So, so, so, so, so sorry that I was gone for so long. Life got a little full on for a while there my senior year went crazy (and is still going nuts), I gained a beautiful little niece and just the usual crap that happens and makes you forget about your imaginary worlds and regrettably the awesome people who put up with my random blah every week (Thank you to each and every one of you) so with all that happening I lost my grasp on Danica and on a few occasions forgot about her all together.

I'm sorry that I have lost some of your interesting in these last few chapters. I know they're lacking. Really am sorry. I never wanted it to be a disappointing piece (I wrote it because I could never find what I felt like reading. But I hate endings and I tend to loose interest after a while.)

This is the finale chapter. I'm not all that pleased and I still think I messed up along the way somewhere.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Apart from Danica. She's all mine.

Part 36

Laying it all to Rest

…2012…

It had become the year he was dreading, fifteen years and she was going to college, moving out of home and finally stepping out into the world on her own two feet. It was a scary thought, worse than that actually. It was terrifying. He wanted to coddle her for the rest of her life, keep her as the three-year-old who could barely speak English and was terrified of everyone but him. He liked that little girl but it was not like he didn't admire the young woman she had grown into.

"I don't understand." She mumbled into the heel of her hand as she watched the trees flash past her window a feeling of apprehension tingling down her spine as her father maneuvered the car along the lonely little road he had once carried her away from a nightmare on.

He was heading in the opposite direction now.

Fox Mulder could hear the uncertainty in her voice. He knew she wouldn't remember but he knew she was remembering. Danica had been having nightmares for years now, he didn't know how to stop them or soothe her without bringing her back to Russia. Of course, Scully had been hesitant on the idea claiming that it might be a brazen thing to do. So they compromised; he could take his daughter back to Russia but only after she had turned eighteen.

The ball and chain that had been the ordeal that haunted her nightmares was seared to her soul, the metal melted all the way though. But there was still time to relieve it, to try and mend the broken pieces so the puzzled girl could not be so confused.

Mulder had collected his daughter on the last days of a trip to Germany she and a few friends had been on for their summer break. The eighteen-year-old had no idea and her anxiety only heightened when he had her board a plane to Russia. She was still in the car, that was one thing. Still trusting in his crazy adventures, for that he was thankful. She would not be so easy to handle when the truth started to pour out.

Her breathing was shallow when he pulled the car off the road, a marked out area that had a picnic table and a signpost she could not read from her position. Mulder got out of the car without a care, or at least he made it look like that. When she didn't move to get out her father moved around to her side and pulled the door open himself. "You know, in order to have an adventure you have to get out?" He asked her softly a playful tint to his voice and a soft yet concerned smile on his face. "I have something I need to show you." His tone deepened and the girl just shook her head. She didn't want to know. "C'mon. You don't even know what it is." He played along unaware that she could feel the tingle in her spine setting her fight or flight reflex into overdrive. Something wasn't right to Danica and she wanted to get out of there desperately.

She shook her head slowly, her eyes on her knees. "Dad …" She sighed, her voice weak. "I can't."

"Sure you can. Think of it as a hike, or the runs we used to do together." Danica shook her head again. This wasn't like their morning runs, this was slaying the ultimate dragon.

"I can't." He could see her; the scared little girl he saved right there sitting right in front of him again, green coat and ash covered red hair. She wasn't eighteen in that moment, she was three-years-old. Even though her hair was a little darker, her eyes older and her accent nearly obliterated from her voice, it was like he never removed her from this place.

Her soul was still attached and it had died here long ago.

He crouched down in front of her, her legs now dangling out of the car but he still couldn't see his Danica, not properly. She was still the Russian girl whose name he had assumed was hers from a ruined beanie he found in a dead woman's grip. She was small again and chubby cheeked, her eyes wide and her hair soft. Blinking he saw every form of her, every time she laughed or learnt something new, every time she cried or was scared. He saw it in a flash; fifteen years.

Looking her in the eye he caught glimpse of her frightened tears. "Sure you can, Danni." His voice lowered to a soft coaxing like he was trying to lure her out of a deep hiding space.

"Papa," Her voice cracked as she used the name she had long since left behind after the sixth grade. Unshed tears continued to build in her eyes while her fingernails scratched at the back of her hand. "I can't." Her bottom lip quivered, a tell-tale sign of a sob bubbling in her throat. "Something's not right." She squeezed her eyes shut. "Don't make me do it, don't make me breathe that air. Not again, Papa."

He picked up her delicate hand, prying it away from the mess of her skin she was making. Danica's perfect nails scrapped against the inside of his wrist, as she let her hand go limp. Faint lettering was present against the mocha color of the nail varnish and he recognized newspaper print words on her nails; the words were his own. A magazine article he had written for the university's psychology department. His name and registration to the department lay across her pinkie, the sight of it caused his heart to swell. He had always marvelled at how she stood out with the smallest of touches, his name on her fingers warmed his heart, she wore his work like she wore his love and the pride she had in both her parents.

Tearing his mind back to the point at hand he looked her straight in the eye. "Half an hour, please?" Swallowing hard Danica finally nodded her head. She didn't let her father move to far away as they walked through the large collection of trees. He watched her as they walked, her arm linked with his allowing her with the luxury to close her eyes and listen to the natural sounds. She tensed beside him every few steps and he wondered what made her do so but did not dare ask.

Standing in the same spot as to where he had first seen her Fox and Danica Mulder looked down at the rubble that remained years after it was destroyed. "It's a historic site now," He told her softly. "It's been marked as a hidden ghetto from World War II, which is partially right but not exactly." His voice was soft, quiet as she clung to him. "Fifteen years ago I was sent out here, I watched as they killed the people who lived here and burnt them where they lay. I didn't even know what I was supposed to be doing, I just followed map coordinates not knowing what I would find." He paused for a deep exhale and took a moment to watch her struggle with her breath. "I found you here, Danica. You were three-years-old, frightened, did not speak a word of English but when I ran down there, got on my knee and called out a name I believed was yours. You trusted me. I thank your mother's God every single day for your trust in me. I don't even want to know what would have happened if you didn't run into my arms."

"And you lectured me about stranger danger." She choked out hoping for humor. Mulder laughed back in response and pulled her into his side. "What happened here?" She asked.

Mulder shrugged, "I still don't understand it and I hope you don't try to. The people they kept here were the families of German soldiers, those who managed to get away with what they had done by promising the lives of their children. Medical tests I assume, you lost a sister here – a twin. Her name was Elsie. And a brother, although he died before you were born. I have, I have pictures and files, I have everything I could find and keep. I never wanted you to know these things, but I think it is important that you do." Pulling her hand out of his, Danica moved closer to the destroyed haphazard town. "You need to understand something, Danica." She turned back around, her hair flying around her pale face and pink cheeks. "No one, but a select few people know what happened here. No one is to know." She nodded.

"Seriously," He urged as he moved to grab hold of her arm. "no one, Danni. Absolutely no one. As fair as anyone is concerned I adopted you from Germany. You were born there and your parents died in a car accident." Eyes flicking to his hand on her arm then back to his face Danica forced a smile before turning back to the devastated scenery before her. Fifteen years and it was still there.

She crossed her arms over her chest, body still shaking. "The snowflakes were burning." She mumbled her eyes closed again. She scoffed. "Out of everything I can remember, it's that it looked like the snowflakes were burning."

"It was a rather unforgettable sight; I still see them from time to time." She turned back to him, a little more at ease. A genuine pleasant look on face, he hadn't seen that in years.

"So," Danica started, setting herself on a rock. "How did mom come into the picture?"

Mulder laughed loudly, his head thrown back. Standing beside her he thought for a moment deciding exactly where to begin.

[…]

She heard the front door unlock from the back of the house. Trying to hurry, but not seem to eager Scully made her way to the door. "Ah, the weary travellers return ho-" She stopped, startled the girl before her was not the girl who left home with a group of friends six weeks ago.

"I was expecting a little more," Danica looked around the room. "I don't know, big welcome home." She didn't move towards her mother, knowing personally it felt like a whole world had been taken off her shoulders and she had changed. Her mother would need a moment to deal with that. "Balloons maybe? The monkey child? Where is William?" She went back to her original question, Mulder stepping around her to put his things down.

Leaving her bags at her feet Danica took a step forward. She ducked her head and shrugged softly before looking back at her petite mother. "Hi mom." She grinned broadly as Scully finally moved to approach her, arms outstretched.

"Hi honey," She whispered into the girl's hair as she squeezed her tightly. "You okay?" Scully stepped back, looking Danica in the eye.

The girl nodded, it had taken fifteen years but she was okay. There were always going to be moments where nightmares stalked her again, but it wouldn't be so bad. She had her family, her mom and her dad always had answers even if they weren't to sure. But she knew where her nightmares came from and had tried her best to lay them down in the ghetto where snowflakes seemed to burn.

It's not that great, I'm sorry.

There is a plan at the end of the year for me to come back and rewrite this whole thing. We'll see what happens and I'll make sure to keep those who are interested posted.

Firstly I have to say – 'Look, Ellie! I finished something!' and secondly, I have to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, alerted all those little buttons over the course of – I think it's been 11 months. (I actually started writing this May last year but did not post it until July)

Thank you for sticking with it (for those of you who have).

Thank you to those of you who enjoyed whatever this was, as well as those of you who popped in every now and then to tell me I am brilliant. To a seventeen-year-old girl who has little self-esteem those messages/reviews made my day.

Thank you to the people who continuously offered support and those of you who sent me a message whenever I disappeared off the planet.

Just an all-round thank you to every single soul who took the time to read one chapter or thirty-six, you all made doing this a little easier and a lot more enjoyable.

So right now it is a farewell from me to this story and those who have been reading it. I'll still be around whether in this fandom, Doctor Who, E.R. (I doubt that though) or tumblr in general.

Until we meet again,

Annaliese Louise