"The Love of A Game"

**Prompt: Baseball***

It was nights like tonight, when she was tired and her defenses worn down, that memories, so many thoughts of him flooded back to overwhelm her.

During the weeks that had turned into months following Mulder's disappearance in Oregon, she had learned to gently take out a single memory, here and there, to touch, caress and remember.

It had to be one memory at a time, otherwise she found she would go crazy with her need for him. Her need to touch him. To hear his voice. To love him.

Her anger at his abduction, his kidnapping, would reverberate through her bones. Her hands clenching till her nails bit into her skin, drawing blood.

The pain of his loss would overpower her till she forgot about taking care of herself, till she forgot almost everything, including her precious baby. Their baby.

That simply would not do. Their baby came first and Scully needed to take care of him.

So, as she felt the onslaught of those emotions creeping in, she walked over to her dresser and pulled out a soft, wash-worn shirt that had become her lifeline.

It was one of Mulder's baseball jerseys.

She raised it to her face and lovingly rubbed her cheek against it, turning her face into the folds to breathe in deeply. She knew realistically that his scent was no longer on the fabric, but her heart could still smell him. Sex with a hint of sarcasm. Yes, that was him. She smiled at the thought. She, smiled.

A slight kick within her stomach was William's way of smiling with her.

This shirt, this piece of Mulder's love for a game, never failed to help her stave off the darkness and when he came home, because Mulder would come home, he would find her a loyal fan of baseball.