Welcome to the third installment of the Chloe Samantha Trilogy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Spoilers for The Sixth Extinction and The Sixth Extinction Two: Amor Fati.

Enjoy!

With both of her parents gone, Chloe tries to visit her father with Maggie, though has trouble once her father attacks Agent Skinner. Being told to stay away for her safety, the teen puts all her effort into her friends to keep from thinking about her dad. Complaining to Kyle at the park the next day, the teen confides that she is worried she will never get her father back.

"You will," Kyle reassures confidently. "Your mom is going to do it, just like he did for her."

"You still remember me telling you that?" Chloe asks incredulously. Her friend smirks answering, "How can I not? Your dad came over to give you pain meds just after."

The teen groans not wanting to remember her appendectomy. Kyle and Chloe talk and laugh a little more before Maggie comes by to pick her up. Seeing the hopeful expression on her grandmother's face, Chloe eyes her skeptically. Calmly, Maggie tells the teen that she can see her father. She tries to stay calm as Maggie takes her surrogate granddaughter to the hospital an hour later. As they near Mulder's hospital room, Maggie looks at the younger Mulder stating, "When you see your dad, he won't speak to you. But, he can hear you okay?"

Chloe nods before they head further down the hallway. Hesitantly, the teen enters the room and takes a seat next to her father and tells him about her day. Maggie squeezes Chloe's shoulder before going to find a cup of coffee. Coming back, the older Scully nearly drops her Styrofoam cup.

"Dana," Maggie gasps when she sees her daughter who is arguing with the doctors in the room. The red head turns when she sees her mother. As Maggie fusses over her daughter, Chloe peeks out of her father's hospital room. Remaining calm, the fourteen year old walks back toward her father and takes his hand.

"Hi, Dad. I know you can hear me, and I just wanna say I love you and really wish I could help you. Scully's arguing with the guards outside your room." The girl explains as she takes her father's hand saying, "I'm sorry for getting so angry at you during my graduation. You're the best dad I could ever ask for."

A tear falls down the teen's face as she continues, "Please don't leave."

An arm wrapping around her causes the teen to look in her peripheral vision to see Scully. Turning toward her mother, Chloe lets her tears fall. Stroking the teen's hair back, Scully kisses her on the head and reassures the teen that her father is not angry at her.

"How can you be sure?" Chloe asks.

"Because I know him, and you. Chloe, your dad loves you more than anything, and anything you do is not going to upset him. I also know he is going to get better," Scully states before asking her daughter if she can speak to Mulder alone. Chloe nods and heads out the door to find Maggie. Scully watches her daughter leave before turning back toward her partner and boyfriend. Gently, she states, "'Mulder, it's me. I know that you can hear me. If you can just give me some sign.'"

She waits, but nothing happens.

"'I want you to know where I've been... what I found. I think that, if you know, that you could find a way to hold on'," Scully continues before whispering, "'I need you to hold on. I found a key... the key... to every question that has ever been asked. It's a puzzle but the pieces are there for us to put together and I know that they can save you if you can just hold on.'"

She is on the verge of tears as she pleads, "'Mulder... please. Hold on.'"

He does, but not how Scully wants. Two days later, she finds out he disappears. Safe in the knowledge that her daughter is with Anna for the week, Scully engrosses herself in finding her partner. Once she does, she demands to stay with him once the ambulance arrives.

"Scully," He croaks as he holds out his hand.

"I'm here, Mulder," She whispers as she takes his hand and stays beside him until the medical team shoos her away once they are inside the ER. Left in the hospital corridor, Scully finds one of the hospital seats, leans her head against the wall, and closes her eyes as she tries not to relive the pain of losing her partner. Only to herself will she admit how much she loves him. Suddenly, the red head jerks to a sitting position when she suddenly remembers to call Chloe, Skinner, and Maggie.

An hour later, with still no diagnosis, Scully paces the waiting area when she finds Chloe running up to her.

"Mom!" The teen calls as Scully hugs her tight. Maggie smiles at her daughter as she follows behind closely by Skinner. A few minutes later, Scully is let into Mulder's hospital room since she declares herself his personal doctor. Noticing he is still asleep, Scully brushes a piece of hair off his forehead.

"Hi," She whispers knowing he can hear her. "Chloe's waiting outside. The doctor told me he will keep you overnight, but to make sure you rest when you get home."

"Yes, Mom," Mulder mumbles opening his eyes slightly to see Scully sitting at his bedside. "This is kind of like role reversal."

"Except you're not dying," Scully remarks with a tear going down her face. "How do you feel?"

"Like I was kidnapped by the Smoking Man," Mulder dryly replies. Scully smirks, but takes hold of his hand until he falls asleep again.

A week after his return home, Mulder stands in front of his bedroom mirror and ties his tie when he hears a knock on his door. Smiling, because he knows that knock, the agent shrugs on his button down and walks to the door.

"'Scully, what are you doing here?' You said you were going to stay away for a couple days to unpack from Africa. 'Actually, I was just getting dressed to come see you but I... I couldn't find a tie to go with my victory cap'," Mulder comments happily. Scully merely takes his victory cap off his head telling him to go back to bed. As she starts to pull his tie away from him, he playfully grabs it back.

"'Oh, wait. Tie goes to the runner'," Mulder jokes causing his girlfriend to smile. Reluctantly breaking the moment, Mulder gently tells Scully that an integral member of their cases over the last few years is dead. Softly, he explains, "'He died last night in New Mexico. He'd been in a coma for two weeks. There was... no way he could have been in your apartment.'"

Knowing she is not delusional, the red head insists, "'He was there- we... we prayed together. Mulder, I don't believe that. I... I don't believe it. It's impossible.'"

Playing Devil's advocate, Mulder asks, "'Is it any more impossible than what you saw in Africa or what you saw in me?'"

Severely upset by the news, Scully is near tears when she replies, "'I don't know what to believe anymore. Mulder, I was so determined to find a cure to save you that I could deny what it was that I saw and now I don't even know... I don't know... I don't know what the truth is ... I don't know who to listen to. I don't know who to trust.'"

Mulder watches the tears fall down Scully's face and almost goes to brush them away when the red head states, "'Diana Fowley was found murdered this morning. I never trusted her... but she helped save your life just as much as I did. She gave me that book. It was her key that led me to you. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I know she was your friend.'"

Both dealt a blow, the couple stands in the doorway holding each other. After a minute, Mulder explains, "'Scully, I was like you once- I didn't know who to trust. Then I... I chose another path... another life, another fate, where I found my sister. The end of my world was unrecognizable and upside down. There was one thing that remained the same.'"

Moving his girlfriend's face to look at him, Mulder reassures and confesses, "'You... were my friend, and you told me the truth. Even when the world was falling apart, you were my constant... my touchstone.'"

"'And you are mine'," She replies before kissing him tenderly on the forehead. The couple stares at each other willing all their emotions to show fully between them. After a moment, the red head turns to leave.

As she walks away, Mulder calls out his girlfriend's name. She turns and smiles when he asks her to come inside. Sitting inside the apartment, Scully chuckles at how Mulder has already made a mess with a pizza box on the coffee table and some magazines scattered near the fish tank. They talk a little before going silent again.

Closing his eyes, Mulder cannot help envisioning the little boy he plays on the sand with. Thinking he is falling asleep, Scully softly calls his name. He hums in response before opening his eyes to stare straight at his girlfriend.

"Scully, what would you think of trying again? For a kid?" Mulder asks surprising both himself and Scully. Smoothing her boyfriend's hair, the red head deflects, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Turning to sit where he can actually face her, Mulder explains his dream before asking, "You still have ova, right? Think about it Scully! A little us?"

"A little you is scary Mulder, but this vision you have is based on your catatonic state. It may not work."

"It worked last time," Mulder points out. Scully tries and fails to hold back a smile. Mulder smiles back. Finally she relents.

"But only once you're better," The red head states. All he does is smile wider. Sadly, the spell is broken when there is a knock on the apartment door.

"Think Skinner sent out a search team?" Mulder jokes as he begins to stand from his seat. Scully puts her hand on Mulder's chest to keep him from getting up and heads to the door herself. Surprised by the person on the other side of the door, Scully exclaims, "Misses Mulder!"

Teena smiles awkwardly before asking if she can come inside. Scully opens the door wider and lets the older woman through.

"Hey, Scul, who's at the d–" Mulder asks as he walks into the room and stops short. "Mom?"

"Hi, Fox, I just wanted to see how you were doing. I see you have company," She begins. Mulder shakes his head explaining, "It's only Scully."

The red head wants to be offended, but knows their relationship is both new and comfortable. She practically lives at the apartment. Excusing herself to get her boyfriend's mother something to drink, Scully leaves Mulder alone with Teena.

"Do you want to sit down?" Mulder questions a little uneasy about the lack of cleanliness in his apartment. Looking at the sofa, Teena nods.

"How do you feel?" She questions once she and her son are comfortably seated. Mulder shrugs unsure how to answer. He and his mom are not on the best terms. After a moment, he replies, "As good as I can be, I guess. Scully and Chloe have been helping with my bandage here."

He points to his head for emphasis.

"I came to the hospital," Teena comments wondering if her son remembers. He does and says so.

"You do?" Teena replies surprised. He wants to explain the logistics of his being able to not communicate, but thinking about it hurts even his alien addled brain. Just then, Scully comes in with mugs.

"No coffee?" Mulder questions. She shakes her head.

"You probably had your only cup this morning," Scully comments.

"Doctor's orders," Mulder teases as he looks back at his mother. She smiles uncomfortably unsure of Mulder and Scully's relationship, but realizing it is different than prior visits.

"Hi, Grandma!" Chloe comments as she tentatively hugs the woman when she breezes through the apartment half an hour later. Teena smiles a little as she replies back in kind.

"Dad didn't say you were coming," The teen comments.

"It was a little unexpected, Chlo. Actually Mom, how about you have dinner with us tonight? I was going to go out and buy a rotisserie chicken."

Teena looks at the small family who waits for an answer. She somehow feels she is intruding, but unsure of why.

"Really, I don't–"

"Please, Grandma?" Chloe begs excited to spend time with her father's mother. Unable to say no to her only grandchild, Teena relents.

"I'll go make the salad!" The teen supplies dashing off toward the kitchen.

"You have salad?" Scully questions. Mulder nods.

With Teena gone after dinner and the dishes done, Scully and Chloe exit the kitchen to find Mulder sitting on the couch dozing. Chloe kisses him goodnight before heading toward her room. Scully sits next to her partner as he wakes up a little.

"How do you feel?" The red head asks. Her boyfriend smiles as he reassures, "I'm fine, Scully. Really."

She nods and the pair stays in the other's arms for a bit while they watch a movie Mulder has playing on low volume. Finally Scully sits up stating, "I should go."

She gives her boyfriend a pointed gaze when he pouts, but explains, "I have work tomorrow."

"Stay here. You have clothes here anyway."

"Mulder–"

He sighs knowing she is right. Neither wants their boss to find out about their relationship, and her clothes at his apartment are dirty. Instead of pressing the matter, Mulder relents and sees her to the door.

"Night," He comments with a smile. She smiles back involuntarily before kissing him.

"Night, Mulder," She replies.

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