her hips, helped to guide her body down on top of him and was lost in sweet oblivion. Mulder reached a hand down between them, a natural rhythm established already, her slow rocking back and forth, his rapidly increasing hand movements. He loved it when she rode cowgirl style. He could see her face as she came, when she leaned her head back, moaned his name, her finger nails scratched across the surface of his chest.

He was quick to follow, and she collapsed on top of him. The sound of a baby crying roused him from his post coital haze. "Not a moment too soon," he said, rolling over and depositing Scully on the bed. His pants were somewhere on the floor, he found them and tugged them on before Scully had the sense of mind to get up.

"Mulder, it's my turn," she insisted, albeit half heartedly.

"It's okay," he cupped her cheek, kissed her quickly. "You'll pay me back somehow."

*******M&S********

"Happy Birthday baby!" Scully kissed the tip of Evelynne's nose, placed her in the high chair by the table. They had had some trouble getting Evelynne to sit up, but finally the one year old was doing it herself, independent of her mother's assistance. Rebecca Grey was in the kitchen with them, sitting across the table from Evelynne, her two boys were running around the house, fighting with foam swords, shrieking with laughter.

"Happy birthday!" Rebecca and Mulder chimed in. He handed Scully a slice of cake, from which she scooped a spoonful of the spongy food.

"First slice goes to the birthday girl," she said, moving the spoon to Evelynne's mouth. Her daughter opened up obediently, took the cake in her mouth, and swallowed happily before opening her mouth. "That's all you get today, baby." Scully laughed at her daughter, whose mouth was still open. Rebecca leaned across the table and put a finger in the baby's mouth, much to Evelynne's surprise.

"John, Marcus, come get some cake!" Mulder yelled, putting two small sliced on the table before he sat down, gave one to Rebecca and started devouring his own. The boys ran into the kitchen, dropped their swords on the floor and clambered onto their chairs.

"Thanks, Mr. Johnston," they intoned upon seeing the look on their mother's face.

"You're welcome," he grinned at them.

"So, I know you two said I didn't need to get anything for Evie, but I wanted to," Rebecca had a glint in her eye.

"Oh, Rebecca, I told you..." Scully set down her plate, and took Evie – who had begun to cry – out of her high chair.

"I know, I know. I wanted to, though." She pulled a small, wrapped package out of her purse, and handed it to Mulder, who began to tear off the paper.

"Thank you," Scully admitted defeat, brushing tears off her daughter's face.

"This is great," Mulder said, flipping through the book Rebecca had gotten for them. Scully leaned over to look at it.

"It's a book about farm animals," Rebecca explained, "but it's one of those touch and feel ones. I thought it would be a great way for Evie to interact with you while you're reading it to her."

"That's so sweet," Scully said, reaching out to pet the "feathers" on the picture of a duck. "Thank you so much, Rebecca."

"It was my pleasure."

********M&S********

4 years later

"Daddy, where are we?" Mulder was unbuckling Evelynne from her booster seat in the back of the SUV.

"I told you we were going to the grocery store. Can you hear the shopping carts?" The five year old was silent for a moment, didn't move as she listened closely.

"Yes," she finally said, "I can hear them now." Mulder picked her up, and set her down next to him, shut the car door and locked it. He held his hand out for her, and she felt around in the air for a few seconds, found his finger and finally grasped his hand. "Can I ride in the cart today?" she asked him, facing ahead.

"I think so," he dropped a loonie into the buggy, freeing it from the lock. "Hold on a sec," he let go of her hand, "I'm right here, I'm just getting the cart out." Once he had it away from the rest of the carts, he dropped her into the child seat. Although most five year olds would be uncomfortable in the small space, Evelynne had been a very petite child, taking after her mother, and still fit quite easily.

"Where's mommy?" she asked him as he pushed the cart into the store.

"She had to work late today," he told her, "one of her patients, a little boy, is very sick. Why? You don't like shopping for groceries with me?"

She giggled. "I do! I just wanted to know where mommy was." The cart stopped moving and she could hear her father picking something out. "What are you buying?" she asked him.

"Oranges. Would you like to hold one?" She nodded and he passed her one.

"Hey!" She said, letting her hands roll over the smooth surface. "This isn't an orange."

"Can you tell what it is?"

"It's round, like an orange, but it's smooth like an apple."

"Mhm," he started pushing the cart again.

"It feels hard..."

"It's not ripe," he explained, "that's why it's hard. Usually it would be soft."

"Is it a plum?"

"Yup." She held it out so he could take it from her. "Behind you," he told her, "there's a bag. Can you put it in there for me, please?" She rummaged behind her, bending her back awkwardly. Her hand touched only air.

"I don't think I can reach," she whined.

"Yes you can, try your other hand." Finally she found the bag and dropped the plum in. "You need to be careful when you drop things," Mulder said, picking a can up off the shelf. "You don't know how far that fell, what if you had bruised it?"

"Sorry." She reached up and he kissed her hand.

"It's okay." They walked in silence for a few moments, when suddenly Evelynne felt her father's face very close to hers. "If I was to, oh...I don't know...race around the store, you wouldn't tell mommy, would you?" She laughed and shook her head. "Alright," he said, standing up, "get ready." Before she had time to brace herself, she was flying through the store, heard the clanging of the wheels as her father turned sharp corners, running faster and faster with the buggy. She couldn't help it, peels of laughter escaped her throat.

"Daddy!" She laughed, holding tightly to the handle bar in front of her. They stopped just as suddenly.

"Whoops," he said. She knew that voice – that was his 'in trouble' voice.

"Can I help you sir?" Another man's voice.

"Oh, no, I'm okay, just in a bit of a rush." And that was his 'about to laugh' voice.

"Alright then." Evelynne listened as footsteps got quieter and quieter, waited until her dad started to laugh, and then joined in.

"Why do we always seem to get in trouble?" he asked her, ruffling her hair. She just laughed at him.

********M&S********

Scully handed Mulder a travel mug of coffee. "I wish they would stop giving you all these four o' clock in the morning shifts. It's just bad timing." He bent over to kiss her, put a hand on her abdomen – another unborn member of the Mulder clan keeping her belly warm.

"I told them," he said, straightening, "that when you get into your third trimester they need to give me either the night shift or the day shift, so you can always know when I won't be home. But until then, Scully, it's hard to be picky."

"I know," she put her hands on her lower back, grinned at him. "You're coming to the ultra sound today, though, right?"

He nodded, "I asked Davis to cover me for an hour. I'll meet you there."

She kissed him one last time before opening the door for him, ushering him into the cool, night air. Mulder closed the door behind him and Scully watched through the window as he started the car and pulled into the street. Once she had turned off the porch light, decided she needed some tea before going back to sleep, she hear a piercing scream. As fast as her feet could carry her, she hurried to Evelynne's room, sidestepping toys on the way. Her daughter was sitting up in bed, tears streaming down her face, her mouth open, letting out a loud howl.

"Honey, baby, Evie, what's wrong?" Scully sat down on the bed next to her, pulled the crying child's head to her chest. "Did you have a nightmare?" Evelynne nodded and sniffed. "It was just a dream, honey, it will be okay." She scratched her daughter's back through her pyjamas and cooed quietly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Evelynne pulled back and wiped at her running nose with a balled fist. "I had a dream about Daddy," she spoke quietly, Scully had to strain to understand the words.

"Don't use your sleeve honey, take a tissue." Scully handed Evelynne a tissue. "What happened? Were you scared of Daddy in the dream?"

"No," she shook her head, wiped at her eyes with the tissue. "I was scared for him."

"Why?"

"He was at work, Mommy. At first I could just hear him, like all my normal dreams. He was yelling at someone to 'put the gun down'. I don't think they were listening, because he kept saying it over and over again. He said 'I'm a police officer, put the gun down or I'll shoot.' Then, I hear a loud popping noise, and I saw him, Mommy!"

"What do you mean, you saw him? Evie, you're blind."

"I know that!" Evelynne pushed her fist into the bed. "I don't know if he ever looks like that, but I saw something. I saw this light around a big, Daddy sized shape. A bright, coloured light. Beside it, there was another, dark shadow. And then the shadow started to crawl all over the light around Daddy, and then the light around Daddy went out."

"Light? I...it went out?" Scully felt nervous.

Evelynne nodded. "But it's just a dream, right?"

"Yeah," Scully nodded. "I'm sure it was just a nightmare. I need to tell your father to stop talking about work when you're at the table." She kissed Evelynne on the forehead and laid her down, tucking the blanket around her daughter tightly. "You go back to sleep, honey. Just call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay." Scully began to leave the room when Evelynne called her one more time.

"Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"Sorry I scared you."

"You didn't scare me honey. I just don't like to see my baby cry."

Evelynne nodded and rolled over onto her side to sleep.