Title: Don't Fight The Future 
Author: Mrs. T.J. 
Rating: R (eventually) 
Author's Note: Takes place after season 8... If you 
don't like Doggett, don't torture yourself by reading 
this. 

*****************************************************

Dana did not want to open her eyes. She knew that if 
she did, it would all be real, and there would be no 
turning back. She would have to face it...the fact 
that she had lost everything. 

There would be nothing left: nothing to love, nothing 
to hope for, nothing to believe in. She would be 
utterly alone. Was there anything left? Anything at 
all? 

As she came back to conciousness, there was only one 
last thing she could think of that might give her the 
strength to stand what she had to stand. 

Dana tried to scream, but all that emerged was the 
softest of whispers. 

"John?" 

The answer came back, gently but firmly. "I'm right 
here. I've been here all along."
 
Kersch sat behind his desk twirling a pen with 
nervous energy. "This story tops them all, Agent 
Doggett." 

"I realize that, Sir." Doggett glanced briefly at 
Skinner seated beside him. The other man returned the 
glance with a slight shake of his head that spoke 
volumes. 

"Is Agent Scully going to be all right?" 

"Physically, she'll be fine," Skinner sighed, "But 
her mental state is poor. She's severely depressed, 
as one might expect. 

Kersch glanced up at the ceiling. "Do we know how 
long she'll be in the hospital, or if she'll be 
wanting to return to work soon?" 

"They're keeping her as long as they can," Skinner 
continued, "But something will have to be done soon. 
The situation is difficult." 

"How so?" 

"Scully shouldn't be in her apartment alone. She's 
going to need help, but she doesn't want hired help, 
and under the circumstances I can't blame her. I 
spoke to her mother, but Mrs. Scully had a nasty fall 
and broke her arm. She can't manage things, either. 
Scully has two brothers, but one of them is out of 
the country and the other one lives and works in 
California." 

"That IS a difficult situation." 

"I think I may have an answer, Sir," said Agent 
Doggett. 

"You do, Agent?" 

"It depends...I don't know for sure if my idea will 
work, but I'm going to give it a shot. I hate to see 
anyone in a situation like this, especially a 
friend." Doggett put the emphasis on the word 
"friend" which was not lost on Kersch. 

"I quite understand, Agent Doggett. I'll leave it to 
you, then, gentlemen. Let me know if anything else 
happens that I should be aware of." 

John Doggett stood in front of the hospital room 
door, and groaned. He has spent enough time in 
hospitals this year, one way or another, to last him 
a lifetime. 

When he walked into the room, Dana was lying 
perfectly still, with no expression on her face. Her 
eyes were so blank they made him wince. As she turned 
to look at him, however, the light went back on ever 
so slightly in her eyes, and he was relieved to see 
it. 

"They say you can go home anytime." 

Tears spilled over. "I can't...I can't go back...I 
can't look at all of those baby presents. I can't 
stand to be alone there. Try and understand." 

He sighed. "I CAN understand. That was the hardest 
part for me, too...going back to an empty house. I do 
understand." He looked out of the window for a 
moment, then turned and looked intently into her 
eyes. "Come home with me." 

Scully was startled. "Are you serious?" 

"Sure, why not? I have a big house. There's more than 
enough room. You shouldn't be alone. You're not well 
yet. If you don't want to be alone, then keep me 
company. I'm not hard to live with." 

He was serious. She could rest, get away from 
everyone, get away from the memories. She could feel 
safe, as safe as she could ever be cabable of feeling 
again. John Doggett was the one thing in her world 
that was still secure. 

"Kersch won't like it...he'll think it's 
inappropriate." 

"Kersch can kiss my ass," Doggett snapped with venom. 
"That double dealer knew something. I’m sure of it." 

"Let it go," Dana sighed. "It can't help me, and it 
certainly can't help you. But, if you'll let me come, 
I will, and I won't be any trouble. I'll do 
anything...clean up, whatever." 

"Oh, no, you won't." He said, "You're not up to it." 

"I could cook." 

He grinned. "Now that's a deal!" 

She grinned back, smiling for the first time in a 
long time. "You know something? Life is a really 
rotten place not to have a best friend." 

"Tell me about it!" 

Dana looked up at the house as they drove into the 
driveway. "I always wondered why you had such a big 
house." 

"It's a lot like my house in New York," John said 
softly. "After Luke died, and I decided to come 
here,I couldn't stand to get rid of anything. I just 
had them pack it all up, move it, and set it up 
again. I just got better landscaping." He smiled 
slightly. "When I get frustrated at work, I cut the 
grass." 

Dana laughed. "You must have the shortest grass in 
Virginia." 

"It's a Marine cut!" He got out of the truck and got 
her bag. 

"What made you join the Marines?" Dana blushed. "I'm 
sorry-I didn't mean to pry. It's just that you hardly 
ever mention it, and it must have been one of the 
biggest decisions of your life." 

"It's okay. My dad was in the Marines during World 
War II. He was in the Pacific...Tarawa and Betio 
Beachhead." 

Dana tried to remember what she'd heard about the war 
in the Pacific. "That was pretty heavy fighting, 
wasn't it?" 

"It was the first sea-borne assault of a defended 
atoll...yeah, it was bad." 

She considered this. "If he had such a bad time, why 
did you want to follow in his footsteps?" 

"I thought," he said, slamming the door to the truck, 
"That he'd be proud of me." 

There was an edge to his voice that made her heart 
ache for him, but she didn't know how to respond to 
it. How could anyone NOT be proud to have John for a 
son? There was so much that she didn't know about 
this man, she thought, as he led her into his home, 
but having total faith in the depth of his character, 
she followed him willingly. 

The first few days were uneventful. John developed a 
sweet habit of kissing her on the cheek after 
breakfast, when he was leaving for work. Her secret 
signal with Mulder, whenever one of them needed 
comfort, or a way to express their feelings without 
words, had been a kiss on the forehead. She 
appreciated the fact that John, by instinct, had 
found a different way to offer her his support. 
Why did she trust this man so much, someone she had 
only known a year? Skinner's secretary had asked her 
at the office one day, "Why does everybody like this 
guy?" 

"He's honest," Scullly had offered, and this was 
true. John Doggett was the only man who had kept 
every promise he had ever made to her, from finding 
Mulder to always watching her back. 

The other woman had shrugged. "What you see is what 
you get, huh? Is that it? Well, he's not that cute." 
Scully had considered this on her way back downstairs 
to the office she shared with John Doggett. A lot 
about Doggett WAS average...his height, his weight, 
his clothes. He dressed well, but he wore his clothes 
casually, not focusing on them. His best feature, she 
decided, was his eyes. They were expressive. When he 
was angry they could flash like blue crystals. When 
he was conflicted, it was possible to see the storm 
raging in them. When he was relaxed, they sparkled. 
Looking at Doggett one day, Scully had been reminded 
of her Aunt Olive. When Dana was small, her aunt had 
taken her to see a revival of Olive's favorite movie, 
"Gone With The Wind". When her aunt had asked her 
what she thought of Clark Gable, Dana had said his 
ears stuck out. 

"I'm surprised at you, Dana," her aunt had groaned. 
Dana smiled at the memory. John Doggett's ears stuck 
out almost exactly the same way. He would never be GQ 
pretty, but he had other qualities. 

Dana decided his best quality was persistence. This 
persistence carried over into everything he did, 
whether it was working a case or comforting a sick 
friend. She felt it as a kind of power. He had a 
strength in him that most men didn't have. Dana 
needed that strength, and since it was now hers to 
draw on, she intended to make full use of it.

John Doggett felt the muscles in his jaw tensing 
before he even got through the door. He hated meeting 
with Kersch. He hated being used, and Kersch was a 
user. 

"Pleased be seated, Agent Doggett." 

He sat in front of the desk as he had done so many 
times before. Half of those times he'd wound up 
wanting to go over the desk and strangle the man. 
He'd have to control himself this time. 

"How is Agent Scully?" 

As if you care, thought Doggett, but he replied, "Not 
well, Sir. Her health seems to be improving, but her 
mental state concerns me...concerns everyone who 
knows what she's been through." 

"I take it this will be a rather long disability 
leave?" 

"I would imagine so." 

"She's living with you?" 

Watch it, John thought, as he felt himself stiffen 
up. "She's staying at my house, Sir, but I think 
she'll be physically capable of going back to her own 
place soon." Not that I'll let her, he added to 
himself. 

"The question, then" said Kersch, "Is what to do 
about the X-Files. Are you prepared to run the office 
alone?" 

"No, Sir." 

"I beg your pardon?" Kersch had not expected this. 
"I'd like to request a transfer, at least a temporary 
one. I'd like to stay in the office for awhile. I'm 
tired of the traveling...tired of the hours."
 
"You are requesting a desk job?" 

"If one can be arranged, Sir." 

"Oh, it can be arranged," said Kersch, "But you're 
not fooling me, Agent." 

"I don't know what you mean, Sir." 

"You're doing this for a reason, Agent...a reason 
beyond the ones you've mentioned. I don't know what 
that reason is, but I intend to find out." 

I'm sorry you feel that way, Sir." 

"I'll bet you are, Agent Doggett. I'll bet you are." 
Kersch waved his hand in dismissal. "Someone will 
contact you tomorrow concerning your new position." 
"Thank you, Sir." 

Once he was out in the hall, John breathed a sigh of 
relief. He was going to drive Kersch crazy, and he 
was going to be able to come home to Dana Scully 
every night. This was a win-win situation all the way 
around. He smiled as he walked down the hall. 

Skinner was angry. Very angry. "Shut the door Agent 
Doggett." 

"You wanted to see me, Sir?" 

"It won't be 'Sir' much longer. I understand that 
You'll soon be an assistant director yourself." 

"I haven't heard that, Sir." 

"Did you," said Skinner slowly, "Or did you not agree 
with Kersch to close the X-Files?" 

"I told the deputy director that I could not, at the 
present time, continue in my present position." 

"Damn it, John, you knew what that would mean. You've 
never gone along with this, and it's been brought up 
before. Why take this promotion now? What's changed?" 

John sighed. "Things with Dana have changed." 

Skinner looked startled. "What's she got to do with 
it?" 

"She had no one to keep an eye on her, so I did. You 
wanted that, too, but I can't take care of Dana and 
run the X-Files alone. I've tipped off a few people 
that the job is open, but that's all I can do. 
Something had to give and she's more important. It's 
a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. If I'm going to 
be there for her, I've got to be around, and I can 
only do that if I stay behind a desk." 

"Is she doing that badly?" Skinner looked confused. 
"I've spoken to her, and she seemed to be hanging in 
there." 

"She is hanging in there, but her whole world has 
been turned upside down. She's shook up. She's lost 
her confidence. The Dana Scully that tossed the water 
in my face is long gone, and if we're ever gonna get 
her back we have to work with what we've got left." 
John's voice became passionate. "I have to give her 
every chance...everything I've got." 

"Good God," Skinner said slowly, "You love her, don't 
you?" 

Doggett walked out of Skinner's office shaken. He had 
tried so hard to play it cool, but obviously everyone 
could see right through him to how he felt about 
Scully. 

How could I help it? He thought to himself. She's 
bright and funny. She's brave and beautiful and 
incredibly sexy. How could I not see that? 

He had wanted to go after her from day one...wanted 
to have a relationship with her, but then he had 
found out she was pregnant, and Mulder had come back, 
and it had all seemed so impossible. He had settled 
for her friendship, and had been grateful for it, but 
apparently he hadn't really fooled anyone. He 
certainly hadn't fooled Walter Skinner, who knew 
Scully's situation better than anyone. 

Assistant Director Skinner had put his career on the 
line for Dana Scully and Fox Mulder so many times. 
They had all been so close. Was that the reason 
Skinner had been so quick to see what John Doggett 
had tried so hard to hide? 

Another thought hit Doggett like a hammer...what if 
Skinner had a thing for her, too? Was that why he had 
risked his life, put his job on the line so many 
times? Skinner had always had a soft spot for Dana 
Scully, but how far did it go? 

John shook his head. This was going to require a lot 
more thought. He had one thing going for him, though, 
that the other men who had passed through this 
woman's life apparently had not. He knew exactly what 
he wanted, and he was willing to take the initiative 
to get on the path towards satisfaction. There were 
no arguments that could persuade him against sharing 
his life with this woman. The only questions in his 
mind were how and when. 

He knew Dana Scully was something unbelievably good 
that he wanted in his life, but her life had been so 
complicated! Planning D-day had probably been easier 
than what he was about to do. If he could only 
execute the right manuevers! 

Dana tried to function each day, but her nights were 
filled with a terror, which haunted her days. She 
kept dreaming of Mulder, of the afternoon she had 
left Daniel, and gone to him, and they had talked for 
hours. In the dream, she was asleep on his couch, and 
woke up with a startled cry, just as she had that 
night. As she was trying to place herself, Mulder had 
appeared, and had taken her into his arms. Instead of 
making love to her, as he had, however, the dream had 
him turning into a scarred corpse. Dana woke up every 
night with her heart thumping and her breath coming 
in terrified gasps. 

My best memory of him, she thought, and I'm ruining 
it. She would tremble with fright and cry with 
despair in John Doggett's spare bedroom. She often 
longed to get up and go to the other side of the 
house and have him comfort her, but she never did. He 
had done so much already...she couldn't ask for 
more. 

Because she could not sleep at night, Dana spent much 
of the day either dozing or numb. Black circles 
shadowed her eyes, and her cheeks looked sunken. 
Doggett was worried about her, and tried to help in 
his own way. He offered to take her out, but she 
wouldn't go. She was determined to keep to herself 
until she had decided what she wanted to do...until 
she was quite sure she could cope again. 

She did manage to rouse herself enough to to go to 
the store to get the things that she needed to keep 
her promise to cook for him. That made her feel a 
little better, as if she were earning the shelter 
that he had given her. She hadn't had time to really 
cook for years, and if anyone had told her a few 
years back that she would be using cooking for some 
guy to keep her mind occupied, she would have told 
them that they were crazy, but she found that in some 
strange way, she enjoyed it. 

"I wish you'd let me pay you back for all of this," 
John said one day, as he came into the kitchen while 
she was putting dinner on the table. 

"Can I pay you rent?" 

"It's not the same," He sighed. "I'd be paying the 
same bills whether you were here or not. When you buy 
food, you're saving me a trip out." 

"Didn't you ever cook?" 

"Oh I know how...a little bit. Every guy on his own 
figures out a few things, but there didn't seem to be 
much point in it." 

Maybe there isn't much point in it for me either, 
thought Dana, but a deal is a deal. Sitting at the 
table, she had another thought. "Are you sure it's 
okay to have me here? I'm afraid it will cause 
trouble, especially now that you're getting a 
promotion.?" 

He stared down at his plate. "This promotion...are 
you sure you're okay with it?" 

"I told you to get out long ago," she said gently. 
"You did all you could. When Mulder left, it was just 
no use anymore. You deserve this, John, but you don't 
deserve to be hassled for having me around, and there 
are more gossips at the FBI than in a soap opera chat 
room." 

"If anyone doesn't like it, they can go to hell. We 
made an agreement, and I'm sticking to it." 

"It's not that simple," Dana shook her head. "if 
Kersch tries to ruin you over this, I've got to go. I 
wouldn't stay in heaven with you if I thought it 
would hurt you." 

He laughed. "I don't think that scenario is coming up 
any time soon. Actually," he continued, "Kersch 
hasn't said a word. God knows how he's holding it in. 
Skinner rides me once in awhile, though." 

Dana was shocked. "Are you serious? Why?" 

"Oh, come on, Dana," He put down his fork and looked 
straight into her eyes. "You must know that everyone 
that works with you gets a thing for you." 

She blushed furiously. "That's silly!" 

"Maybe," he said, and dropped the subject fast. 

The only peace Dana Scully really had was in the 
evening, after they had eaten. They would turn on the 
fireplace and curl up on the couch. They would have 
coffee, tea, wine or a beer, and John Doggett would 
hold her in the crook of his arm and just let her 
talk. She could talk honestly about anything that she 
wanted to, and it was a great relief at times. 
Sitting in front of the flickering fire, Dana told 
him what it had been like in medical school...how 
exciting it was to be accepted, and what a grind it 
was. "I loved it, though. I wonder if I should apply 
to practice medicine again...instead of going back to 
the Bureau." 

"You should do whatever you want to do," he had 
answered easily. 

She talked about her days at the Academy, and talked 
about her mom and dad. Dana had a feeling her dad 
would have liked John Doggett. Her dad had always 
liked people who were direct. She told him about 
Melissa, and he grieved with her, a grief she 
had buried for too long. 

"It should have been me. They were after me, not 
her," She wept. 

"I know how that is, honey, I know," He said stoking 
her hair absently. "When I was in Lebanon in '83, I 
switched shifts with a guy once. That was the day of 
the bombing. He died, and I could never understand 
it. That should've been me." 

Dana looked at him in wonder. "Do you understand 
everything about me?" She asked, amazed. 

"We'll see," he said, relaxing into a smile once 
more. 

One night as they sat talking, Dana told John about 
Donnie Pfaster. Doggett had read about the case. 
Going into the X-Files, he had tried to learn as much 
as he could about as many of the cases as possible. 
This case he remembered well, and the fact that Dana 
still felt guilty about shooting Pfaster caught him 
off guard. Getting it out in the open, and finding 
that he supported her, lifted a huge weight off 
Dana's mind. 

"Dana, you did a good job." 

"It wasn't right...it was over." 

"It would never have been over...believe me, you were 
right." 

In the firelight he began to talk about himself more 
and more. He told her about all the places he'd gone 
with the Marines. "I was nuts in those days. The 
things we did! I learned how to say 'what the hell 
happened last night' in ten languages." 

"What a naughty boy!" 

"I was young. I joined up at 19. I loved it. I loved 
Korea, Germany, California." 

"I wonder if you were there when I was there?" said 
Dana, leaning closer to him. 

"Who knows?" He gazed thoughtfully into the fire. I 
would have stayed in the service forever. I'd be 
getting ready to retire soon, if I hadn't been posted 
to Lebanon. What happened there spoiled it for me."
 
"Poor John," said Dana softly, and she kissed him 
impulsively on the cheek. He turned his head, laying 
his cheek half against hers, half against her thick 
silky hair. She looked at him, not with displeasure, 
but with a certain amount of surprise. 

He was slightly embarrassed. "You smell good," he 
said quickly. "What is that?" 

"It's called Cool Water." 

"Good name for it..I like it." With such a good 
excuse, he couldn't resist laying his cheek against 
hers once more. "Stay here until Christmas. I'll buy 
you a gallon of that stuff." 

She shook her head, laughing at him. "A gallon! Not 
unless you want to refinance your house!" 

"Oh, it's expensive?" 

"Very." 

"It's worth it." 

Having lightened the mood once more, they started 
talking again. 

John Doggett drove Dana to the doctor for her post-
partum checkup, but sensing that she had to work 
through her feelings on her own, he dropped her off, 
promising to come back when she called. 

It had been difficult for her, but everyone had been 
as kind and tactful as possible under the 
circumstances. Everyone working in the office had 
experience with women who had lost babies, but none 
of them in a situation like Dana's, but they were as 
compassionate as possible. 

Still, she was relieved when her ordeal was over. She 
called John to come pick her up, and went outside of 
the medical building to wait. She closed her eyes, 
wondering why things had turned out the way they had.
 
"Dana, is that you?" 

Her eyes flew open and she turned toward the familiar 
voice,the voice that she knew so well, and that had 
once meant so much to her. "Daniel?" 

Daniel Waterston gave her a hug. "Dana, it's so good 
to see you again!" 

"You're looking better, Daniel," she said, and this 
was true. His coloring was good and his eyes were 
clear. One would never have known that less than a 
year ago, he had nearly died. "How's Maggie?" 

"Great! Things are going so much better. You were 
right...I had to work things out with her before I 
could get on with the rest of my life." He looked at 
her warmly, and she changed the subject as quickly as 
she could. If she was sure of anything, it was that 
she could never go back to being the person she had 
been with Daniel. She didn't want to hurt him, but 
she was not proud of that other Dana Scully. "What 
are you doing here?" 

"I just had a meeting with a few colleagues. We're 
working on a publicity campaign to promote early 
detection in the case of heart attacks. So many 
people don't realize what's happening until it's too 
late." 

"No, they don't. That would be a wonderful project, 
and very worthwhile" 

He looked around. "What are you doing here? Don't 
tell me you're going back into the medical field? " 
He eyed her pale green cotton dress. "You look 
wonderful, but that's not exactly your usual FBI 
uniform." 

"I'm on leave from the FBI...I was seeing a doctor, 
myself, actually." 

He was immediately concerned. "You've been ill?" 

She hung her head, unable to meet his eyes. How could 
she ever explain what had happened to anyone who 
hadn't been there? Dana took the easy way out. "I 
recently...lost a baby." 

Daniel recoiled in shock. Dana saw a familiar truck 
nosing its way down the street, and she was grateful 
once more for John Doggett's excellent sense of 
timing. He pulled up and getting out of the truck 
called cheerfully, "All set?" 

Dana glanced at the older man at her side, and John's 
gaze followed. 

"John, I'd like you to meet Daniel Waterston. He was 
one of my professors in medical school. Daniel, this 
is John Doggett. He's with the Bureau." 

Doggett held out his hand to the other man, who shook 
it, but gave John an extremely malevolent look, which 
confused him. 

"Nice to meet you. I wish I'd known Dana back then. 
I'm sure she was an excellent student." 

"She was," said Daniel softly. "She was very 
special." Daniel turned and walked away without 
another word, leaving John Doggett staring after him. 

Dana took John's arm. "Come on, let's go home. 
Everything's okay." It was better this way. She knew 
what Daniel was thinking, and felt a twinge of guilt 
at putting John Doggett in this position, but no 
matter how much Daniel loved her, it wasn't enough. 
And he had to know it. Now it would be final. It was 
hard, but it was the right thing to do. Even in the 
case of love, when there was no way to compromise, it 
was better to let go. 

"Are you sure?" 

"I'm sure," she said, walking over to the parked 
truck. 

"If you say, so," he said, holding the door open for 
her. Sometimes he wondered if he would ever really 
know what was going on. 

There were awkward moments all around. They had a 
couple of hard-to-handle phone calls from so-called 
friends of John's, who always started stammering when 
it was Dana picking up the phone. 

She would hand John the phone with a shrug, and he 
would listen politely, answer with a few short words 
and hang up. 

"John, you don't have to be my keeper every day of 
the week," she said one night. "If your friends want 
to see you, go." 

"If they really wanted to see me, I would," he 
countered, "But most of the time they're just looking 
for someone to fix up with somebody's sister, or to 
fill an empty chair at a typical Washington dinner 
party." 

"So? You might meet someone wonderful. Or do you like 
being single?" 

"It's not that. It's just that I KNOW how to manage 
my life, and I don't like being patronized. I don't 
like it when every aquaintance I make thinks they're 
a dating service." 

"You deserve some fun, though," said Dana. 

"Believe me," he said, flopping down on the couch, 
"Hardly any of it is fun. I'd rather stay home." 

"I remember the first guy I dated," Dana reminisced, 
sitting down on the floor next to the couch. "He was 
on the track team at my high school." 

"Did he catch you because you couldn't outrun him?" 

"Very funny." She swatted him on the arm. "He was a 
great kisser." 

"Oh, really? He was, huh? Well, whatever happened to 
him?" 

"He moved to Chicago, went to work in a bank, 
embezzled $100,000 and went to jail for five years." 

"That's a good story," John laughed, adjusting a sofa 
pillow behind his head. "Remind me to tell you one 
someday." 

"Only if you promise it'll be one of those Marine 
stories." Dana tilted her head up and grinned. "Can 
you really ask what you did last night in ten 
languages?" 

He sighed, and recited like a child at school, "Sag 
mal was haben wir denn gestern Nacht so getrieben?" 

She laughed. "Du bist 'ne Wucht!" * 

"I didn't know you knew German!" 

"I had a couple of years of it in high school." 

John shook his head. "If I ever tell you some of 
those Marine stories, I'm gonna have to use a few 
words that they didn't teach you in high school." 

"I'll bet, she said, and went up to bed smiling. For 
some reason, she didn't have a nightmare that night. 

*Translations are: "Say, what the hell were we doing 
last night", and "You're great!" I figure, most 
Marines spend some time in Germany.*

John's neighbors were not as blatant as John's 
friends, but Dana knew they were curious about her. 
She gathered that he was not really close to any of 
them, but he was always pleasant and polite, and got 
along with everyone. Some of them were friendly to 
her when she was outside, but one couple had her 
confused. 

"They stare at me all the time, " she complained, as 
she arranged some flowers from the yard in a vase. 
"Unless I look at them, then they turn around and go 
back into the house." 

"That's Mr. and Mrs. Hebda," he answered, glancing up 
from the newspaper. "No one gets along with them. If 
they don't like you, that's a plus." 

"I don't want anyone to dislike me. It's embarrassing 
for you." 

"Says who?" 

"Don't you care what people think about me being 
here?" she asked him again, setting the vase on the 
kitchen table. 

"It's nobody's business why you're here. Whether or 
not they know why you're here, I swear to you, 
everyone is going to like you better than the 
Hebdas." 

"How can you possibly be so sure?" 

"The Hebdas never cut their grass." 

"That's ridiculous." 

"Welcome to Falls Church." 

Dana sighed and went to the bathroom to wash her 
hands. Maybe she was being overly sensitive. People 
were naturally nosy. If any single man on a quiet 
street suddenly had a strange woman living in his 
house, the drums would start beating. It was a 
normal thing. This was a normal neighborhood. Maybe 
that was the problem...she wasn't used to living a 
normal life. She looked at herself in the mirror. 
"Could I get used to it?" she wondered. She still had 
nightmares, but not every night. She was feeling a 
little better. She felt more grounded, and she didn't 
know how much of that came from the passage of time, 
and how much of it was because of the warm enviroment 
that John Doggett had provided for her. She had 
absolutely no desire to go back to field work 
for the FBI. Maybe she could go back to the Academy 
to teach. She had enjoyed that, even though it had 
been meant to be a punishment, but in her heart Dana 
knew she wasn't ready. She had no desire to go back 
to her apartment either. She had always been so 
independent, but now Dana wondered if she had done it 
because she had to do it. She had always been 
so proud of her independence, of her strength. Having 
to admit that she needed help had been one of the 
hardest things she had ever done, but John Doggett 
had responded with such good humor and grace that she 
hadn't felt guilty for needing him. Looking at 
herself in the mirror, she had to admit what she had 
been afraid to admit, even to herself. Dana enjoyed 
being with him, and she could tell he enjoyed being 
with her. He had a reputation for being cold and 
calculating and hard, but no one who said those 
things had taken the time to get to know him. He was 
so caring toward her, that she couldn't imagine 
how she had ever been as cruel to him as she had when 
they'd met. How could she get ready to go home when 
she was so comfortable in this house that it felt 
like home? I'm not even going to think about it now, 
she decided. When the time comes, I'll know what to 
do. 

Dana stood before the closed door, curiosity gnawing 
at her. He told me to feel at home, she argued to 
herself. He told me I was welcome to anything here. 
Would she be welcome, however, to help herself to 
John Doggett's secrets? She reached out and turned 
the knob. The door opened easily, and stepping into 
the room, Dana gasped. She had stepped into the life 
of a child. 

"His son," she whispered, her heart breaking. 
Everything in the room looked perfect, as if the 
owner would appear at any moment to play with the box 
of Legos on the shelf, pick up the baseball mitt, or 
jump on the corduroy covered bed. She walked around 
slowly, running a finger over the top of the books, 
looking closely at a model plane. It was all kept so 
carefully. He had moved all these things, then shut 
the door. He said he couldn't bear to get rid of 
them, Dana remembered. 

It was such a corny thing to do, but Dana could 
understand it. Luke Doggett had been alive for seven 
short years. If these things were gone, John would 
have nothing left of him. It would be as if his child 
had never existed, and Dana could understand that 
kind of pain. "There's something wrong," her mother 
had told her, as they had gone through Melissa's 
things, "In a parent outliving a child" 
She picked up a hairbrush off of the dresser, and 
fingered the soft brown hair that remained, a color 
she knew so well. How could he ever have borne it? 
Was this the only way he had of coping? 

She went downstairs and sat for awhile with a cup of 
coffee, lost in thought. If she hadn't been so 
preoccupied, she would have seen the man standing out 
on the driveway next to her car, and things would 
have turned out much differently. 

The man outside John Doggett's house looked at the 
car, and sighed. Dana Scully...why did everything 
always come back to her? If he had known how things 
would turn out, he would have done so many things 
differently! He thought of the first time he had seen 
her at the Bureau. She had longer hair then, smooth 
and shiny. She had been thinner, too, like a cute, 
gawky child. She had been so enthusiastic, so eager 
to succeed and do a good job. Poor Dana, he thought, 
if you had known then what doing a good job was going 
to cost you, you would have left the FBI in an 
instant. 

If she had known what HE was going to do to her, 
actually, because he was the one ultimately 
responsible for the fact that she had stayed. He had 
put her in the position she'd been in, and that 
thought disturbed him at times. He had always tried 
to do what needed to be done, but it had all gone 
to hell so many times! How many times could he keep 
coming back, keep fighting for things to turn out his 
way? He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his 
nose. He had a headache, a bad one. The past year had 
taken a toll on him, too. He had been through so many 
difficult times, but the situation over the last few 
months had come closer to destroying him than 
anything else he had ever endured. 

He glanced back at the house again. John Doggett and 
Dana Scully...who would have thought it? Yet, he had 
realized from the beginning that they had more in 
common that he'd wanted to admit. They were both 
smart, logical, decent people who had survived many 
adversities. As much as John Doggett annoyed him at 
times, he could see why Dana had been drawn to him. 
Doggett was basically a good guy, and he was probably 
being very good to her. 

Did he have a right to come back now and interfere 
with that? Maybe this time she deserved a little 
happiness...maybe this time he should think about 
this human being who was so important to him, but 
there was so much more at stake here! 

He turned to the dark-haired man who was waiting 
silently at the end of the driveway. 

"Let's get this over with before someone sees us." 

John knew something was wrong the minute he walked in 
the door. Dana spoke only when spoken to, and then 
using as few words as possible. She couldn't look him 
in the eye, but when he would turn and catch her 
gaze, the look that crossed her face bordered on 
fear. 

What the hell happened, he thought. What did she see? 
What did she hear? Is she sick? Something was wrong. 
John Doggett hated to see that look back in Dana's 
eyes. She had been through so much. If only she and 
Mulder had escaped with the baby, things might have 
worked out. As much as John Doggett resented Fox 
Mulder, if Mulder could have made Dana Scully happy, 
Doggett would have accepted it, as much as he 
disliked the man personally. He had never been able 
to understand Mulder. Besides being an arrogant, 
paranoid son of a bitch, Fox Mulder had had a 
beautiful, devoted woman in his life, and hadn't 
seemed to appreciate her. John Doggett had learned to 
respect Mulder, owed him his life, in fact, but he'd 
never given him a pass on the way he'd handled his 
relationship with Dana. 

John tried to draw her out all through dinner and 
beyond, tried to figure out what was bothering her, 
but baffled by her one word answers, he had given up 
and retreated to his bedroom. He started rooting 
through his closet. 

When he had left the NYPD his buddies on the force 
had given him a briefcase. He remembered his going 
away party well. 

"Keep in touch, buddy!" 

"You're going to be a big shot now, pal!" 

"Yeah, just don't go pulling a Hoover on us!" 

"Good luck, man." 

"Yeah, you deserve it." 

He could use that briefcase now, if he could just 
find it. He'd have to be going to a helluva lot of 
meetings. 

It was there. John pulled it down, and tried to open 
it. It had an adjustable combination lock. If they 
had given him the combination, he couldn't remember 
it, and he sure as hell didn't remember setting it 
himself. He put it on the dresser, and thought hard. 
What would the manufacturer have used? He tried 1-2-
3, but it wouldn't open. Then it hit him...0-0-0. The 
lock popped open and he smiled. 

Then, he heard a small sigh behind him, and turned to 
see Dana standing in the doorway. 

He looked closely at her, and saw that she was 
shaking. "What's wrong? What is it?" 

"I have a confession to make. I've done something 
awful, but I swear I never meant to hurt you." 

Oh, God, he thought. This whole thing was a mistake 
and she's going to leave you. Brace yourself. "What 
did you do?" 

She looked down at the floor. "I went into Luke's 
room and was looking at his things. I know it was 
wrong and it was none of my business to pry into your 
private life, but I did it." 

Relief washed over him like a wave. "Oh, that..." 

"It was terrible of me, but it helped somehow. It 
reminded me of having to walk past that God damned 
nursery door every time I go to the apartment. No one 
understands what it's like, John, not the way you do. 
Everyone says they know how I feel, but no one really 
does." She stepped into his arms and held him close, 
burying her face in his shirt front. 

He held her quietly, stroking her hair. "I know, 
honey, I know." 

"Thank you," she said, "Your tact is the perfect 
antidote for the horrible way I've been feeling 
today." 

"You're welcome." He kissed her cheek. 

She raised her head to look at him, and he kissed her 
mouth, lightly at first, but then she was kissing him 
back, long and lovingly. 

For him, there was no question of whether or not they 
should make love. It was all happening so naturally. 
It felt good, and right, and forever, and he could 
tell she felt the same way. Every kiss, every touch, 
she responded in kind, but just when he thought she 
was ready, more than ready, she rolled away and 
started to cry. 

"Oh, jeeze, honey, did I hurt you?" He reached out to 
touch her shoulder, but she shook her head violently.
 
"I'm going to hurt you, and it's so unfair...so 
unfair to you." 

"I'm missing something here!" 

"I just...I just thought...I just thought about 
Mulder!" She wailed and buried her head in the 
pillow, crying uncontrollably. 

"You dope!" 

He laughed. She could not believe it. She raised her 
head and stunned, watched him laugh at her. 

"Did it ever occur to you that I've thought about my 
wife when I'm with other women? Because sometimes I 
do!" He drew her beside him, and looked straight into 
her eyes. His gaze was now serious, but loving, and 
she lay in his arms mesmerized. "There was a time 
when I loved her more than anything else in the 
world. I'll always love her in a way. I wouldn't try 
to replace her. You can't ever replace someone that 
you love, but you can add to what you had, and you 
can go on. Do you understand that?" 

"I think so," She whispered. 

"I need to go on, and I think you need it, too. I 
think you need it bad." 

"I think," She said, "That you are the sweetest man 
I've ever met." 

"Good," He grinned. "That'll make this a whole 
helluva lot easier." He brought his mouth back down 
over hers, and she found that somehow it did, easier 
than she would ever have dreamed. 

Dana was totally spent. She had never had an 
experience like this in her life. He had kissed her, 
and kissed her, and kissed her until she was 
breathless. He had then moved his mouth slowly to her 
cheek, her ear, her neck, the base of her throat and 
then down. He had touched her again and again, gently 
but firmly until she was shaking and tearful. She was 
going crazy. How could he have ever managed to keep 
it up for so long? 

She had seen the control John had over himself in so 
many situations, but this was exquisite torture. When 
he finally took her the experience shattered her. 
She held him close, wanting to be part of him for as 
long as possible. When he finally raised his head, 
she kissed him deeply. 

"Where," She whispered, "Did you ever learn to make 
love?" 

"From you, " He answered. "I spent the whole time 
trying to figure out what you'd want...what you'd 
need." 

"You succeeded." 

"You're not sorry?" 

"John, I'll never be sorry for loving you." 

"Were you ever sorry you fell in love with Mulder?" 

She looked into his face and saw pain and doubt 
there, and nearly laughed at the silliness of it all, 
but the question, she knew, had not been an easy one 
to ask, and deserved a serious answer. 

"Oh, God, John, it was never like this with Mulder. I 
did learn why they call it 'falling' though. I worked 
with Mulder for seven years and I only slept with him 
once! And I knew that was a mistake as soon as I'd 
done it." She shook her head and sighed. "I took off 
even before he woke up the next morning!" 

"Are you serious?" 

"I swear. He did love me, as much as he was capable 
of loving anyone, but it wasn't enough for two people 
who were as different as we were." She kissed John's 
cheek, and said, "It's not the same with us." 

"How is it different?" 

"For one thing, it's safe to say, I'll still be here 
in the morning!" 

He looked at her carefully, then satisfied with what 
he saw, let go of his last bit of doubt. He rolled 
over, pulling her into the crook of his arm. She 
curled up at his side, content. 

"Will you marry me?" 

She jerked her head up, shocked. "Do you say that to 
every woman you sleep with?" 

"Hell, no!" He grinned. "But it seemed like a good 
thing to try this time." Seeing a look of confusion 
cross her face, he said quietly, "Just think about 
it, Dana. Take as long as you want. I know you're 
probably not ready, but promise me...you'll tell me 
if you ever are." 

"That I can promise," She agreed, and curled up back 
beside him. When she looked up a few moments later, 
he was sound asleep.

Dana spent the whole next day trying to figure out if 
she'd done the right thing, and finally concluded 
that she had. She felt loved, she felt safe, and 
above all she felt cherished, which was a new and 
wonderful experience for her. She had learned to love 
Mulder, but he had never had the slightest idea of 
how to express himself, and she had so seldom come 
first in his life. Mulder had so many issues to deal 
with. 

To be fair, so had she, and so had John Doggett, and 
John Doggett had obviously learned to deal with them. 
John spent the day thinking about her as well. He had 
spent months trying every way he knew how of showing 
Dana Scully how special she was to him. He had no 
intention of messing things up now, but he wanted her 
to have something else to hang on to, a tangible 
reminder of his feelings for her. He had tried to 
give her a home, had given himself, but she was a 
beautiful woman and she deserved to be treated like a 
beautiful woman. He wanted to prove, beyond a doubt 
that he was never going to forget that. 

It's a cliche, he thought, getting into his truck at 
lunch time, but I think it's the right thing to do. 
That night when he got home and came into the house, 
Dana met him in the hall. There was a moment of 
awkwardness, but it was a brief moment. She came 
willingly into his arms, and he held her close. 

"Do you like surprises?" 

"That depends," She said, tilting her head back to 
look up at him, "On what they are." 

"You were born in February, weren't you?" 

"Yeah, so what?" 

"I missed your birthday last time. Happy unbirthday." 
He drew a small narrow box out of his jacket pocket. 

"At least it's not a video," said Dana slowly, 
running her fingers across the deep blue, velvet lid. 

"What?" 

"Nothing...sorry." 

Dana snapped open the lid of the box and gasped in 
wonder. She was looking at a sterling silver tennis 
bracelet set with the most perfect oval amethysts she 
had ever seen. She had never had a piece of 
birthstone jewelry before, and she was delighted. 

"John, this is gorgeous!" 

"Well, since you don't seem to care for diamonds..." 

She swatted his arm. "Don't push your luck." 

"I never do," He grinned. 

"Help me put it on." Dana instructed him, and so he 
did, and standing there, holding hands, they both 
thought to themselves in stereo, I could get used to 
this.

Every time Dana woke up in John Doggett's arms, she 
felt totally secure. She hadn't had a nightmare since 
moving into his bed whether they made love or not. 
The warmth of his presence kept her safe. 

If she did wake in the night she had only to curl up 
against him and she was able to sleep again. John 
would put a protective arm around her and she would 
be at peace. He developed such an awareness of her 
that he could be asleep and still roll over and do 
this. 

With her night terrors banished, the circles under 
her eyes faded, and the hollows in her face smoothed 
out. She was able to smile and laugh, to love and be 
loved. Dana would have never thought it possible, but 
she was happy, unaware of any danger. 

She cooked special meals for him, and took care of 
the flowers around his house. She read books she had 
been meaning to read for years. She studied medical 
journals and worked to update her skills. She spent a 
lot of time trying to decide what she wanted to do 
about work, but she couldn't make up her mind. 

She and John went out. They went to movies and plays 
and concerts. She loved the way he would go 
somewhere, even if Dana knew it didn't interest him, 
just to be with her. They went for walks. He bought 
her a bike and they rode together. Besides being 
happy, she felt healthy again. 

They enjoyed each other. She even loved the way he 
suggested having breakfast in bed every Sunday 
morning, even though they would wind up making love 
and burning the toast. For the first time in years 
Dana Scully felt like a normal person. 

Dana Scully hated it when someone came to the door 
when she was alone. She was still that edgy. Luckily 
it didn't happen very often. "Who's there?" 

"It's Skinner. Open up." 

She opened the door at once. "Sir? What are you doing 
here?" 

"I wanted to talk to you privately. I'm here because 
I know Agent Doggett is not." 

Dana stiffened. "If you want me to go behind his back 
for something, I won't. He's been too good to me." 

"It's not that," The assistant director sighed, 
stepping into the hall. "I just need to know what the 
hell is going on. Why are you still here?" 

"Because I want to be here. Because it was the right 
thing for me to do," She said. "I've spent the last 
couple of years bouncing around like a pinball, 
slamming from one thing to another. I needed to 
think, to reassess my life. John gave me the chance 
to do that." 

"Dana, I knew it would have been hard for you to be 
alone when you first got out of the hospital...that 
you had no one to help you. I was glad Doggett 
offered to let you stay here. I know you feel safe 
with him," said Skinner with concern, "But I thought 
it would be for a couple of days, or weeks, and it's 
been four months. They're about to cut off your 
benefits. Don't you think it's time for you to go 
home, go back to work?" 

"What difference does it make to you what I do?" She 
glared at him. "Why should you care?" 

"I care about you, and you know that! And," he 
insisted, "I care about Agent Doggett. If you plan on 
coming back to work, this could be a problem." 

Dana laughed bitterly. "I can see everyone at the 
Bureau now...laughing about Agent Scully and how she 
screws around with all her partners!" Skinner 
flinched, and she relented. This man was so special 
to her. She couldn't take her resentment out on him 
for all the snide remarks she had gotten over the 
past year, and all the ones she still expected to 
get. "That's the problem, isn't it Sir? The gossip? 
Or is this Kersch's doing? Is he going to come down 
on John for letting me stay here? Are you trying to 
warn me?" 

Skinner sighed again. "It's not that. It's against 
policy, but this was an unusual case. No one minded 
at first, but if you ever plan on coming back..." 

"What if I don't?" 

Skinner was visibly shocked. "You can't be serious, 
Agent Scully." 

"Why not? Why can't I just stay with John if I want 
to? I feel like I've graduated. I can do anything I 
want...and anyway, I need John! He makes me feel 
safe, yes, but he also helps me function. He 
understands me. I'm all right with him and I never 
thought I'd be all right again." She looked across 
the room. "I don't want to fight Kersch or have 
everyone at the Bureau staring after me when I walk 
down the hall. I've had enough of that! I want a 
home...I deserve that and so does John. I've had the 
strangest feeling the past few weeks," She continued 
softly, "and one day I realized what it was. I'm 
happy! Can you believe that? I'm happy and I don't 
have to wonder what's behind it, or what's going to 
happen next." Dana shook her head. "Do you know how 
long it's been since I've been completely happy 
without doubt or fear in my mind?" 

"Is he as serious about this as you are?" Skinner 
asked quietly. 

"He misses having a family. He misses having a home. 
I know he loves me!" 

"Do you love him? Really love him? Or is it just a 
way to escape the past?" 

Dana looked Skinner straight in the eye. "I never 
thought that I'd love anyone so much." 

Dana offered to drive her mother to have Mrs. 
Scully's cast removed. Though she had talked to 
Maggie often, and Maggie often called her, Dana had 
not seen her mother and they had not had a long 
serious conversation since Dana had moved into John's 
house. Dana had an on again, off again relationship 
with her mother, but they never stayed off for long.
 
"I'll be so glad to have this over with," Maggie 
Scully sighed, looking at the battered cast on her 
arm. "It was such a stupid thing to do." 

"You need to be more careful, Mom. This took much 
longer to heal than it should have. They said it was 
because your bone density isn't what it should be. 
You've got to start worrying about osteoporosis. 
You're at that age now." 

"I know, but I just hate milk. Why do humans have to 
be the only animals that are never weaned? It doesn't 
seem fair." Maggie Scully sighed again, then anxious 
to avoid an argument with her doctor daughter, tried 
to turn the tables. 

"What about you? Are you feeling better? You look 
better. You look wonderful. I was so relieved when 
John called me and told me he was going to have you 
stay with him. I was frantic trying to figure out how 
we were going to get you well, and me with this 
stupid arm!" 

"So it's John now, huh?" Dana smiled. "Whatever 
happened to Mr. Doggett?" 

"I just got into the habit of calling him John when I 
phoned over there...he doesn't mind. He says he likes 
it." 

"I'll bet," Dana said, gripping the steering wheel a 
little tighter. 

Maggie Scully had liked John Doggett from the day 
she'd met him, at Fox Mulder's wake. He had been 
respectful and polite, and she had especially liked 
the way he had handled himself in such an awkward 
situation. The fact that he had such honest blue 
eyes, and the way they had followed her daughter 
hadn't hurt either. 

Maggie had always been fond of Fox Mulder, of his 
boyish good looks and charm, but she was a sensible 
woman and deep down she had always hoped her daughter 
would find a man who could put Dana first in his 
life. She sensed that Mulder had been unable to do 
this, and that John Doggett WAS doing it, and doing 
it well. She found that thought pleased her. Maggie 
knew her sons were pleased, too. She had reported the 
new developments to Bill and Charlie. They had always 
hated Fox Mulder for his maverick way of putting Dana 
in danger. John Doggett's protectiveness toward her 
daughter was a welcome change. 

Maggie knew Mulder had cared for her daughter. When 
Dana had vanished several years ago, Maggie had given 
up hope before he had. When Maggie believed Dana was 
dying, Mulder had always argued with her, to keep 
Dana on life support, to keep trying. Yes, Fox Mulder 
had always cared, but his crazy theories and 
unexplainable cases had kept him from moving to forge 
a true relationship. Things were different now, and 
Maggie had finally been able to quit worrrying about 
her daughter. She was more relieved than she could 
say. 

After she got her cast off, the two women went to 
lunch. "Are you going back to work soon?" asked 
Maggie. 

"I don't know, Mom. I just don't know. I don't feel 
like it. I was so miserable, it was like something 
broke in my heart, just like the bone in your arm. 
It's taking a long time to heal, too. I'm scared to 
death of the future and haunted by the past." 

"Can I ask you a personal question?”

Dana almost choked on her water, and set the glass 
down rather hard. "That depends on what it is," She 
said cautiously, wondering if her mother had already 
guessed the situation in Virgina. 

"Are we ever going to see Mulder again? Is he really 
dead this time, or what?" 

"I really don't know." What an insane question, 
thought Dana. Worse, what's really insane, is that I 
understand it! "He is to me. If he got away he never 
contacted me. I'm sorry Mom...I just can't talk about 
it." 

"Oh, Dana, I'm so sorry." 

"It doesn't matter any more." 

"How can you say that?" Maggie was shocked. 

"What would you say," said Dana slowly, "If I told 
you I was in love with someone else?" 

"John Doggett?" 

Dana nodded,her eyes bright with tears. 

"Does he love you?" 

"Oh, Mom, so much. It's so wonderful to be loved the 
way he loves me. He isn't mushy sentimental about it, 
but he tells me, and he shows me, and he makes me so 
happy." 

"Then," said Maggie Scully firmly, "I would say good 
for John Doggett." 

"Do you mean it?" 

"Oh, Dana, if it had been up to me, I would have 
begged you to look at the way he was looking at you, 
but love can't be forced. I could only hope that you 
would see it in time. Are you going to marry him?" 

"He wants me to," said Dana, staring down at her 
plate, "But I'm just not ready yet." 

"Will you let me know the minute you are?" 

"If I ever am," Dana smiled at her mother, "I'll let 
you know." That's both of you I have to keep 
informed, she thought, and it was a warm feeling. 

Dana went to her apartment once a week, always 
avoiding the closed nursery door. Some day she'd have 
to do something with all of those pink and blue 
things, but she didn't know when she'd ever be able 
to face the job. She thought of the closed door in 
John's house, and a feeling of tenderness swept over 
her. No wonder he understood her so well. 

The apartment seemed less and less like home. Every 
time she visited, she always found a few things to 
take away with her, but she had done so well without 
most of these things she wondered why she had ever 
felt she needed them. Things just didn't matter to 
her much anymore. 

In a way, it had never felt like home. She had moved 
into this apartment so full of hope. It had seemed so 
perfect...an extra bathroom, a room for the baby, 
close to the park. Now everything in it seemed to 
mock her. Every time she stood in her apartment, she 
remembered the Lone Gunmen trying to help her 
convince Mulder to give up on the census bureau case, 
that stupid baby shower her mother had insisted on 
throwing her, Lizzie Gill, and Mulder yanking her out 
of the living room as the lights went off. She didn't 
think she could ever find peace here. Today, however, 
she ran into the landlord, who presented her with 
another problem. 

Impulsively, she drove to the Bureau. She hadn't been 
back in weeks, so she had not seen John's new office. 
When he looked up and saw her standing in the 
doorway, and saw the look on her face, he got up at 
once and shut the door behind her. "Dana, what's 
wrong?" 

"I have a decision to make, and I want you to help me 
make it." 

He looked around the office. "Are you thinking of 
coming back to work?" 

"That depends on a lot of things." 

John sat on the edge of the desk. He had his sleeves 
partly rolled up, and his black leather watchband 
stood out against his brown arm. She could smell his 
aftershave in the room. He looked wonderful, but he 
also looked so apprehensive she wanted to cry. 
Please, she thought to herself, be what I need you to 
be...just one more time. 

"I was at my apartment this morning. I talked to the 
landlord. He's preparing the new leases for the 
spring. I either need to sign a new lease, or let the 
place go." She crossed her arms in front of her and 
looked down at the floor. "John, I can't afford to 
keep that place if I'm not working full time. I have 
some money, but not enough to pay for that place for 
another year. There's no use keeping it if I'm not 
going to stay there. If I decide to sign a new lease, 
I'd have to go back." 

"Are you ready to go back?" 

"I could be, if I had to be." 

"So you want me to tell you to go back?" He was so 
stunned he didn't know what to say. 

"I don't know." She fought back tears. She had been 
weak for so long. She had to find her strength, 
though how she was going to find enough strength to 
leave him, she didn't know. She had been hoping she 
wouldn't have to. 

He didn't disappoint her. "Dana, I can't." She raised 
her head and looked into his honest blue eyes, 
knowing she would see the truth before she heard it, 
and she saw only fear and loss. 

"I love you. Don't leave me." 

"I don't want to," she whispered, stepping into his 
arms. "Not ever." And he held her, relief sweeping 
through both of them. 

As John Doggett walked into his office, he was 
flipping through a file, so he didn't immediately 
notice the other presence in the room until he'd shut 
the door. He looked at the black-haired figure seated 
at his desk and said, "You bastard! How did you get 
in here?" 

"Just a little visit for old times sake, John. You've 
done pretty well for yourself, haven't you?" The man 
behind the desk gestured around the room. "All this, 
AND you got the girl from what I've heard. Lucky 
guy...I wouldn't mind having a piece of that myself. 
She's a real spitfire, at least she was." 

Doggett's eyes went steely. "If you ever lay a hand 
on Dana, there won't be a corner in hell deep enough 
for you to hide in. She's mine and what's mine, I 
keep. Don't mess with me on this one." 

"Back off Doggett! I was just jerking your chain. I 
got more than I can handle. I don't need the trouble, 
and that one's been nothing but trouble to everyone 
she's come across from day one." 

"Come on, what do you really want?" 

"I've got some information you might be interested 
in. The man tossed a manila envelope across the desk, 
then got up. "Take a look. I'll be in touch." With a 
sly smile he slipped out the door. 

Doggett let out his breath slowly. He picked up the 
envelope, and opening it, pulled out some 
photographs. He looked, then looked again. "Good 
God!" He groaned, tossing them down on the desk. This 
was bad. This was very bad. 

The pictures were of his house. They were recent 
pictures, because Dana's car was in the driveway. 
Standing next to the car was a well-dressed older 
man. He was pale and wrinkled, as if he had been ill 
recently, but in every picture, he was holding a 
cigarette. Behind the pictures Doggett found a note. 
He glanced at the words and shook his head. 

"He wants to talk to you. Call this number." 

John Doggett had never met this man, but he knew who 
he was. He knew more about him than he had ever 
wanted to know. 

To make things worse for John's state of mind, Dana 
met him at the door that night, her eyes flashing 
fire. "How was work?" 

"Well, it was..." 

"You had better," She interrupted, "think very 
carefully about what you're going to say next, 
because this is no time to start lying to me." 

He threw the mail down on the hall table and hung up 
his coat. "What's that supposed to mean?" 

"I saw Skinner's secretary at the post office today, 
and she told me someone I know turned down a very 
important assignment." 

"Aw, Dana, there were plenty of guys who could handle 
that one...guys who like to travel." He put his arms 
around her waist. "Guys who don't have such a good 
reason to stay home." 

She turned her head abrubtly as he leaned down to 
kiss her, and backed out of the hall. "John, I don't 
want you risking your career over me any more than 
you already have! We're talking about your livelihood 
here!" 

"No, we're talking about my life," He said firmly. 
"You are my life. I made the decision the day you 
moved in here that I was going to make you my number 
one priority, and nothing will ever change that." He 
pulled her into the living room and sat her down. 
"I'm not worried about making a iiving. This house is 
paid for, Dana, and I know I can always find a way to 
pay the bills. I'm worried about making a life. If my 
job ever starts to mess things up for us, I'll tell 
them to shove it. Right now, I need to be with you." 

"John, I'd be okay." 

"But I wouldn't!" He cupped her face with his hands. 
"I'm forty years old and I've spent a hell of a lot 
of my life alone. I know what matters to me, and it's 
not in my office." 

Tears filled her eyes. "I can't believe you feel that 
way." 

"Believe it." 

She hugged him, and he thought to himself, if anyone 
tries to hurt her again, I will kill them, I swear. 

"What was the job anyway," She asked curiously. 

"A school principal in Indiana ran off with one of 
his students...an eleven year old girl." 

"Good God!" said Dana, shocked. "When I was eleven, 
my principal was a nun!" 

"Mine, too." 

"I didn't know you were Catholic." 

"Yeah, well, I quit going to church after Luke died," 
he said, "But tell me the truth. Don't I look like an 
ex-altar boy to you?" 

"Yeah, come to think of it, you do." 

She kissed him and he started to relax. He was going 
to be able to protect her. This time he was going to 
win. 

"Why can't you tell me what's wrong, John?" Dana 
asked him outright. 

They were sitting on the living room couch in front 
of the television, but they weren't watching 
anything. He was using the remote like a video game, 
flipping from channel to channel. They hardly ever 
watched television anyway. 

They had just had dinner at her favorite restaurant. 
She had planned to cook, but he had called and told 
her not to put the dinner on. "We need to get out 
more," he had told her, but Dana knew something was 
up, and she knew, too, that she couldn't give him the 
third degree in a restaurant. 

He had been quiet there, poking absent mindedly at 
his food. She didn't eat much, either, and when he 
finally suggested they leave, she hadn't protested. 
Walking out of the restaurant toward the silver 
truck, he had slipped his arm around her waist. "I'm 
sorry, Dana. Not much of a date, is it?”

"What's on your mind?" 

"Dana, it's a lot of things. I'm sure it will all 
work out," He said turning on the ignition. Before he 
could put the truck in gear, she reached for his 
hand. "Is it me? Does this have anything to do with 
us?" 

He turned and looked at her and she was relieved to 
see he was genuinely astonished. "With you?" He 
cupped her face in his hands. "I love you, you know 
that." His gaze was adoring, and she had nodded. He 
kissed her quickly and had said nothing on the way 
home, but she still felt uneasy. She could almost 
feel how hard he was thinking. 

He was trying to figure out in his head what to do 
about the CSM. He was afraid to tell her the truth, 
because she would be upset, and he didn't even know 
what the man wanted anyway. From what he'd heard 
about this smoking man, though, it would be trouble. 
Now that he was sure this man was alive, Doggett was 
convinced that the CSM had something to do with the 
kidnapping of Scully's baby, and the disappearance of 
Fox Mulder. He didn't know what to do. He thought 
about it all night, and got no where. 

He finally shut off the TV and pulled her close. She 
rested her head on his shoulder and wondered whether 
or not she should continue to press the subject. John 
kissed her, and whispered, "Let's go to bed." 

She followed him up to the bedroom a little sad, 
because she knew for the first time they were not 
being completely honest with one another, about his 
worries or her doubts. She tried to lose herself in 
his lovemaking, which was as tender and intense as 
ever. Afterwards, she curled up beside him and 
whispered, "I wish I could do something to help you." 

"Just be here, Dana. Having you in my life always 
helps me. As long as I have you here, then 
everything's okay. It will work out." He smoothed the 
hair off her cheek. "Don't worry so much." 

Easier said than done, she thought. It was time to 
dust off her investigative skills. She would have to 
keep her eyes open and watch for an opportunity to 
find out what was going on. 

One windy day John Doggett decided they both had to 
lighten up. He called Dana and told her to meet him 
at a park and to bring a picnic. "There's a picnic 
set on the shelf at the bottom of the basement 
stairs. You'll have to dust it off, but I'll make it 
worth your while." 

When she got to the right place, he surprised her 
with a glorious, rainbow colored kite. She hadn't 
played in so long that it felt like heaven. The sky 
was a perfect blue, the trees ringing the park a 
perfect green. The sun sparkled. They goofed around 
with the kite for awhile and then had lunch. 

"This is the best time I've had since...well, in a 
long time!" She said falling back onto the blanket 
amid the picnic scraps. "Thank you." 

"You're welcome." 

He leaned over, running his mouth from her mouth to 
her ear, his hand wandering over the front of her 
sweater. She returned his kisses enthusiastically, 
but when the wandering hand moved under her sweater, 
she laughed. "Cut it out! This is an open field for 
God's sake!" 

"No one's looking," he said, kissing his way down the 
side of her neck. 

"I don't care," She turned her head, giggling. 

"There's always the back of the truck. I can keep my 
head down if you can." 

"Oh, no you don't!" She sat up. "John Doggett, tell 
me the truth! Have you ever really slept with a woman 
in the back of that truck?" 

"NO!" 

"Well, good!" 

"Of course," He admitted, "That's a fairly new 
truck." 

She went to smack him, he ducked and they wound up 
rolling over on to the grass. He pinned her down, and 
brushed the hair out of her eyes. 

"Later, John." 

"Not too much later, I hope." 

"How soon can we get home?" 

"I'll race you," He said, throwing the picnic things 
back into the basket. 

Dana laughed. "Sure you don't have to get back to the 
office?" 

"It's not going any where." 

As she leaned over to fold up the blanket, she 
wondered to herself, is THAT why they call it a truck 
bed? Shaking her head, she drove back to the house 
watching the truck behind her in the mirror all the 
way. 

She managed to get into the house, as far as the 
living room couch, before throwing herself into 
John's arms and finding his mouth with her own. 

"You're pretty damned aggressive today," He had 
grinned. 

"Do you mind?" 

He shook his head, his crystal blue eyes sparkling. 
"Can I take you on a picnic every day?" 

"I couldn't stand it every day," She had gasped, 
falling on top of him. 

The dark haired man swore when he saw the truck in 
the driveway. The owner of the truck, of the house, 
was not supposed to be at home.
 
Driving his car to the end of the street, he parked 
and walked back carefully, watching the neighborhood, 
but few people were home at that time of day. Damn 
it! Why was Doggett? 

Slipping around the side of the house he looked into 
the living room window and smiled. Lucky, lucky John 
Doggett! And in the middle of the day, too! He would 
never understand these people, but some of their 
habits, he had to admit, were worthwhile. 

The young man looking through the window watched 
amused as Dana Scully made love to John Doggett, and 
shook his head as John carried Dana up the stairs to 
the bedroom presumably to return the favor. He went 
back to his car and waited. It was over an hour 
before Doggett came out of the house, and whistling 
happily, got into his truck and drove off in the 
direction of Washington. The dark haired man then got 
out of his car and walked towards the house. 

Dana got out of the shower and threw on her robe. She 
headed down to the kitchen. No matter how tenderly 
she and John made love, there was always an intensity 
behind it. It was fun to play to that once in awhile. 
Stopping short, she noticed a pane of glass broken 
out of the back door, which was slightly open. As she 
stepped closer, she was grabbed from behind by a very 
tall man. A hand went over her mouth, and an arm went 
across her chest, restraining her. 

"I don't want to hurt you. Hold still. I have a 
message for Lover Boy." 

Dana froze, trying to place the voice. 

"Do you understand?" 

She closed her eyes and nodded. "Don't call the 
police. Just call Doggett. Tell him he's got to make 
a decision soon. He'll know what to do." The stranger 
laughed harshly in her ear. "He always does, doesn't 
he?" He jerked open the knot of her robe and ran a 
rough hand over her breasts. 

Dana struggled furiously. If this man intended to use 
her, she intended to fight, but he suddenly shoved 
her and she fell into a heap on the kitchen floor. 
Clutching her robe around her, she looked up into a 
face that seemed vaguely familiar, yet unfamiliar. 
The man walked out the broken door. 

Dana trembling, got to her feet. John Doggett had no 
sooner walked into his office than the phone rang. 
Picking it up, he heard sobbing. What the hell? 

"John, there was a man here. I got out of the shower 
and he grabbed me. He broke in the back door." 

John's blood froze. "Are you all right? Did he...did 
he hurt you in any way?" 

"He didn't rape me, if that's what you mean, but he 
touched me," She said shakily. "I felt so degraded!" 

"Did you call the cops?"

"He told me not to. He told me to give you a message. 
He said you have to make a decision soon. I should 
have tried to see where he went, but I wasn't in the 
mood to run naked through the neighborhood, and I 
didn't know if he was armed." 

John's face hardened. "What did he look like?" 

"This sounds crazy, I know, but he reminded me of 
Krychek. He had dark hair and dark eyes. He was tall 
and had on a gray sweatshirt." 

"Dana, think hard. Was it the same man who picked up 
you and Mary Hendershot at the hospital that time?" 

"That's it!" She cried. "I'm a little fuzzy about 
what went on that night, but I think so." 

Knowle! "Honey, hang on. I'll be right there." John 
slammed down the phone and swore. 

John called a guy he knew in the business to replace 
the glass in the back door. He took Dana out to eat 
at a diner in town. 

"Are you sure you're all right?" He asked her for the 
tenth time. 

"I'm fine," She sighed. "It's not exactly the first 
time something like this has happened to me." 

"Maybe we should go away for a few days." 

"That is so not necessary!" 

"Then maybe I should stay home for a few days and 
make sure you're okay." 

"John, I'm all right!" She looked him straight in the 
eye. "I'm not scared anymore. I was, but now I'm 
angry. I'm angry that someone would come into your 
home like that. I consider it my home, too." 

"Well, I hope so!" 

Their roast beef sandwiches arrived and Dana took a 
tentative bite. "It's good!" She looked up. 

"I used to come here a lot," He said, looking around 
the room. "Before I had you. It seems like a million 
years ago. I can't imagine being without you...not 
now. You mean everything to me." 

"Then why aren't you being honest with me? It hardly 
ever happens, and I don't like it. Who was that guy 
and what's going on?" 

John looked thoughtful. "All right, all right. His 
name is Knowle. He used to be with the CIA. I'm not 
sure if he's officially with them now. Maybe he's 
some kind of mercenary. We were friends once, and we 
used to trade information. Something happened. He 
changed. He's the guy that used me to set Mulder up 
at the Census Bureau. Remember that 'Fight the 
Future' business? And he was at the FBI the night I 
sent you and Monica to Georgia. He was supposed to 
have been killed in a car crash, but maybe that's 
just what he wanted people to think. For some reason 
he's keeping his nose in our business, and I can't 
figure out why." 

A flash of pain crossed Dana's face. "He must have a 
reason. Don't you have any idea at all what he wants 
now? Does he want you to get him some more 
information? On something, or someone?" 

"I don't know exactly what it is he's up to...what 
it's really about," John said evasively. "He's been 
trying to contact me and I've been ducking him, but 
no more. I'm going to settle this with him, one way 
or another." 

Dana still had a bad feeling about the situation, but 
she knew she would have to let it go for the moment.
 
"Just be careful, won't you?" 

"I'm going to do whatever it takes so that you're not 
bothered again." 

"It's you I'm worried about," she said seriously. 
"Your life is more important to me than it is to you, 
sometimes. That's not right." 

"I'm not going anywhere," He said, and meant it. 

The next night John Doggett came home with the 
biggest box of chocolates that Dana had ever seen. 

"Peace offering." 

"You didn't have to do that," said Dana, "But I'm 
awfully glad you did." She popped a piece into her 
mouth. "Vanilla cream! Oooooooh, this is good. This 
is soooooooo good!" 

He laughed. "Jeeze, Dana, you're eating chocolate, 
not having sex!" 

"Sometimes chocolate is just as good." 

"Oh, thanks a lot!" He pretended to be upset. "What 
would happen if you had chocolate and sex at the same 
time?" 

"That's for me to know and for you to find out...what 
a great idea!" She teased him. 

"No thanks," He said. "I'm not sure if I could take 
it." He paused then asked quietly, "You sure you're 
not mad at me anymore? I wanted to keep you safe and 
wound up putting you in danger. You have a right to 
be sore." 

"I wasn't really mad at you," She said. "I know when 
you keep things from me, you're trying to take care 
of me, but it really does drive me crazy sometimes." 

"I know. I started to figure that out a little bit 
when you threw that cup of water in my face." 

"I can't believe I was that mean to you, but then you 
weren't being very nice to me, either. We really got 
off on the wrong foot, didn't we?" 

"I didn't know what I was getting into. If I could do 
it all over again, I swear, I'd do so many things 
differently." 

She slipped her arms around his waist. "Would the end 
result be the same?" 

"I would hope so," he said, breathing in the warm 
clean smell of her hair beneath his chin. "I'm doing 
the best I can, Dana." 

"I know." 

She never knew if it was the silly conversation 
they'd had earlier, or too much chocolate candy that 
caused it, but she had a bizarre dream. She and John 
were in Minnesota, at the Mall of America, in the big 
glass elevator. They were having sex, and she was 
dreaming of doing things to him that they hadn't even 
gotten around to doing in their bedroom. What was odd 
about the dream is that while they were making love, 
the elevator kept going up and down, and hundreds of 
people were walking past, but no one was paying them 
the slightest bit of attention. The dream was so real 
she could taste him and feel him, and when she woke 
up, she felt so empty that she sat up, shocked. 

"What's the matter?" John said groggily. He looked at 
her dazed and guileless with sleep. 

"I had a weird dream." 

He put his arms around her, and the dream didn't 
matter any more, because he was really there, and the 
moonlight shining through the window was real, and 
bathed in its light she was able to do everything 
she'd dreamed of. She was so satisfied with her life, 
that everything else that had happened in her life 
seemed like the dream. 

"You know what?" She asked, stroking his hair as he 
lay exhausted on top of her. 

"What?" 

"I figured it out tonight. I've really got to try 
harder not to worry about what anyone thinks of me 
being with you." 

"I'm glad to hear it. It's about time." 

"I think it is," she breathed, feeling totally at 
peace for a few perfect moments. 

John Doggett felt he had no choice. He picked up the 
phone and arranged a meeting. Every nerve in his body 
was on edge as he walked into the elegant Watergate 
apartment. 

"Have a seat, Agent Doggett," said the smooth, 
cultured voice. Damn it! This guy didn't look like a 
murderer. He looked like a college professor. He 
wasn't what Doggett had expected at all. 

"I'll stand. Say what you have to say so I can get 
the hell out of here." 

The older man shrugged and leaning against a large, 
polished desk, lit a Morley. "Agent Doggett, you 
needn't be so defensive. I have no quarrel with you. 
I admire your work a great deal, AND your taste in 
women." He exhaled slowly. "I've always had a special 
fondness for Dana, you know. I'm thrilled to see her 
settling down." 

"Fondness? You have a funny way of showing it. Why'd 
you send your goon to scare the hell out of her? If 
I'd known you were behind him all along, I'd have..." 

"Frightening her was not my intent," the smoking man 
interrupted. "He has been duly reprimanded, I assure 
you." 

"You were behind the guys who took her baby, weren't 
you? They made her watch them inject him with 
something...they told her she'd never see him again. 
You let them crack her head open and leave her for 
dead, and I'm supposed to listen to you? She nearly 
died, damn it!" 

"No one would have regretted that more than I would 
have!" He played with his gold lighter for a moment, 
and then spoke more calmly. "But you're both fine 
now, aren't you?" 

"What did you do with Mulder?" Doggett asked, 
ignoring the man's last statement. 

"I did nothing to him, I assure you. He did come 
along at the end of that last operation, and had to 
be taken away by the men in charge of it, but he 
escaped as we were moving our base of operations 
several weeks later, and where he is now, no one 
knows." 

"You took his son! For what?" 

The older man looked sad. "Mulder and Scully were 
both immune to the virus. The hope was that the baby 
would have also been immune. Things did not turn out 
as well as we'd planned." 

"You used Scully's baby like a lab rat? Where is he 
now?" 

"I can only tell you that it no longer matters." 
Doggett stuck his hands in his pockets, fighting to 
control himself. He was disgusted, angry, and 
nervous. "Can we cut to the chase here? What do you 
want?" 

"Deputy Director Kersch is not performing to my 
satisfaction. I have reason to believe he is 
following a different agenda than the one I'd prefer. 
I want you to keep an eye on him for me." 

"You want me to spy on Kersch?" Doggett was 
incredulous. "Why me?" 

"You've tried to expose him before, and you have a 
good reputation. You don't compromise. You're a 
reasonable man, Agent Doggett, are you not?" 

"When I have a reason to be...what's in it for me? 
Why should I help you?" 

"You've been treated unfairly, Agent Doggett. I can 
help you there. And of course, there's Dana. I have 
information that she would find most welcome." 

Doggett shook his head. "If you can't tell her where 
Mulder is, or give her baby back, then you've got 
nothing." 

"But it is good news!" Smiled the older man. "Good 
news for her, and good news for you! I will reveal it 
at the proper time. Think about it, Agent Doggett. I 
assure you our interests are now mutual ones." 

"I doubt it," said Doggett as he turned and walked 
out of the room. He took a deep breath outside the 
building. Few men made him nervous, but this one did. 
He was obviously on no one's side but his own, and he 
said outrageous things so calmly! Though he had a 
reputation for twisting the truth, John Doggett 
believed him when he said he didn't want to cause 
Dana any more pain. Every instinct told Doggett that 
she was not the target in this game, and that was his 
sole comfort in the situation. How much more 
complicated could things get? 

John Doggett was still acting edgy. He was still 
hiding something from her. He hadn't told her the 
whole story. Of that, Dana was quite sure, but she 
was also sure that he meant well. This was obviously 
something that he thought would majorly upset her. He 
had tried to protect her from the beginning of their 
partnership, even when she had treated him badly. 
It was ingrained in him, Dana realized, this urge to 
watch her back. He'd been a cop, and a Marine. 
Teamwork had been central to his life for so long. He 
would never let anything happen to a partner, even if 
they didn't agree, and there had been so many times 
when they had disagreed. He had even treated Agent 
Harrison gently, and she had been so green she didn't 
even know how to hold her gun. 

Dana thought about the time John had come to Utah 
after her, even though she'd ditched him outright. He 
had saved her life, and even though he had made it 
clear to her that she had been wrong, he'd never 
berated her, never held a grudge. 

When they had found Mulder's body, he had tried to 
hold her back. Dana had been furious with him at the 
time, but in the back of her mind she had always 
known he had been trying to stand between her and 
pain, not between her and Mulder. 

When it turned out that Mulder was really alive, he 
had tried to warn her about what she was about to 
see, even if he hadn't understood it himself. 

No, John Doggett was not trying to demean her now, 
any more than he had been then, but Dana was just as 
sure now as she had been then that she needed to see 
for herself what was going on. The question was, if 
he was hiding something from her, where would he hide 
it? 

She walked over to his desk, and stared moodily at 
the blank computer screen. Instinctively, she knew it 
wasn't there. He let her use the computer whenever 
she wanted, and never locked the desk drawers. His 
office? Maybe. They hadn't given him a secretary yet. 
If she had to get in there, she could, as much as she 
hated to think of searching the place behind his 
back. If only he would just tell her the truth! 
She walked away from the desk, and then she saw it, 
sitting under the coat tree in the hall. He had not 
taken his briefcase to work that morning. 

Dana picked it up, and hesitating only a second, sat 
down on a chair and put it on her lap. It was locked. 
She studied the little combination wheels. There were 
three of them. What number would he have used? His 
birthday? No. His address wouldn't open it either. 
The first three digits of the phone number? She began 
to get frustrated. Then she started to think about 
John Doggett. Being an Assistant Director had stopped 
being a goal of his a long time ago. After he had 
gotten involved with the X-Files he had decided to 
just go with the flow when it came to his career. Had 
that casual attitude carried over to something as 
simple as this? Maybe he had never set a combination 
at all. Dana thought back to every lock she had ever 
owned, and set the dials. 0-0-0. The lock popped 
open. 

Feeling incredibly guilty, Dana opened the briefcase 
and started going through the papers inside. She 
found a large manila envelope at the bottom. Opening 
the envelope caused her to feel something entirely 
different. Quite a few feelings flooded through her, 
actually. 

Dana stood at the sink washing salad. John came in, 
and slipping his arms around her waist, kissed the 
back of her neck. Even when she was annoyed with him, 
he could still make her feel loved. 

"Smells great in here. What are you cooking?" 

"Chicken with lemon and mushroom sauce." 

"Did I ever tell you you're a fantastic cook?" 

"Did I ever tell you you're a lousy liar?" She turned 
around and crossed her arms in front of her. 

"I love everything you cook," He said, astonished. 

"I don't mean THAT. I know he's back, John. That's 
why you've been so worried. Why didn't you tell me? I 
begged you to!" 

He walked over to the table, slumped into a chair, 
and put his head in his hands. The way he ruffled up 
his short hair like a little boy touched her, and she 
relented. "John, I know you were trying to protect 
me, but this is important. This is something we need 
to talk about." 

"I'd like to kill that bastard, after what he did to 
you, but I'm afraid he wouldn't stay dead." 

Dana sat beside him, and laid her hand on his arm. 
"Did he send that man to break into the house? That 
wasn't like him, he's usually more subtle, but I've 
been wondering." 

John took her hand in his. "He sent Knowle, yes, but 
he swears he didn't mean for you to get hurt. I 
believe him, but I don't know why." 

She sighed. "I don't blame you for that. I don't 
think he would hurt me unless he felt he had to. He 
had so many chances to kill me over the years and 
he's never gone through with it." She paused for a 
moment, then said in a choked voice, "Did he say 
anything about the baby?" 

"I asked him," John said quietly. "He said things 
didn't go as well as they'd planned. I don't know 
what that means, but it doesn't sound good, Dana." 
Dana's eyes filled with tears. "I knew there was no 
chance...that it was over. I could feel it. I just 
wish I could know for sure." 

"I know." His eyes reflected her own pain. She shook 
her head to clear her tears. "What does he want?" 
John told her straight out. It was a relief to have 
it out in the open, and discuss it. 

"The damndest thing is, I'd love to nail Kersch. I 
figured all along he was planning something crooked. 
I tried to find out what. I just didn't know he was 
working with your smoking buddy. I'm between a rock 
and a hard place here." 

"What will you do?" 

"Just wait, I guess," John answered. "He didn't seem 
to be pushing me. I'll see if he gets in touch again, 
or if Kersch does anything out of the ordinary." He 
shook his head. "I'm sorry, honey. I wanted to keep 
you safe, but I'm not sure how anymore." 

"Just love me," She said, getting up from the table 
and kissing his cheek. "As long as we stick together, 
I'm sure we'll get by, and John," Dana added, "Always 
tell me the truth, no matter how much it hurts. 
Wondering is worse. I don't want to have to ask you 
something like this again." 

"I promise," He said, "Never again." And he meant to 
keep his promise.

John Doggett decided to cover all his bases and do 
some checking up on Alvin Kersch. He started with an 
old friend. 

"Good morning, Agent Harrison." 

The blond young woman at the desk looked up in 
delight. "Agent Doggett, you're the only one who 
still calls me that!" 

"You earned it." Leyla Harrison had been partnered 
with him one time, her sole trip out of the 
accounting department. Once had been enough in her 
case, but John Doggett's courtesy under difficult 
circumstances had made her a fast friend, and he 
could use a friend. 

"I need some help, but it has to be hush-hush." 

"Oh, God!" Harrison said, "Anything, anytime, for you 
or Agent Scully. How's she doing? I heard...well," 
She blushed, embarrassed, "I heard that you two were 
together." 

"This involves her, too." 

"What is it?" The young woman's eagerness touched him 
as always. 

"It's Kersch. I think he's up to something." 

"He's hassling you again? But I thought he gave you a 
promotion!" 

"I got a promotion, all right, from trouble to more 
trouble." John Doggett shook his head. "He's 
definitely up to something. Can you do a little 
checking for me? You hear a lot down here. See if 
he's been involved in anything unusual, with anyone 
out of the ordinary." 

"Sure. Are you looking for anything in particular?" 

"No," he said, "But remember, this is just between 
you and me." 

"You've got a deal! Look, I've still got it!" She got 
up and dug in her purse and dangled her keys in front 
of him. He smiled when he saw the medallion on the 
key chain. 

"Partners forever!" She grinned happily. 

"I thought you'd appreciate it." 

"It meant more to me than I could ever tell you." The 
grin slowly faded, as she turned the disc in her 
hand. "Does anyone know what happened to Agent 
Mulder? Or the baby?" 

John Doggett winced. "I haven't heard from Mulder, 
and Dana hasn't." 

Harrison looked at him dreamily. "First Mulder, then 
you. If it could only happen to me!" 

He shook his head. "I don't think I'm a big enough 
payoff for Dana for what she went through." 

Harrison gave him an impulsive hug. "You're awesome. 
If anyone could make a girl happy, I'm sure you can." 

He was actually blushing. He patted her shoulder 
gently. "I intend to try. Just help me, will you? 
Don't let Kersch jerk us around again." 

"I'll let you know." She touched her fingers to her 
lips and shook her head. "And I can keep a secret!"

John Doggett was not as sure of his reception at his 
next stop. As he heard the click of one lock after 
another, he hoped for the best. 

"Hey, G-Man! Long time no see!" 

"What's new, Langely?" Doggett stepped into the room, 
as the long-haired man began to relock all the locks 
in the door. 

"Not much. Hey guys, look who's here!" 

Frohicke and Byers looked up, and Byers, courtly as 
ever, came to shake Doggett's hand. "How have you 
been?" 

"And how's Scully?" Frohicke added, in a very snide 
way. 

"She's doing better." John Doggett decided to meet 
them head on. "Things were kind of rough there for 
her for awhile." 

"Nice of you to step in," Frohicke said, 
sarcastically. 

"Somebody had to, and I'm not sorry it was me. Why? 
Have you heard from Mulder? Because SHE hasn't." 

The three men exchanged glances. 

"No," Frohicke admitted. 

"I can't believe he took off like that," said Byers. 

"He was onto something," said Langely. "He had to 
be." 

"Well," said Doggett slowly, "He could have clued her 
in instead of leaving her hanging like that." 

"The Gunmen said nothing, just looked at the floor. 

"You really want to help Dana, then help me. I need a 
hacker, and you guys are the best." 

Langely perked up. "An FBI hacking job? They're 
ALWAYS the best." 

"Then you'll listen to me?" 

The Gunmen's first loyalty had always been to Fox 
Mulder, but Doggett had impressed them as a straight 
guy, and if this involved Dana Scully, they were 
interested. They all nodded. 

"It's Alvin Kersch. He's a real piece of work," said 
Doggett. "He's involved with that smoking man." 

"Are you sure?" gasped Byers. 

"I'm sure," said Doggett firmly. "And if they're 
working on something together, it can't be good. Not 
for Dana, not for me, not for anyone." 

"I thought that guy was dead," said Frohicke. 
"Krychek said he killed him." 

"That may be what he wants people to think," said 
Doggett, "But I saw him. He's alive all right, and I 
want to know what they're up to. I'll give you the 
latest dope on the FBI computers. Will you see what 
you can find? But for Christ's sake, be careful. 
We're playing in the big leagues now." 

"What exactly are you looking for?" asked Langely. 

"Anything and everything. Start with Kersch's e-mail, 
and take it from there. You got my cell phone number 
and my number at home? You can't call me at the 
office. It's too dicey." 

"We've got it," said Byers. "And we're on it." 

After John Doggett left, Frohicke had second 
thoughts. "How do we know Doggett's on the level?" 

"Doggett was always on the level," said Langely. "He 
never jerked anybody around. If Scully trusts him, 
what else have we got to go on?" 

Yves always ducked out of sight if strangers appeared 
while she was visiting the gunmen. Now she and Jimmy 
reappeared, and began to listen to the argument. 

"I don't like the way he hit on Scully so quick," 
said Frohicke. "I think he had the hots for her from 
the start." 

"I can't blame him for that," said Byers softly. 
"Scully is special, and she did need someone to look 
out for her. If Doggett could get her to agree like 
that, as independent as she was, it couldn't have 
been all one-sided." 

"He does treat her decent," Frohicke admitted 
grudgingly. "After Mulder it must be like living with 
St. Francis." 

"He must really love her," said Jimmy. "You can tell 
by the way he talks about her." They were all silent 
for a long moment. 

"Mulder could never settle down," said Langely, 
looking at the computer notes Doggett had given him. 
"Scully's a woman. They all get to the point where 
they want that." He ignored the contemptuous look 
Yves gave him. 

"I'd love to nail that bastard Kersch," Frohicke 
admitted. "If he's working with that cancer man, it 
must be a really big deal going down." 

"Mulder wouldn't want us to let someone like Kersch 
slide just because it was Doggett who tipped us off," 
insisted Langley. "Besides, if we could nail a 
crooked FBI director, that would be sweet for the 
paper." 

"If we can print it," complained Byers. "So many of 
the good stories never make it out." 

"If you don't help him," said Yves suddenly, "I will. 
His deputy director Kersch has been meeting with some 
very odd people lately...very odd indeed." 

"Can you prove that?" asked Byers. 

"Let me see," she said, and left the apartment 
silently. 

"That does it, Let's go for it and see what happens," 
agreed Frohicke finally. 

"We'll do it for Scully," said Byers. 

An aquaintance of Dana's called and asked for help 
with an autopsy. Because the victim had been 
diabetic, the family had originally believed that an 
overdose of insulin had caused the death, but upon 
learning the victim's boyfriend had worked for an 
exterminating company, Dana had taken a chance and 
tested for arsenic. The brand of ant poison the 
company used was basically arsenic, mixed into a 
sweet sucrose solution. The boyfriend was arrested 
for murder, and because of Dana's help in the case, 
she found herself assisting with other autopsies 
occasionally. 

Since she was no longer on paid leave from the FBI, 
she appreciated the part time work, but she knew the 
day was coming when she would either have to return 
to the bureau, or formally resign. She kept putting 
off the decision. 

One day at the lab she became very ill. Dana had a 
blinding headache, and became very nauseous. She 
didnt know if it was a reaction to some chemical in 
the air, or if she was coming down with something, 
but she scared the attendant so badly, that he called 
John Doggett to come pick her up. 

Doggett was in a meeting with Skinner, planning a 
task force operation, but he left immediately, and 
Skinner agreed to cover for him. 

When John arrived, Dana was cold, clammy, nauseous 
and holding her head, as if to keep it from 
splitting. "Dana, you're going to have to be more 
careful if you're going to work with poisons!" 

"I wasn't," she moaned. 

"Could someone have slipped you something?" 

"John, this is no conspiracy here! This is either a 
fluke, or I'm coming down with something. Don't worry 
about it!" 

But he did worry, and he did not stop wondering. 
Out in the fresh air, she'd already started to feel 
better. "I'm going to take a nap, and you're going 
back to the office, and everything's going to be 
fine," She had told him, and she did go straight to 
sleep as soon as they got home. He watched her sleep 
for awhile, then reluctantly went back to work. He 
continued to worry his way through the afternoon. 

It wasn't that he wasn't proud of Dana's medical 
skills...he was, but in his heart, he was also hoping 
she would not go back to field work. It was even more 
dangerous, and it would mean that she would have to 
start traveling again. He didn't want that. He loved 
her and he wanted to have Dana with him, all the 
time. It was as simple as that. He wanted to go to 
bed with her at night and wake up with her in the 
morning. Their relationship was perfect as far as 
John was concerned. With Dana, every stupid love song 
he'd ever heard made perfect sense. 

He thought about what Knowle had said, about Dana 
being trouble to everyone around her. John was 
frightened for her at times, frightened of the past 
catching up with them, in the form of Kersch or the 
cancer man, or even of Fox Mulder. John knew Dana 
loved him, and was happy to be with him, but he was 
still afraid on some level of losing her. He thought 
about what he had said to Mulder in the car, the 
night he had sent Dana to Georgia with Monica. "Where 
the hell is it all going to end?" 

Mulder had said he didn't know, that maybe there was 
no end. Whether Mulder had finally come to his own 
end or not, John Doggett wasn't going to spend ten 
years of his life looking for the truth. Dana was his 
only truth. 

When he got home she was still asleep, and when he 
went to bed himself she was still asleep. He watched 
her sleep for awhile, and was relieved to see that 
her breathing was normal, her color good. He was also 
relieved when she opened her eyes at last. 

"How do you feel?" 

"Fine," She said, sitting up. "I feel fine." 

"Thank God!" 

"I told you it would be okay." She came into his 
arms, and for awhile, everything was. 

Dana carried the bottle of wine and the glasses into 
the living room. John was sitting on the floor facing 
the fireplace, with his back against the couch and 
his legs outstretched. She fit into the space between 
and relaxed into him, her back against his chest. He 
put his arms around her. Things were finally getting 
back to normal. She was relieved that she hadn't 
caught the flu after all, and was trying to keep a 
positive outlook. She had almost forgotten about the 
mysterious intruder. John had not forgotten about 
Knowle, and often wondered what 'duly reprimanded' 
meant, but he took comfort in the fact that there had 
been no more incidents. He and Dana sipped their 
wine, and began to enjoy that dreamy state two people 
who know each other well sometimes share. He kissed 
the back of her neck, and she turned around in his 
lap to face him. He filled up all her senses. She 
could taste chardonnay in his mouth, and could smell 
his after shave, warmed by his skin. She could 
hear...ringing. Their relaxing evening was shattered 
by the doorbell just as it was getting interesting. 

"Oh, no," murmured Dana. "What now?" 

"Who knows, honey...I'll go see." He kissed her again 
quickly and she let him up. When he opened the door, 
a tall woman stepped into the hall, dropping a 
suitcase. She had thick brown hair, and very blue 
eyes. 

"Johnny!" 

"Oh, my God! Tree?" 

The woman threw herself into John's arms, and they 
spun around. She kissed him on the cheek, and 
giggled. Dana noted that John was smiling one of his 
most beautiful smiles. It lit up his whole face. The 
woman glanced at Dana standing in the next room, then 
looked questioningly at John. He pulled her into the 
room, not even noticing. "What are you doing here?" 
With another glance at Dana, the woman smiled 
mischievously. "I couldn't pass through and not stop 
to see my favorite brother." 

"I'm your only brother!" Pulling the woman into the 
room, he said, "Dana, this is Teresa. Teresa, this is 
Dana. I want you to meet her." 

Dana saw then the sparkle in the woman's blue eyes, 
and recognized it at once. She accepted the woman's 
hug without question. 

"I've wanted to meet you for ages. John's told us all 
about you." Teresa eyed Dana critically, then smiled. 
"She's even prettier than you said she was. This 
one's a keeper, John." 

He laughed and they quickly got another glass. 
Settling down with her wine, Teresa Doggett smiled at 
Dana. "I've been in a plane for six hours. I took a 
chance that you two would be home. I don't know what 
I would have done if you hadn't been." 

"I'm glad you're here! I didn't even know he HAD a 
sister!" 

"He's got four sisters! How do you think he turned 
out to be such a gentleman? We beat it into him!" 

"Four?" Dana shook her head. "And you never told me?" 

"I ran away from home to escape the abuse." 

"Yeah, right," his sister kicked him. 

He pulled back and laughed. "How long will you be in 
town?" 

"A few days. I'd hoped to do the tourist thing." 
Teresa sipped her wine. 

"You shoulda warned me. I don't know if I can get 
that much time off," her brother sighed.
 
"I'll go out with her," Dana offered. "It'll be fun." 

Dana couldn't remember when she'd had a more 
delightful evening, but she was incredibly uneasy 
that night. John had taken Teresa's suitcase up to 
the spare room, which Dana no longer used. Of course, 
it was only natural for him to have his sister stay 
with him, but Dana was embarrassed at the idea of her 
knowing they were sleeping together at the other end 
of the house. For the first time, she wanted to go 
back to her apartment, and she told him so. 

"Are you crazy? It's almost midnight. You can't go 
out now, and why should you? Your place is almost 
completely empty now, anyway." 

"But your sister's here now!" 

"So what? I'm sure that she's figured out you live 
here by now." 

"Well," Dana groaned, "It's embarrassing." 

He laughed and put his arm around her. "Come on, 
Dana, I'm forty, not nineteen. Don't worry about it. 
Just don't make too much noise tonight," he whispered 
in her ear. 

She hit him on the arm, hard. "Don't be ridiculous! 
I'm not doing anything that anyone else can hear! And 
that means anything!" 

"She's not going to hear anything back there," He 
laughed, "And what if she does? It's nothing she 
hasn't heard before." 

"Not from me!" 

"Dana, you promised you weren't going to do this 
anymore. Are you ashamed of being with me or 
something?" 

"Of course, not, John! I just feel kind of stupid 
here now. This is different."
 
"Well, if you'd marry me like I've asked you, we 
wouldn't have this problem." 

Dana groaned and buried her head in his shirt front. 
"Believe me," he said, "No one in my family will mind 
me having you here. They'll all love you. And that's 
unanimous." He kissed he so sweetly that her heart 
melted, and sighing, she put her doubts aside. 

"I want to go to Mount Vernon," said Teresa, as they 
were getting ready to leave the next morning. "No one 
who works in antiques can come to this area and not 
go there. It's like Mecca." 

"It's a beautiful day for it," said Dana. "I haven't 
been there in years. It'll be fun." 

"It's amazing that the Mount Vernon Ladies 
Association was able to collect and return so many of 
the pieces," Teresa said. "Martha Washington gave 
away so many things to so many people after her 
husband died. The fact that so many were tracked down 
and authenticated is what appeals to me as an 
antiques buyer." 

Dana waited until they were in the car and on their 
way before she brought up the question that had 
weighed so heavily on her mind since this blue-eyed 
woman had appeared in John's hallway. 

"Teresa, will you tell me the truth?" 

"About what?" The other woman looked startled.
 
"Does it bother you that John...that I...well, that 
I'm there?" 

"God, no!" Teresa laughed. "When he started talking 
about you, the whole family wanted to send up 
fireworks! He's such a good guy, and he's been so 
lonely since..." Her voice faltered. 

"Since he lost his family," Dana finished. 

"Yes, it was horrible." Teresa shook her head sadly. 
"You have to understand. Luke was everything to John. 
He wanted to die, too. He was a mess." 

"I know how he felt," Dana admitted softly. "I was in 
a long-term relationship once. I was pregnant when I 
met John, in fact. I lost my baby, and the 
relationship went to pieces with the man. John was 
the only one who understood how I felt." 

"Wow! Well, he would." 

"My life was a nightmare and he made me happy again. 
I thank God for him every moment of every day." 

"I'm glad," said Teresa gently, "Because he really is 
a good guy. I don't want to see him hurt again." 

"I can't figure out, though," Dana continued. "Why he 
never told me he had such a big family. He talked 
about his wife and Luke, but he never went back 
further than that." 

"Oh, well," said Teresa, "I'm not surprised. After Ma 
and Dad died we all went our own ways. He was in 
Lebanon at the time and missed the funerals. I guess 
he always felt guilty about it, that he wasn't there 
to help." 

"They died at the same time?" 

"Yes...it was a car wreck. Dad shouldn't have been 
driving. He'd slowed down a lot, but he wouldn't give 
up the keys. He could be really bull-headed. John's a 
lot like him sometimes. Have you seen that side of 
him yet?" 

Dana laughed. "He's got this look he gets when he's 
really determined. It's downright scary!" 

"Oh, do I know that look!" Teresa laughed. "If you 
can survive that, you can survive anything!" 

Teresa liked Dana Scully. She was happy for her 
brother, and Dana Scully liked Teresa Doggett. She 
hadn't had a real girl friend in so long, that having 
another women to joke with seemed odd, but she was 
getting used to it, and even enjoying it. 

Both women were enjoying the start of their 
friendship so much that they never even noticed that 
they were being followed. 

Dana and Teresa were both impressed by the gardens 
and grounds at Mount Vernon. 

"I wish my sister, Kathryn, could see this," Teresa 
said, pointing to a square bed filled with a 
profusion of flowers. "She's the gardener of the 
family." 

"I wish I could meet her," said Dana wistfully. 

"I'm sure you will eventually," said Teresa, "But she 
really runs with a different crowd." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Kathryn married a Jewish guy, and not just any 
Jewish guy. She's married to Ben Stoller."
 
Dana frowned. "Should I know the name?" 

"Probably not. Ben's father is a very well known 
Torah scholar, though. Kathryn had to convert to 
marry him. That's when the family started to fall 
apart. My father was furious. He was more upset than 
Ben's parents were, and they weren't exactly thrilled 
about the whole thing." 

"That's terrible!" 

"It was hardest on John," Teresa told Dana, as they 
started the long walk down the south lane from the 
mansion toward the Washington tomb." He had just 
joined the Marines, and Dad was so proud of him. Then 
Dad forbid any of us to go to Kathryn's wedding. John 
was really torn. Those two were closer than any of 
the rest of us." 

"Did he go?" 

"Yes." Teresa looked down, ashamed. "He was the only 
one of us who had the guts. He was right of course, 
but my father never forgave him for it. He still 
wasn't speaking to John OR Kathryn when he died." 

Dana's heart broke for John Doggett, thinking about 
what he must have gone through. "That's so like him, 
though," she said softly. "I can just see him doing 
that. It's just the way he is." 

"Oh, he's his own man, all right." Teresa brightened. 
"I saw the pictures afterwards. Can you believe he 
bought a black leather yarmulke to wear to the 
ceremony?" 

Dana stared at Teresa, open mouthed, and then they 
both started laughing like fools. Shrugging, the man 
on the path behind them walked away, pulling a gold 
lighter out of his pocket. He had such an important 
decision to make about Dana Scully, and he only had 
one chance to make the right decision.

Dana, John and Teresa went out to eat that night, for 
which Dana was eternally grateful, because all of the 
walking she'd done had exhausted her. As they sipped 
their wine, waiting for their orders, Dana and Teresa 
told John about their day. 

"I just loved that harpsicord in the little parlor," 
said Dana dreamily. "When I was younger, my mother 
wanted me to take piano lessons, but I hated it. I 
wish now I'd stuck with it." 

"I got chills looking at that bed," said Teresa. 
"Imagine-that's the very bed Washington died on! I 
can't even imagine what that's worth." 

"I loved the gardens," Dana added. "Especially those 
hedges! Even if they are arguing about whether or not 
they're exactly right the way they are." 

"It sounds like you two had fun," said John. "I'm 
sorry I missed it." 

"If you hadn't missed it," said Teresa, "We wouldn't 
have had as much fun. We wouldn't have been able to 
talk about you." 

John looked uncertainly from one woman to the other.
 
"Don't worry," laughed Teresa. "I didn't run you down 
too much. That would be hard," she said, turning to 
Dana. "Even when he was little, he never had to think 
about what was right or wrong. He just knew. Do you 
remember Shelley Fabares?" 

"Oh, no, Tree," He interrupted. "Don't start that 
again!" 

Dana thought hard. "Wasn't she a singer?" 

"Yes!" laughed Teresa. "She did the song 'Johnny 
Angel' and we used to drive him crazy singing it over 
and over. He was such a goody goody! Of course," she 
added with a smirk, "There was the time you put the 
football through Mrs. Hollingshead's picture window. 
Remember that?" 

"How could I forget?" He groaned. " I had to paint 
her fence to pay her back. It took me a month!" 

Dana got a picture in her head at once, of a little 
boy with bristly hair and eyes that shone with 
determination, painting the fence all around some 
gingerbready old house. 

She and Teresa started to laugh, and John finally had 
to laugh, too, with these two women he loved so well.
 
"Do me one favor, will you two?" 

"What?" They asked in unison. 

"Don't go sticking any hedges in my yard." 

They were all still laughing when the waiter came 
with their food. 

At the curb outside the restaurant, a tall man sat in 
his darkened car, nervously drumming his fingers on 
the steering wheel. If Dana Scully was the right 
woman, was John Doggett the right man? 

John Doggett walked out of the elevator and headed 
into the parking garage to his truck. Agent Harrison 
had slipped him some paperwork on Kersch's finances, 
but he hadn't been able to make sense of it, and he 
hadn't heard from the Lone Gunmen. He was getting 
discouraged. He wanted an ace in the hole in case 
things got rough, and not only did he not have it, he 
didn't even know how much time he had to get it. 

Preoccupied, he didn't see the woman until he got 
right up to the truck. She was sitting in the 
passenger seat, smiling at him. She was one of the 
most exotic looking women he'd ever seen, and he'd 
been all over the world. "What the hell?" He jerked 
open the door.. 

"Get in, Agent Doggett. We need to talk." 

"Who the hell are you?" 

"A friend." 

"A friend to who?" 

She laughed, and her laugh was musical. "Call me 
Yves. I've done some work with the Gunmen. I know 
about your problem. I think can help you." 

Looking her over warily, he got in. She tossed her 
long mane of curly black hair. "Your deputy director 
is an unusual man. He likes to run with the hares and 
hunt with the hounds." 

"So I've heard. What's it to you? The guys ask you to 
help me?" 

"No, it was my decision. I try to stay out of 
syndicate matters, and FBI matters as well, but if I 
have a chance to spoil someone's fun, sometimes I 
do." 

"What do you mean by syndicate? This mob stuff?" 

She laughed again. "Your New York experience is 
showing. No! For many years now there's been a group 
of men, working on an international level, working 
for their own interests. They have no loyalty to any 
government, only to themselves. William Mulder was 
one of the founding members." 

"Fox Mulder's father?" 

“Yes, and your smoking man as well. Most of the 
original members have died, but when it's a question 
of money and power, there are always others willing 
to take their places." 

"Kersch is a part of this? He's working outside the 
government?" 

"Kersch has been working for the elder Mr. Spender, 
your smoking man. He uses Kersch when it suits him. 
Kersch thinks he knows a great deal, but he is really 
rather insignificant." 

"Then why is this Spender worried about him? Worried 
enough to threaten Dana to get me to check it out?" 
Doggett didn't get it. 

"A person who thinks they know a lot is sometimes 
more dangerous than someone who really does." Yves 
shook her head. "If Kersch knew what he was doing, he 
would know better than to cross this man, but Kersch 
is foolish. He thinks he can outwit Spender. Many 
men, wiser and more powerful have tried to do that. 
No one has succeeded." 

"Then what should I do? Spender wants me to help him 
prove Kersch is a double dealer." 

"He already knows that. He only wants you to prove it 
so that he can keep track of you." 

"Why me? Because I worked on the X-Files?" 

Yves shook her head. "Your woman is the key. He has 
some kind of connection to her. He can't let her go, 
but he can't bring himself to harm her, either." 

Doggett nodded. "I had a feeling all along that he 
didn't enjoy hurting her. He could've killed her any 
time over the last ten years and he didn't, but I'll 
be damned if I know why." 

"She must be very special," said Yves gently. 

"She is. There's no way to measure what she's worth 
to me." 

Impersonal as she tried to be, Yves was touched. 
"Perhaps the reason that you love her is the reason 
he also cares." Reaching into the pocket of her black 
leather jacket, she pulled out an envelope. 

"Kersch is reporting to these people. He intends to 
betray Spender, but Spender already knows that. 
Verify it for him. Then perhaps you will be free." 

"But he'll be free, too. I don't care if Kersch goes 
down," argued Doggett, "But why should this Spender 
win?" 

"Because," said Yves, "He has the best hand this 
round." She leaned over and kissed Doggett on the 
cheek. "You're a good man, John Doggett, and you mean 
well, but don't make the same mistake Kersch made. 
Don't move out of weakness. Save your strength and 
bide your time, and," She said, stepping out of the 
truck, "Take care of your lady." 

She vanished as if the earth had swallowed her up, 
and John Doggett sat for a long time staring after 
her.

Dana liked working in the yard. It was a way to help 
out, and it reminded her of the houses of her 
childhood. She was pulling weeds along the side fence 
when a shadow fell across her. A familiar voice 
said,"Nice to see you keeping busy, Dana," and the 
smell of cigarette smoke drifted across the yard, 
sickening her. 

She had been expecting this day to come, but to 
actually have him standing there before her caused 
her to jump up in shock. 

“Oh, my God! I thought you were dead!" 

The smoking man smiled. "Being dead isn't the 
handicap it used to be, as you well know. Especially 
when one has a friend like Jeremiah Smith." 

"You're lying. Jeremiah Smith was abducted from the 
Absalom camp!" 

"You don't really think he would not realize what was 
coming and get out, do you? I heard all about it. He 
left the house while you were looking at Mulder's 
body, or what you thought was Mulder's body." The 
smoking man smiled at her. "He's helped me before, 
you know." 

Dana stared at him. "Why? Why does he help you?" 

"Because we are both on the same side. Against the 
others." 

"What others?" Dana was confused. 

"Do you really think that they are all alike? You 
know they aren't. They are not all of like minds, 
either. Some are against the colonization plan and 
some are for it. For many years now, Smith and those 
like him have been working against the others." 

"There's an alien power struggle?" Dana leaned 
against the fence, interested in spite of herself. 

"One that we finally appear to be winning. If Smith 
and his friends take control, we will be left alone, 
at least until the balance of power shifts again. 
It's like any other government. But once we have 
friendly forces in control on that end, and are able 
to mass produce the vaccine, we will once again be in 
control of our own fates. It's looking as if we don't 
have to fight the future any more, Dana." The older 
man looked thoughtfully into the distance. "Then we 
will be able to settle with what's left of the 
collaborators." He smiled at Dana. "And soon I will 
be able to turn my attention back to people like 
you." 

Dana was badly frightened by that statement. "What 
are you really doing here?" She glanced up at the 
house, hoping against hope that John would come home 
early. She could really use some help. 

"I wanted to see you. I wanted to see if you were all 
right, if you want to know the truth." 

"You wouldn't know the truth if you saw it." 

"Come, come!" He said, taking a puff, "I've always 
liked you. You know that, and the truth can be so 
many things to so many people." He too glanced at the 
house. "I like your new man. He's a great improvement 
over Fox Mulder." 

"You have no right to talk about Mulder to me!" 

"Perhaps not," He sighed, flicking his cigarette butt 
towards the street. "but I'm happy to see you away 
from the FBI, living a normal life with a reasonable 
man who stands a good chance of having a decent 
career." He looked at her and smiled. "And of course 
his children will not attract nearly as much interest 
as Mulder's did." 

Tears sprang to Dana's eyes, as much as she longed to 
stand firm. "How can you say that? You know I can't 
have children.You took that away from me like you 
took everything else. I tried to get away with my 
baby. Mulder tried to get away. If you cared about me 
why didn't you let us go?" 

"You would have regretted it, Dana. If you only 
knew..." 

"Then tell me this! Have you got the decency to admit 
to me where the other vials of ova went?" 

"What difference does it make? You don't need them." 

"You know perfectly well the vial Mulder stole was my 
only chance to have a child. He knew it too! That's 
why he helped me with the in vitro." 

The older man looked genuinely startled. "You really 
tried to use those ova? But they were not viable! And 
you didn't need them. When they reinserted the chip 
in your neck, your ova started to regenerate, just as 
your cancer cells started to die. You've always been 
able to have children. The child you had with Mulder 
was a natural child." 

"But it was only once..." She thought back to the 
night when she had put Daniel and her old life behind 
her and tried to move forward. 

"That'll do it," He said cheerfully. "Or so I've 
heard. Good luck, Dana." Lighting another cigarette, 
he headed up the street. 

He was taking a chance telling her this now, but he 
sensed that enough time had passed. He needed John 
Doggett, and John Doggett was an honorable man. He 
was counting on that honor to help him carry out his 
plan. 

Dana stood at the side of the house, shaking with 
shock. Was this man really telling the truth or was 
he lying again? Could she and Mulder have created 
their child out of love, and was that why she had 
lost them both? Because love didn't matter to the 
people who had been after Mulder? 

Was she really capable of having another child? Good 
God! If that were so, she could already be pregnant. 
What would she do? How could she go through that 
again? How could she put John through that again? She 
had only told him a hundred times that she couldn't 
have any more children. What if she did have to tell 
him that she'd been wrong? Would he be angry, or 
upset, or pleased? He had already lost a beloved 
child and suffered with her through a difficult 
pregnancy. What would he do? How could she even tell 
him? 

What would the chance of having another child mean? 
What a gift that might be...a normal child to love 
and cherish. She tried to picture what it would be 
like to have John Doggett's child and raise it in 
this house, but it was incomprehensible. She would 
have to get tested immediately and see if this were 
possible. If she wasn't pregnant, she'd at least have 
to tell him if there was a possibility that they 
could have a child, and they'd have to decide 
together how to deal with that. This was all so 
complicated! 

She knew he loved her, but what if he couldn't take 
any more either? Maybe he wouldn't want another baby. 
He was forty years old. That wasn't too old to be a 
father, but it wasn't the average, either. 

Her mind went around and around, considering each 
possibility, and how she would have to discuss each 
one. Her head started to hurt from the shock and 
strain, and she became very, very, frightened.

Dana went and sat on the porch, her head in her 
hands, until she heard the familiar voice say, 
"Honey, are you okay?" 

Looking up into the blue eyes she loved, she thought 
wildly, I don't know! I don't know! And she didn't. 
John had to pull her off the porch and into the 
house. He had her sit down, and he rubbed her hands. 
"God, Dana! You're ice cold! What were you doing out 
there?" 

"Pulling weeds." 

"You were pulling weeds when I left! It's six 
o'clock. You couldn't have been out there all day!" 

"I got some news...some very disturbing news. I just 
sat down outside to think. I didn't notice the wind 
picking up." 

He pulled her into the crook of his arm, the way he 
always did to comfort her, and the gesture was so 
warm she tucked her head under his chin and started 
to cry. She was still terrified. 

"Dana, what is it?" 

"I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm just going 
to have to tell you." 

"Tell me what, damn it? Are you okay or not? What 
happened?" 

"I found out...that I might be able to have another 
baby. That the medical problem I had may have 
reversed itself." 

"And that's why you're crying? I don't get it." 

"John, I didn't know this was happening. I swear to 
God, I didn't know it could be happening." 

His head snapped back. "Are you telling me you're 
pregnant?" 

"I'm not sure! Please don't hate me, please! I know 
how hard it would be on you to go through that again, 
but..." 

"Hate you? Are you nuts? I love you more than my 
life! How could you think I could hate you?" 

"I'm scared, John!" She said. "What if I was? What am 
I going to do if this is true?" 

"You'd have to decide if you wanted to try to have 
another baby or not," He said slowly. He looked down 
and she could see some kind of battle raging inside 
him. When he spoke again, he was resigned. "No matter 
what you decided to do, I'd be right there beside you 
holding your hand, but I'd really hope that you'd go 
for it, though." 

She looked up into his face and saw only tenderness 
there. The understanding that has sustained her for 
the last two years was still there for her. She could 
see it in his face and feel it in his touch as he 
held her close. It made up her mind. 

"Then I wouldn't be scared any more," She said, and 
she kissed him, putting her whole heart into the 
embrace. 

Dana lay back, eyes closed, listening to their 
breathing slow in unison. "Is it ever," she asked, 
"Going to stop getting better every time?"
 
"I hope not." John pressed his cheek against her 
hair. 

"I broke my word to you, though," She said 
mischievously. 

"How so?" 

"I forgot to make dinner." 

He laughed. "Don't worry about it. I think I still 
have pizza on speed dial." 

"Sounds good." 

"I know something that would sound better." 

She frowned. "What's that?" 

"If you'd say you'd marry me." 

"Are you going to start that again?" 

"It always seems like a good idea to me." He stroked 
her cheek so gently that she had to close her eyes 
and sigh. 

"I told you. I'm not sure if it's true or not." 
Playfully, she knocked his hand away. "You're pushing 
your luck you know...if it is true." 

"Whatever happens, happens. Don't change the subject, 
though. You know that's not what I mean. Why won't 
you marry me?" He looked thoughtful. "Aren't you 
happy here?" 

She looked at him steadily. "This is the happiest 
home I've ever had. I'm scared sometimes because I'm 
so happy. This doesn't happen to me. I can't shake 
the feeling that I'm forgetting something, or that 
something is going to go wrong." 

"We've both lost a lot of the people that we've 
loved," He said gently, "But that doesn't mean that 
we've got to lose each other. This is our turn. Dana, 
just let it happen." 

"I'm trying." She got up and started gathering up her 
clothes. "One thing at a time, and it's time to order 
the pizza." 

They got dressed and went into the kitchen. John was 
just reaching for the phone when it rang. He answered 
it, and Dana saw his eyes narrow. That look always 
amazed her. He was so sweet and thoughtful, but he 
could turn so cold and controlled sometimes. 

"I suggest that you speak to the lady yourself." He 
held out the phone. 

"Who is it?" The look on his face was making her 
blood run cold. 

"Fox Mulder."

What am I doing here, thought Dana, as she parked the 
car down the street from Casey's bar. I can't go 
through this again, I just can't, but I can't let go 
unless I know. I can't keep wondering about it all 
the time. She walked into the bar, Mulder's favorite, 
and looked around. He stood up next to a booth, and 
she felt a familiar ache in her heart. He looked just 
the same. Dana forced herself to walk over to him 
slowly. It was as if she were Alice, and she had just 
landed on her ass at the bottom of the rabbit hole. 

"Scully, you look great!" He didn't touch her, and 
for that she was grateful. If he had, she didn't know 
what she would have done. They sat down and he 
continued, "Skinner told me you were so sick that you 
couldn't stay in your apartment alone. You don't look 
sick. I never saw you look better." 

She wet her lips. "You talked to Skinner?”

"Well, I could never get ahold of you at home." 

"I never got a message from you, and I go over there 
quite a bit." 

"I never left a message. I was just trying to catch 
you in. I couldn't believe it when he said you were 
at Doggett's...what a boy scout!" 

Dana felt a twinge of annoyance. "I couldn't believe 
you would take off like that and not tell me what you 
were doing. I didn't know if you were dead or alive, 
Mulder." 

"Well, I figured you'd be okay, and I had so much to 
do. It would have been too dangerous to come back to 
Washington at first. You've always been able to take 
care of yourself before." 

He ordered drinks, then looked at her again. "When I 
heard you were sick, I was worried about you." 

Dana's eyes softened. "You were?" 

"Yeah, because I really need you now, Scully. I'm on 
to something big with these genetics lab people, the 
ones that worked with Lizzie Gill." 

Dana really only registered the last part of his 
statement. "You found them? The rest of them? Do you 
know what happened to the baby?" 

He was taken aback. "Well, no, but I haven't heard 
anything encouraging about that. I don't think we 
have a chance there, Scully. I'm sorry. I nearly got 
killed trying to track him for you, but I just 
couldn't. I guess it wasn't meant to be after all." 

"That's easy for you to say. It was months before you 
even admitted he was yours!" 

"What was I supposed to think? After all the things 
I'd seen and everything I'd been through? And you 
told me it hadn't worked!" 

"Doesn't it mean anything to you, even now?" Scully 
fought back tears. "You seemed so happy when he was 
born. I thought things were finally changing for us." 

"It was cool to have a kid, but I still had things to 
do. Was I supposed to let everything else go? Like 
now.. I've done a lot of digging and I've made some 
really good contacts. I"m onto something here, 
Scully. That's why I said I need you." 

Scully was annoyed again. "Contacts, Mulder? No 
answers?" 

"I'm on the verge, Scully. I've got a few things to 
look into here in D.C. and then we can go after them, 
just like in the old days." 

"The old days? When you kept me in the dark? When you 
never told me what was going on? Never talked about 
your feelings?" 

"What's your point?" 

Dana sighed. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about 
our years together, and certain things stand out. The 
time you went out to the Queen Anne without telling 
me where you were going...that time in Washington 
state when you gave Spinney our gasoline and the 
battery without consulting me..." 

"Was I supposed to tell you everything I did?" 

"We were partners, Mulder!" 

"We still can be, Scully." 

"Mulder, this is the same thing I heard from you for 
seven years straight. I can't live like this 
anymore." She sipped her wine to keep from trembling. 

"You never told me you wanted to live any 
differently," Mulder said stubbornly. 

"Every time I tried to talk about how other people 
lived, other people's lives, their homes and their 
families, you'd ask me what my point was! I told you 
I was tired of always chasing the next big thing. I'm 
still tired of it!" 

"You knew how I felt about you...about us." 

"No, because you never told me!" 

"Okay," he offered. "Maybe I should have been nicer 
to you when you were pregnant. Maybe I should have 
told you that I loved you, but didn't you know? 
Didn't you just know? I thought everyone knew! Knew 
for years! Why should I have to spell it out? Wasn't 
it obvious?" 

"You had no trouble expressing yourself to Phoebe! Or 
to Diana Fowley!" 

"Phoebe didn't want me...you know that! And Diana was 
a whole different thing." 

"She was different from me, is what you mean. She was 
like you. You understood each other so much better 
than I ever could! The whole time she was around, she 
was right and I was wrong. I know she turned out all 
right in the end, and I'm sorry she had to die, but 
why did you have to put me on the back burner 
whenever you had a chance to be with her? Do you 
think I didn't know you were thinking the whole time 
about being with her? You weren't thinking about 
being with me. And another thing," Scully looked him 
straight in the eye, "That vampire case you worked on 
when I went missing...didn't you sleep with Kristen?" 

"You knew about that?" Mulder said sheepishly. 

"Ha! I do now!" 

He shook his head. "Skinner was right. You really are 
sick, Scully. Here we have a chance to really make a 
difference, to find out what these people are up to 
NOW and you're bringing up all this stuff we never 
even talked about when it was happening!" 

"We should have!" She argued. 

"This is important stuff going on here and now, 
Scully. We can't change the past, but we have a 
chance to find the truth today. Don't you want to 
know?" 

"I thought I did," She said softly, "But now I don't. 
I want to be like everyone else and not know these 
things. I just want to live my life, if I can find it 
in all this confusion!" 

Mulder stared at her, stunned. "You can't mean that! 
I need you!" 

"Yes, Mulder, you do, but I don't need that kind of 
life anymore. I wish you well, but I can't help you. 
I certainly can't go with you." 

"But I told you! We have a chance to make a real 
difference here." 

"To make a difference for everyone but us! Things 
between us never change. I couldn't wait anymore." 

"Wait for what?" 

"For you to want a normal life. Even after the baby 
came you were flaky. I care about you and I always 
will, but we are on different paths now and it's too 
late to try and back up. It wouldn't be right. We 
lost our chance when we lost William. I have a normal 
life now, and I'm not giving it up." 

"This is Doggett talking," said Mulder bitterly. 
"You've been talking to him and he's got you all 
confused." From the time Mulder had gotten back, 
Scully had been going on and on about how worthwhile 
Doggett was and how good he's been at watching her 
back. She'd even given Doggett his keychain! Scully 
had always been so independent! Why did she suddenly 
want someone like Doggett trailing around after her? 
Why was she listening to him? 

"John hasn't confused me," said Dana. "He's made 
everything clear. He and I want the same things out 
of life...tangible things. I can't chase your dreams 
for you anymore, Mulder. I'm at John's because I want 
to be there!" 

Mulder gave her a long look. "He's trying to nail 
you, isn't he? That's why he's feeding you all this 
crap!" 

Dana saw him through a red haze, she was that angry. 
"He loves me and I love him! This isn't one of your 
porno movies! Don't try to make it sound ugly and 
sordid because it's not! I didn't come here to listen 
to you abuse him for being honest about his feelings. 
I'm sick of your sarcasm." 

"Are you telling me you're sleeping with that guy?" 
Mulder's voice rose and several people turned to 
stare. 

"I'm telling you that I love him, Scully hissed, "And 
that I'm having his child!" 

"That's impossible!" 

"You told me never to give up on a miracle, Mulder, 
and that's what I got. I got a second chance." 

She stood up shaking, and walked out of the bar. 
Mulder couldn't believe she was going, going back to 
John Doggett. Scully was his. She was meant to be 
his, in spite of everything. She was meant to be his 
forever. How could she have slept with Doggett? And 
Mulder couldn't believe she could have gotten 
pregnant by Doggett...it had to be some kind of 
trick. This was all crap. He needed her help, and she 
was gone. Unfreaking believable! Should he go after 
her or not? If he kept telling her she was wrong, 
would she listen? 

Outside, Dana sat in the car and started to cry. She 
cried about every single bad thing that had happened 
to her from the time her brother had blown out the 
candles on her third birthday cake before she had a 
chance to, until that very night. 

John walked through the house calling her name. There 
was no answer. He was no longer used to this silence 
and it left him bereft. 

There was a casserole dish on the kitchen counter 
with a note. 

I didn't want you to go hungry. 350 degrees 
for 20 minutes. I'm having dinner with Mulder. 
You were right. I had to see him. 
D. 

"Damn it!" John swore, crumbling the scrap of paper. 
"This is it." He ignored the food and got a beer out 
of the refrigerator. He flung himself down on the 
couch and groaned. He should have hung up on that 
bastard when he had the chance. She hadn't wanted to 
talk to him. 

"John, I can't," she had said wildly, literally 
backing away as he'd offered her the phone. 

"I suggest you do." He had been firm. "It'll never be 
over until you get it out in the open." 

Dana had shut her eyes tightly. This was the one 
thing she would never be able to make him understand. 
How could she tell this man who loved her, and needed 
her and wanted her, that she would never get over Fox 
Mulder? She was determined to come to terms with 
Mulder, but she would never be able to deny that 
she'd loved him, that she loved him still, even 
though loving him hurt her. 

John had handed her the phone and walked away, not 
wanting to hear any of it, and now she had walked 
away. He drank his beer, and leaned his head back. 
What the hell was he going to do now? 

Hours later he opened his eyes. She was standing in 
front of him. "John, why didn't you eat?" 

She was real, not a fantasy. "You're back," He 
blurted out. 

"Of course I'm back," She said, sitting down beside 
him. "Did you really think I wouldn't come back?" 

"All I could think of was that HE was back, and how 
much you loved him." 

"I did...we had years together that can't be erased, 
but you shouldn't have worried. You know my heart 
changed my mind." She leaned against him. 

"What did you tell him? What did he tell you?" 

"He told me what he's been doing, about his work." 
She paused smiling. "And I basically told him three 
things." 

"What three things?" 

"That I love you, that I live with you, and that I'm 
six weeks pregnant. So you see," She said 
michievously, "It's a little late for me to go 
anywhere." 

"Are you serious?" 

"You'll never know how serious." 

"You told him before you told me?" 

"You knew before he knew the last time." 

He kissed her cheek. This was an area that wasn't 
worth getting into. "There's only one thing I still 
need to know." 

She looked up. "What's that?" 

"When ARE you going to marry me?"

The day after Dana had told him she was pregnant, 
John had gotten out of bed while she was still asleep 
and started packing up Luke's things. When she had 
found him taking the twin bed apart to put in the 
basement, her heart had bled for him, but he had just 
told her, "The new baby needs the room. It's time." 
Dana had gotten her mother to help her fix it up. 
Dana and Maggie chose a pale green paint for the 
walls, and John agreed to go get the paint, paint the 
walls and shampoo the carpet. "Then," Dana told her 
mother, "We can go get the baby furniture and clothes 
from the apartment. That'll be the last of it, and I 
have to be out by the first anyway. Thank goodness 
John has the truck." 

"Truck people are very popular when someone has to 
move," He smiled at her, "But this time I don't 
mind." 

Maggie was fascinated with John Doggett's house, and 
determined to help Dana redecorate it, which made 
Dana uneasy. She did let Maggie help as much as she 
could, though. She was just happy that her mother 
still adored John. Maggie was just disappointed that 
Dana hadn't decided to do anything about a wedding. 
Dana had turned down all her mother's suggestions and 
declared the subject off limits. 

"Mom, when I decide to do it, IF I decide to do it, 
I'm just going to go get a license and do it. NO big 
wedding!" 

"Thank God," said John. "I never want to have to got 
through that again." 

"Did you have a big wedding?" Dana asked curiously.
 
"The usual fluffy Cinderella kind of crap that 
everyone had back then." 

"Wasn't it any fun planning it?" implored Maggie. 

"I don't know," He laughed. "I didn't do it. All I 
had to do was rent a tux and show up with four 
friends who had 'em, too." He grinned wickedly. "My 
wife and her mother did everything else." 

"No more baby showers, either," said Dana firmly. "I 
was embarrassed the entire time the last time, and 
it's be the same thing again if you do it now." 

"Well," said Maggie philosophically, "At least none 
of my friends asked for anything back last time." 

"They," said Dana, "Were probably all embarrassed, 
too." 

John Doggett was on the verge of losing his mind. He 
had a high level job to do. He was spying on his 
boss. He was living with a woman he adored, who was 
unexpectedly pregnant. He had to tell four sisters 
that at his age he had a pregnant girlfriend. He was 
trying to talk her into getting married, but 
something was still spooking her. He had a hopefully 
future mother-in-law whom he liked a lot and didn't 
want to alienate trying to redecorate his house. 
Plus, he had a high level government sanctioned 
assassin who was supposed to be dead spying on him, 
his boss and the pregnant woman. He wasn't working 
for the FBI...he felt like he was living through a 
Marx Brothers movie. The only reason he could hang on 
was to see what would happen next. 

He decided to tackle the easiest of the problems, 
relatively speaking. 

He called his sister Teresa. 

"Tree, it's me." 

"John! How are you? And how's Dana? I had so much fun 
visiting you guys. I hope you're still together!"
 
"That's why I called. Spread the word...you're going 
to be an aunt again." 

He held the phone away from his ear as she screamed. 

"Oh my God! Are you kidding?" 

Putting his elbow on his desk, John propped up his 
head in his hand. "Yeah, this is the exactly the sort 
of thing that I'd kid you about." 

"Oh my God!" She screamed again, straight in his ear 
this time. Knowing his sister, he should have known 
better. "This is so great! I'm so happy!" Then 
suddenly stern, she said, "You ARE going to marry 
her, aren't you? I will like, so kill you if you 
don't marry her." 

"I'm working on that, but I'm warning you right now, 
if it goes down it'll be no big deal." 

"But everyone's going to want to meet her. I told 
everyone how great Dana was and how well you guys got 
along. Ben and Kate were supposed to go to Washington 
next month for some kind of fundraiser and they were 
going to call you and see if they could stop by." 

"Thanks for the heads up. They can stop by, but I'm 
telling you right now, don't plan on a big wedding. 
You might jinx things. Can you call Mary and Anne for 
me? I suppose you've already filled them in, too." 
He leaned back in his chair. 

"Of course! How could I not tell them that their 
stubborn, cynical brother who was convinced that his 
life was over, and planned to bury himself in his 
work was living with a beautiful, intelligent woman 
who was even a doctor?" 

"What'd they say?" 

"Annie said that the way you take care of yourself 
you need a doctor around 24 hours a day, and Mary was 
trying to figure out how you'd managed to seduce an 
intelligent woman." 

He actually blushed. "Thanks a lot, you guys!" 

"Well, they remember your bimbo phase better than I 
do. I was a sweet, innocent little child when you 
went into the service." 

"You were a devious little devil from the time you 
could walk. Just call everyone for me, will you?" 

"Okay, but John?" 

"What?" 

"You ARE happy, aren't you? I mean, you seemed so 
happy when I saw you." 

He considered this carefully. "Yeah, I really am. I 
was shocked as hell at first, but I think it's gonna 
be great." 

He hesitated, then decided to tell the truth, at 
least part of it. "Dana had some health problems 
awhile back. She wasn't supposed to be able to have 
any kids." 

"She told me she'd lost a baby once...is she nervous 
about this one?" 

"Not as much as I am!" He admitted. "I'm too old for 
this kind of thing!" 

His sister laughed. "When that kid gets here safe and 
sound, you're going to love it to pieces. Trust me."
 
I trust you, he thought, but who the hell else can I 
trust? 

Because Dana wouldn't have anything to do with any 
doctor or hospital that she had dealt with during her 
first pregnancy, they didn't have a lot of options 
for their baby. She finally agreed to go to a doctor 
near the house in Virginia. 

After Dana had explained that she had delivered her 
first baby in an emergency situation that had not 
turned out well, and that she was terrified of going 
through that kind of pain again, the doctor had tried 
to reassure her. 

"You can have an epidural this time, whenever you 
want it." 

Doggett sighed. "Can you meet us in the parking lot?" 

"That's wasn't funny, John," Dana told him after they 
left the office. 

"You don't want to be in pain, fine, but I don't want 
to see you in pain, either! I'm getting too old for 
this kind of thing!" 

"You're scared!" She was genuinely surprised. 

"Hell, yes!" 

He was trying to take care of her as best as he 
could. For the most part, she was all right. She 
still got tired sometimes, but she didn't seem to be 
sick. 

"Of course," She said, "We've still got seven months 
to go." 

They were sitting in their favorite spot by the 
fireplace, except now when John held her, he always 
had a protective arm around her waist. 

"Dana, I swear, I will do everything I can to make 
sure you're all right. If I have to spend the next 
seven months pushing you around in a wheelchair to 
keep this baby safe, I will." 

She laughed. "I don't think that will be necessary." 

He kissed her cheek. "I know how hard it was on you 
last time. I felt helpless, and I didn't like it. I'm 
not going to let that happen again." 

"I'm not worried this time, John," She said. "It's 
not the same thing. I'm not alone. I'm not trying to 
hide anything, and I'm not chasing around getting 
knocked down by bat people or tied up by cult 
members." 

"You better not!" He regarded her thoughtfully. 
"Speaking of not hiding things anymore, when are we 
going for that license? Your mom will be very 
disappointed if I don't make an honest woman out of 
you." 

Dana laughed again. "She's crazy about you , John. 
Don't worry about that. I don't think it really 
bothers her. She just doesn't want anything to go 
wrong." 

"Neither do I," He said, and meant it. "But we at 
least have to tackle Kersch." 

"Let's go for it," She said. 

They soon found themselves in front of Kersch's desk, 
waiting to see how things would play out. The older 
man looked at Dana intently. "It's nice to see you 
looking well, Agent Scully." 

"Thank you, Sir, I do feel much better." 

"Does that have anything to do with your request for 
this meeting? I had hoped that you'd come back to the 
Bureau someday." 

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Sir, but I'm here to 
resign." 

He snapped upright. He was really startled, Dana saw 
with satisfaction. 

"Haven't we been accommodating enough, Agent Scully? 
You know you can take all the time you need as far as 
your health is concerned." 

"It's not my health, Sir. It's my lifestyle. I'm 
going to have another baby." 

"Congratulations," Kersch said flatly. 

John spoke for the first time. "Thank you, Sir." 

Kersch's eyes narrowed. He looked from one to the 
other. "I see," He said finally. Well, I hope you'll 
be very happy with your decision." 

"I think so, Sir," Dana smiled sweetly as she slid 
the envelope with her letter of resignation across 
the desk. "Thank you." 

She and John got up and left holding hands. Kersch 
sat for along time looking after them, and then at 
the envelope. Finally he picked it up, read it, and 
reached for the phone. 

The man at the other end of the line listened 
carefully, then hung up and stubbed out his 
cigarette. 

His hunch had been right. Dana Scully had been doing 
more at that house than weeding flower beds. Knowing 
Doggett, if she was pregnant he'd probably talk her 
into getting married. That was just so Doggett, and 
John Doggett would do anything to protect a pregnant 
wife. This was turning out to be an excellent day. 
He called Doggett's office. 

"Have you had time to gather any information for me?" 

"A little, but when I give it to you, I want out. 
I've got other things on my mind right now." said 
Doggett, leaning back in his chair. 

"I'm sure you do," said the older man reaching for 
his lighter. "Meet me at the parking garage in an 
hour." 

Doggett sighed. Why did so many things have to go 
down in the parking garage? He hoped Yves was 
right...that this guy was just playing with him. 

Doggett found him right away, sitting in his car, 
smoking as always. He rolled down the window and held 
out his hand for the envelope that Doggett extended. 

"This is very good," He said, delighted. "How did you 
do this?" 

"What difference does it make?" asked Doggett. "You 
already knew." 

"I knew about Kersch, yes," the older man replied, 
"But I was not so sure about you. Now I know what 
kind of man you are." 

Doggett's jaw jutted out. "And what does that mean?" 

"You are not the sort of man that I usually involve 
in my business, but neither are you a threat. You do 
what you have to do, Agent Doggett, and as honorably 
as you can. There are so few honorable people left in 
this world. I assure you, I treat the ones I find 
very thriftily. I see no reason why we can not 
coexist peacefully. Stick with your job, Agent 
Doggett, and you'll be fine." 

He rolled up the window and drove away leaving John 
Doggett standing in the parking garage confused, 
which was by no means a new experience for him.

The last thing John Doggett expected to run into on 
his way to work the next morning was a road block. He 
flashed his ID at the cop on duty and asked, "What's 
going on?" 

The cop shook his head. "A hostage situation...a 
guy's got his ex-girlfriend trapped in a coffee shop 
at gunpoint." 

"Mind if I hang around?" 

The cop shook his head. "We need all the help we can 
get. This guy was totally whacked out at seven in the 
morning...unbelievable!" 

John Doggett moved in a little closer. A crowd of 
onlookers had gathered, and one small figure detached 
itself from that crowd and ran into his arms. 

He blinked. "What the hell are you doing here?" 

Leyla Harrison clung to him, her face tear stained. 
"That's one of our accounting clerks in there. I'm so 
scared." 

"Oh, Christ! Well, stay here. I"m going to see if I 
can help." 

"Be careful," She insisted. 

Doggett soon found himself arguing with the police 
sergeant in charge. "That's one of our employees. I 
want to try to talk to this guy." 

"It's too dangerous. We're going to try to wait him 
out...see how it sits." 

"That woman can't wait," Doggett insisted. "If this 
guy's that crazy, he's not going to listen to you. 
Maybe he'll listen to someone who's not in uniform." 

The cops all looked at each other and shook their 
heads. Finally one of them said, "He's a Fed. Let him 
go for it if he wants to." 

The sergeant asked, "Are you armed at least?" 

"Oh, yeah." 

Doggett walked up to the entrance to the coffee shop. 
The gunman yelled out the door, "Stay away! I'll 
shoot her, I swear!" He had a very pretty girl by the 
arm. She was maybe nineteen, with long honey colored 
hair, and imploring green eyes. She was obviously 
terrified. 

"Don't do that. You don't want to do that. I'm not a 
cop. I work in an office at the Bureau like she does. 
I don't want to see her get hurt. I don't want to see 
you get hurt. C'mon, Let her go." John spoke 
reasonably. Usually by the power of his personality, 
he was able to get through to people. Not always, 
though. It hadn't worked on that sheriff and his 
buddies in Pennsylvania, and it didn't work now. The 
man on the other side of the room started to raise 
his gun with shaking hands. Doggett drew his gun as 
well. When he saw the other man's finger start to 
move on the trigger he fired. After that he didn't 
see anything. 

When Leyla Harrison got Dana Scully on the phone, she 
was gibbering so hard that Dana couldn't understand 
her. When Dana finally realized what the other woman 
was saying, she slammed down the phone and ran like 
hell. 

Skinner grabbed her as soon as she came running into 
the hospital. "What happened?" She demanded. 

Skinner looked her in the eye and said, "John tried 
to assist in a hostage situation. The hostage was an 
FBI employee held by an ex-boyfriend. John probably 
saved that woman's life. He killed the boyfriend, but 
he got shot as well." 

"How bad is it?" 

"I don't know." 

"Well, damn it, let's find out." 

She found it wasn't that easy. The hospital director 
was kind, but firm. "Ms. Scully, you ought to know by 
now that we can't release any information without 
permission from the next of kin." 

She turned to Skinner frustrated. "I don't believe 
this! They let us make all the decisions for Mulder!" 

Skinner put his arm around her trying to calm her. 
"Mulder had no immediate family. He was the object of 
an open FBI case and we were agents of record on that 
case. This isn't like that." 

Dana ignored him. Turning back to the hospital staff, 
she demanded, "Have you called his family? Who have 
you called?" 

"I left word with the desk to call a Teresa Doggett 
right before you barged in here." 

"If his sister will give me permission, can I see 
him?" 

"Or," Skinner interrupted, "If I, as a representative 
of the Bureau, vouch for the fact that Scully is his 
doctor, can she see him?" 

The man at the desk shook his head. "Let's see what 
we can do." 

Dana Scully thought that being at John's bedside 
would make her feel better, but somehow it didn't. 
They had finally let her in, and Teresa was on her 
way, but Dana had not been able to see all the 
medical reports yet, and she was going crazy with 
fear. The bullet wound was too high for the lung, she 
thought, willing herself to be as clinical as 
possible. If it hadn't splintered his collarbone, it 
wasn't so serious, but he had lost so much blood, and 
he was so weak, that she could feel danger all around 
her, like thunder in the air. 

Her life was so intertwined with this man's that she 
felt as if she were on the verge of dying, too. At 
least, she thought to herself, I've got his baby, but 
that thought was not comforting either. She had tried 
to tell herself the same thing when Mulder had 
disappeared, and that had been an unqualified 
disaster. 

The door opened and Teresa walked in, accompanied by 
another woman with the same brown hair and blue eyes. 
Dana launched herself into the arms of the woman that 
she considered a friend. They clung together for a 
long moment, then, both wiping their eyes, they 
turned to the other woman. "Mary," said Teresa, "This 
is Dana." 

Dana hugged the other sister. "I wish I could have 
met you some other way," She whispered.
 
"I know. How's he doing?" 

"He's holding his own," said Dana, "But I'm worried. 
He lost an awful lot of blood." She continued 
bitterly, "According to the police, he's a hero, and 
he's supposed to get some kind of award." 

"Doesn't make you feel any better, does it?" asked 
Teresa. 

"Not really," said Dana. "I have to admit, though, 
the girls in the accounting department are going to 
be his slaves for life. When this is over, maybe we 
should get them to skim us anough for a good long 
vacation." 

In spite of everything, Mary laughed. "He was right 
about you. You're a treasure. You're going to be 
fine, and so is he. He's stubborn. You'll see." 

"I know that," said Dana. "I just hope he's stubborn 
enough." 

They were all silent for a moment, looking at the man 
on the bed, listening to the whirr of the hospital 
machinery. Then Teresa put her arm around Dana's 
waist. "Go get some rest. You and the baby need it." 

Tears filled Dana's eyes. "He told you?" 

"Yes, and he was really happy. He's not going to give 
up now. Get some rest, or something to eat. Mary's 
husband took the whole week off to stay home with the 
kids, so we can take turns. We're with you, Dana. 
Like it or not, you've got a big family now." 

"I'm glad," She whispered. "I need you." 

Later that night after Dana had given John's sisters 
the house keys and sent them home to rest, she 
thought about all the chances she had thrown away in 
her life, and especially the time she'd wasted over 
the last few months worrying about useless things. 
She should have been this man's wife by now. She 
should have let go of he past and enjoyed the moment. 
She'd been fighting the future just as hard as 
anyone. 

She watched John, willing him to hold on with all her 
heart, and finally, he moved his head. "John," She 
whispered, "Look at me." 

He opened his eyes. He'd heard her! "Oh, thank God!" 
Dana leaned over him, unable to hold back her tears.
 
"Don't cry," He croaked. 

"How could I not cry? You had me so scared. I thought 
I was losing you and I couldn't stand it!" 

"Thought I could help..." 

"You did. That girl is fine, and you got that guy. 
You're a big hero, but that wasn't doing me any good. 
I don't want a hero. I want my husband to be around 
to see around to see our baby." 

"You...ready?" 

"Ready, ready, YES ready!" 

She kissed his cheek, and being very careful of all 
the wires and tubes winding around him, she slipped 
her arm across him, and leaned her head on his chest. 
She heard him whisper one more time before he went 
back to sleep. "Worth it then..." 

Once John Doggett got out of the hospital, things 
started to get back to normal. He and Dana sat down 
with his sisters and Dana's mother and planned a 
small wedding. Mrs. Scully agreed to take care of 
ordering flowers and food, and Teresa, the world 
traveler, agreed to reserve hotel rooms for herself, 
her sister's families, and Dana's brothers. They 
didn't want Dana to have to do anything but get John 
back on his feet for the ceremony. They figured a 
month would do it. 

John's friend Marty, an attorney, who owed John a 
huge favor for helping him prevent the murder of his 
wife, Vicki, agreed to get a judge he knew to come to 
the house. 

"Is your mom mad that we're not getting married in a 
church?" John asked Dana one day. 

"At this point," said Dana, "She wouldn't care if we 
got married on a roller coaster." 

"Might be appropriate at that," He teased her. 
Dana ignored his remark and continued seriously, "I 
know she hopes we'll have the baby baptized, but I'm 
not going to worry about that now. She did talk to 
her priest about us, and he said something awfully 
sweet." 

"What was that?" 

"He said that love is the least imperfect image of 
God that man is capable of." 

"You're too deep for me," John said, "But I'm glad 
she's handling it okay." 

"Anything else I need besides the license and a new 
dress?" Dana asked John one morning as she helped him 
back to bed after a visit from his sisters. 

"Just remind your mom I have a kosher brother-in-
law." 

"Will do," She said, propping him up on a pillow, and 
then curling up beside him. "That's one of your 
better points, you know." 

"What is?" 

"You are soooo thoughtful!" She kissed him and was 
surprised to find his hand wandering across the front 
of her shirt. "Watch out for your shoulder!" 

"Come on, you can work around it. You've done it 
before." 

She blushed, but was intrigued. 

"You don't think it's too soon?" 

"No," He said, pulling her head down so he could kiss 
her again. "I don't." 

It was a long time before she spoke again, and then 
she was breathless. "That does it. If you're well 
enough to act like a husband, you're well enough to 
be a husband." 

"You're the one who didn't want to get married." 

"Well, now I do." Tears filled her eyes. "When that 
idiot at the hospital tried to tell me that I 
couldn't go in and see you, I felt like nothing. I 
was so furious and ashamed. I felt like I'd let you 
down." 

"That's what changed your mind?" 

"Your getting hurt opened my mind." 

"More good comes out of that every day. I love you, 
Dana. You really are all I need to survive." 

"I need you, too, and I love you, and no one will 
ever question again about whether or not I belong 
with you! Deal?" 

"It's a deal." 

On John's first day back at work, Dana went with him. 
Walking down the hall, they ran into Monica Reyes. 
Dana stopped to talk to her, letting John go on. 

"Monica, what are you doing back in town?" 

"Trying to get your old job," said Monica 
michievously. "I want to get back on the X-Files." 
She glanced at John's back as he headed down the 
hall, and asked excitedly, "Are you really going to 
marry him?" 

"Oh, you've heard?" 

Monica sighed. "I'm going to miss him." 

Dana laughed. "It's not like he's going off to war." 
Monica laughed, too. "This is the closest thing to 
it." Then she got serious. "You're lucky. He's good-
looking, caring, a hard worker and very romantic. If 
it could only happen to me!" 

"Didn't it?" Dana asked bluntly, a twinge of jealousy 
still in her mind. She knew the two of them had a 
history together, but didn't know how far it went. 

"I went out with him a couple of times after Luke 
died, but he wasn't ready and we really had nothing 
in common. He's practical and I'm too emotional. 
You're much smarter than I am." 

"Thanks...I think." 

"We were all so scared when he got hurt," said 
Monica. "But it was so like him to get involved like 
that." 

"You were scared! No offense, Monica, but the next 
time I have a baby, I want him with me, not you!" 

"I don't blame you for that." Monica looked 
thoughtful. "I see good things ahead for you, Dana. 
It's going to be different this time. It's going to 
work out the way it should." 

"Is that your intuition at work?" 

"Partly, and part of it comes from just knowing 
John." 

Dana decided to get back to the subject. "Can you 
really get the X-Files back? I heard you were trying 
to get back in and get them reopened." 

Monica shrugged. "That's the plan. Kersch is blocking 
me, of course. I'm trying to get Jana Cassidy to 
overrule him. She was instrumental in getting them 
reopened the last time you got shut down, after that 
business in Dallas." 

"She's a tough lady," Dana mused. "Remember, she only 
deals in facts. She's strict. She has an open mind, 
but it's not so open that her brains fall out. You'll 
really have to prove yourself to her." 

"I'm willing to try. I think I'm perfect for it." 
Monica winked at Dana. "If only they could find me a 
good partner!" 

Dana smiled. "That office does have a reputation, 
doesn't it? In more ways than one." 

"Oh, definitely," said Monica, looking as if the 
prospect pleased her. 

Maggie filled the house with yellow roses the day of 
the wedding, because they were her favorite flower, 
but also because their beauty and fragrance lent a 
lot to the day. She very sentimentally thought that 
her daughter looked like a rose herself, for 
everything in Dana's heart seemed to bloom in her 
face that day. Dana had gotten a very simple ivory 
colored, lace trimmed jacket dress for the wedding, 
and it suited her so well, that Maggie seeing her in 
it, wanted to cry. 

"I'd hug you to pieces if I weren't afraid of 
wrinkling that lace." 

Dana hugged her mother instead. "I don't mind that 
kind of wrinkling. I think it suits the occasion." 

So much affection had gone into that weekend. Dana's 
brothers, prepared by Maggie, had treated John 
Doggett like long-lost friend. Doggett's other 
sisters, Kate and Anne, had been as warm and 
accepting as Teresa and Mary. Kate's husband, Ben, 
turned out to be a genuine, sweet man, and Dana could 
see why Kate had cut herself off from her father to 
marry him. 

Kate's two teenaged daughters found Dana to be 
"unbelievably cool" even though they were appalled by 
the fact that they were attending a wedding with no 
bridesmaids, or band or engraved invitations. Mary's 
two small sons, also fascinated, had literally 
attached themselves to their "pitty auntie" when they 
were not tagging after Dana's nephew, Matthew. There 
had not been one harsh word spoken all week. 

When everyone had gathered in the living room for the 
actual ceremony, there was a sense of family in the 
air that was very special to everyone present. It 
made the service more beautiful and solemn than 
anyone had expected it to be. 

Dana did tremble nervously, and her response was so 
soft that everyone had to strain to hear it, but John 
had looked into her face and said, "I do," with so 
much confidence that the four women who had come 
first in his life all started to cry. 

As one of Kate's daughters said in the car on the way 
back to the hotel afterwards, "That was one of the 
most awesome weddings I've ever seen, which is really 
weird, because there wasn't a bit of style to it."
 
"They didn't need it, Sweetie," said her mother. 
"They had love." 

"Combining all of our things is harder than I thought 
it would be," Dana sighed, looking around John's 
living room. "Maybe we should hire a decorator." 

"We know what we need, honey. We don't need some 
nutty guy standing en pointe to tell us." 

Maggie, who had been flipping through wallpaper books 
looking for suggestions to give them, had to laugh. 
"I didn't know he knew what 'en point' meant," She 
said as they both turned to look at her. 

"Thank you," John sighed with as much dignity as he 
could muster. "I'm going outside to wash the truck," 
and he did. 

"Honestly, Mom," said Dana. "You're not making this 
any easier on him." 

"Never mind, John's jacket is ringing," said Maggie, 
pointing at the jacket, thrown over the back of a 
chair. Dana groaned and reached into the jacket 
pocket for the cellphone. She punched the button. 

"Hello?" 

"Dana, it's Walter. I need to talk to John and I need 
to talk to him now." 

"What's wrong?" 

"Just get him on the phone. I'll let him tell you 
later." 

She took the phone out to John on the driveway. He 
shut off the hose and looked at her questioningly. 
"Skinner," She mouthed. 

John wiped his hands on his shirt, and took the 
phone. "Yes, Sir?" 

"I have some disturbing news for you.”

"And what would that be?" 

"Alvin Kersch is dead." 

"Oh, Christ." John put a hand to his forehead, as 
Dana looked on in alarm. "What happened?" 

"They say it looks like a heart attack." 

"Looks is right," said John bitterly. 

"Do you know something I don't?" 

"I don't know. I'll have to get back to you." 
Shutting off the phone, John leaned against the 
truck, his head back in his hand. 

"John, what is it?" Dana went to him, and laid a hand 
on his arm, but he stiffened up. 

"Kersch is dead. God, I wanted to stop that bastard, 
but I never wanted him dead."
 
"It's not your fault." 

"Don't tell me that," He shouted at her. "I turned 
him in and now he's dead!" 

"But you said that you didn't tell Spender anything 
he didn't already know! Kersch was going down no 
matter what, John!" She grabbed him and made him look 
at her. "Don't let this drag you down, too. That's 
what he would want!" 

As Dana clung to him, John could feel the slight 
rounding curve of her abdomen against his side, and 
he fought to calm himself. He had a pregnant wife to 
worry about. It was no use getting her worked up 
about this, or himself either. Maybe, he thought, 
that A-hole got so scared about what he'd gotten 
himself into that he did have a heart attack. John 
Doggett drew a deep breath, and Dana into his arms. 

John Doggett had spent a restless night. He was 
pacing back and forth in the living room when he saw 
the messenger truck pull up to the house. The 
delivery service had a thick envelope addressed to 
Dana. He took it into the kitchen where she was 
making coffee. 

"For you." 

"Who from?" 

"It doesn't say." He held out the package. She wiped 
her hands and sat down at the table and opened it. 
There was a letter clipped on top of a thick stack of 
papers. She glanced over it, looked up at John, and 
then started to read out loud. 

Dear Dana, 
You have always been like a child of mine... 
The only child that did not disappoint me. So, I 
am leaving these documents in your hands. Kersch 
wanted to sell them, but like your husband, I allow 
no one to use what is mine. To be fair, though, I 
will be following Deputy Director Kersch soon. You 
will not see me again. It is time for all of this to 
end, and you and John Doggett are the best people I 
know to end it. 

You will find the formula for the vaccine. As a 
doctor, you will be able to save the world as I once 
promised you that you could, only in a different way. 
I am enclosing documents that detail the locations 
and names of all the remaining participants in the 
project. With these you have the means to end the 
project once and for all. I have perfect faith in 
you. 

I would like to have been able to see your 
children, but knowing that they will have the life 
they deserve will have to be enough.
 
I remain, very respectfullly yours, 
C.G.B. Spender 

Dana put down the letter, and looked up at her 
husband, who took her wordlessly into his arms. 

The Surgeon General of the United States sat in the 
backyard of her Virginia home, watching the Director 
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation put together a 
swingset for their small daughter. Dana considered 
them lucky to be getting off with a swingset. The 
fiery haired toddler had her father so completely 
under her thumb, that if she had asked for a whole 
merry-go-round, he would have been laying power 
lines. 

Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, she hoped that 
the new baby would be a boy. They were both ready to 
have a little boy again. Dana was basically content. 
There had been some conservative complaints 
about having two high-ranking government officials 
who had lived together before marriage, but things 
had worked out. 

After all, as deputy director, John Doggett had been 
responsible for exposing a ring of rogue scientists 
who had developed a new biological weapon that cause 
psychotic behavior and strange growths on those 
exposed to the toxin. At least, that's the story most 
people had heard. What if he had NOT been living with 
a doctor? Perhaps she would not have developed the 
antidote and a vaccine for fighting the threat he had 
uncovered! Besides, everyone in Washington knew what 
a devoted couple they were. 

Dana shook her head at how things had turned out. So 
few people would ever know the truth. At one time 
that would have appalled her. She had been convinced 
that the truth was everything. Now she knew that it 
could be the means to an end, and it was the end 
result that mattered. 

She watched her small daughter carry a wrench back to 
the tool box for her father, and felt an overwhelming 
tenderness for them both. 

THE END.