This is actually the last chapter of this story, I thought because this was mostly centered on Russia (Kind of) I would end it here and post up another story with Danica and Mulder and Scully all trying to make it as happy families as I work through another plot with Danica dealing with what happens to her as I push them kind of through the show's storyline.

Part 17
Don't Ask Questions

He heard her sigh his name before he saw her face. Driving Scully up the large driveway belonging to his new residence was something completely different. But he loved hearing what she thought, even if she could sometimes be wrong. When he turned the engine off he turned to look at her face. She looked so much like Danica in that moment, blue eyes wide with wonder that look of the worlds' secrets pouring into her blue depths. Her mouth was agape as she tilted her head to get a better look at the house through the front windshield.

"Do you want to come inside?" He asked with a small laugh as he pushed the car door open. Scully hadn't responded instead she continued to stare up at the house in front of her.

"You can't need that much space. What are you going to do?" She spoke when he came back around to her side of the car and opened the door for her.

Mulder shrugged. "It just felt right." She raised an eyebrow as he stepped back to let her out of the car.

Neither partner spoke as they approached the large red door in silence Scully was still staring at her surroundings. She'd heard people tell her that having children changed them, but could a three-year-old seriously change Mulder this much? "Do you even have enough furniture?" She asked as he unlocked the door and pushed it aside.

"Do I need to carry you over the threshold?" He teased softly as she moved to walk around him, her mouth falling open at the soft woodwork belonging to the interior of the house. Mulder took her overnight bag from her hand where she'd left it dangling as she stared at the house. The front two rooms hardly had anything in them, he had the intentions to get crafty and build something. He wanted large bookshelves for the living space and he needed a large dining table for the dining room.

With Scully's bag in his hand Mulder headed straight for the grand staircase in front of both of them. He could see his bedroom from the bottom of the stairs, one of the two double doors was left open a crack and he suddenly panicked at what his partner was going to think of the bedroom. He had offered for her to stay with him the night she got out of the hospital without even thinking that he had turned his master bedroom into a quasi-apartment.

He heard her footfalls on the stairs paired with his own as they climbed. "I, ah. Only have the one bed, so you'll have to stay in my room tonight. I just left the couch in there as well so, I'll sleep on that." He heard her hum as she ran her hand along the wood barrier that ran along the walls separating the white top half of the wall from the wood paneled bottom. "I'm hoping to paint this hallway one day, find a night color that ignites the walls, brightens it up just that little bit more when the sun hits it. The whole house is pretty open, but considering that I own it now I thought I'd make a few changes before I sell it."

Scully's head snapped up to look at him, "Sell it?" Her face was puzzled. "Mulder you could live in this house for the rest of your life." She walked towards him as he stood in front of the master bedroom. Lightly Scully leant against the banner that separated the dividing stairs of the grand staircase from the second floor. She was in front of him a patient smile on her lips.

He didn't respond to her comment, instead Mulder turned and walked into the master bedroom just waiting for her chuckle once she saw it.

"Oh, Mulder." She sighed with a smile as she looked over the large master bedroom divided by moving boxes, his furniture set up like it had been in the apartment. "Your bedroom is almost big enough to be your apartment, without the kitchen and front all. But that doesn't mean you need to fit all of your apartments belongings into it." He shrugged softly his heart not in it.

"I'm just used to living in a cramped space and the house was really fore Danni. That's why I was thinking about selling it, because …"

"You didn't get her today?" Mulder nodded like a wounded puppy. Scully was in front of him in seconds. "Mulder, there's going to be an investigation into Blevins and Klaus and Angelika Wolff, there could be a chance that we get her back." He leant down so their foreheads were touching. His hand dropped her bag to the floor by his feet at the contact.

"Scully he's dead." She nodded slowly telling him that she knew as she brought her hand up to cup his cheek. "The cancer man's dead. I have nothing for proof." She nodded her head again as she ran her thumb over his lips. "You're the only thing that's been a constant around here, you and Danica. I changed so much for her, I can't lose her. I can't lose you." She smiled at him sweetly as she noticed his walls starting to crumble.

"We'll get her back, I promise. If not, you can destroy this whole house and I won't even tell you not to." She smiled trying to lighten the mood. Kissing the corner of his mouth quickly she pulled back and grabbed his hand instead claiming that she was hungry and wanted a better tour.

They sat on the floor in front of the fireplace in the family room that was open with the kitchen. Mulder brought down one of the blankets from his bed and laid it across the floor before he finished cooking dinner. Scully had insisted that she help bring the television set down so they could flick through the channels when she got bored of talking to him. Even though she was joking Mulder contemplated not helping at all. With the television on silent they ate Mulder's prepared meal in front of the fire on his bed sheet on the floor.

Scully smiled as she hummed, the last spoonful of her spaghetti leaving her mouth. "You know, my parents did this with us on occasion. If we were too tired after we moved to unpack everything. Bill would help Melissa and I built a fort to sleep in …" She looked at him slightly startled in the middle of her sentence as his phone started to buzz obnoxiously. Mulder just stared at it as well. Neither partner didn't know what to do; the sun hand gone down when they got to the house, Mulder didn't even want to think about what the time was. He clicked to answer the phone as he picked up both his and Scully's empty bowls and carried them to the sink, his partner watching him slightly worried from her place on the floor on the other side of the room.

"What do you mean you don't know?" She almost flinched at the change of tone in her partners' voice. He had been keeping his voice hushed until now, it wasn't good news. He went quiet again as he walked back over to Scully in a few simple strides, his face a complete mask. "I can be there in twenty minutes." He nodded his head as he clicked off the phone, a worried smile making it known on his blank face. "That was Child Services." He started with a heavy sigh. "Klaus and Angelika Wolff just dropped their daughter of and said she was mine." Scully looked up at him with confusion.

Pulling herself up from the ground the look still wasn't wiped from her face, part of it quizzical and part of it in complete disbelief. "That can't be right, Mulder." She told him as easily as she dismissed one of his crazy alien theories. He nodded his head, telling her again. "But, why? After all the trouble of taking her away and sitting through meetings before the hearing and then the hearing itself. Mulder it's been nearly two weeks of BS and now they're just surrendering custody."

Mulder shrugged as he moved to head upstairs via the staircase that came down into the kitchen. "Can we just go get her?" She nodded slowly as she followed him up the stairs and grabbed her coat like he grabbed his.

It didn't make any sense as to why they were driving towards the cities Child Services building at eleven thirty at night. Sure, Scully understood that he was getting Danica back, they both were. But it made no sense.

They climbed the steps in silence, the nervous energy practically radiating from her male companion. She took a deep breath as she assigned herself the liberty of being the one to hold it together while this happened. Even though she pulled the door open Mulder, ever the gentlemen, let her enter first. The foyer was silent and her heeled shoes clacked against the tile. A very tired looking woman sat behind the desk and greeted them both with a soft smile as they approached.

"Mr. Mulder?" She asked standing up from behind the desk. He nodded as he reached his hand out to take the social workers and introduced Scully while he was at it. "We have people drop children and run all the time." She started to speak as she told them to follow her through a door and down a corridor. "But this was odd. A woman came in told me who to call, she said to tell you not to ask question. She said goodbye to the little girl and left. Not much emotion in it at all. The woman was robotic. I called as soon as she left." The social worker stopped in front of a blank door her hand poised on the handle. "You can take her as soon as you're ready." She smiled at them both as she pushed down on the handle and let the door swing open.

The next few things that happened occurred in a series of swift movements enough that Scully hardly saw the whole thing. As soon as Danica recognized who was at the door she came running for them crying in complete joy for Mulder as she jumped into his arms. He on the other hand had already crouched down, tears obscuring his vision as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. Mulder had caught Danica as she ran to him, her arms had reached his forearms by the time he picked her up and proceeded to stand with her as he threw her into the air. She was back, travelling the atmosphere in her own right but back in his arms. This time he was vowing to never let her got, no matter what. He'd lose everything before he ever lost her again, not even for a second.

With the little girls' arms around his neck Mulder smiled at Scully brightly. "Don't ask questions." He said with a smile. "I think I can do that." He adjusted Danica on his hip before he turned to look at her. "You ready to go home little lady?" She nodded frantically as she buried her head into his next.

"Where is she going to sleep?" Scully whispered as they made their way into the dark house, Danica asleep in her arms. Mulder lead her through the dark house with both of his hands on the small of her back like she needed help with the extra load. He couldn't help in that moment to think of a heavily pregnant Scully trying to make it up and down the stairs in this house on her own. He could only imagine that'd she'd need constant help to avoid getting stuck. Or maybe they'd have to sleep in the guest bedroom for the last few months. But that would never happen, she couldn't have children and even with the ova he found when she'd first found out about her cancer they weren't viable, he just didn't know how to tell her yet.

"I bought a bed for her when we bought the house, but it's not built yet." Scully groaned as they hit the small landing that let the stairs branch to the left and then the right of the second story, she didn't think she could make then next handful of steps with the nearly four-year-old's sleep weight in her arms. "Well, I didn't know when I'd get her back, so there was no point in building it." Mulder replied defensively towards her groan.

"No, no." She shook her head, telling him he had it all wrong. "She's heavy that's all. She can sleep with me in your bed tonight. Then tomorrow we can call the guys over move some furniture turn this house into a home." She looked at him over her shoulder as he held her weight in his hands at the small of her back.

He nodded softly before racing ahead to open the bedroom door and pull back the covers on his bed. "Mulder, I don't know this room like you do and I can't see all that well in the dark." She whispered from her place in the doorway to scarred to step into the room without a light. She didn't want to go tumbling into a wall of moving boxes with the sleeping girl. He appeared in front of her as a dark shadow his hands on either one of her arms.

"Wait here," He told her as he moved her to sit down on the couch.

"Mulder you are not very good at this, how did you manage alone?" His only response was silence. She felt Mulder enter the room again and he slowly started to instruct her, they needed to get Danica in pajamas not a pair of clothes she'd probably been wearing for days. Together, without much instruction they both managed to get the little girl into a clean set of pajamas and into Mulder's large bed. Silently Scully moved back for the couch, her understanding of the room growing. She reached for her overnight bag and unzipped it. On the inside, right on top of her back clothes sat Schatz. She squeezed the bear to her chest and kissed its nose. In the dark she shoved the bear into Mulder's face and told him to do the same so she could tuck the bear in next to the little girl.

"Will you be alright alone?" Mulder asked in the darkness. With Scully's yes he started to move away, "I'm just going to turn the lights off downstairs you can use the bathroom to get changed." She nodded, not aware if he could see her in the dark or not.

It took her only minutes to change and with the early morning hours approaching Scully didn't bother with her usual before bed routine. In a pair of pastel pink silk pajamas she climbed into Mulder's large bed with the tiny human being who tried to possess the most space, even in her sleep. She heard his footfalls and the slight creak of the door and with her sleepy brain she called out to him. "I think I am robbing you of something." She mumbled not sure if he could hear her. "Join us?" She heard the rustle of clothes but didn't move to open her eyes he was changing in the dark anyway. "Although I think Danica's taken up the whole left side of the bed." She giggled to herself in her sleep, knowing she was getting to the point that she was overtired.

It had taken her seconds to forget about her sleepy request but she was quickly reminded as she felt the blankets and the mattress shift the cold air attacked her back as the soon as the cold infiltrated the warmth of her skin it was replaced by a large and muscular body that was wrapping itself around the tiny space between her and the edge of the bed. She mumbled something in her sleep, telling him to relax as she shifted to afford him more room. He shifted behind her uncomfortably in the dark, leaving Scully to remind herself that he wasn't as small as she was. Reaching back behind her she felt for his hand, finding it she pulled his arm over her hip without a second thought and let her mind succumb to sleep as she left him shift a little closer.

"I'm glad we got her back." He whispered into the darkness behind her ear. "I'm glad you're okay too Scully." He pressed a kiss to her shoulder where her pajamas feel away to reveal soft skin, he was unaware to her already asleep state, but the spontaneous action didn't go unnoticed to his sleep heavy mind.

Panic rose to the forefront of his mind as Mulder woke the next morning, his large bed was empty aside from himself and there was no sign of Scully or Danica being there. Jumping out of the bed he didn't think about throwing on a shirt or finding a pair of sweets to cover his boxers, he moved for the stairs swiftly. His nerves were settled as he reached the landing above the family room, noises from the kitchen drifted through the open spaces. He stumbled down the stairs in the back of the house and was instantly greeted with the sight of Danica sitting on the kitchen bench still in her pajamas and covered in splotches of flour. In front of her, moving around the kitchen was Scully still dressed in her own pajamas her face drawn in complete concentration as she moved around searching something on one of the covered bench tops.

"And he awakes." A male voice behind him spoke up the sound was instantly familiar. Turning Mulder came to face a smiling Frohikie, already sensing the question on Mulder's lips he gave a reason as to his presence. "Your lady friend here, asked for help moving furniture. Nice place you've got here, Mulder." Mulder thanked his friend as he moved further into the kitchen to reach Danica. Scooping the girl off the counter he squeezed her tight, the thought of having her back just felt so surreal to him. He reached out of Scully as she past him for the third time, his arm wrapping around her waist as he pulled her to his side and kissed her cheek. The sudden domestic move caused both of them to freeze neither partner understanding where the Mulder's actions had come from.

"Langly and Byers will be here shortly, you might want to change. I set a change of clothes out for Danni in your bathroom for her to change into, so you can take her with you." Scully shooed them both out of the kitchen, never mentioning her own state of dress, but if she'd had the time to organize breakfast, the little girl and calling over the Lone Gunmen Mulder assumed she'd already thought out what she was going to do about her pajamas.

Mulder helped Danica change into the green leggings and pink shirt Scully had left out, an outfit that was a favorite of both the young girls and Mulder's stern partner. When Danica was dressed he helped her back down the stairs before running up them himself for a shower. When he came back downstairs Danica was sitting on the floor with Byers chatting to him intensely in her three-year-old way. Her first impression of him had clearly changed from the first time they met and he had removed her from Scully's presence when she sat with Penny Northern. Mulder smiled at the well-dressed man as he walked past the two to join Scully in her conversation with Langly and Frohikie.

"Van?" He asked, catching in midway through the discussion. Scully turned to him, her hand on her hip her clothes already changed.

"Yes. Van. I called your mother this morning. You do realize you bought a house five times the size fo your apartment, yet you have hardly any furniture?" Mulder nodded, patiently waiting for her point. "Well, my parents as I was growing up had put aside stray bits of furniture for if ever us kids were in need. I called your mother to see if she had done the same."

Mulder nodded again, slowly this time. "Scully we have holiday houses. More than one, I'm sure my mother has plenty of furniture."

She ignored the undermining tone in his voice, and better yet, she ignored what he said all together. "It turns out she has kept some things with the intention of giving them to you, you just never had the space. I didn't tell her about Danica so I though, we could organize the furniture you do have here, with the boys and then figure out what you need and want for the house before going to see her. That's only if you want to. I just assumed with Danica back you would want to start making this house a little homier." Mulder grinned from ear to ear as he leant in real close to her own ear.

"Wonder woman." He whispered as he pecked her cheek softly while their audience was busy trying to make it seem as though they were looking away. "Sounds great to me." He clapped his hands together, "let's do this thing!"

Danica's room was the first place the moved to, the little girl was getting restless with the excitement of new people in the house yet, was growing bored of their attention on other things. All of the belongings Mulder had bought her were stashed away in boxes that were sitting haphazardly in her designated room. Mulder suggested if they worked on putting her bed together first he'd be able to put the little girl down for a nap while they worked on the rest of the house, keeping her little self away from under their feet.

"There are still things I want to do in here." He spoke as the four men got to work on putting the child's bed together without looking at the instructions. "I want to build a bookshelf into that wall, and I saw this little idea in a home décor magazine I thought she might like." Scully watched on from the doorway as Danica stood in front of her, content with the woman playing with her hair lazily.

"What?" Scully asked a little stunned.

Mulder looked at her over his shoulder with a lazy smile, everything about that moment was domestic and he was getting high on the image of it all. "It's a little "tooth fairy" door, I think the magazine is in the study." Scully moved from her place in the doorway to press her hand to his forehead. "What?" He asked with a slight whine.

"No government conspiracy magazines, nothing on aliens? Not even Celebrity Skin? Are you okay, Mulder? You are confusing your magazine subscriptions with my mothers." The other three men in the room laughed while Mulder just grinned.

"Oh, those! No, those I hide so a certain inquisitive three-year-old can't find them." He winked at her slyly with a goofy grin on his face causing his partner to laugh out loud.

With a smug grin on her face she turned to leave the room, "Something's never do change."

By the end of the day the house was a building site, there was writing covering the walls were Mulder had planned out built in shelves and color patterns. The floors were covered in dust and various items of new and old furniture. You could barely walk through the front two rooms when you walked into the house but it was a start, they had the things they needed the sparked ideas Mulder loved and people who were willing to help.

Danica was fast asleep by the end of the day the excitement wore her out and made her tired. She was sleeping while Mulder and Scully shared a glass of red wine in front of the fire in the family room. "Did Byers say where he put the mail?" Mulder asked as he did his third lap of the kitchen. Scully nodded as she pointed to the pile of magazines the mail had been hidden under. Pulling it out Mulder collected it before he plopped himself down next to his partner. He tossed each letter to the floor before he hit the bottom one, there was no return address on the large A4 envelope just his name written in neat handwriting.

"What is it?" Scully asked as she peered over his shoulder. Mulder didn't know, but he'd seen it when Byers brought it into the house but had completely forgotten about it until that moment. Sliding the paper out Mulder read over the first sheet, Scully's breath on his neck as she rested her chin on his shoulder to read it to. "No" She gasped setting back on her knees. "That can't be right Mulder. This is a joke."

He looked at his partner and then back down at the papers in his hand. "I'll get Jebsen to look at them tomorrow, but Scully I think they're authentic." She was biting on her thumb when he looked back over at her, her face intense as she grabbed the papers from him and dropped them on the coffee table before she set back into the couch.

"That can't just settle everything. Don't you want to find out what happened in Russia, the whole truth?" She asked not taking her eyes off the papers in front of them as her fingers played with the back of his leather couch still trying to get used to it in its new home.

Mulder smiled at her softly, his face completely content. "Don't ask questions." He spoke clearly the fake Angelika Wolff's message was determined to stay stuck in his mind when anything concerned Danica. He relaxed back into the couch with a gentle sigh. "For once in my life, I'm not going to push on the answers, Scully. I'm happy. " He grinned at her broadly before he turned back to stare down at the adoption papers in between the two of them.

There were wrong doings, there always were and although he was giving in on this fight, closing this Truth down and labeling it as "unknown" he still wasn't giving up on his great quest even if the greatest quest for him was just starting. Special Agent Fox William Mulder was officially going to become a dad and somehow, someway that seemed just a little more frightening than what he had seen on the X-Files.

He was still going to find his sister; just now his daughter came first.

So the next installment still doesn't have a name but it will be up next week and I'll post on here to let you know that it's up. :)

-A