Thank you to those of you who took the time to read an review as well as those of you who have newly added this to your favorites and alerts. It means alot.

I scrapped the Kitsungari idea, I should have put my hands on Pusher first, but that's pre-Danica. This chapter was inspired by something I found on one of our old home videos of my brother and I and yesterday I found out it also happened in an episode of Modern Family. Just too cute. But alas, no copyright was intended. I own nothing – but Danica.

Part 21

Ballet

"I don't want this to get between us, Scully." He started, his voice quiet. With Danica in the backseat of the car, he didn't want to intrigue her little ears towards their conversation. Danica wasn't privy towards what was going on and sometimes neither was Mulder. But he had wanted to keep things quiet for the little girl, he wanted everything to be confirmed and out of the woods before he told her – hell, he would have liked to wait until the baby was born altogether.

Danica was always an inquisitive child, sometimes in her own silent way. She didn't have any questions that day, she was just quiet as they dropped Scully off at her doctor's office and picked her up two hours later. Usually the little girl queried into every absence of Scully's and showered him in questions about what she was doing – but that day she remained silent.

He had promised Danica that he would take her to the new exhibit opening at the Natural History Museum that day before Scully had even booked her appointment. He tried to rearrange his plans with Danica for the day so he could accompany her but Scully refused, he had made plans with his daughter and it was going to stay that way. She wasn't going to get in between their already organized plans.

So he let her go alone and kicked himself over it the entire time he was out with Danica.

"It's not going to get into between us, Mulder." She reached her hand across the console. "I promise. Look, technically we already have a child together. She hasn't gotten between us." Danica was different. She wasn't something conceived from both of them, she was a child in need of a savior and love. And sure, any child needs loving and caring parents but Danica was and still is on a destructive path they are only just unveiling. But a baby, a life consisting of the both of them, her stubborn nature and his need for the Truth, surely it was going to get in between them and not only that – a baby would get between their work, Danica was already edging her way in front of the X-Files. But Skinner would surely take them off the task force if he were to find out about the impending news.

He wanted to believe what she said was true, but for some reason he couldn't swallow the words. He could only see things getting worse. But perhaps that was just Mulder tormenting himself.

[…]

"Papa, you have to help!" Danica demanded as she twirled around his chair in the study. Her ballet leotard was on, her skirt tied and yet her hair had come out of its tight bun. She refused to get out of her uniform that afternoon when Scully dropped her back from class claiming that she had to continue to wear it for the ballet recital that was being held that night. The little girls' tales weren't true, she had a costume to wear – that wasn't her uniform.

He was worried that she was going to wear herself out, she loved ballet it was just some day's –like today- where she loved ballet a little too much. He didn't want her excitement for that nights' recital to go out the window in an hour of her jumping around the study. Especially when he was trying to work.

But maybe that was his problem – an energetic five-year-old was dancing around his desk begging him to watch her or join in. Whatever the case was at the time. When he was so desperately trying to finish a case report he promised Scully he would have done an hour ago. That was really his problem, the little girl was energetic to the extreme and never really lost interest into that of which she was passionate. It was just his mind making up stories and playing games in an attempt to make his annoyance back down.

He never lost his temper with her, and he wasn't going to start today. But there was still a nagging voice in the back of his head that was about ready to lose it. "Papa, I'm bored!" She droned as finally she flopped her little body onto his old leather sofa that had taken up new residence in his office.

Sighing heavily Mulder reprimanded his daughter, "The intelligent are never bored, kiddo." It was something his father had reminded him every chance he used the 'bored' word. For some reason, that didn't stop him using it. He just hoped Danica would. Getting up out of his chair he moved towards the child, picking Danica up he put her squarely on the ground. "Go. Play. Do something." He ushered her out of the room with a groan.

Danica swiveled on the spot. "Play with me." She begged with a puppy dog pout.

He sighed again. "I can't, I have work to do. I would love to play with you honey, you know that. But you also know that I have work to do." Mulder moved passed her in the doorway, an idea forming in his mind. Danica followed him through to the kitchen her little eyes watching him carefully as he found and empty and clean spaghetti sauce jar. She ran for her craft table in the recreation room out the back of the house when he asked her for glitter and glue. The girl came back with the same galloping, twirling haste she left with. Dropping the items she found on the bench Danica climbed up on of the bar stools so she could watch her Papa in his silent madness.

Opening the empty jar Mulder deposited three packets of glitter into the jar making sure it only covered the bottom inch. Danica handed him the clear Elmers glue and watched as he covered the glitter for another inch of the jar. Quickly he poured warm water into the jar, something he'd heated while Danica was gone, than added it to the container. Screwing on the lid Mulder shook the jar for a good few seconds before addressing the young girl who was watching in awe. "Now," He started. "I want you to shake it really hard and then when all the glitter has dropped back to the bottom you can come and ask me to play again." The little girl nodded with a cheeky grin thinking the glitter would fall quickly she put the jar on the bench, with her head in her hands she stared as the falling glitter played in her eyes.

Deciding that she was content Mulder headed back to his study. He didn't even know what time it was when a tapping at his office door pulled him from the files scattered over his desk. "What are you doing here?" Mulder asked with a smile as he saw Scully's hand come to rest on the edge of the desk.

"Danica has a recital tonight." She reminded him. Flicking his wrist he cast his eyes to the watch face. Cursing under his breath Mulder jumped up and left the room, leaving Scully in his metaphorical dust. "Mulder?!" She called after him as she stood in the doorway of the study watching the man run for the stairs. Clueless to his rush Scully followed his path and climbed the stairs behind him. "You're not going to be late." She told him when she stopped in Danica's bedroom doorway, the tiny girl wasn't in sight but her large and paranoid father was rushing about her room as though he needed to prepare for bombs falling. She laughed at him softly as he pulled down her costume from the inside of her closet and proceeded to check under every object in search for her shoes. "She's wearing them." Scully told him as a little head turned up beside her hip, ballet slippers still on her feet.

Running her hand over Danni's thick hair she smiled down at her and then turned her attention back to the manic man. "Papa?" The little girl's mouse of a voice called out to him. "What are you doing?" Her eyes were wide as she watched him move towards her slowly a gleam in his eyes, his previous panic gone.

Dropping the girl's costume to her reading chair he moved, a smile skipped across his face and then he pounced. Picking up her tiny frame he tickled her sides causing the small girl to squirm in his arms. "Looking for you, that's what I was doing." He laughed as the girl shrieked calling for Scully to save her. Placing Danica on the floor he let her run, her taunts calling for him out in the hallway and down the stairs, her voice trailing her, her laughter filling the house.

She had not moved from her place against the doorframe while he played with Danica, a soft at ease smile was spread across her face. Something bemused hid behind her eyes. He loved watching her smile, he would kill to make it happen every day and with Danica around it made it that little bit easier. He moved towards her slowly, his steps inching. Her smile was reflected in his own, causing both to widen. Standing toe to toe he put a hand on either side of her waist. A daring gleam sparked across her face but it was only a brief glimmer, daring him to do to her what he had done to Danica.

His hand moved. Skipped across to lay flat against her abdomen. Something changed behind his eyes, they softened as he looked at her directly. "How was lunch with your mom?" He asked softly.

She nodded. "Good." She cleared her throat, her words suddenly coming out dry. "It was good. She's excited about watching Danica dance tonight. Thank you for inviting her." He smiled. He was glad Maggie Scully was interested in his daughter's dance recitals. Hell, he was glad that she showed interest in getting to know his daughter.

"No problem." He told her simply, and it was simple. He was more than happy to surround his daughter with love and appreciation. Now if it were Bill, there would certainly not be an invitation but even Mulder could see the cracks in Bill's surface when it came to small children and asking him to play. "How are you feeling?" He asked softly, the words almost not coming out.

It was a hard topic between the two of them. Mulder didn't want to over step the boundaries and Scully really hadn't set any boundaries other than; she didn't really want to talk about it all that much. But since he and Danica picked her up from the clinic Mulder would stand closer, his hand would linger a little longer and would eventually find its way silently to her stomach. It had only been two weeks, there was no positive or negative outcome yet for all the both of them could know, she might not actually be pregnant. But none the less, the contact stayed silent between them. Something they shared only in the silence of their own thoughts rather than the reality of the open world. He feared what would happen if they actually talked about it and thus kept his mouth shut with only the subtlest of questions.

Scully nodded softly as she spoke telling him that she was 'fine' and actually meaning it before she went on to tell him that she had not said anything to her mother and would like that of which they didn't talk about to remain something that they didn't talk about. Agreeing with her whole heartedly his thumb stroking absentmindedly over the fabric of her shirt against her stomach he leant down as to be at her height and pressed a kiss to her lips softly.

"You are too sweet." She told him, her hand coming to cover his, her free one cupping his cheek tenderly. With another peck to his lips she turned and started to walk the corridor calling for Danica as she went. Mulder stood dejected in the doorway. Pushing out his bottom lip he pouted at her when she spun back to face him. "If we dawdle, she will be late. I promised I'd do her hair." She explained her hand reaching out to touch his arm with a faint smile.

[…]

As they sat there in their assigned seat, the studio lights off as children danced across the stage showing off to their parents and putting their hard work to the final test. Mulder realized for the first time that his sister had never been interested in ballet enough to try it out.

She had always admired the way girls could move so delicately but Samantha never dared to attend a class. He found that his annoying nine-year-old sister who was always out spoken in the home was terribly shy outside of it, but his daughter was different. She showed a great interest in something and would readily pursue it. Samantha would sit on the sidelines and then wait until last minute before she joined in, that is unless Mulder was already out playing. If her brother was amongst the other kids she seemed to have all the courage in the world.

He thought his daughter was different, confident against the big wide world. But he was wrong.

Danica was the third from the last of all the children in her class to perform that night. She was one child away when someone tapped him on the shoulder, looking out at the makeshift isle in the dance studio turned theatre he was greeted with the sight of Danica's dance instructor crouching down beside him. "Danica's upset." She spoke quietly as to not disturb those watching their children preform. "She wants to speak to you." He nodded. Instantly Mulder was up and out of his chair, handing the video camera over to Scully he left her to watch his movements with a confused expression as he went to find his daughter.

Reaching the dressing rooms he found his little girl decked completely in glitter and a sequined Princess Ariel costume, dance make-up was put neatly across her face even though he had not liked the idea of her wearing it at five. Her hair had been braided artistically down her back but now it lay over her shoulder while she played with the loose strands at the end of it. He was by her side in three long strides a worried look on his face as he willed his mind to figure out exactly what was behind this sudden change of heart. He had hoped desperately that it wouldn't all lead to another one of her screaming fits. He had not seen one since the day of Emily's funeral but he could see it sometimes. A pain behind her eyes that could destroy an entire empire, he feared when he saw that look, he feared for the little girl and the things she suffered in those moments. He just hopped she wasn't on the verge of a panic attack before she had to go on stage. "Your teacher said that you don't want to go on. Honey, why?" He crouched down to her level his voice softer than his usual compassionate tone.

"I don't like dancing anymore." She lied, refusing to look him in the eyes.

He hummed. "Okay." He told her, watching as her back straightened up with a little hope. "You don't have to keep dancing. But you have to dance tonight." She slumped into her chair. "Danica," His voice was stern. "You have to understand that you can't just quit when you're scared or when things get too hard. You let people down when you do that. You have to stick with things until you finish it." The little girl looked at him, even at five she didn't seem impressed with his reasoning. Pulling up a chair Mulder sighed trying to reassess his plan of action against the stubborn child. "Molly will be upset if you don't go on, Jess and Robbie too." The girl wavered a little. "Danica what about Oma? She came all the way out here to see you dance. You know that's a long drive don't you honey?" She nodded. "Okay and Grandma too, she's sitting with Mama waiting to watch your dancing." He tried basic reasoning mixed with a little blackmail. "They'll all go home if you don't dance and Danica, they will be upset." The little girls' face fell.

"What about Mama?" She queried softly, slipping further off the chair. He nodded his head agreeing that she would be upset. "And you Papa?"

"I will be terribly upset." He replied with a dramatic flair. He took Danica's giggles as a sign. "Are you ready to show them your stuff?" The little girl nodded as she slipped completely off the chair.

"Papa" She spoke asking for him silently to crouch down. Leaning in she whispered into his ear, a compromise he would never live down.

[…]

She had wondered where her partner had disappeared too when Danica's name was called as the next act. Worrying that he had disappeared and wouldn't make it in time she tuned on the video camera and proceeded to film. When the sight of little Danica entered her vision she couldn't help the smile but when she saw the jeans and button up blue shirt belonging to her usually brooding partner she couldn't help but gasp his name.

The man matched the movements with the little girls' a little out of time but no one in the audience complained. With a look towards the grandparents accompanying them, both Teena and Maggie watched the lit stage in complete awe. Scully didn't need to look at too many parents and family members there to know they were all sporting the same look of admiration for the man who stood twirling and spinning on stage with his five-year-old daughter.

With Teena and Maggie Scully stood in the foyer after the show was completed. Impatiently she was trying to stand as tall as she could to peer over the other adults and children on their father's shoulders so she could spot the two that belonged to her. Red hair flashed past her and she reached out to grab the little arm that belonged to it. But a hand sliding across her back stopped her as Mulder's presence suddenly became something she was well aware of.

"How'd I do?" He asked smiling almost giddily at the two women in front of him and the one by his side. His mother laughed openly as she moved to give him a hug praising him on his best efforts. Scully saw something flash across her partner's face, something that made him tense yet put at ease. It probably hadn't been since Samantha that his mother praised him like that.

"You did a beautiful job, Fox." Maggie moved into hug him as well.

"Why were you up there?" Scully asked, the only one left to have not given him good words.

He mocked hurt. "Ouch Scully, if I was bad you could have let me down a little slower." She raised an eyebrow, a hand on her hip as she questioned him again. This time without the words.

Sighing with defeat he answered. "She got stage fight. So I talked her around it and being the smart child we're raising her to be she talked me into a compromise. I had to." He shrugged. No big deal. At least the little girl hadn't been smart enough to think of everyone else's enjoyment and ask her father to wear a leotard.

"Mama!" A little girls voice called, one Scully knew she could identify anywhere. "Mama, did you see me dance?!" Danica squealed as her Oma picked her up. Scully nodded, ensuring the girl that she did in fact see her dance. "Did you see Molly?" Another nod. "What about Tessa and Chelsea?" The little girl asked suspicious that her mother actually watched the whole thing. When granted with another nod Danica turned her attention towards her grandmother's curious to see if they had seen the whole recital. "Did you see Papa?" She asked, looking pointedly at her father. Each of the women standing with her shook their heads.

"Your Papa was up there?" Teena asked, playing confused. The little girl nodded furiously. Teena hummed, "I didn't see him dear. I only saw your wonderful self." The little girl hummed back her head resting on her hand her face drawn in complete contemplation.

She smiled wide, "He was sitting with Mama wasn't he?" Everyone nodded. Everyone but Mulder. Scully glared at him, something in his expression to play along. Years of experience with their own children had Maggie and Teena already playing innocent to the little girl.

He sighed at his partner's glare, his hand reaching out to stroke her hip softly whilst everyone's attention was focused elsewhere. "They are right baby girl." He complied. "It was just you up there." He watched his daughter as she studied his face – it was as though only the two of them knew. But he also knew that the little girl wasn't fooled by the adults. If they were to play a game, she was going to play along.

"Can we get ice-cream?" She asked softly her large blue eyes playing on each adult standing in front of her.

[…]

"Dana is very lovely." His mother commented after she finished saying goodnight to the already asleep five-year-old. This conversation had been something his mother tried to start quite a number of times over the past year, although it was something he steered clear of uncertain at what exactly his mother was trying to fish for.

Giving up that night as they walked through the silent house the two of them the only ones there, aside from Danni he hummed in response. "Her mother is very lovely too." Again, another hum. His mother had a way of being evasive when she wanted to be and at eleven o'clock at night – insomniac or not he didn't want to put up with it. "She's rather firm with Danica."

Mulder shrugged. "Someone has to be, Mom." He sighed. "God forbid if it weren't for Dana I'm sure that kid would be going to pre-school in her pajamas every day and I'd be feeding her takeout every night." He shrugged again. Walking his mother to the guest bedroom he switched off a light in the kitchen as he passed. "She give Danica balance and keeps me in check. We like it that way."

"Is it really healthy for Danica to be calling Dana her mother when she is really not? I guess I could understand if the two of you were in a relationship, Fox. But you're not." They weren't were they? He couldn't really explain the relationship he had with Scully outside of friendship. But surely friends didn't help other friends have a baby when they wanted something more from them? Surely not, right? He stopped at the grand staircase, his hand on the banister, his mother in front of him.

"Mom," His voice dropped. "That was all Danica. Dana and I had nothing to do with the names she calls everyone. She's a smart little girl she figured it out and we're honest with her if she has any questions about mothers and Scully's role to her she knows she can ask them. We won't lie." His mother nodded, the moonlight catching silver stands of her hair as she moved.

"Does that rule apply to everyone? The not lying thing." His brow furrowed when he asked what she meant. "I noticed something was different between the two of you. Will you tell me honestly what's happening there or is your honesty only limited to five-year-olds?"

Mulder shook his head. "Nothing's going on, Mom." He lied. But he had promised Scully he wouldn't say anything. Better yet, he wasn't too sure as to what was going on between them.

"It's just that she doesn't seem as though she has mothering material, Fox." His mother's voice almost sounded sympathetic but he didn't hear it, not all of it anyway. The anger surging through his blood stream had started to become the only thing he could hear. Of all the people he knew to say that someone didn't have mothering material he least expected it from his own absent mother – and he told her exactly that. He had meant for his words to be harsh to cut flesh and draw blood but when his mother sputtered and said that she would travel home in the dead of night he instantly regretted it. "Mom, mom you don't have to go." He told her as she moved out the front door and headed for her car.

She stopped in the driveway and turned to him. "No. You're right. I overstepped a boundary that I shouldn't have. You care about her, Fox I know that. And I know that you would do the best thing for Danica and clearly Dana is it. I just worry that something will get between you and Danica will be left to deal with something that is far too harsh for her young mind to comprehend." Mulder nodded, he had the same fear, but this time he knew what would get between them and he feared every day for the time it would strike but he didn't know if it would get between them in the way his mother was suggesting. "I am going to go home. But I'll call in the morning, Danica's starting school this year. It will be harder to get her out to see me." Mulder nodded softly as he watched his mother climb into the car.

She asked him to apologize to Danica for her absence in the morning before she put the car in reverse and disappeared into the night.

I really had no idea how to end this so I apologize for the lack of conclusion towards this chapter.

Until next week,

A