Thank you to everyone who reviewed, alerted and favorited.

It's been a busy week and not that you care but I no longer have to write "Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper is an allegorical representation of the hard suffering and sexism women had to face during the nineteenth century …" as much as I love that book and what it represents I am so glad I do not have to write on it any more. No more public speaking either, which I kind of think I will miss. Furthermore, Updating might become a quick trouble for me as of the fact that my laptop was giving back to the school due to the end of my loan period. I am trying to work it out, but it's providing to be a struggle. But, we'll see what happens.

Part 23

First Day

The curve of her legs and the tug of the tight shirt she wore had everyone's eyes on her with just the sight of her clean and tailored to fit suit. She was the envy, the aim, the life people surrounding her had given up in order to be standing there that day. She was nervous, and feeling slightly shy as she searched the large yard for her partner.

She hadn't spoken to him in two weeks she wasn't only nervous because of her surroundings, she was nervous as to what would happen when she found him.

She looked for attire like her own through the crowd of jeans and stained sweats. She knew he would be wearing the same thing as her, dressed for a day in the office, because even though they weren't speaking completely they still had jobs to do and Mulder still had a quest to pursue. She found the occasional tailored pant leg, but when her eyes travelled up to meet the face of the person the pants belonged to she wasn't greeted with his hazel eyes. Clenching and unclenching her hands by her side almost in fear – of what? She was stuck. She was in an environment she wasn't used to and even though as a child she had to adapt quite a lot there was something that wasn't allowing it this time. Special Agent Dana Scully was uncomfortable in a crowed school yard without a single person she knew. Who knew the first day of school could be such a big deal.

She still couldn't see her partner nor his petite redheaded shadow anywhere through the throng of people and she was starting to feel a little left out. Women stood around in sneakers and flats, the occasional woman wore heels, but each of them had a child attached to their hip or one calling out to them from the playground.

Scully watched as a few mothers, and sometimes, fathers ran after their children who were tormenting another, or simply evading the hug or kiss his parent was trying to enforce. Everyone there had a child or more and there she was, standing at the edge of the school yard gate, dressed for another day working to solve the mysteries behind the federal government. She could hear the women around her whispering 'divorce' and the men eyeing her off with that open mouth wonder. She wanted to turn to them to tell them to back off to shove Mulder in their faces and wear him like a piece of jewelry.

"You look a little lost." A woman's voice broke into her thoughts. Turning her head as she moved her body to face the noise Scully put on a smile as she nodded softly. She didn't have time to respond to the woman who had spoken when she noticed her gentle face had turned into an adoring smile as she pointed towards two figures that were making their way through the masses. "They what you are looking for?"

Scully grinned brightly as she instantly recognized the tiny pumpkin haired girl and her giant of a father. "Exactly what I am looking for." She crouched down as best she could in the tiny pencil skirt in order to catch Danica as she came running into her arms. Mulder reached them as she had moved to stand, by the time she was completely straight again he had threated his hand around her waist and pulled her to him tightly before he pressed a sweet kiss to her cheek.

"Thank you for being here." He whispered into her ear before pulling away from her slightly and giving her space back.

"Aren't the three of you adorable." The woman who had pointed Mulder and Danni out to Scully was still standing there her adoring smile still in pace as she looked over the closely knit group. Scully pushed herself into Mulder's side her own silent acceptance of him again. Danica was hiding behind Mulder's leg, her thumb pressed against her lips.

Noticing the woman Mulder extended his hand. "Fox Mulder." The woman in front of him reached the same height as Scully without the heels. She gave him a warm smile as she took his hand.

"Monique Cambridge." She shook his hand professionally. "You know," She turned her words towards Scully. "They're only talking about you because you don't look like one of them." She turned her words towards Scully, her brown eyes shimmering in the light. When Scully gave her a confused look she smiled and went on to explain. "You've got a successful, high end job by the looks of it, they can sense it too. And they're probably thinking you spend more time at work than with your children because your black suit is still, well, black. Without a single smudge." Scully raised a brow at Monique. "I was in the same position two years ago. I'm a lawyer. All the stay at home mom's get like that. But there are a few of us who won't stop at anything for their kids."

"But you look like them," Scully spoke softly as she noticed Monique definitely wasn't dressed like her.

"Maternity leave," Monique shrugged as she ran her hand over the bulge Scully had failed to recognize. "Besides some days you just don't want people to talk about you. My Estella is in third grade this year and Sawyer is starting first." She beamed proud of her children.

Scooping Danica up into his arms Mulder checked over her uniform for the sixth time that morning. "I have sisters." Danica announced as she found confidence in her father's arms.

"Had." Scully corrected as she turned under Mulder's grip to adjust the little girls' skirt.

The little girl smiled sweetly at Monique, transfixed in the other woman completely. "I'm five." She held up four fingers as she stuck out her tongue in concentration, with his spare hand Mulder tapped her thumb and reminded her to add "one more". Danica smiled brightly with her corrected number of fingers and showed them to Monique.

"And what a sweet and beautiful little girl you are. Are you excited for School Danica?" Danni looked at the woman for a moment as she assessed the question; tucking her head into her fathers' neck she shook her head. Monique didn't have time to respond to the little girls' head shake before a child's voice called out to her. "Hey, Danica do you want to meet your first new friend for the day?" Danni peeled her head away from Mulder's shoulder and wriggled to be put down as she heard the boys' voice get closer. "Danica, this is Sawyer." Monique introduced as a sandy blond haired, brown eyed and all around honey tanned boy stopped by her side.

Danica watched Monique carefully as she repeated her name to Sawyer, "Danni." She corrected gaining enough courage with the stranger and the intriguing boy who was already taller than her. Sawyer asked her something about a sandbox and with that both children were gone in a flash.

"Three girls, you must have your hands full." Remembering Danica's mention of another two sisters Monique smiled at the couple next to her before turning to watch their children play.

She noticed a shift between the couple before Mulder spoke, but didn't put too much thought into it. "Elsie and Emily are no longer with us." He spoke softly as he pulled Scully a little tighter into his side.

Monique used her hand to cover her face in embarrassment. She apologized profoundly for her own misjudgment. Scully shook her head. "It's okay. We don't mind, really. Mulder and I are just happy that we have a healthy little girl right now. In a few years, we'll think about trying again." Her words made him tense, of course she knew the truth that was hidden under her skin, he on the other hand had believed a lie and was standing there that day fully believing that they would never have children.

The guilt settled in at the pit of her stomach, causing her insides to churn. She felt dizzy as a wave of nausea hit her. Trying her best she ignored it. She focused her attention on something else while Mulder and Monique spoke. But it was there that she noticed not only did his large, warm hand cover almost the entirety of her stomach but his thumb was stroking back and forth over the fabric that rested there. He was so tender with her, after everything that had happened. She couldn't help but wonder if he realized what he was doing, but she didn't have long to dwell on it before the queasy feeling in her stomach came back again.

"You can have my two any day." She laughed, offering a change of mood. "And Danica is welcome whenever you need to get her off your hands or if she wants to come over." She had been talking directly to Mulder when she offered by Scully's movement out the corner of her eye caught her attention more. The redheaded woman's face was almost turning green and it looked like she was going to throw up.

Pulling from Mulder's grip Scully moved further up the road, finding a quiet spot was where her stomach contents connected with the ground. "She's not," Monique pointed to her stomach "is she?" The two of them stared after her unsure of what to do.

Mulder shook his head, completely puzzled. "She can't be." With long and worried strides Mulder was by her side in a second, he moved to sweep her hair off her cheeks and away from her forehead so he could feel if she was burning up. "Are you okay, Scully?" He asked, concerned.

Looking up at him she shook her head. "I lied." She whispered. "I was angry and I lied to you." Mulder watched her for a second before he wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up.

"You're pregnant?" He asked in wonder. He put her feet back on the ground when she nodded and kissed her with a force that took her breath away. She stared at him confused as to why he wasn't yelling, why he wasn't angry with her. "What?" He asked with a laugh, when he confused stare got too much.

Tilting her head to the side she asked, "Why aren't you mad?" Mulder laughed again. Cupping her face in between his hands he kissed her lips softly.

"How can I be?" She went to respond, to tell him it was easy as they started to walk back towards the smiling Monique. But two voices stopped them before she could respond.

"Dana, Mulder!" Jessica and Robert Michaels called out to them as they tried to catch up to them, little Molly trailing behind with a school bag that was nearly as big as her. Together they stopped and greeted the other couple they had become great friends with over the year. "Look at our girls." Jess spoke as she followed Mulder and Scully back to where they had been standing before Scully felt the need to empty her stomach. "I can't believe that this is happening. First day of school!" She squeezed Dana's arm as she squeaked like a young girl. Scully laughed alongside her as she locked her arm with Jess' the two of them acting like a pair of teenage girls giddy for no apparent reason.

"Monique Cambridge our friends Jessica and Robert Michaels, their daughter Molly and son, Dylan." Mulder introduced as they came back to stand with Monique. Within seconds Danica and Sawyer were by their sides, Danica approached her mother and begged to be lifted up. Noticing that his partner was going to allow for it Mulder stepped in and scooped the girl up.

"Vater," Danica's voice was soft, yet loud enough for their small group to hear her as she used the German word for father to catch his attention even though she was already in his arms.

"Tochter?" Calling her daughter in German was his source of a response. Her smile was contagious to him, as she grinned her question already formed in her mind he could not help but to grin back. Mulder shifted her in his arms, as he once again messed with the way her school uniform skirt sat.

"wir gehen jetzt nach Hause, Papa?" Suddenly shy her speech switched to full blown German while her little fingers played with the collar of his suit shirt. Her request to go home only had her father laughing as everyone else watched on confused with the language switch.

Turning to the confused adults and the concentrated Jess - who had been taking language lessons with Molly so the both of them could communicate with Danica better, in the language that was embedded in her DNA, the humored look that crossed his face was mostly directed at her in ability to recall Danica's words. "She told me she was ready to go home." The group laughed sympathetically as the children watched on confused. "Sweetheart, you have to stay." He told her softly. "We talked about this, remember? You are going to school and Mama and I are going to work."

Danica shook her head. "I go to Oma's instead." She looked up from his collar her eyes big and blue, trying to convince him that her idea was best.

Mumbling he turned to Scully. "If she keeps looking at me like that, I'm not going to put her down." Chuckling Molly's dad stepped in and took the girl from her father.

"It's easy, Mulder." He told him with a sympathetic smile. Putting Danica on the ground by his side Robbie took her hand with his and used his other one to hold Molly's. Sawyer followed behind the man, Danica tripping over her own feet as she tried to keep her eyes on her father.

He turned to Scully, his face panicked. She could not help but think that he looked like a little boy so lost and scared. "Scully," He breathed. "You know what she's like, what if there is another panic attack on the verge…"

She raised a brow at him, for the moment it was just the two of them talking. "If you let her know that you're worried she will play on it." He sighed, the worried look still in place. "Mulder, you are the psychologist here. Just breathe, she will be fine. Thousands of kids go to school every day. She. Will. Be. Fine."

"This could be a trigger; you and I don't know that."

"You're right, we don't. But Mulder, she needs to learn that we can't be there every second." She paused. "Hell, she already knows that. If you are really worried, just see how she goes today. Keep in mind, there will be tears." And she was right about the tears;

Within seconds of the teachers allowing their new pupils one final goodbye Danica was wailing and holding onto her father's leg with reckless abandon. She wasn't the only child in the schoolyard to act that way, but she was certainly the one who showed she didn't want to be there more.

She shrieked as Scully tried to coax her off her father's leg but it didn't work the little girl just glared at Scully, stared at her with such venom her mother couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. It had taken only two weeks for their connection to dwindle and now it was failing. She tried everything she could to get the little girl off in hopes of sending her to her first day of classes but nothing was working. She was on her last tether, her back aching, her head numb from the physical pain of her cries and the emotional pain from her inability to just pick the girl up and comfort her. But something clicked in Danica and all of a sudden the redheaded girl had let go of her father's leg and looked apologetically wide-eyed at her mother.

Wrapping her arms around her mother Danica whispered 'sorry' in her ear before waiting for Scully to stand and finally lead her to the classroom door where her new teacher was waiting patiently. "What was that about?" Mulder asked as she joined him side and started to walk out of the schoolyard.

Scully shrugged as she bumped her shoulder against his own. "I guess I will see you at work then." She told him as she pointed in the direction of her car.

Mulder shook his head. "Actually I thought you and I could find a place to talk." She cocked an eyebrow looking at him confused as to why he would want them to find somewhere to talk. "I don't know if you noticed Scully," He started amused, "but you are pregnant." He pointed to her stomach. "And I am pretty sure it's my kid."

Looking down at her feet Scully kicked delicately at loose rock on the sidewalk. "Mulder…" She sighed.

"No." He stopped her. "You assured me that this wasn't going to get between us, Scully. You can't say that and then avoid it. We need to talk. We need to talk about two weeks ago and we need to talk about Christmas."

"Christmas?" She spoke her voice barely above a whisper. "Why Christmas?" Taking a step towards her Mulder cupped her tiny face between his large hands before leaning down to kiss her.

"Because that happened." He told her softly as he pulled back, still holding her face. "We can't ignore this Scully. We can't. It's not good for either of us and especially Danica. Poor kid hasn't known what to think for weeks."

Scully nodded her head, agreeing. "I have to apologize for my behavior the other week." She looked up at him as they started to walk, the both of them simultaneously in sync as they mentally decided to walk in one general direction. She sighed heavily before she managed to get her next words out, "I was scared." She whispered. Admitting fear and defeat had abut always been something she struggled to do. Mulder couldn't help but admire her when she managed to swallow the inability and actually managed to admit it.

"I know." Mulder whispered back his voice soft. "That's why we need to talk, lay our cards out on the table get the facts right and straight. Because I don't know if you've noticed Scully, but we're going to have two children who need parents who can sort their shit out." She looked at him strangely when he swore; it was so often that she heard him do so, not now that Danica was usually always hanging off his hip.

She stopped him for a second, a teasing smile on her face. "Not that I would ever usually pull this card, but, technically Danica's not mine."

"Well, that's where our problems start," His words were short and curt as though he was having trouble figuring out how to breathe. She looked at him bemused while she tried to catch his eye, letting him know that he could talk. "I want you to adopt her." Scully dropped to a bench seat behind her, sliding her hands down her legs as she did so she looked up at Mulder, her face compelled. "How do you even need to consider it?" He asked as he sat down next to her, the two of them acting as though a bomb had dropped. "This is hardly the biggest bomb shell that's been dropped today." She chuckled a little at that, he was right. He should have been reacting this way when she told him she was pregnant, not her acting like this because he told her he wanted her to adopt Danica.

"I don't need to consider it." She turned to look at him. "I'll do it Mulder, I'm her mother whether the paper is signed or not." He nodded. "But, you're right. We need to sort things out." He nodded again, his bottom lip between his teeth in contemplation.

Chuckling to himself Mulder turned to her with a wide smile. "This is going to take a while." Scully laughed as he took her hand in his own and together they stared at the passing city in front of them.

"Yeah." She laughed. "Just a bit. But it's nothing you and I can't face." He grinned at her broadly. No matter the problem they had faced tougher things.

[…]

"Papa!" Danica squealed as she caught sight of her father in the schoolyard. He was standing there proud, his arm laced around Scully's waist as he watched his little girl finish her first day of school with a proud beam on her face and his own. As she ran, the school bag that was almost as big as her flew in her path, a piece of paper was flying in the wind a perfect match with her flailing hair and limbs and she ran toward him with arms spread out wide. "Papa!" She squealed again, along with several other children who ran for their own parents.

He crouched down to catch her as she ran into his arms. Her art work saved by Scully who grabbed it before it could get crushed between the girl and her father she also moved to detach the large backpack from the girl who had attached herself to her father's torso with no intention of letting go. "Hey, baby." She smiled at the girl who turned her head against her father's shoulder to acknowledge the fact that her mother was there. Rubbing the little girl's back softly Scully couldn't help but notice the droop of her eyes as Danica already started to fight sleep at three in the afternoon on her father's arm. "Did you have a good day?" She asked softly falling into step next to Mulder as they headed for his car, in the busy parking lot.

Unlike that morning where the two partners arrived in separate vehicles, once it hit twelve Scully took her car back to her apartment and Mulder drove them both back to work, with the intention of the two of them collecting Danica that afternoon.

The little girl nodded, and pointed silently towards the picture Scully was holding by her side. "I drew a picture." She told her mother softly. "Look, Miss April said we had to draw our family. We don't have a puppy, but I think having one would be cool." Mulder laughed at that while he looked over his daughter's sleepy head in order to see the picture.

Leaning into him as they walked and trying her best not to let Danica hear, Scully whispered. "Before you get any ideas about a dog. Let's cope with a newborn first." Again he laughed the two of them walking up the block to the small, arranged car park.

"Do you think I coddle her?" He asked, not before checking that his daughter had dozed off on his shoulder, Scully snapping a picture with the camera he had always kept on hand and now found a permanent residence in her handbag.

She nodded her head, "Personally? Yeah." She laughed, watching her feet as she walked. "But you are her dad, considering what you have been though Mulder and what she has been through, I can see your need to coddle her."

"No, seriously Scully. Look." He nudged his shoulder in the direction of a group of people walking in front of them. A few of the children he had seen come out of Danica's classroom and yet they were walking happily by their parents' side. Danica however was wrapped up tight in his arms and already fast asleep.

She sighed, knowing that he could be touchier than a woman when it came to raising Danica. "Mulder, raise your kid how you raise her. She'll decide on her own in the end."

He shifted Danica in his arms so he could grab her hand, with the two of them walking side by side it felt odd that they were not connected. "But that's the thing Scully, you're her mom." She stopped in front of his car, the keys jingling in her hand.

"To be honest." She looked him in the eye. "My dad was away a lot, and sure when he came home I was in his arms quicker than he could say 'Starbuck' – my parents certainly didn't raise me to be independent, that I worked out on my own. Danica's a little more attached than what I was, but she's been though something different. In a few years, I am sure she'll be this bright energetic young woman that we won't know how she got that way. If we let Danica be Danica what can really go wrong." He smiled at her and nodded while he mumbled something about 'good answer' while he shifted Danica into the car seat she still had to sit in, due to her small stature and body mass. "But there will still be discipline." She told him in a warning tone as he pulled out of the car.

"I wouldn't expect anything less." He smiled broadly at her before he quickly pecked her lips.

He knew, at the end of the day in a few years and even a few weeks his daughter was going to be a miraculous little person. He had faith every day that Danica was going to become something great and he never gave up that belief.

Until next week,

A