51Author's Note: Thank you to everyone for reading! I hope you all have enjoyed these fics. They've been such a joy to write. You may see more if inspiration strikes. We'll see. Once again, the biggest thank you to Sarah, who has been the greatest beta ever. She's just fabulous.
Dr. Huang found her still sitting outside of Mulder's room almost two hours later. They had just finished with William's surgery and were anxious to transplant the harvested stem cells into Mulder. He assured Scully that William was doing fine and was back in his room recovering from the anesthesia.
Scully watched as they hooked the bag of their son's stem cells up to Mulder's central line. He would be watched very closely over the next few days as they waited for engraftment to occur. Neither she nor Dr. Huang had any idea what they could expect from this treatment or how quickly Mulder might recover.
Apparently satisfied that the transplant was going well, Dr. Huang exited Mulder's room, leaving his resident along with two of his nurses to oversee the rest of the transplant. He saw Scully and walked over to her.
"Dana, you know how this goes. We'll be doing daily blood tests as we wait for his body to accept the transplanted cells. All we can do now is wait."
"I know Ed. It's just, after everything…" Scully looked through the window at the the image of her husband lying in his hospital bed. He was completely unaware of everything that she had done, that their son had done to ensure he would survive the latest threat to his life.
He nodded in understanding. "I'll be by to check on Agent Mulder later. William should be waking up from the anesthesia in the next hour or two and I'll be in to see him before going home later tonight."
"Thank you, Ed."
—
Scully had Newsnight on mute as she waited for Will to wake up from the anesthesia. The media still didn't know what to make of the virus that almost wiped out a large percentage of the population. Even Scully still didn't really know what to make of it all.
It felt wrong to her, to just be sitting and waiting. There was nothing she could do in the moment. It would be awhile before they knew if Mulder was responding to the transplant, and William was resting; the stem cell harvest had gone well and would have no long-term effects on his health.
A sense of contentment filled Scully as she watched the rise and fall of William's chest as he slept. She had once spent many hours of her life simply watching him sleep. She was so thankful to this small, perfect person she and Mulder had made. He had a kind heart and was a good person. Scully knew they couldn't take much of the credit for what a good kid her son was, but she was still so very proud of him.
Will shifted slightly and moaned.
"William?" Scully spoke softly as she didn't want to wake him.
He opened his eyes slowly. She reached out and held his forearm gently.
"How're you doing, honey? Do you want some water?"
He nodded, so Scully reached over to the table near her and grabbed a glass of water. She held the straw to his lips for him.
"Better?" she asked.
"Yeah." William's voice sounded a bit hoarse to her. Scully offered him another drink of water which he accepted.
"Is it… is it all done? Is he better now?"
"It'll be a few days before we know anything, Will. But he's fine. They gave him your stem cells right away. You just need to rest and focus on feeling better."
"I'm not tired…" The impact of William's denial was negated by his slurred words.
Scully did her best to hide an amused smile at her sleepy son. "Of course not, but you're not going anywhere for now. Do you need anything?" In that moment, Will probably could have gotten anything out of her if he had the energy to ask for it.
He simply shook his head; his eyes were already half-closed again.
Satisfied for the time being that he was alright, Scully put the glass of water back on the table beside her. She again grasped Will's forearm and lightly ran her thumb back and forth over his skin.
"I'm glad you're here with me." His voice was small and sleepy.
"Me too, Will. Me too," she replied softly.
Scully let her free hand move up to stroke through his hair. The motion made William's eyes close again as the gesture lulled him back to sleep.
—
The day after Mulder had received the transplanted stem cells from William, he had been placed on a ventilator to ease the strain on his lungs.. Although he hadn't stopped breathing, his breaths had been shallow and uneven. Scully had been by to check on him and the sight of Mulder hooked up to the ventilator had made her dizzy. It was entirely too similar to when she had watched her mother die in front of her. And she couldn't even be in the same room with Mulder now while his body was fighting to survive.
William was healing well, but he would still be sore for a few days. Scully knew Will hadn't yet felt up to walking around much on his own. Her son's weakened state meant that she didn't have to try very hard to keep him from seeing Mulder.
Scully didn't want William's first images of Mulder to be him unconscious in a hospital bed hooked up to a ventilator. She had no intention of reminding him of his adoptive father's final illness and death. Will could see him when he was doing better.
A few days later, Dr. Huang had come to Will's room to let Scully know that he had cleared her to visit with Mulder. His blood tests had already started to show signs of engraftment. Dr. Huang had been keeping Mulder's visitors to an absolute minimum in fear of compromising Mulder's delicate immune system. Sensing William was disappointed he couldn't go with her, Scully ruffled his hair and promised that when he was feeling up to it in a few days, she would take him to visit Mulder.
Now she stood in front of Mulder's room. When she had left Will a few minutes ago, he was playing a game on his computer. She told him she'd be back to check on him before she went home for the night. William had nodded and then waved her off; his attention was already back on his game.
Scully let herself into Mulder's room. He appeared to be resting peacefully. She sat down beside his bed and took his hand in hers. Mulder was doing better, but he was still unconscious. She missed him and wished he would wake up. Still, it felt good to be able to hold his hand again.
Scully scooted her chair closer to him and laid her head down on the side of his bed. His soft inhales and exhales created a comforting rhythm and she closed her eyes, content just to be near him. A few minutes later, she was asleep.
—
Two hours later Scully felt something lightly touch the back of her head. Irritated at the sensation when she was trying to sleep, she tried to ignore it and hoped it would stop. Then she heard her name.
"Scully."
"Scully."
"Scully!"
She groaned, still upset at being woken up against her will. As she slowly regained consciousness, she realized who had been speaking to her. Scully looked up and was rewarded with the sight of Mulder staring her. Elated that he was awake at last, she couldn't help but grin at him.
"Hey," Mulder said. She didn't remember ever being so happy to hear his voice before. Tears sprang up in the corners of her eyes.
"Hey," she replied. Scully paused, taking in the sight of him. "You're going to be alright, Mulder."
End Notes: Seriously though, thanks for reading. I've never written this much fic in my life, let alone for a single fandom or story/series.
(Just a reminder if you haven't read Five Wishes, then you should. It continues this story through the beginnings of Mulder's recovery.)
And also thanks to those who caught some of my not-always-super-subtle references to: Fringe, Alias, Stargate SG-1, Daredevil, Hamilton, The West Wing, and The Newsroom. (I had to amuse myself somehow!)