Summary: In a world where the government was quicker to act on the mutant threat, Dana Scully is about to make a discovery that changes everything.

Note: This story was started back in December, so my version of events is a bit off. As well, this was the first story that I ever wrote, so feedback is adored. (And sorry if it's a bit worse than my other pieces)

As well as well, the X-Men don't have a large presence in here until the next part, so bear with me, please.

Feedback: See above.

Disclaimer: Wow, looky that. I don't own the X-Files or the X-Men. What a shocker.

Archive: Go ahead, but I wouldn't mind knowing where.

Series: Under the Dark of Night (or Death, Angst, and Various Reasons No X-Man Should Be Allowed Up Onto a Roof), but this can be read as a stand alone.

Spoilers: For X-Files, up to around December, then it's my own little world. For X-Men, nothing, since this is an AU.

Note 2: And without further ado...

Thanks to, in no particular order: Craig, BGirl, SK850, AJ, Jenny, McGarry, Lindy and Quantos, Pokey, Char, Chelle, Kappa, Smoria, and Kaydee, all of whom have, at one time or another, beta'd, helped me out with this story, or my writing in general.

Well, that was further ado, but here we go...

*
Letonia
by Cherry

“They all think you’re dead, you know.”

He looked at her intently, his eyes daring her to deny it, to tell him that she knew how to fix it, to make it all better.

Daring her to chose the easy way out.

She flopped back on the bed (*her bed*, a part of her mind whispered to her). She could feel his eyes still on her, from where he stood by the (*her*) door, waiting on her decision.

Because this was what it all came down to, all of it. She had to choose.

She stared up at the ceiling and wondered how it had come to this.

*

“I think that you should’ve called him Fox,” Mulder said, bouncing Evan on his knee.

“Please, I’m not that cruel. I’d never condemn a child to the amount to teasing a name like that would incur.” Dana Scully smiled as her son waved a hand at her partner and gurgled happily, who’s only response was a huge grin. She reclaimed her son from him then, simply for that fact that if Mulder's grin grew any huger, she was afraid that the corners of his mouth would get stuck to his ears.

Mulder protested, of course, he always did. He loved Evan as if he were his own. Doggett did too.

Doggett had turned into an unexpected ally. He’d helped her out throughout the pregnancy, running out of the office at odd hours to get her pickled eggs and ice cream, covering for her when the morning sickness was at its worst, just being there for her when she needed a friend. If it hadn’t been for him and Skinner, she didn't know how she would’ve survived the past year, with Mulder’s disappearance on top of her pregnancy.

*Mulder and Doggett and Skinner,* she thought with a slight smile. Her friends. It didn't matter to them that not even she knew who Evan's father was. They'd always be there for her, and for her son.

Mulder was looking at her with those hang dog eyes again.

“Don’t you think that you’ve held him for long enough? You have all day to be with him,” he said, doing his best to inject the expression on his face into his words. Scully smiled wryly before handing over her son. Mulder cradled him in his arms, and the expression on his face changed. He lifted him up high, and held Evan’s mouth close to his ear. “What’s that you say? You want your Mom?” He quickly passed the boy off to her, and she realized why Mulder had been so eager to hand him over.

“Wuss,” she said as she went to go change the child’s diaper.

Scully poked around in Evan’s room. There had to be a diaper in here somewhere, there just did. She hadn’t....no, she’d forgotten to buy diapers last time she was at the store. Evan was making his discomfort known now. She grabbed one of the cloth diapers that she kept around just in case, and changed him quickly. She’d have to hurry if she wanted to make it to the store before it closed for the night. Mulder poked his head around into the room. Scully opened her mouth to tell him that Evan was fine, he’d just gotten a little cranky.

“You got any sunflower seeds?” Mulder asked, his face full of hope.

“You ate the last of them when you were here the other day.”

“You haven’t been shopping yet?”

“Well, I’m sorry, but I’ve been a bit busy lately, and seeing as how you’re the only one I know that eats the things, it’s not exactly at the top of my list.” She was snapping, and she regretted it as soon as she the words had left her mouth, but she just couldn’t help herself. She knew that he didn’t actually live here, but at times it seemed like it. He wasn’t even back at work yet, and he’d returned home from god knows where two months ago, at the same time that Evan had been born. She could respect if he needed time to heal after that, but all he seemed to be doing was eating her food and avoiding having to do work of any sort. Now he was looking at her with those eyes again, not realizing that that expression had really started to wear thin with her.

Maybe a walk would clear her head. “Look, I’m running down to the store to get diapers for Evan. I’ll get you some while I’m there.”

“You want me to drive you?”

“No, I think I’ll walk. It’s only a few blocks over, and I’m still trying to drop a few pounds.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, but the store closes at six, so I have to get a move on.”

Mulder picked up Evan, then walked with her to the front entrance. He watched her gather up her purse and jacket, and as she slipped out the door, he couldn’t help thinking that she’d never looked better.


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