Summary: “I wasn’t in the group, Mr. Mulder. I was a tangential part of the project – in league with those few who were adamant on the subject of developing an antidote and a vaccine. He was our man on the inside, but we were not on the side of complicity with the colonists and that meant we were on the outside. Fringe element. We were not highly regarded. We weren’t even invited to the group barbecues.” He caught himself and smiled. “Ah. No pun intended.”

SPECIAL Thanks: To AnnaX whose tireless, relentless poking is why this story is here. Truly, thank you.

Cell phone service: A caveat in two parts

Author's notes:

I’d been itching (in the way that poison oak tortures you until you reluctantly have to tear your skin to shreds to do something about it) to…

(Continued at the end to avoid spoilerage)

~ Chapter 1 ~

In the end, she had to give him up.

Three months later, when word got out that a lone doctor at a small Catholic hospital was working with experimental treatments for a boy with Juvenile Sandhoff Disease, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the NTSAD (National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association) got involved. It happened quickly. With the consent of the parents, the hospital administrators at Our Lady of Sorrows and, reluctantly, the primary physician, the boy was transferred to the University of Minnesota Medical Center where clinical trials were already being performed in earnest.

She had to give him up - for his own sake.

Friday, April 11, 2008
5:45 am
House in Rural Virginia

He knew it before she realized it herself.

"What are you doing awake?" he whispered from behind her.

"Just thinking," she said after a moment.

"You're always thinking," he said and she sighed in acknowledgement. "Occasionally," he said, snaking an arm under the covers and around her waist, "we must give way to the body's biological imperative to sleep - much like the familiar log and rock."

Glancing at the clock, she smiled and pulled his hand between her breasts, snuggled into it. He wiggled his fingers and snuffled into her shoulder blade.

"It's almost six. I haven't been up all night. Just seems like it."

"Then you should join me in my world of," he yawned and pulled her closer, "quasi hooky. Stay home and we'll watch TV in our jammies and make cookies."

She smiled, turned in his arms and stared at his sleepy, grinning face. "Maybe brownies," he said, and she burrowed into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"As nice as that sounds, Mulder..."

"I know. No time. Workworkwork."

"Look who's talking," she whispered.

"What I'm doing is not working, Scully. Not in any traditional sense. I talked to Agent Eccher yesterday while I was peeing. I focused their profile while farting and eating a Ho-Ho."

"My refined hero."

"Multitasking comes in a multitude of forms. Miss Manners can kiss my ass."

The overcast morning light began peeking through the curtains.

"Besides," he continued, "I'm trying to start a career again here, Scully. By necessity, I have to overextend and - eat, drink and sleep it for a while to understand my own thought process again. Full tilt boogie - but, you know - with farting and Ho-Hos. And before you say anything," he placed his palm on her hair and pressed her head gently to his chest, "don't worry about me or my mental health. Doing it this way is not quite the same as it was back in the day."

"Okay."

"It's almost completely removed from the - it's detached. I mean I'm detached. Sort of."

"All right."

"You should feel free to keep an eye on me just the same, though."

She smiled and trailed her fingers back and forth across his breastbone. "Always." She lifted her head and rested her arm on his chest. Raising a finger, she toyed with his bottom lip. "If you make brownies, I'll eat them with you when I get home."

"You're on," he grinned and kissed her wandering fingers. They shared a look that sealed the deal. "Tell me," he said after a moment.

"Hm?"

"What were you thinking about?" Persistent as ever.

She was quiet for a while, gathering her thoughts, then, "it started - I was trying to remember what it felt like to go on vacation. I mean a real vacation. And it made me think about the trips we took when I was a kid - sitting in the backseat, wedged in between Melissa and Charlie. Bill always got the back-back seat to himself in the station wagon. I thought about the trip we took through Monument Valley." She smiled. "Every time I see Thelma & Louise, I think of that trip. So beautiful."

She paused and the room was still and silent except for the soft sounds of their mingled breaths.

"I thought, how wonderful it is to be a little kid, going on vacation with your family, your parents in the front seat, safe and happy and just looking forward to the experience... Sometimes, I think I'll never get back there, back to that place that's filled with so many good memories..."

He tightened his hold around her, rubbed his chin back and forth, back and forth against her hair. He closed his eyes and prepared to hear it. He knew what it was. He knew it before she realized it herself.

"I was thinking of William," she said.

He didn't have to nod for her to understand that he was with her. "I keep thinking -" she started, and sighed in frustration. "I just keep thinking."

They lay in silence, not really noticing the blush of morning as it slowly illuminated everything around them, pushed the dark out of the corners.

"If you need to let it out -" she started, then let her thought finish itself in his head.

"I don't," he said.

It had happened on one of those dismal nights early in that first year. Constantly looking over their shoulders, afraid, angry, it seemed the only thing that held them together was their newfound, mutual hatred for the world in general. The beginning of that first year was not about love against all odds. It was about survival and the inescapable, bitter realization that the only thing they had was each other. That they had somehow, quite deftly, thrown their lives away. Oh, not without help, but there they were.

That terrible night, he hated her, and he couldn't have hurt her more if he had knifed her repeatedly and laughed at her oozing blood. And she let the words wash over her, let the knife prick her flesh over and over; she deserved it. William, William, William.

They didn't talk for days afterward. On the third day, when he left her in the motel and didn't come back, she was certain he was gone forever. Her new low, one she never thought possible, was to sink to the bottom of a bottle of vodka and contemplate the end of the world.

When he came back late in the evening of the next day, he found her in a heap, asleep on top of the covers in the dark, shabby room. Nothing he could say would change the past, so he crawled onto the bed and wrapped his body around her. Hours later, she woke to find him beside her, staring at her.

She wanted to cry, but she didn't. He wanted to apologize, but he didn't.

Instead, they closed their eyes, got under the covers and slept, intertwined, as ever.

She used to dream about that horrible time and especially that night. She would wake in the night, tears soaked into the pillow, unable to catch her breath. She would pull him close and whisper into his skin over and over, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Sometimes, he would wake and hear her. Sometimes he comforted her.

Over the years, the sharp edges of those feelings smoothed into manageable, fleeting sensations. Occasional pebbles in their dispositions.

He grazed his knuckles across her cheek. "I don't," he said. "I don't need to let anything out, Scully," he dropped a kiss on her forehead. "I promise."

She nodded her understanding.

The ache of their son's absence was strong, but learning to focus their anger and blame elsewhere gave them a hope of sorts. Mostly the hope was that they would finally be content with the fact that he was not a part of their lives. But sometimes it was dream-like - a needling, painful hope that one day, regardless of the circumstances, they would find each other again.

~ Chapter 2 ~

Sometime after six, she'd fallen asleep again, and when she woke, she realized she'd slept longer than she'd intended. Fortunately, she'd phoned the hospital the night before and told them she'd be in late morning. If there was anything slightly critical, she was to be called.

She tumbled out of their bed and into the bathroom to use the toilet and splash her face. At the sink, she stared into her sleepy blue eyes in the mirror, blinked at her reflection.

"Not talking today?" Her reflection blinked back at her, silent.

Mulder was sitting at the breakfast table, drinking coffee and reading the paper, his long toes curled around the horizontal rung of his chair, right leg bouncing up and down. He looked up as she walked in.

"Don't I know you?"

She offered him a blank look and headed for the coffee, not quite ready for Mulder's maddening morning semi-wit.

Cup full, she joined him at the table. After a sip and a sigh of relief at the caffeine trickling into her system, she touched his hand, grasped two of his fingers. It was a question. Mulder pulled her grasping fingers to his lips and kissed them. She smiled at his answer and sipped her coffee, brushing his fingers back and forth with her own. About three quarters of the way through the brew, her cognitive abilities began to kick in again.

"I'll tell you what I'd really like to do," Scully said, picking up the threads of a conversation they'd started last week. "Mulder."

Mulder looked up from the paper, "Yeah."

"The house, Mulder."

"Move?"

"No. I like it out here. It's quiet and - no."

"Tear it down and start over?"

"I don't think we need to be that extreme," she said. "I was thinking more in terms of a paint job and a little landscaping. We wanted the house to fly under the radar with us all this time, but since we don't have to anymore..."

Mulder nodded, contemplating the idea. "You know I'm not much of a gardener, Scully."

"That's okay," she said, giving his fingers a squeeze and getting up for more coffee. "Just lend me a little muscle."

Mulder smirked to himself, but eschewed the suggestive retort. She wasn't awake enough to fully appreciate it. "'kay."

She sat back down next to him. In a fluid move, she slipped her fingers through his hair from his temple to the base of his skull and pulled his mouth down to hers for a thorough kiss which didn't so much stop as it did change locations as their lips slowly released - cheek to cheek, temple to temple, forehead to forehead. They sighed and Scully scratched her fingers against Mulder's scalp.

"White?" he asked.

"Green trim," she said and pulled her fingers from his hair. "Nothing too fancy with the landscaping. Cozy and green and peaceful. A little less..."

"Unremarkable?"

She smiled and patted his hand. "Scruffy," she said.

"The house must match the face?"

"I never said you looked scruffy," she said as her BlackBerry chirped from the bedroom. She rose and moved quickly up the stairs to answer it.

Mulder heard Scully's voice, a muffled, one-sided conversation through the walls. He heard her footfalls on the stairs and after a moment of silence, she walked back into the kitchen, phone to her ear. "Mm hm," she said and made eye contact with Mulder. "Both of us?"

To Mulder, Scully looked concerned. He mentally packed a bag of essentials and mapped the fastest route out of town.

"Yes, all right," she said into the phone. At this, she sounded less concerned and more irritated. Irritated was good. An irritated Scully was a -

"To expunge your record completely," she said immediately as she disconnected the call, "they need to talk briefly about the facts with you in order to get it on an official record. Since there was no official record."

"Well, fuck," he said impassively.

"Mulder, this is not what you think it is." She sat next to him. "His - and I mean Assistant Director Clarke's - assistant said they wanted to assure both of us that this was just an information gathering meeting. She said it would be one or two people, a few questions, and your words as to what happened. Mulder, apparently, the same year we took off, all but 1 of the 30 or so witnesses to Knowle Rohrer's death recanted their story and said that his fall was the result of your own self-defense. Why we were never located and contacted about it is a result of red tape and inefficiency. Why it was never mentioned when they called you in on the missing agent case in January is a result of deliberate, calculative manipulation: they wanted your help and they thought they could seize the opportunity to offer you a clean slate."

"But it was clean already," Mulder said.

Scully nodded. "Apparently, your expertise and consultations with NCAVC have not gone unnoticed. And they don't want a bitter man who believes he's a criminal in their eyes. They want Fox Mulder."

Mulder half smiled and Scully joined him.

"Your words or theirs?"

"Some are mine. The sentiment is theirs."

Mulder leaned toward her and kissed her, his hand lightly on her cheek. "So, when do we go in for this meeting? I'm assuming they want you, too."

She nodded, and got up to go to the refrigerator. "This afternoon, if we can. She said to call and arrange a more convenient time if necessary, but we might as well get it over with."

"Do you think they'll give me a fruit basket or something?"

Scully tossed a smirk over her shoulder and withdrew from the refrigerator with eggs and a carton of milk.

"Are you cooking?" he wondered, amazed. She was slicing bread, gathering spices and using utensils commonly associated with food preparation.

"I think a celebratory breakfast is in order," she said.

Mulder sat back in his chair and smiled. "Scully if you make me French toast, I will have to fuck you right here on this breakfast table."

Scully's hands stilled. As she looked over her shoulder at him, mouth agape in a shocked smile, a blush crept from her chest to her face.

"Okay," he said, "clearly, that came out of my mouth without any help from my brain."

Scully closed her mouth, regained her composure and turned back to the task of beating eggs, sugar, milk and spices. "I have no problem with the act itself." She turned on the stove. "I'm just concerned about the stability of the table."

Mulder smiled and noted that the blush coloring her cheeks and neck was spreading to her ears as she artfully tucked a few strands of hair behind one of them.

"I'll buy us a new one," he said. "I'm gainfully employed now, you know."

"That in itself is a turn on, Mulder."

He stood up and moved behind her, wrapped his arms around her, began a merciless assault - his lips to her right ear. She sighed and leaned back into him. "Mulder," she breathed. "You don't catch me cooking for you very often. You sure you want to preempt it like this?"

"Absolutely."

Scully had an egg in one hand and the nutmeg in the other. "Maybe we should wait until after breakfast," she said.

"Scully?"

"Hm?"

Mulder reached around her, took the egg and nutmeg out of her hands and turned her around to face him. He leaned in and kissed her, took her hand and led her out of the kitchen.

"I can't guarantee French toast after this, Mulder," she said as they disappeared up the stairs.

~ Chapter 3 ~

Office of Assistant Director for Administration
FBI Headquarters
Washington D.C.

Mulder and Scully sat beside one another in Assistant Director Clarke's outer office and silently took in the surroundings - the foot traffic in the hall outside (they each recognized the occasional face), the sounds, the smell. It wasn't actually pleasant; it felt more like an unappealing, but ultimately painless commitment as opposed to the dreaded, doom-filled event that was their last visit.

Despite the assurances, despite the absence of gunplay and cuffs, they were both still nervous, and Mulder's right leg bounced up and down at a clip, jiggling the row of chairs on either side of them. Every few moments, Scully would reach out and still his leg with a touch of her hand on his knee and a few moments later, his leg would begin bouncing again.

"Mulder," she whispered, and he stopped once again.

"Sorry," he sighed and glanced at his watch. "How long have we been sitting here?"

"Not that long. Relax."

At that moment, Assistant Director Clarke poked his head out his door. If he recognized the dear-in-headlights look worn by both former agents as their heads snapped up, he gave no indication. He nodded at them. "Dr. Scully, Mr. Mulder. Please come in."

Mulder and Scully rose and moved toward the door and Assistant Director Clarke's outstretched hand. They both shook it as they entered his office.

"Nice to see you, both," Clarke said. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Please have a seat," he said and gestured to the conference table. Already seated was a man serving as a court reporter of sorts. Mulder and Scully acknowledged him and sat down at the table.

"I must say," Clarke said, sitting. "I'm glad we're finally getting this done."

"I am, too," Mulder said and at that moment, Scully was uncommonly proud of him. There was very little venom in his voice.

Clarke nodded to the man taking notes. "This is Agent Knox. He'll be doing the transcript for us. We'll note at this time that seated with us is Dr. Dana Scully and Mr. Fox Mulder. I am Assistant Director Edward Clarke. Agent Robert Knox is performing transcript services today. I'll remind you that this is going to be the official record of the incident, Mr. Mulder, that culminated in your subsequent disappearance and in Dr. Scully's termination from the FBI -" he looked at Scully, "which will of course become an official resignation and not the termination that occurred in absentia in 2002."

"Yes, sir," Scully said.

Clarke smiled. "I have to get that all into the record. Please relax. We won't be pulling teeth, here. Can we get you some coffee?"

They declined and once again, Clarke nodded to Agent Knox. "Mr. Mulder," Clarke began, "briefly, you had officially been terminated by Director Alvin Kersch, uh," he glanced at his own notes, "May, 2001. Mr. Kersch resigned early 2005 which is why he is not present here today, but in November, 2004, he had made addenda to the record as to his reasons for your dismissal. The amendments to his report, in his own words, 'cast serious doubt upon the legitimacy of the dismissal itself.' He acknowledged some grievous errors on his part. Because of this, your termination will now be considered resignation and will be dated as of your - disappearance - in May, 2002."

Scully and Mulder glanced at each other, clearly surprised at the level of revisionism going on. They turned back to AD Clarke as he continued to speak and refer to his notes.

"These changes in both your records will now guarantee your early retirement pension and all monies owed you from uncollected salaries and benefits through 2002." Clarke glanced up at them and turned to Mulder who was not quite smiling, but obviously surprised. "Mr. Mulder. Feeling better about our meeting today?"

Mulder grinned and cocked his head. "It's not over yet."

Clarke smiled and chuckled through is nose. "Paranoid as ever, Mulder. If you would, please, recount for us the relevant points of what happened on that day at Mt. Weather."

Mulder nodded. "I'll be - as brief as I can," he cleared his throat and true to his word, recited concise bullet points rather than a rambling story of intrigue, deception and alien invasion.

He entered Mt. Weather - yes, under false pretenses - when he was anonymously presented with a keycard that gained him access. While at a computer terminal gathering information, he was discovered by Knowle Rohrer who reacted violently and threw him through a tempered glass screen. At that point, he ran and was chased deeper into the bowels of the complex. Cornered at a railing overlooking high voltage lines in the facility, Mr. Rohrer attempted to push Mulder over the side. Not having any desire to die and not considering the ramifications of his next actions, Mulder gained the upper hand in the brawl and sent his assailant to his "death."

Mulder's only hint that there was more to the story was a smirk and air quotes as he noted Knowle Rohrer's condition after plunging over the side of the railing.

"After that," Mulder said, "I was jailed and coerced by way of intimidation and physical violence into admitting my guilt. Cue the military tribunal and a long litany of incidents that had, really, nothing to do with what happened to Knowle Rohrer. He tried to kill me, but he died trying. Again, you know, 'died' being a relative term."

Scully smiled at that and released a long held breath. Unless Mulder planned to go into uncalled-for details, that was the end of the story. She glanced at him and could see that he was finished. She offered him a brief, telepathic thank you.

Clarke looked at Agent Knox. "Get all that?"

"Yes, sir."

"Please note for the record that all charges against Mr. Mulder for the previously cited incident have been dropped and that the Department of Justice will issue a retraction of charges and a pardon in writing within six weeks - uh, strike that. The Department of Justice will issue a letter bearing an official seal expunging Mr. Mulder's record with regard to this incident," he glanced at them. "A pardon would be appropriate had the charges and methods of acting on them been legitimate. They obviously were not.

"At any rate," he said with a breath of relief, "I think that about does it." His eyes swiveled back and forth between Mulder and Scully. "Are you satisfied that this has been resolved?"

"I think I'd like that letter from the DOJ," Mulder said. "But, yes, I think I am," he turned to Scully. "Are you satisfied, Dr. Scully?"

She turned to Clarke, nodding. "Thank you, sir. I wasn't expecting something this - expeditious."

Clarke nodded in understanding; there were few government agencies noted for their alacrity. "The FBI deeply regrets the misfortune to which you were subjected. That's the party line. Personally, I'm sorry as hell this happened. And I'm happy, Mr. Mulder, to have you working for us again even if it is as a civilian in a consultative capacity. You're suited to this work."

"Thank you, sir," Mulder said shaking Clarke's hand. Clarke stood and offered it to Scully, as well.

"Yes, thank you. We're very grateful," she said.

Clarke nodded, turned to Mulder and allowed a grin to break through. His eyes sparkled. "Come into the light, Mulder. All are welcome."

"Oh," Mulder said with a grin and turned to Scully. "Little Poltergeist joke," he said and Clarke chuckled.

"Sorry," Clarke said, amused at himself. "Nobody else would get that."

A very brief, but nonetheless, uncomfortable silence blanketed the office.

"Well," said Clarke. "That about wraps it up." He smiled again. "Would you like to take the tour?"

Saturday, April 12^th
Mulder's and Scully's House
Rural Virginia

He heard her footsteps on the stairs. "Who would've thought that it would be easier to come back from the dead than it is to get the IRS to acknowledge a new tax status," Mulder called out. She stepped into his lair to find him shuffling papers, booklets and his coffee cup around the surface of his desk.

"Well, the situation is unique. Slow going?"

"Like lava, Scully, only not as pleasant."

"Why don't we just get a tax attorney to take care of it? Save you a headache."

"Nope. It's a mission now," he said, scribbling on a form. "A quest."

Scully smiled. She stepped behind him and touched the top of his head, affectionately sifting his hair through her fingers. "Watch out for windmills." She leaned over and kissed his temple. "I'll see you tonight. Leftovers, take-out or do you want to cook?"

He looked up at her and smiled. "We have eggs. I'll make omelets."

She smiled. "I promise, I'll cook tomorrow," she said. "Oh. I left you some links to look at," she said indicating his computer.

"Anything good?" he asked with a smirk.

"Hawaii," she said. "Places to stay, rates, times. Look hard at the one on Kauai in Hanalei."

"Will do," he said

"Good luck with the taxes," she offered and left the room. Mulder smiled, and he heard the front door open and close.

He returned to shuffling his papers. "If they don't get you with a trumped up murder charge and a kangaroo court, they get you with Line H, Box 5," he said loudly to the room. "They call me crazy," he mumbled. "Forms out my ass... Miscreants."

Mulder's vibrating cell phone danced across his papers. He picked up his coffee, leaned back in his chair and connected the call. "Bring home mushrooms and you can have your way with me after dinner."

"Fox Mulder?"

Mulder's coffee cup stopped as it reached his lips. It was a man. Something about the tone. Something about the question in the voice. Something. Plus no one had this number, but Scully. He engaged his brain. "How did you get this number?"

"I - sorry? I don't - from, no, from my -," the man attempted. Finally, "I'd rather not say," he said. "Is this Fox Mulder?"

"Hm. I'd rather not say."

Silence. "Yes, fair enough. Let me cut to the chase, Mr. Mulder. I have your son."

~ Chapter 4 ~

For the first time in years, Scully left the gate at the head of the driveway unlocked behind her. Latched, but not locked. It was a new world.

She walked through the front door to find him lying on the couch, his bare feet crossed at one end, arms folded behind his head at the other.

"Honey, you're home," he said, eyes closed.

Scully pulled off her coat and dropped her briefcase on the chair. She stood over him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm - " He stopped and sighed. "Thinking."

Scully frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know yet." Mulder sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the couch. He patted the empty space next to him. "Sit."

Alarms and air raid sirens went off in her head. Hesitantly, she lowered herself down and perched on the edge of the cushions. "What. What is it?"

"It's - uh," he started. Don't hedge, he thought. Like a band-aid. "It's William."

A range of emotions fluttered over her face, butterflies looking for a place to land. They were still settling as Mulder finished.

"I got a call. A man in Arizona -" Mulder shook his head, clearing it. "I don't know how to - he said he has William."

"What? Has? How has? Is he, what, kidnapped? Is he hurt? Where are his - his parents? Why did he - how did he call you? How did he get your num-"

"Okay," Mulder said, taking her hand. "Please calm down. I don't know much more than you do right now. He called this morning after you left and - "

"This morning! Why didn't you call me?"

"Scully, I've been - there was no point. He's going to call back tonight, and there was absolutely nothing either of us could have done had you known any sooner." Scully sighed in frustration. "I'm sorry. You're right, I should have called you."

"Damn right you should have." She paused, rewinding the tape in her head. "Calm down?!"

"This isn't necessarily bad news," he said and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay," he said, "I didn't mean to - I'm sorry. My bad, okay, Scully, let's let it go and move on," he said, his tone indicating he was through apologizing. "Okay?"

She sighed, closing her eyes to the headache that was beginning at her temple. "Okay."

They were silent for a moment as Scully caught her breath and Mulder mentally reattached his testicles. She finally drew one leg onto the couch so that she was fully facing him.

"Can you tell me exactly what this man said?"

"Mr. Mulder, I'm a former associate of a man with whom you were once familiar."

"Not in the biblical sense, I assume?" he asked. Mulder's pulse was pounding and his face was hot. He hoped he didn't have a heart attack before he found out what this was all about.

"It's likely you never knew his name, so it's pointless to go into the details. Suffice to say, he was on your side - most of the time."

"Go on," Mulder said.

"Your son came to me, Mr. Mulder. I did not abduct him and I am not asking for a ransom. And before you speak, I am aware that you are his natural father. And that Dana Scully is his natural mother. The adoptive parents have not yet been contacted."

"Assuming I believe any of this, why the hell not?"

"They'll be notified in time. Now, it is not in their best interests. Or yours."

"Then let me -"

"Mr. Mulder, please be at this number at 9 pm tonight. I'll call back and I'll tell you what you want to know."

The call disconnected before Mulder could speak again. The thought that was to be a question came out in a groan of disappointment when he heard the click. He spent the next fifteen minutes simply staring at the top of his desk and thinking about the newborn baby he'd once held in his arms.

Scully sat stunned next to Mulder on the couch. Finally she asked, "what are we going to do?"

"We're going to find out what he has to say when he calls back."

Scully nodded, still not quite comprehending. She had a million questions floating in her head. It seemed she could only put words to one. "Do you think he was talking about Deep Throat? His associate."

"I'm betting on X, but I don't think it really matters."

"Oh," she sighed, distracted. "How do you know he's in Arizona, Mulder?"

"I had the call traced. Payphone."

Scully sighed and slipped her hand into his. "He'll be seven next month."

Mulder nodded and hung his head. Scully brushed his cheek where there may or may not have been tears and draped her arms around him. They held each other and waited.

~ Chapter 5 ~

8:45 pm
Mulder's and Scully's House
Rural Virginia

Neither of them could eat. They sat. They spoke of trivialities and occasionally of earth shattering events, but mostly they sat in silence staring at Mulder's phone on the coffee table in front of them. Earlier, Scully had averted possible disaster when she'd wordlessly retrieved the charger for his phone and plugged it in.

Mulder peered over at the clock on the wall. 8:47. He hoped the man was punctual. He felt Scully next to him, her hip to his. Except for her posture - perched on the very edge of the couch - she was deceptively stoic. He was fairly certain that her head was exploding in as many directions as his was, you would just never know it to look at her.

He touched her knee with a finger and she jumped. "Sorry," he said. "I want you to put your special agent hat on, Scully. Get in the mindset. No matter what he says, don't become the tormented parent, okay?"

Had she been less of a tormented parent at that moment, she might have taken offense. He was absolutely right, though. Remember the mindset. She'd not had occasion or inclination to think like an agent for more than five years, but she was still the same person. Surely, she could slip back into it again under dire circumstances - which is what these were.

Okay. He's an informant, possibly a criminal, possibly a government agent. Her sense of irony, tucked away in another part of her brain, missed the joke as she moved on. He had information on a missing boy. Her boy. In body only. Another mother was desperately missing her son. Desperately.

Mulder's phone began vibrating, and with one hand on Scully's knee for balance, he pressed the connect button. Speaker on, they both heard the connection click. A whooshing, static-y background and a man's voice broke the silence before Mulder did. It sounded like a payphone next to a freeway. Or it could just be a bad connection.

"Hello?"

"Yes," Mulder said. "I'm here."

"Good. I'm going to assume that Dr. Scully is there, as well."

"Yes, I'm here," Scully said, her voice slightly hoarse with stress.

"That's fine. I'll be brief. It is not my intention, here, to lead you a merry chase or agitate you needlessly. Your son has some obvious abilities beyond the normal six - seven year old boy which, I imagine, contributes to how he managed to leave Wyoming and cross Utah from top to bottom by himself."

"Oh, my God," Scully muttered under her breath.

"Yes," the man said, "I thought the same thing. However, he didn't levitate here, Dr. Scully. I think he took a Greyhound. And as it is not unheard of for small children to travel alone, particularly if they are intelligent and resourceful, he was not stopped until I found him. Rather he found me."

"Why would he come to you?" Mulder asked.

"Good question, Mr. Mulder. Coincidence? Fate? Nature or nurture. Maybe he can tell you."

They heard a muffled sound, and both of them, as if the room had slowly tilted on a gimbal, leaned toward the phone.

"Hi," they heard a small voice say.

Scully covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes suddenly filling with tears.

"Um - are you my other mom and dad?" the boy asked. He had a small voice, but it wasn't weak or broken with tears. It was just young.

"Will -" Mulder started and cleared his throat. "William?"

"Yeah, I'm William. Are you - um - Fox?"

Mulder chuckled, eyes brimming. "Uh, yeah."

"Is she there, too?"

Trying to pull it together, Scully nodded at the phone.

"He can't see that," Mulder said gently to her.

"I'm here," she said suddenly. "I'm here, William."

"It's Dana?" he asked.

"Yeah," she managed.

"'kay," he said. And after a few moments of interminable silence, he added, "I remember you."

They heard muffled sounds once again as the phone was passed between hands.

"Okay," the man said as he came back on the line.

"Wait! Is he okay? William? Is he all right?"

"He's fine, Mr. Mulder. You heard him yourself."

"Yes, but -" Mulder started.

"Meet us, Mr. Mulder. Let's not do this over the phone. Come to Kayenta, Arizona. Kayenta. It's about 150 miles north of Flagstaff. There's a Holiday Inn there. I suggest you call ahead and make reservations. When you arrive, check in and I'll leave a number at the desk where I can be contacted, and we'll arrange to meet. Until then, you won't hear from me."

And the connection terminated. They sat, once again, stunned and silent. After several long minutes, Scully got up and went outside. She walked down their long driveway in the dark and locked the gate.

Mulder packed for them while Scully called the hotel and went online for plane tickets. They talked little until they fell into bed around 2 am, exhausted - more from stress than exertion.

Surprisingly, she'd felt herself slipping back into her investigative mode of thinking without any more prompting, but with a caveat. Cases involving children always did push her instinct-over-intellect war into overdrive. She was always assaulted with her own maternal instincts, personally involving herself until it was difficult to separate the FBI agent from the woman who wanted children of her own someday.

If it was difficult to balance then, it was nearly impossible now, so she didn't try, but the warring feelings were the same, familiar and disquieting, and they kept her on her toes.

They lay next to each other, each staring at the ceiling. Her thoughts, she knew, were twisting and twining around his to become a single-minded idea.

"How many, Mulder?" she said quietly into the darkness. She felt him processing, running back the tape on the hours after the phone call.

"Scenarios," he finally concluded and she nodded even though he wasn't looking at her. "A few - including one starting with 'Daddy, why'd you run out on Mommy.'" Mulder cringed. That left a bitter taste in his mouth, and he reached out his hand to take hers. She squeezed it and took the opportunity to pull him toward her. He turned onto his belly, his arm draped over her, his head resting on the pillow next to hers. His breath puffed below her ear.

"Mostly," he said, "I'm thinking about what the hell I'm going to say to his - father when we take him back."

She nodded and sighed, and against all odds, they both closed their eyes and managed to sleep.

~ Chapter 6 ~

Sunday, April 13^th
7:15 pm
35,000 feet over Colorado

The only flight they could get non-stop to Arizona was not non-stop and not to Arizona. After four hours which included a sprint to the departing gate at Dulles and an hour layover in Denver, they were still an hour and a half from Farmington, New Mexico. From there, they'd have to drive another two and a half hours to get to Kayenta.

"Scully," Mulder said after the flight attendant had dropped two box dinners on their trays, "flying isn't what it used to be. We used to get crappy hot meals," he sniffed the cellophane-wrapped box and fumbled with the seals. "Cold." Armed with longer nails, Scully had already sliced into her cellophane with surgical precision. She opened the box and tapped her roll against her tray table. "And hard," he said, observing.

"It's a new world, Mulder," she said and eschewed her roll for a slice of salami.

Mulder ate the cookies and dropped the rest into the garbage bag when the flight attendant walked by. "Thanks. Could I have two Bloody Marys?" he asked. She nodded and continued down the aisle.

"I don't want a drink, Mulder."

"They're both for me," he said flipping through an in-flight magazine. "Hey, Scully, did you know that Sean Connery tried out for Manchester United?"

"Mm." She was staring out the window. The darkness obscured any view she might have had, but she wasn't really seeing anyway. She was remembering his face, the softness of his perfect skin, the sweet smell of him as she held him to her breast...

A few minutes later, the flight attendant brought Mulder's drinks and, with a wink, dropped another package of cookies onto his tray. He didn't stop to wonder if he was being flirted with. He opened the package and tapped Scully's forearm with one of his cookies. Scully smiled and took it from him. After a moment, she reached out and took one of the drinks.

"Thank you," she said and took a long sip of the spicy concoction. "Who do you think this man is, Mulder? I'm sure you have an opinion."

"I have many. I'm betting on a fed of some flavor."

"That's a pretty safe bet."

"Yeah. Whether or not he is or was a part of our cigarette smoking friend's syndicate or whether or not he's part of that project or in its periphery in some other way - I don't know."

"Maybe he's an alien," Scully suggested.

Mulder glanced at her, a wry grin at his lips. "You know just what to say now, don't you?"

Scully smiled fondly at him, searching his face. "What are we going to say to him, Mulder?" she asked suddenly.

Mulder stuffed his magazine on the seat next to him. He knew immediately she wasn't talking about the man anymore. "Depends on what he says to us, I suppose. We can't possibly know what he's feeling or what he thinks about us or - what he knows..."

"Or what he's grown into," Scully finished for him and he nodded. "God, Mulder, I'm so nervous, I feel like my heart it going to pound out of my chest."

He took her hand and they twined their fingers. "We'll deal with it," he said.

She sighed and smiled in spite of herself. "I've faced monsters and murderers. Now, I'm more terrified of this little boy than I ever was of all that - unknown."

"Buck up, Starbuck," he said and sipped his drink. "I've got a feeling this is all going to turn out all right."

She turned to look up at him and smiled. He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it.

By the time they landed in Farmington and rented the last available car of questionable reliability, it was past 10 pm. The two lane highway they were on eventually left civilization behind and darkness truly settled in around them.

"Mulder, if this car breaks down out here..."

"I know," he said. "We're fucked. Don't worry, it's not a clunker. It appears to be running fine and we've only got about another two hours or so. I think the last hour and a half through Arizona will be more like this, though," he said glancing up through the windshield.

"It's so dark out there."

"No city lights - to speak of," he nodded toward the windshield. "Look at the stars."

Scully leaned forward and looked up into the blackness. "Oh, my. Look at that."

It was beautiful.

Two hours later they were fed up with stars and just wanted a bed to fall into.

They checked in at the front desk and, as promised, were handed a phone number along with their room key. They entered their ground floor room where Scully made a beeline for the bathroom. Mulder dropped their bags on the floor at the foot of one of the two double beds and slowly turned to take in the surroundings. It was a study in lavender. Scully came out of the bathroom giving the bed, the floor and the lamp in the corner a cursory glance.

"Hm," she grunted.

"Just like old times, Scully."

She smiled. "Give me the number. Let's call him."

"Scully, it's almost 2 in the morning. Let's get some sleep and we'll call in a few hours."

She exhaled a frustrated breath knowing that his was the better idea. "Fine," she said. "In the morning."

"Are you hungry at all?" he asked, rubbing his own stomach.

"Not really."

"Candy bar?" he asked. "Cheese and crackers?" He dug out the change in his pocket. "I think they even had granola bars in the vending machine. You should eat something."

"Anything," she said dropping down onto the bed. "No candy."

Monday, April 14^th
6:25 am
Holiday Inn, Kayenta, AZ

An uneasy, fitful night finally gave way to morning, chilly and uncomfortable.

In the night, Mulder had wrapped himself around her and at some point had managed to pin her arm behind her back and kept it there long enough for her to completely lose circulation. He must have been dreaming about apprehending a felon. She was warm, but in considerable discomfort.

"Mulder. Oh, Mulder, wake up. I can't move my arm."

"Mm, sorry," he gave her arm back and stretched as she massaged the feeling back into her numb limb.

They each crawled out of bed, stiff, and after only four hours of unconsciousness, still in desperate need of a decent night's sleep.

"Splash your face and wake up, Mulder. Let's call."

Mulder's head bobbed, not quite up and down, but it approximated agreement.

"Make coffee," he managed and went into the bathroom.

Scully eyed the small coffee maker and prepared the brew without really paying attention to what she was doing. She closed her eyes as she pressed the button to start the drip and saw herself in her old apartment, William clutched to her with one arm, making coffee with the other - the slow motion memories of those mornings with her son at two months, five months, nine months. It was a memory to which she frequently went back - pain and unrivaled joy at once.

"Okay," Mulder said, startling her as he stepped out of the bathroom. "Let's go."

She moved to him at the little table in the room as he set his phone to speaker and punched in the number. He didn't sit and neither did she; it felt wrong to adopt a relaxed pose. He glanced at her. "Ready?"

She nodded and he pressed send. The phone rang, three times, four times and went to voicemail.

"Dammit," Scully whispered.

"It's okay," Mulder said as he was instructed to leave a message. "It's Fox Mulder. We're in Kayenta at the Holiday Inn on Route 163. It's after six - almost seven," he said and left his cell number and Scully's, just in case. "Please call us as soon as you get this." He looked at Scully and his face crumpled at the disappointment on her own. "We're here," he said. "We're waiting."

Mulder disconnected the call. And they waited.

~ Chapter 7 ~

"If you can call it a bright side," Mulder said around a mouthful of fried potatoes and onions, "the food here is really good."

Scully was alternating between picking and actually eating, an act she knew she had to perform in order to keep her strength up. It wouldn't do for her to allow her blood sugar to drop and pass out. She had to agree with Mulder. The bites she took and paid attention to were delicious.

"Of course it's good, Mulder. It's fried, it's comfort food - God knows we needed some comfort food."

Mulder shrugged his agreement and dove back into his eggs and spicy sausage. Scully picked up the Navajo fry bread, dipped it into her egg yolk and savored the flavor.

"When is he going to call?"

Mulder knew it was rhetorical, but answered anyway. "He may not call until tonight, Scully. We have to be prepared to stick it out all day. Or as long as it takes." She nodded, dejected. "Hey, we've done this before - this waiting. We know how to do this."

She smiled at him, correcting his perception with a cock of her head. "We've never done this before, Mulder," and he sighed in understanding.

She returned her attention to her plate, rearranging the food, counting the stars in her head, counting the mornings with William at two months, five months, nine months. The waitress came back to their table and wordlessly refilled their cups.

Two months, five months, nine months.

Scully stirred cream into her coffee and lost herself in the swirls.

3:30 pm
Holiday Inn, Kayenta

Mulder was stretched out on the bed in their room, his big, bare feet hanging off the end. He was staring up at the ceiling.

Scully was tapping on her laptop at the little table. A word here and a word there occasionally gave way to bursts of thought as fast as she could type.

Mulder glanced over at her. "You're not online."

"No," she said. "Still no connection."

"What are you doing?"

Scully glanced up at him, looking a little guilty. "Um - it's personal?" Not a question, but a plea: Please let me have this to myself.

"Okay," he said, not in the least bit bothered, yet she pushed on, compelled to explain.

"I'm doing it for myself, first. It's a letter. It's for myself now, maybe for William later. Maybe for you. For now, it's for me."

He smiled at her. "Okay."

She sighed and closed the laptop. "This is killing me."

"No, it's not. Watch TV."

"I don't want to," she said. She came dangerously close to sounding petulant - allowing her level of frustration to show through her otherwise stoic veneer.

"Want to play cards?"

She shook her head and stood up. She began pacing, another visible fracture in the Scully Armor. Mulder followed her progress around the room with his eyes. Eventually, she stopped at the edge of the bed and looked down at his still, seemingly relaxed form.

"Why aren't you going off the deep end with me?" she asked, not without a tinge of humor. He half chuckled and closed his eyes. "You have an occasional and disquieting tendency towards complete apathy at the oddest times, Mulder."

"I'm feeling torpor-ific, Scully," he said wiggling his toes. His smile reached the corners of his closed eyes. "Somebody in this operation's got to stay out of the deep end. Guess it's my turn to do that," he opened his eyes and took her hand, pulling her down to sit next to him on the bed. "And you know what else?" he whispered. She shook her head. "I'm going to see my son," he beamed when he said it.

Scully crawled over him and laid herself down, resting her head on his shoulder. Her palm to his chest, she was soothed by the thud of his heartbeat.

They'd talked about it plenty - William. In Mulder's mind, it had been talked about to death and resolved - inasmuch as an irresolvable situation can be resolved; the deed had been done. And as much as he might have wished for overruling power over the physics of the time/space continuum, he couldn't turn back the clock. Not without fucking something up even worse, he was sure.

Was he angry? Yes. Was Scully to blame? No. Would things have turned out differently had Mulder been there? Yes. Would he have let William go? Never.

Was he angry? Damn right. Was he angry at Scully?

Scully was Their mechanism. She wasn't the brains of the operation that forced her hand to give William away "for his safety." She was used. She was convinced. Somehow, he was sure, giving William up for adoption was exactly what They wanted. Whoever "They" were now.

Was he angry at Scully?

Unlike Mulder, Scully was not under the impression that the issue had been resolved between them. She claimed to, but Mulder was certain that she wouldn't see it as over until Mulder killed her or left her or both. This, he knew, is how guilty she was. It was consuming her.

Was he angry at Scully?

Mulder shook his head, staring up at the ceiling of the hotel room. Scully had dropped off and her fingers were lightly kneading at his chest.

Was he? Mulder closed his own eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.

A sudden pounding at the door to their room made them both jump, wrenching them from their afternoon dreams.

"Jesus," Scully said. "Mulder -"

"Yeah," he said. They both got up and moved to the door. Mulder pulled back the edge of the curtains and peered out the window.

"Oh," Mulder said, but it was more a slight and involuntary sound than an acknowledgement. "He's not a fed, Scully. He's a little too short." Mulder pulled the door open so they could both see.

William stood outside the door, ramrod straight, his sneakered feet together. He was tall for his age, and Scully imagined he could easily pass for eight.

William looked back and forth between the two faces before him, mouth agape, eyes wide. His light brown hair was a little too long and a little too messy, but his eyes were clear and blue and in a matter of moments, his mouth closed, and he seemed to gather his wits. He offered them a lopsided smile.

"Hi," the boy said. "I didn't know what you looked like."

"We," Mulder started and cleared his throat. "We didn't know what you looked like either."

William eyed them both again and finally settled on Mulder. "I look like you," he said matter-of-factly.

Mulder had to work at it not to burst into tears. He smiled and nodded at his son.

Scully was having no trouble covering her emotions since she wasn't really trying. Fortunately for everyone involved, she was not sobbing uncontrollably, and she thanked whatever inner strength she had left for that. Still, her eyes welled and a tear spilled over. Maybe two. A smile on her face, she kneeled down to look him in the eye.

William started to take a step toward her and stopped himself. "Um," he said and looked up at Mulder, including him in the exchange. "Can I," he started and turned to Scully, "hug you?"

Her language skills apparently gone, Scully just nodded her head again. William stepped forward and tentatively, loosely, put his arms around her neck. She held him lightly, letting him control it.

It was brief, too brief, and Scully already missed him when he pushed back from her. William glanced up at Mulder. Mulder, unsure of himself, opened his hands in invitation. Clearly embarrassed, the boy nodded and stepped into Mulder's arms. Again, it was brief, unsure. Not perfunctory, but more the actions of a young boy being introduced to the aunt and uncle he's never met.

William pulled away from Mulder and stuck his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. He cocked his head and grinned at them. "That wasn't as hard as I thought," he said.

"Look at you." Scully was marveling at him. "I can't believe it."

Clearly embarrassed at being the object of their adoration, William fidgeted and glanced at the surroundings.

Mulder finally peered out beyond William. "Where is the man we've been talking to, William?"

William swung his head around to look behind him and in the distance, a man leaning against a car pushed forward and started toward them. He didn't look like a fed - at least not a typical one. Mulder was often told he didn't look like a fed either which he usually took as a compliment.

"Mr. Mulder," the man said as he approached. "Dr. Scully. Nice to finally meet you. We're in Navajo Nation so we can't have a drink, but perhaps a lemonade, and we can talk."

The man blithely dropped his hand on William's shoulder and Mulder was instantly jealous with his ease. "Maybe Dana will buy you that chocolate shake you've been wanting, William," he said and winked at Scully. Had the man projected an air of oiliness about him, Scully would have grabbed William right there and run, but it was a friendly wink, and the hand on William's shoulder seemed protective, not threatening.

William's eyes lit up at the prospect of a chocolate shake and he looked hopefully at Scully who smiled and for the first time since they opened the door, felt herself breathe.

They sat in the back of the little dining room - Mulder and Scully on one side of the table, William and the man on the other. Other than ordering their drinks, they'd said nothing. Mulder wasn't sure who was waiting for whom, though William seemed content to just drink his milkshake.

He sat opposite Scully, hands in his lap, leaning over the table and slowly extracting the thick, chocolaty shake through his straw. In a show of solidarity, Scully happily got a milkshake, too, while Mulder and the man both drank tart, icy lemonade.

"Anything you want to say," the man said suddenly, "you can say in front of William. He's unusually smart, and he knows more than you think he does."

Mulder considered this for a moment. He nudged Scully under the table with his knee. "First thing, William," he started and glanced at the man. "Have you called your parents yet? They need to know that you're okay."

"I told you," the man said. "They don't need to know yet - "

"They do!" Scully said suddenly and, with a glance around the table, apologized for raising her voice. "You know that they do." Not interested in making eye contact with anyone, she looked up at the ceiling. "They must be going out of their minds..."

"They're not," William said. "I mean, they don't go out of their minds." Off Mulder's puzzled look, William continued. "I've kinda run away before."

Scully frowned. "William. Why? Are you -" She wanted to ask it more than anything. She wanted a reason. Any reason. "Are you unhappy at home?"

William didn't appear offended. He simply shrugged it off. "Naw. I just - go places. I never went this far though. Usually, it's just to my Uncle Mike's in Green River," he shrugged again. "It's not very far."

Mulder smiled at him. "William, when they call your Uncle to ask if you're there and you're not, they will be worried. We have to call them."

William nodded in resignation. "I guess they'll be mad."

"Oh, I think they'll be really happy to hear from you," Scully said. "Not mad."

"Think so?"

Scully nodded and reached out to briefly touch William's hand. "If I - " she started and realized how hard it would be to say: If I were your mother... She soldiered on, but altered her words so it wouldn't hurt as much. "If you had run away from me, left home without telling me, I would be very worried and not mad and very, very happy to hear from you. Wherever you were."

William nodded again.

"Okay," the man suddenly said, a bit impatient with the parental concern. He glanced at his watch. "Let's move on, shall we?"

Mulder nodded contemplatively and folded his hands in front of him on the table. "How, did you know, William," he asked without specifying a reference. He wondered how and what William would glean from his question.

His feet were swinging and his tennis shoes hit the table leg again and again. Thud, thud. He shrugged, and pushed the straw to one corner of his mouth. "I dunno." He looked up at Mulder and then swung his gaze over to Scully. "You mean, how did I know about you?" Scully nodded. "I just knew," he said.

Mulder and Scully processed this as the boy returned to his shake. After a another pull at the straw, he looked up at them again. "I knew to come here. Something - I dunno - it made me look at a map and find this place," he took another sip, satisfied he could do so without losing his place in the conversation. "I know things just by thinking about them, sometimes. That's how I knew about you. I know Mom and Dad adopted me; they told me that. When I wondered - thought about who my real mom and dad might be, I knew it would be you. I didn't know your names for a long time or what you looked like - I dunno, it's hard to explain."

"That's okay," Mulder said.

"I know about the gray guys."

Scully lifted a brow and waited for him to finish.

"The aliens. The gray guys and the goopy stuff. And I know there's something I have that everybody needs. Before they get here for good." He looked at Scully, obviously needing a confirmation. "I never talked about this with anybody. Is that right?"

She could only answer him honestly. "I don't know, William."

William took another sip of his shake and shrugged again. "I think it's right." He looked at Mulder. "But that's why you're here. To help me figure it out - right?"

"We'll help you," Mulder said.

"I have a computer at home," William blurted out of the blue. "I use it to look up stuff."

"Oh. We brought a laptop you can use," Mulder said.

"Cool," said William. He looked at Scully. "Yours is in your neck, right?"

Scully was taken aback. She swallowed and managed to hide her shock. "Sort of," she said smiling.

William nodded. "There's a better kind," he said. "For you."

Mulder and Scully glanced at each other. "Not where you found hers," William said to Mulder. He shook his head, obviously trying to come up with the answers to all the questions flooding his brain. "I dunno - I think it might be where we're going."

"Where are we going, William?" Scully asked.

William had reached the bottom of his shake evidenced by the pocket of air he hit and sucked through his straw. "Mm. I'm not sure what it's called. I think I can show you on a map, though." William seemed to be growing more relaxed and comfortable in Mulder's and Scully's presence as each moment went by. Suddenly out of left field: "Do you know about the supersoldiers?"

The man glanced at William, a puzzled look on his face. Mulder caught the look. Interesting... "What about them?" Mulder asked.

"Supersoldier?" the man asked. He looked at Scully. "What the hell's a supersoldier? What is that - like a Transformer?"

"Oh, let's not go there," Scully said.

"How did you find Mister...?" Mulder nodded in the man's direction, maneuvering the conversation.

"Roy," the man said. "I think it's in his DNA," the man said, doing his own maneuvering.

Scully scoffed, shaking her head. "What?"

"Yeah, like birds flying south and salmon swimming upstream."

William looked at Roy. "And baby turtles going into the ocean?" Roy nodded and William looked at Mulder. "I saw that on Nat Geo - National Geographic channel. It was really neat. Or like that movie about the penguins."

Mulder grinned at him and glanced at Scully's incredulous look. "In a sense, right? I mean instinct and reflexes, the collective memories of all who've gone before us - if William just knows, isn't that instinct? Isn't that genetic memory? Is it so implausible, knowing what we know, Scully, that he was just born with this information?"

Scully thought about this, weighing. "What if it's just," Scully sighed, not quite believing this was her alternative theory, "information via telepathic communication?"

Mulder grinned and sipped at his lemonade. "Telepathic from whom?"

"Does it really matter?" Roy asked. "Isn't it enough to know that he knows?"

Scully smiled at William. "I think maybe William understands that it's nice to know why something is the way it is."

William smiled and nodded at her. "I like the Science channel, too" William offered.

"Me, too," Mulder said. "I also like cheeseburgers."

William's eyes doubled in size as he shared a smile with his father.

~ Chapter 9 ~

6:45 pm
Holiday Inn, Kayenta, AZ

Three cheeseburgers (and a chef salad for Scully) later, they walked out of the restaurant and stepped into the brisk April evening air. Mulder and Roy had stepped out first followed by Scully and William.

"And that one - um," William was saying, "about those caves, and the one cave in - I forget where - um, how all the stalag - stalac - "

"Stalactites?" Scully wondered.

"Yeah. Sta-lac-tites... and stuff - they're all white and crystally. I think it's in Mexico. Like milk?"

Mulder glanced back at them as they walked into the parking lot. "Lechuguilla, William, in New Mexico," Mulder said. "Leche. Close."

"Le-chu-guill-a," William echoed, pronouncing each syllable. "Yeah. That was really cool." He looked up at Scully. "Did you like Planet Earth?"

Scully nodded and smiled at him. "I did."

"Which one was your favorite?"

Scully pondered - a little more animated than normal for William's benefit - and while she was at it, surreptitiously rested her hand on William's shoulder as they walked. She needed to touch him. "Hmmm. I liked the one with the sharks."

"The great whites? Yeah, that one was neat," he said. He stared at the ground as they walked, seemingly content, nodding his head to some beat only he could hear. He looked up at Scully. "How come you got a salad instead of a cheeseburger when you really-I-could-tell wanted a cheeseburger?"

Scully smiled and looked at the back of Mulder's head. He hadn't turned to look at her, but she knew he was grinning. "If I had a cheeseburger and fries every time I wanted some, I'd be too big to fit through the door," she said and puffed out her cheeks. "Especially French fries. And ketchup."

They'd stopped at Roy's car.

"You ate some of mine," William observed.

"She does that," Mulder said and Mulder could see the boy absorb this information as the smile bloomed on his face. An interesting, inconsequential new fact about his mother.

"Well," Roy said. "I'm gonna go. Got a long drive back to Flagstaff."

Scully's face fell as she looked at Mulder and then down to William who was digging in his pockets for something. There hadn't been enough time. Never would be enough time, but this - oh, it wasn't fair.

"William," Roy started, "you okay with the plan still?"

The boy looked up at him and nodded casually, still digging in his pockets. "Yeah. I'm okay. Thanks for the ride and stuff."

As Roy smiled, Mulder and Scully finally realized what was happening. William was staying with them. "And," Roy started, "I'm guessing this will be all right with you two?"

"Yes. Sure. Of course," Scully said.

Roy stuck out his hand at William who stopped digging in his jeans long enough to shake the man's hand. "I'll see you again, I hope, William."

William shrugged. "Okay. Thanks again."

"Dr. Scully," he said offering his hand. She took it, shook it warmly and mouthed a thank you. He nodded back and turned to Mulder.

"Uh, Scully why don't you take William back to the room. I'll be right there," Mulder said.

They turned and Mulder watched Scully drop her hand on the back of the boy's neck as she guided him back to their room. Mulder turned to Roy.

"First," Mulder said, "thank you. Thank you for contacting us, thank you for getting him here safely."

Roy nodded and narrowed his eyes at Mulder. "And?"

"And," Mulder started, "what do you get out of all this? What's the angle? We never did find out why William came to you. And you lied when William brought up supersoldiers - feigning ignorance. Why? Who are you, really?"

"I'm - a former colleague of a man you knew as - mostly an enemy, but I do believe he died giving you information that would save Dr. Scully's life. Dapper Brit. You know who I mean."

"Yeah."

"I wasn't in the group, Mr. Mulder. I was a tangential part of the project - in league with those few who were adamant on the subject of developing an antidote and a vaccine for the alien threat. He was our man on the inside, but we were not on the side of complicity with the colonists and that meant we were on the outside. Fringe element. We were not highly regarded. We weren't even invited to the group barbecues," he caught himself and smiled. "Ah. No pun intended."

"Fortunate for you, then," Mulder added, and the phantom smell of burnt bodies wafted around him. He sighed heavily. "Why? Why did William come to you?"

"Mr. Mulder, I swear to God I don't know. I work at Luke Air Force Base. I'd rather not tell you my rank, but I'm not in command. I was taking a few days off, went to the Grand Canyon. When it's only an hour and half away, you don't really have an excuse not to go, so I go every once in a while. Hike, camp. You know. I was in Mather Campground. I was cooking a steak and this kid walks up to me. He wasn't scared, he wasn't lost - he walked up and sat down and said, 'smells good.' He asked me if I knew you. When he told me who he was..." Roy shrugged. "That's it. I don't know how he knew or even if he knew how or why. All I know is, he did and I'm not the kind of guy that leaves a kid to wander on his own - especially if he's the savior of the planet."

Mulder chuckled mirthlessly and shook his head. "Okay."

"Okay," Roy said. "He's yours now. I'm not involved in this anymore, Mr. Mulder. I haven't been since the vaccine project unceremoniously stopped. It's alive in some other form, I know, but I don't know enough to help you with whatever William has in store for you." Roy stuck out his hand and shook Mulder's. He opened his car door. "Let him be your guide. He's a smart kid."

Roy settled into his car, started the motor and with a final nod, pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway.

Mulder watched until it disappeared into the distance.

Scully sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the closed bathroom door. She was clenching her teeth so hard, her jaw ached, but it reminded her of that awful inevitability: at some point, probably sooner rather than later, William would go back to his parents. She closed her eyes. This was going to be a lot worse than it was the first time. She was sure when the time came that she would crack open and everything she was would spill out and be lost forever.

The bathroom door opened and William came out. Scully was too late in hiding her expression and William was unsure how to react to it. He stopped in his tracks and toed the floor with his sneaker, his eyes moving around the room, settling on everything but Scully.

"William." She sighed and released some of the accumulated tension. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to seem sad. I'm not. I'm very - so very happy to have you here."

William nodded at her and smiled. "I know." He cautiously sat down on the end of the other bed. "Is it gonna be okay if I stay here?"

"Yes, of course. I would have been - we both would have been very disappointed if you had left so soon."

"Is this my bed?" he asked, patting the bedspread.

"Yep, all yours. You didn't bring any - we'll have to get you a toothbrush and some fresh clothes you can change into. I'll bet Mulder would let you sleep in one of his T-shirts."

"'kay," he said. "Why do you call him 'Mulder'?"

"Oh," Scully said. "It's just - I guess the same reason I call you 'William'." She smiled. "It's what I've always called him."

William accepted that and grinned. "Okay," he said, and he stuck out his hand offering Scully the object he'd been squirreling in his pocket. "This is for you," he said. "Can I watch TV?"

"Sure," she said. She looked at the object. It was a tiny, carved wooden buffalo. "Thank you, William. What's this for?"

He shrugged. "It's mine. My dad gave it to me. I wanted you to have it."

She smiled, closed the obviously treasured buffalo in her fist and tucked it to her chest. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." William picked up the remote, flopped down belly first on the bed and began flipping channels as Mulder knocked once and walked in the door.

William looked up at him and smiled. Mulder and Scully exchanged a look and a silent conversation.

"Hey, William?" Scully began and William hit the mute button on the remote and rolled to look at Scully.

"Think I'll go take a bath," William said and smiled.

"Oh," Scully said, surprised. "Okay."

Mulder kneeled down next to William and searched his face. "William. Can you read minds?"

William chuckled and rolled off the bed. "Naw. But Mom and Dad look at each other like that all the time when they want to talk about me alone." William shuffled into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Mulder turned to Scully, grinning ear to ear. "Wow," he chuckled.

"What did you get out of Roy?"

"That he's more on the periphery than we first thought, and that he was just as stumped at William finding him as we were. We're gonna have to get that from William - if it's even important anymore," he said, scratching his head. "Roy is done as far as he's concerned."

"Who is he?"

Mulder sat down next to Scully on the bed. "He said he worked on the vaccine project. That he wasn't so highly regarded, that developing a vaccine was a fringe goal at best. If it worked, okay, great; if it didn't, complicity with the colonists was always priority one anyway."

Scully sighed and started to get up from the bed. She thought better of it halfway up and instead dropped back down and rested her weary head. "I'm exhausted, Mulder."

"Yeah," Mulder said, pulling off his shoes. "We'll sleep tonight. I don't think we've had a decent night in a week."

"Feels like it. Do you think there's a store around here where we can get William some things - toothbrush, pajamas, fresh underwear?"

"I don't know. I can go to the desk and ask."

"Would you? He can sleep in one of your T-shirts tonight, but he should have some fresh clothes if we can get them."

Mulder put his shoes back on, got up and made his way to the door. "Hey, Scully?"

"Yeah?"

"This is - pretty great."

Scully smiled at him and closed her eyes. "Pretty great," she echoed and she heard the door snick closed behind him.

After William had finished with his bath, they decided that if they were going to call William's parents at all, it should be now. Waiting any longer for a booster shot of courage was only going to make it worse. Of course, each of their concerns were for different things. William was afraid his parents would be mad at him. Mulder was concerned that they would call them kidnappers and that both Dateline and the FBI would show up to ambush interview them and haul them away - not necessarily in that order.

Scully wasn't afraid of suddenly claiming insanity and begging them to give William back. She was afraid that if she did beg them, William wouldn't want her.

After all their concerns, they didn't even speak to them. William left a message saying that he was fine, that he was with grown-ups who cared about him. Mulder took the phone (when Scully was suddenly struck dumb) and was the perfect voice representing the authoritative, responsible adult - Fox Mulder, Former FBI.

For good measure, they elected to call Skinner and have him pre-empt any event that might escalate into a manhunt. This time, in their apparently never-ending life of crime, they'd be wanted for kidnapping. Hopefully, Skinner's words and authority would be enough to assuage the Van de Kamps and prevent any kind of criminal charge.

Hopefully.

~ Chapter 10 ~

Tuesday, April 15^th
8:15 am
Holiday Inn, Kayenta, AZ

Mulder's eyes peeled open to find William, chin in hand, staring at him from the other bed.

"Hi," Mulder croaked. "Time izzit?"

William glanced at the digital clock between the two beds. "8:15," he said. "Morning."

Scully was on her belly next to Mulder, one arm thrown across his torso, her face oddly smooshed against his bicep. William indicated Scully with his eyes and grinned. Mulder glanced over at her and chuckled.

"She's funny," William said.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Mulder said, jostling the arm she was resting on.

"M," was about all she could manage and Mulder looked at William. "It takes her a minute."

William nodded and smiled, seemingly fascinated at watching Scully surface from her deep sleep.

"Hungry?" Mulder asked.

William nodded, still watching Scully. She rolled over and his eyes lit up when she finally lifted her lids half mast and found her son staring at her.

"Oh," she said and located a sleepy smile in her inventory of expressions. "Good morning."

"Morning. Are you hungry, too?"

"Mm hm. Starved."

"Can I get pancakes?" William asked as he jumped out of bed.

"Only if I can get pancakes," Mulder said and poked Scully in her ribs.

Scully closed her eyes, content. "Everybody gets pancakes," she said.

There were three plates of pancakes on the table surrounding three more enormous plates full of breakfast food. It was a feast of caloric riches and carbohydrate dreams. Scully couldn't have cared less.

"So, what's the plan, William?" Mulder asked around a mouthful of potatoes.

William picked up his orange juice and washed down his own mouthful. "What?"

"This is your show. You have some things to show us, tell us..." Mulder stuffed a forkful of pancakes in his mouth. "Right?"

William nodded and a breath of disappointment wafted over his face. "Yeah."

Mulder was stricken. "But, I mean, we don't have to do it now. I just - William, I'm not trying to hurry through this. Believe me."

"I do. And I know."

"I'd - " Mulder started, thought better of it and then said it anyway. "I'd hang out with you forever like this if I thought I could. We both would."

Scully watched their exchange with her own sense of what was to come. "Mulder."

"No," William said. "I know. I really do. I mean, I know I'm only six - I'm almost seven. But I know."

Mulder marveled at him. His son. He wasn't just unusually smart for his age. He was wise. Like he'd experienced the events of years beyond his own.

"Anyway," William said. "We have a lot to do. And a lot to talk about." He smiled and looked at Scully. "I guess I'll be around for a while."

"As long as you can," Scully said.

William nodded, and the way he put down his fork and cocked his head - he did it with the gravitas of a leader about to address his people.

"In four years," William started, "aliens will come. That's the -" he stopped, searching for the phrase in his head, somewhere. "- the bottom line," he finished. "We've got a lot of things to do before then if we're gonna stop it. And save the world."

William picked up his fork, shoveled potatoes and sausage in his mouth and washed it down with his orange juice. He was still chewing while his father and mother processed this, their mouths open in shock. William took a bite of pancakes and smiled. "You guys really need to stop being surprised at stuff I say. I told you. I just know things."

Mulder and Scully closed their mouths and nodded. Scully took Mulder's hand under the table.

"Roy thinks he's done, but he's not, really. I know he said he didn't know where they are, and maybe he doesn't, but the vaccine project is still going and he can get us in. They won't think they can trust you, I think, but if Roy is there, they trust him. And I know where they are. The scientists and stuff."

"You know?" Scully's throat was dry and it came out hoarse and rusty.

"Uh huh. They're underground. Under those big rock things growing up out of the ground. I don't know what they're called."

"Mountains?" Scully wondered. "Buttes." William shrugged.

"Where, William?" Mulder asked.

William picked up his fork and started eating again. "I don't know what it's called, but I can show you on Google Earth." He smiled. "I love that program. You can fly in and around all these neat places. Anyway, we can talk about the other stuff on the way there. Like the computer in your neck. They have a better one. In the underground place."

"Okay," Scully breathed. She gathered the exploded shards of her head and herded them back into one piece. "Let's finish breakfast and you can show us where we're going when we get back to the room."

Scully turned to Mulder. He shook his head in amazement. He gave her hand a squeeze and dug back into his breakfast.

While William played solitaire on Scully's laptop, Mulder had gone back to the front desk to ask if the internet service was ever going to come back on.

Scully was showering, searing her skin under the hot water and trying to assimilate everything that was happening. It was not easy. She was still getting used to waking up next to Mulder every morning and that had been going on for six years, give or take. Reacquiring a son and a planet-saving mission in life was going to take more than a minute.

She turned off the water and wrapped the barely adequate towel around her. As she combed out her long hair, she heard Mulder come in, his low voice rumbling through the wall. Something he said made William laugh and she smiled.

How could they possibly let him go when this was over?

~ Chapter 11 ~

11:00 am
Holiday Inn, Kayenta, AZ

When Scully stepped out of the bathroom, she found William pawing through a pile of clothes and other less identifiable items on the bed. He turned and saw Scully.

"Look what he got me! Brand new jeans! And look at this cool T-shirt!" He held it up so Scully could see the beautiful Navajo design on the front.

"Wow," Scully said. She grinned and looked at Mulder. He shrugged and went back to enjoying William.

"And look - a baseball glove! Wow! This is way better than mine!" He looked up at Mulder, truly happy. "Thank you, wow."

"You're welcome, William."

"Did you get him underwear, Mulder? And socks?"

William silently held up a 3-pack of jockey shorts over his head as he continued rummaging through his newly acquired spoils.

Mulder smiled. "Underwear takes a back seat."

William punched the little glove in his hand and looked at Mulder. His look of genuine joy was hampered somewhat by a new regret. "I don't think we're gonna have time to play catch." He smiled dejectedly, a boy who was feeling too much responsibility much too early.

"I forgot to get a ball anyway," Mulder said. "Oh," he said, turning to Scully, "we should have an internet connection."

"Good. You have a toothbrush in there, too, William?"

"Uh huh."

"Why don't you brush breakfast out of your teeth and then come and show us this place, okay?"

"Okay. Can I wear my new T-shirt?"

"'Course you can," she said.

William grabbed his toothbrush and his new T-shirt and, still wearing the baseball glove, headed for the bathroom.

Scully put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him, snagged the underwear and socks from the bed and handed them to him. William grinned and disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Scully automatically moved to the bed and started refolding all of William's new clothes. Mulder sat down next to where she stood.

"I'm not trying to buy his affection," he said softly.

"I didn't say you were," she said. "In fact, I didn't say anything against what you did at all."

"Okay," he said warily. "I thought there was a tone."

"I said 'wow,' Mulder."

"Yeah - that's a tone."

She playfully slapped his arm as he moved to the laptop and sat down. He booted up and began nosing around her software.

"Oh, you already have Google Earth installed."

"Mm hm. I like all things Google."

"Great. Hey, want to see the pyramids in Egypt?"

"We're not going to the pyramids," William said as he came out of the bathroom.

"That's a plus." Mulder got up and motioned for William to sit down. With a jerk of his head, he beckoned to Scully and they both hovered behind William as he maneuvered the location in Google Earth.

"Okay... Wow, this is a fast computer. Mine's really slow at home."

Mulder and Scully watched the United States zoom in. William tapped and Arizona got bigger and bigger. He looked up at Scully. "How do you spell this place? Where we are?"

"Oh, uh, K - A - Y - E - N - T - A."

William poked at the keyboard and typed in Kayenta as she recited it again, letter by letter. The program zoomed in to a little spot at the junction of Highway 160 and 163 in Northern Arizona. "We're here. And we go up," William said as he maneuvered the view, "and up and up to here. There. Mmm. Wait. There," he said, pinpointing a location in Monument Valley. The view in Google Earth was enhanced in this section so they could see it in great detail.

Mulder and Scully kneeled down and peered closer at the screen. "Right there," William said, pointing at the screen just south of Lookout Point.

"Mitchell Mesa?" Scully asked.

"No, down here," he said. "On the other side of it."

"Mulder..."

Mulder clicked where William indicated. Mulder and Scully each lifted an eyebrow. "It's a uranium mine," Scully said.

"Only it's not uranium - it's magatite. Mag-netite," William said, "and it's not a mine anymore and there's a whole place inside there. In the mountain place. The mesa?" he said looking to Scully for confirmation. She nodded. "Mesa. Cool, isn't it?"

"Very cool," Mulder said. "How do we get down in there? Oh, I see," he said manipulating the view. "Take 163 up to Monument Valley Road, hang a right to Lookout Point - "

"Those look like dirt roads, Mulder. We'll probably need a 4 x 4 to go past the lookout."

"Neat!" William exclaimed like the little boy he was.

Mulder grinned and looked over at Scully. "Neat. Monument Valley, Scully. Guess you're going back there, after all."

Scully smiled and dropped a hand on top of William's head as he zoomed in and out and around the mesas and buttes and the red earth of Monument Valley.

~ Chapter 12 ~

Tuesday
12:30 pm
Kayenta, AZ

After some investigation, they found it wouldn't be a very long haul to get to where they were going. The semi-surly, but ultimately helpful man behind the front desk at the hotel guided them to a Jeep rental agency just across the highway.

"People usually find it easier to rent a guide with a Jeep at the visitor's center. It also helps support the native community."

"We realize that," Scully said, "but we're going to need the Jeep beyond our tour of Monument Valley." She smiled and hoped she wasn't offending him further. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. She silently vowed to donate generously to the Navajo Nation when they were through here.

"Don't worry about it," Mulder said as they exited the office. "Let's deal with our own problems right now, Scully. You can take on the plight of the Native American when we get home."

"You don't have to be flippant."

"That's what I'm good at. Did you check us out, too?"

"Yes. If we're all packed, we can go ahead and go."

"Good," Mulder said, touching her shoulder briefly to guide her back toward the room. "It's only about a half hour drive up there. A total of about thirty miles from here to Lookout point and from there, we'll Jeep it into the valley. I think we're going to wind up hiking into the crevice of that mesa though. You up to that?"

"Yes," she said without thinking.

"And," Mulder said as they reached the door to their room, "you enjoy hiking in those stacked things, do you?"

"Oh," she said looking at the heels on her feet. "I mean, after I change my shoes."

"And into some jeans. Okay. Let's just make sure we plan ahead." They walked into the room to find William at the laptop. "You ready to go, Will?"

"Yep."

"We'll want to hit that store, too, Mulder, and get some water, some food to take along... Do you think we'll need to think about camping?"

"No, it shouldn't take us more than, what, three hours at the maximum to get to the entrance to the mine. More than likely, less than that. I mean, I have an idea what the terrain is like and we mapped the distance on the trail in Google Earth. Didn't we, William?"

"Yep. Four point five miles to the end of Indian Route 42. Aaaaaaand - a one mile hike to the mine door."

Scully put her hand on the back of William's neck. "How are those sneakers for walking, William?"

"They're good."

"Okay," Mulder said, "let's get this show on the road."

They gathered the rest of their belongings from the room and piled into the rental they got at the airport in New Mexico. They drove across the highway and pulled into the little rental agency next to the McDonalds.

While Scully rented the Jeep and made arrangements to leave the New Mexico rental in the parking lot, Mulder and William shopped.

It had been happening to Mulder off and on since they had met William - sudden flashes playing out of what their life might have been like had he been the father to William he wanted to be. That normal life, out-of-the-car feeling Scully used to talk about, it breezed in and around and through him during these flashes, and now it was happening again as William pushed the shopping cart and Mulder walked beside him, one hand on the cart for guidance. Such normalcy in yet another historic burst of insanity that was their life.

"So, just to be safe, we'll get a case of water, right?"

"Right," agreed William. "And people always eat granola bars and trail mix and stuff when they're hiking."

"Well. Scully will enjoy that. How 'bout we pick up some beef jerky and Slim Jims, too?"

"Yeah!" William exclaimed.

"Fat and beef byproducts, William. That's what it's all about."

"Huh?"

"No, never mind."

They walked silently from item to item, up and down the aisles, both seemingly lost in thought. At the checkout counter, Mulder noticed as William eyed the candy bars next to the counter in front of them. If he was William's father - his real father... But they were still on a polite acquaintance-like association. Mulder knew Scully felt it too and that it was killing her, not being able or, somehow, allowed to be as easy with him as any mother should be with her own son.

Mulder could hear it in his head: Dad, please? Just one candy bar? I won't ask for anything else ever again... Mulder smiled to himself. He dropped a hand on top of his head and William looked up at him, wide-eyed and hopeful.

"Snickers?" Mulder asked.

William's eyes widened further, and his teeth flashed in a wide grin. "Milky Way?"

Mulder nodded at the candy. "Go ahead. And grab a Snickers for me and let's get something for your - for Scully."

"Hershey bar?" William wondered. "I think she wants just chocolate," he said as he picked up the candy.

"Good choice, but why don't you just get the regular sized bar. If we give her a pound of Hershey bar, she'll kill me," Mulder said with a smile.

William chuckled. "Okay," he said and put the candy on the counter.

They exited into the cool, spring air and squinted into the sun. Mulder spied Scully perusing a map and leaning against the fender of the deep red Jeep Wrangler. Sunglasses on, jeans snug, and her hair up in a messy pony tail, she looked good enough to eat. What was it about a beautiful woman next to a cool car that made them both irresistible?

She looked up from the map and saw them walking toward her. Even William was carrying a bag.

"Need some help?" she called.

"Nope! Neat car," William said.

"Very much neat," echoed Mulder as they approached and Mulder began loading their haul into the storage area.

Scully folded up the map and helped Mulder. "Get everything?"

"Everything we could think of," he said. "And, oh -"

"Wait! Me!"

Mulder smiled and beckoned William to the grocery bag in the back of the Jeep. William found what he was looking for and surreptitiously hid it behind his back. He turned to Scully. "We got you something," he said, proudly and produced a Hershey bar with a flourish.

Scully beamed. "Thank you, William. My favorite."

William was tickled as he glanced up to Mulder and back to Scully. "I knew you'd like that one," he said. "Dana," he said it softly and quite out of the blue.

They all paused for a nano beat before time, that universal invariant, started again. It was the first time he'd addressed either of them by name with the exception of establishing their identity when they first spoke over the phone. William was, obviously, just as confused as to the nature of their relationship as they were, and probably just as eager to resolve it, somehow.

It was apparent; they needed to have a conversation.

~ Chapter 13 ~

2:00 pm
Driving North on Highway 163
Approaching the Arizona/Utah border

They'd, of course, tried getting in touch with Roy before they left - twice. Once, just after breakfast this morning and William's revelation that Roy was still a part of this whether he wanted to be or not, and again after they'd gotten the Jeep packed up. There was no answer on his phone, and, in a moment that didn't really surprise Mulder or Scully at all, a complete veil of ignorance had descended from Luke AFB when they asked who he might be. Certainly, a last name would have helped, but a covert source is a covert source. They just can't be counted on to divulge essential contact information on demand.

In a nutshell, Roy was simply no longer part of the picture and they would have to deal with getting into the mine installation when they got there.

For most of the drive, the landscape was vast and dry, but as they got closer to the Utah border, they were overwhelmed by the buttes and mesas shooting up into the clear blue - astounding eroded formations rising up from the rich red earth.

Once parked in the visitor's center, Scully moved off in one direction, presumably to find a restroom, while Mulder and William made their way to a large wooden map of the valley.

When Scully returned with an armful of vibrantly colored fabric, she found William and Mulder eating something that looked sticky.

"Look, Dana," William said pointing to the sign as she approached," 'We Are Here'."

"What are you eating?" she wondered.

"Fry bread and honey," William said, his mouth full.

Mulder took one look at Scully's armful. "Wow. Doing your part?"

"It'll be cold, Mulder. We don't want to get stuck without warmth."

Mulder rummaged through the Navajo blankets. "How many is this?"

"Three," she said dumping the blankets into the back of the Jeep.

"Three? Jesus, Scully these are expensive. What were they, two hundred each?"

"Three."

William glanced up at them. "Three hundred dollars?"

"Each," Mulder surmised.

Scully smiled. "You can keep two of them, William. Give one to your parents when you get back home."

"Wow, thanks," he said.

Scully eyed Mulder's expression and smiled at him. "Shall we go?"

The drive down into the valley from the visitor's center was bumpy and nothing less than spectacular. The April sun was dropping lower and lower into the sky and bathing the vista in golden shimmers. Shadows under the buttes began stretching out for the long night ahead as they rounded the Three Sisters and finally got a look at the south side of Mitchell Mesa.

"That's it?" Scully asked and William nodded his head. "How much farther do you think we can drive in, Mulder?"

Mulder leaned forward and rested his forearms on the steering wheel. He peered into the craggy crevice. "It's pretty rocky. I think the Jeep would get at least part of the way in there, but if we get stuck, then we're stuck and I don't know that we want to get messy." He looked at Scully. "Shale and sandstone and a barreling Jeep don't mix. They don't even let you touch Stonehenge anymore."

"Okay," Scully said, decision made. "We walk." She turned to William. "Ready to hike for a bit?"

"Yep."

It was only a mile right to the end of the crevice, but it was slower going than they'd imagined. It was certainly rocky and one misstep and somebody was going to break an ankle. Fortunately, they still had sunlight (though they were losing it fast), so they took it slow and sure. Mulder carried William over some particularly difficult gaps simply because his legs were longer and he could step from rock to rock.

Since they could see their destination, they didn't feel it would be necessary to don the small backpacks, so they didn't. They had flashlights and if worse came to worse, they could simply walk back, albeit with some difficulty, to the Jeep.

By the time they got to the end, the sun had dipped below the top of the mesa. They weren't bathed in complete darkness, but the flashlights came in handy. What they found was a cave-like entrance completely rocked up with flat shale.

"Oh," Mulder observed.

William pushed in front of Mulder and Scully and laid his little hands on the rocks blocking the entrance. He grunted in frustration. "No. It's not supposed to be like this," he turned to Scully. "I swear, it's not supposed to be like this."

"We believe you, William," Scully said quietly.

"Is it possible it's someplace else in this valley?" Mulder wondered. "Maybe the next crevice over?"

"No! It's here!"

He seemed so sure of himself, so certain he knew exactly where he was leading them. Still, he was only a little boy. Scully chuckled humorlessly to herself and sat down heavily on a rock. It is preposterous, she thought. What have they done? What were they thinking? They allowed their son - helped him, encouraged him to prolong and evolve some ludicrous fantasy that he's the savior of the world. What does that say about them as parents?

Scully was staring down at her feet as William stepped toward her, his sneakers coming into view. She watched a tear drip onto the dry, red earth between her feet. She looked up and found her son's eyes to be dry. William reached out a hand and touched his thumb to her own damp cheek.

"I'm sorry," he said and leaned forward into her arms for an embrace. Scully closed her eyes and rested her chin on William's shoulder.

"Um," Mulder said. "Scully?"

She opened her eyes to see four men, guns trained on a very surprised looking Mulder.

~ Chapter14 ~

Mitchell Mesa
Monument Valley, AZ

"You're not supposed to be out here without a guide," the man declared. He peered at Mulder through the sights of his shotgun.

Mulder blinked and smiled. "Do you normally get shot for that?"

The man snickered. He lowered his gun slightly. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Isn't this where the Super Secret Alien Fighting Installation is?" Mulder asked and one of men chortled and glanced around at his companions.

Scully had to hand it to Mulder. Wording it that way, if it was true, they'd certainly get a telling reaction. If it wasn't, they'd think he was crazy or high or both.

The other men lowered their weapons completely. That was certainly a telling reaction.

Scully stood and, her arm around William's shoulder, they moved beside Mulder. The man with the shotgun looked from Scully to William and back to Mulder. He slowly lowered his gun completely. It dangled at his side as he slowly digested the situation.

"Oh, my God," one of the men said.

"It's them," said another.

Mulder looked down at William. "Guess we're in the right place after all."

The entrance was ten feet away in the ground. Buried under brush and earth, metal storm cellar doors swung upward to reveal steep, metal grate steps leading down, right under the mesa. The corridor of steps was lit with bright fluorescents so they could see all the way to the bottom, easily two hundred feet to their destination: a puddle of light.

"Hang on to the railing, William," Scully said. The trio was bracketed above and below by the quartet of men. William walked between Mulder and Scully, dead center.

"I'm all right," William said.

Their feet echoed on the metal as they descended. Scully was relieved when the men made no move to retrain their weapons after recognizing them. It also bolstered her sense of security that one of men had nearly genuflected as they were ushered into the mine.

"I know it feels like a long way," said the lead man. "We're almost there. You all right, William?"

"I'm fine. This is neat."

The man turned and smiled as he walked and peered around Mulder's body. "Wait'll you see the rest. Way neat," he said and William smiled.

Mulder lifted a brow and looked back at Scully to find her matching his expression.

"So," Mulder started, "is this, or was this an actual mine?"

"Was," the lead man said. "But not really here. The actual mine shaft starts at the rocked up entrance up top and moves more laterally than we are here."

"What about radiation?" Scully asked.

"Well, no, magnetite isn't radioactive."

"So, it's not uranium," Mulder said.

"No. Uranium was the cover story since about 1951 when the mining of it hit a peak. The mine itself was excavated in 1948."

"Oh," said Scully. "Coincidental date?"

The man chuckled. They were approaching the bottom. "Hardly."

They each stepped into the pool of light and the lead man approached the door at the bottom. He swiped a keycard, punched in a series of numbers and impatiently drummed his fingers above the keypad as he waited for the light to change from red to green. When it finally did, the lock sounded with a snick and he pushed the door open.

They stepped into an oddly comfortable atmosphere that looked more like the lobby of a modern office building as opposed to the refinery look that Mulder had been expecting.

One thing that Mulder hadn't been expecting was Roy, his head cocked at them from a bank of comfortable looking chairs in the middle of the room.

"Fancy meeting you here," Roy said. "How ya doing, William?"

William frowned and took Scully's hand. "Fine," he answered warily. "We tried to find you." He narrowed his eyes at the man. Clearly, he felt deceived. "You lied to me."

"Oh, William, you shouldn't say things like that to grown-ups." He stood up and walked toward them.

Mulder stepped protectively in front of William as Roy approached. "Be careful what you say to my son," he said, his voice low, quiet.

Roy stopped in front of them and smiled. He thought for a minute and looked straight at Scully. "He's not really your son, anymore, is he?"

"What the hell is this?" Scully growled. "What is this all about?"

Roy took his attitude down a notch and relaxed his stance. "Look, I had to make sure that William was what he thought he was. In fact, some of his residual abilities may simply be that - residual. Without any of the necessary elements that make him as special as he was destined to be when he was born. He was - injected - by Jeffrey Spender at about ten months, wasn't he? He claimed it changed his genetic structure. That it made him normal.

"We need to know exactly what that injection did to him. It's possible - hopeful - that Spender was talking out of his ass." Roy looked down at William. "Sorry."

William shrugged it off. "You didn't have to lie. You could have told me you didn't believe me."

Roy nodded, understanding. "You're right. I could have. Would you have trusted me to help you if I hadn't lied?"

William hesitated and before he could say anything, Roy spoke up. "That's what I thought. That's why I lied. I'm sorry, William, I really am." He looked back up at Mulder and Scully. "I'm not your enemy, Mr. Mulder. Our job is to develop a working, efficient, scalable vaccine against the alien virus that works at the cellular level. We have to alter the DNA of every living, breathing person and have the new mutation take and perpetuate as we repopulate."

"Repopulate?" Scully asked, puzzled. "You mean --"

"Repopulate, Dr. Scully. We don't expect the human race to survive whatever the aliens have in store in about four years. Surely, you don't think they'll just unleash a virus and hope that does the trick. Dr. Scully, the aliens are coming. They are coming back to reclaim this planet. The only thing we can do is hope to remain as a species, lower on the food chain, surviving any way we can."

A long silence followed. Roy eventually motioned to one of the men who had guided them down the stairs. "Pete. Why don't you show our guests to the rooms off the lab," he turned to Mulder. "That is, if you plan to stay."

"If?" Mulder wondered.

"You're not prisoners here, Mr. Mulder."

"You mean," Scully said, "that you'd just let us walk out. No questions."

"I hope you won't. We have had some success without William - as you both well know. But it's not enough. If we have to move on without his help, we will. Remember, Spender - CGB - he was not an ally of this part of the project. He and all those associated with him are dead. The only part of that project that lives on is this one," he turned to Scully. "Bound and determined to save our souls, Dr. Scully."

William tugged on Scully's hand. She kneeled down and looked him in the eye. "Let's stay," he said. He looked up at Roy. "I don't believe the aliens will win, like you say. But I still want to help." He looked back at Scully. "Okay?"

After a glance at Mulder, Scully nodded her head.

They were led farther into the facility, through a series of corridors, down some stairs, up some stairs. It was a convoluted maze of a building, but Mulder expected nothing less. It was a requirement of covert alien subversion installations, wasn't it?

"In here," Pete said as he opened the door to their room. "The bio lab's down the hall," he said, pointing and they walked inside. "You should find everything you need here. It's kind of a suite, so off the living area here is the master bed and right through there's a bed for William. Bathroom," he said pointing, "little kitchenette, nothing fancy. We have a mess hall and a pretty good cook. I'll show you where that is. Your phone there on the desk won't get an outside line, and I'm pretty sure your cell phones won't work down here, but you can get any area of the installation. The directory is there somewhere. Okay?"

They were a bit overwhelmed. "Yeah, fine," Mulder said. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. And - thank you," he said, quite sincerely, "for staying."

Mulder offered him a half-hearted smile and Pete left, closing the door behind him.

"Well," Mulder said. "What shall we talk about?"

~ Chapter15 ~

Wednesday, April 16^th
8:15 am
Mitchell Mesa Complex
Monument Valley, AZ

She dreamed about rock climbing. She scrambled like a monkey up the steep sides of the mesa to find William at the top, only he wasn't a young boy, he was a young man. William beckoned her to follow, and she could do nothing as he turned, ran and dove off the edge of the mesa. She screamed his name and ran to the edge, and she watched him soar - an eagle against the blue sky. She smiled and dove off the cliff after him.

Her eyes peeled open and she found herself alone. She heard murmuring and sat up in bed and, yes, she definitely smelled bacon.

Scully padded out of their bedroom to find William and Mulder eating on the floor in front of the television. Some ancient Warner Bros. cartoon was playing with the sound off.

"Hi," William said. "Fox got bacon and eggs and some of that bread with honey."

Scully offered William an uncoordinated smile, and, bleary-eyed, looked at Mulder, a question in her eyes.

"Coffee's in the kitchen," he said.

She poured a cup of the dark brew and sat with them on the floor.

"I brought it back from the mess. I don't think we're comfortable enough to break bread with them yet."

"Not by a long shot," Scully finally muttered.

"Also," Mulder said, munching on a strip of bacon and gesturing to a pile just inside their door, "one of them went out to the Jeep and brought all the stuff that we left. The blankets and all our clothes." Mulder shrugged.

Scully had helped herself to a small plate of eggs and a piece of fry bread. She dipped it in the honey and savored the sticky sweetness. "Unusual," she said.

"Call me crazy, Scully," and he thwarted her incoming rejoinder with a glance, "but I think they're genuine. I mean, I don't trust Roy, but I don't think he's not telling the truth at this point. I'm sure he's got an agenda."

"Of course, he's got an agenda, Mulder."

"I mean, beyond the obvious," he shook his head. "I don't know. I'm just -" he glanced at William, "I'm horrified that William was alone with him and essentially... You know."

"He didn't hurt me," William said softly.

"And he won't, ever," Scully said. "Did you sleep all right?"

"Uh huh." He smiled. "I have a TV and a Playstation in my room," he said, delighted.

Mulder turned to Scully, the corners of his mouth turned down. "I don't know why we didn't get a Playstation."

Scully shook her head and said, "Don't encourage him," as William giggled. She turned her attention back to her breakfast and shooed away the remnants of a dream - something about flying or falling or both.

Escorted once again by Pete, Mulder, Scully and William were on the last leg of their tour of the installation.

Pete was unusually helpful and forthcoming - more than happy to answer every question they'd had. To her chagrin, Scully found this fact unsettling and cursed Mulder's paranoia for rubbing off on her so completely.

What they learned from Pete was that "the rocks in this valley are laced with iron oxide minerals - ilmenite, hematite among them," he said. "And that this particular mesa has a massive store of magnetite, the most highly magnetic mineral on Earth."

After the excavation of the mine, Pete had said, they'd discovered, among other things, the lodestone's means as a shield against colonist detection and years later, of course, it's toxicity to the supersoldiers.

Scully sighed in apparent annoyance at the mention of the new alien threat. "Can't we call them something else, while we're at it, Mulder?" They were peering through the acrylic shielding into a clean room with men and women in white hazmat suits. "It just sounds so..."

"Marvel Comic-y?"

"It kind of takes the sting out of their otherwise threatening nature, I suppose."

"Not enough," he said. "Hey, Pete. What are they doing in there?"

"Oh, this is the computer technology section. They're working with processors and memory chips and adding the magnetite component to replicate the same sensory systems that are in birds, bacteria..."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Mulder," Scully said, "navigation, homing senses - magnetoreception is present in many organisms. They've found microscopic crystals of Fe₃O₄ - what's known as single-domain magnetite - in the brains of bees, termites, of course birds - and humans. It's thought in some scientific circles that the magnetic field sensitivity in living organisms is based on the presence of these crystals."

"So, when you tell me I've got rocks in my head..." Mulder suggests.

"Not too far off," she said with a smile.

"Dana?" William had his hands on the thick acrylic separating them from the clean room. "It's in there." William looked up at Pete. "Isn't it? A new computer for my - for Dana."

Pete suddenly looked like a trapped animal, his eyes swinging from one person to the next.

"A chip?" Mulder asked. "Pete? What kind of chip?"

"Okay," Pete said on a sigh. "Uh, the only part of the original project that we incorporated into this installation is the production of a variation," he said, emphasizing the word, " of the chip you have in your neck. Not for nefarious purposes, I swear. The technology is what we were interested in - hoping that it might help in the applications in the development of the vaccine. A chip or a hypo filled with biological material - if one would help the other..."

"What kind of variation?" Scully asked.

"The one you have is based on memory replication. Storage. That's the bad part. For you, I mean. The plus side to your chip is its ability to direct and regulate the biological processes that prevent your - ," he glanced at William, "illness from recurring. What we have in there," he said, gesturing, "is the biological director only. It's like an extra synapse and neurotransmitter just for this purpose. Preventative health care," he said, smiling.

"Are they 100% efficient?" Mulder asked.

"Yes."

"No bullshit."

"No, sir. No bullshit. Once we figured them out, they're really not all that mysterious."

Mulder turned to Scully who was lost in a cloud of overwhelming information. She shook her head. "I don't know."

Mulder leaned in, closing the distance between his mouth and her ears. "You were ready to cut it out a few years ago," he whispered. "After Ruskin Dam, the incinerations. Regardless of the consequences. This is an option, Scully," he paused to gauge her reaction. "We can always put the other one back in."

"I know!" She caught herself and put her hand on his chest in apology. "I know," she said again, softly. "Let me think about it."

Mulder nodded his head and gestured to Pete that they were ready to move on.

12:45 pm
Mess Hall
Mitchell Mesa Complex

Mulder, Scully and William ate and talked quietly at a comfortable table in the corner of the mess hall. As she dug into her delicious salad, Scully periodically glanced up to find people staring at her - at the three of them. When caught staring, though, they didn't attempt to cover and furtively look away. Instead they seemed to be industriously striving for eye contact. Scully glanced behind her as she sipped at a Diet Coke and found a wide-eyed woman looking at her. The woman smiled, waved and finally went back to her lunch.

"Mulder, have you noticed anything - odd - about the way we're being treated here?" she whispered.

"Hm? Oh. What?"

"I feel like a fish."

William looked up from his spaghetti and giggled. Scully made a fish face back at him.

"What are you talking about?" Mulder asked.

She speared goat cheese and a pecan and swirled it in the balsamic dressing on her plate. "You're so self-absorbed."

Mulder frowned around a bite of his sandwich. "I am not," he said, mouth full. He looked out into the crowd in the mess hall, chewing and found several pairs of eyes on him. One woman tittered and looked quickly away.

Mulder pulled at the lettuce dangling from the corner of his mouth. He shrugged at Scully.

"It's a little disconcerting," she said.

"What is?" Roy asked as he appeared behind them. Scully shook her head, dismissing the question. "So, Pete took you all around? You saw both labs?"

"Yes," Scully said. "Very enlightening."

"Mm hm. Mind if I sit down?"

Scully gestured to the fourth chair at the table and Roy nodded in thanks. "Listen," he said after a moment of contemplation, "I know you feel deceived -"

"Only by you," Scully said.

Roy acknowledged that with a tilt of his head. "I hope you can eventually understand my reasons, but I don't want my apparently bad decision to jeopardize your involvement in this."

"Regardless of your methods in dealing with William and getting us here, the goal itself appears genuine and worth our considered involvement," she said. "We're willing to listen to what you have to say about what it is, exactly, that you need from us."

"Good. I'm glad. Just hear me and that's all I can ask."

Roy looked from Scully to Mulder and back again. Their features were painted with mild anticipation. "Oh," Roy said, catching on. "Now. Okay. Uh, it's very simple, really. We need blood - from each of you."

William looked surprised. "I thought it was just me."

"Well, you are the result of what this project is all about: natural and complete immunity to the alien virus." He looked at Mulder and Scully. "Both of you are examples of the first stage of this process. During your initial abduction Dr. Scully, and through both your exposures and subsequent cures of the virus, your DNA was fundamentally changed and the genetic mutation was passed on to William. The three of you are the beginning, the middle and the end of the story. With your blood, we will test and synthesize the genetic material. When that is successful, we'll establish a delivery system and that, as they say, is that."

They were quiet when he was through speaking, ruminating on the facts.

"Well," Roy said, getting up, "I'll let you finish your lunch. Come on down to the bio-lab when you're through and I'll explain in more detail." Roy nodded his goodbyes and left them alone.

It all sounded genuine, even noble. Scully was loathe to treat William as a scientific boon, but in his own words, that's what he was there for - to save the world.

~ Chapter 16 ~

7:15 pm
Mitchell Mesa Complex
Monument Valley, AZ

Mulder walked back into their living area with a grin on his face after peaking in at William.

"What is going on in there?" Scully asked, amused.

Mulder chuckled. "He's playing a game on the Playstation."

Scully cringed. "Oh. It isn't bloody and gory, is it? Is he shooting people?"

"No, he's driving a little ATV." Mulder chuckled. "It looks like fun," he pulled off his shoes and padded over to their little refrigerator. "You want another beer?"

Scully flopped back on the cushions on the floor and sighed. "No. Yes. Why not?"

"Why not, indeed, I say, Scully," he said handing her an icy green bottle. "So," he stretched out on the cushions next to her and they leaned back against the bed. "Tell me why you think it's a bad idea."

"To take out a chip that's keeping me alive and put in a new one we know nothing about made by people who might very well have an even more sinister agenda than those who made my current chip? That idea?" she said it with a smile. It might have been the beer.

"Uh huh," he said nodding. "Look, we don't have to do anything with it now, but they're offering to give it to us. We can have it analyzed. We don't ever have to use it. But, Scully, I get the feeling you don't even want to take it with us for the possibility of it. Do you think I'm suggesting that we let them strap you down and perform surgery?"

"No, of course not."

"So?"

"I don't know, Mulder, I just... It's not even a logical reason. I guess I don't want to think about the worst that can happen. I thought I was through envisioning the "worst that can happen" when we settled down and stopped running. I thought I was through worrying about my own health or what kind of trouble you were getting into."

"Hey."

"I'm sorry. You know what I mean. I mean, trouble and no cell phone in sight. Giant mushroom. Or - zombies." They both smiled at that. "Let's see what happens, okay? We've got enough to deal with right now without adding this decision on top of it." She shrugged. "And if it's somehow meant to be, we'll know it."

Mulder lifted his beer and they clinked their bottles lightly. It wasn't a toast. Just an agreement.

From the other room, they heard the faint sounds of little motors and William's occasional squeals of joy and groans of frustration. Scully sighed and looked up at Mulder, a sad smile on her face.

Mulder cocked his head at her. "What is it?"

"I don't know how we're going to let him go, Mulder. Do you?"

"Yeah," he said after a moment of consideration. "We're going to take him home - and let him go. The alternative is not possible. I'm not torturing myself with the impossible, Scully. Why are you?"

She shook her head and pulled at her beer. She wasn't really enjoying it anymore, but she drank it anyway.

2:00 am

In bed beside Mulder, she stared up into the darkness of their room. Mulder was snoring lightly, the soft sounds lulling her even as she lay there, wide awake.

Here, alone in her head, alone in the dark, she could do what Mulder couldn't. For a man who has lived most of his life aching over the impossible, obsessing over the roads not taken and blaming himself for things he couldn't change, she couldn't quite understand why he wouldn't commiserate with her about this. Yes, they had done it to death during that awful period on the run, and they had put it behind them as many times as they needed to when Scully felt the need to bring it up again - but that was about the past. This was about the future. What could they do about it, and how could they deal with it when the inevitable impossibility of it became reality. They could never have William back, but why couldn't they talk about the what ifs? Maybe he worried about a weak moment, a crack in her logic that would turn one of her "what ifs" into a "why not."

So, she waited for the dark to consider - obsess - over the facts and to try to do the impossible which was to figure out a way to turn back time, or erase time completely. Mulder would likely interject something amusing about the Temporal Prime Directive, but it wouldn't change her feelings on the matter. She would allow almost any event to take the place of the past if only she could have her son back again.

Thursday, April 17^th
11:22 am
Bio Lab

"This won't hurt a bit, William," the technician said. Her name was Joan and William liked her very much. She was pretty and she reminded William of the lady that came to see his Mom and Dad once. She said she was from the adoption agency and she just wanted to see how "they were all getting along." William was 1 ½ years old at the time and he remembered her very well.

After smoothly slipping the needle into William's arm, she removed the rubber tourniquet and looked into his eyes as the blood flowed into the tube.

"Okay," she said, withdrawing the needle and pressing an alcohol soaked cotton ball to the puncture. "All done. Not so bad, right?"

William smiled and nodded his head.

"Good." She looked up at Mulder and Scully who were standing over William. They each had an arm crooked, holding a cotton ball in place at their own punctures. "We're all done," she said and sighed. "We'd like to start working on this today. Dr. Scully, you're welcome to stay and see what we're doing."

"Thank you," Scully said. She was no longer nonplussed at the level of accommodation they continued to encounter here. There seemed to be no end to the back flips being performed for them.

Of course, their integrity and honesty was still completely under suspicion, at least by Scully.

"What do you think, Scully, are you staying?"

She nodded. "I'll stay a while. You two can go on and -" she glanced at Mulder, "I know you're dying to get at the pool table in the rec room."

Both Mulder and William grinned at the same moment, and Scully's heart broke a little; they had the same smile.

"They've got pinball machines, too!" William noted, delighted.

"Yay," Scully said, and she put her hand on top of William's head. She rested it there a moment, sifted her fingers briefly through his perpetually tousled hair. "Okay," she said and dropped her hand.

William continued to smile up at her, scrutinizing her, contemplating something. Finally, "You used to sing to me," he said.

Stunned, her heart fluttered, and her mouth did its best impression of a smile as she nodded at him. "Yes," she said hoarsely.

William nodded, pleased with himself at yet another memory of Dana he could keep with him. "I'll remember the song," he promised and he turned to leave.

Mulder stepped closer to Scully and placed his hand on her shoulder. He leaned down closer. "You all right?"

Scully nodded and worked again at a smile. Mulder kissed her temple. "Come down when you're done and you can kick my ass at Eight Ball," he whispered.

This time, the smile was easier and she watched Mulder and William leave her alone with the technicians in the lab.

She was looking at her own blood through a microscope when Roy came in and made the rounds at each station in the room, speaking briefly with each technician. Some moments later, he found his way to her and cautiously sat down.

"So. What do you think so far?"

"I think you have a very advanced operation here - electron microscopes, state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment. It's very impressive. And after," she glanced at her watch, "two hours and twenty minutes of observation, I've found that all your technicians are doing exactly what they say they're doing."

Roy smiled, pleased with himself.

"But I still don't trust you," she said, and Roy shook his head in disbelief. "Don't tell me you have a hard time believing that," she said with a frown. She leaned toward him and lowered her voice. "Do you really think it's going to be that easy to wipe the slate - with all you claim to know about us, what we've been through over the years and what you pulled when we first met, do you honestly believe that I could just drop the past?"

"I think at some point, you have to consider the truth you know and drop the grudge," he said, obviously a little put out.

"I'm giving you the time to prove your claims, and we're operating under a generous benefit of the doubt here." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'd say you're getting a lot of consideration under the circumstances."

Roy held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, all right. I don't want to argue with you. All I can do is continue to do my job honestly and hope you see that."

Scully sighed and nodded. She glanced around the room and frowned. "What exactly is your job here? I don't see you working in either lab."

"I'm not a scientist, Dr. Scully. I'm good with computers and if you're looking for someone to fix your lawnmower, you could do worse, but I leave all the chemistry and bio tech to the professionals. I am a leftover from the days when CGB thought he pulled everyone's string. Unfortunately, I'm the last leftover. I'm pretty sure everyone else is dead or - I don't know. Abducted?"

Scully lifted a brow humorlessly.

Roy stood up. "I'll be in touch. We should be getting some results here in a couple of days."

"That soon?"

"We've been working on getting it right for a long time, Dr. Scully. We were ready for this."

Scully nodded and watched him go. She considered, again, her distrust of the man and wondered why she couldn't quite let it go. She wasn't the type to hold a grudge, but something was like an elephant in way, preventing her from moving past his initial, somewhat understandable, deceptions. She resolved to make that tonight's dead of night contemplation.

~ Chapter17 ~

Sunday, April 20^th
4:15 pm
Recreation Room
Mitchell Mesa Complex
Monument Valley, AZ

Monopoly won out over Trivial Pursuit in the end. Scully thought it would be unfair to William, especially if they both intentionally missed things in most of the categories, though Mulder was convinced that William was smart enough to hold his own.

"Smart, yes," Scully said while William was out of earshot in the bathroom. "Unusually smart. Knowledgeable about things he has no business knowing at his age, no. Do you really expect him to know who wrote The Green Hills of Africa?"

"He could be a Hemingway fan."

Scully cocked her head at him, the barest smile playing about her lips. After a moment, William came out of the bathroom and sat down at the table with them. His face fell as soon as he sat down.

"What's wrong, William?"

"I'm still in jail."

Scully was about to kick Mulder under the table to prevent the "my kid is hysterical" chuckle she knew was coming when William glanced up and grinned. Gotcha.

When Scully finally put a hotel on Marvin Gardens, Mulder was nearly broke, and William had mortgaged most of his property. She tried not to feel guilty; she was good with money in real life, too.

It had been three days since they'd given blood, and they had spent nearly all that time either in their room or the recreation area. They'd even taken to eating their meals in their room simply because there seemed to be no end to the quasi celebrity status they held, and being unabashedly stared at was far more distressing than Scully ever might have imagined.

Mulder slipped William two golden $100 bills from the bank and William took them happily.

"Mulder," Scully chided.

"He passed GO. Really, Scully. What kind of a man do you think I am?"

"Sorry," she said.

"Besides," Mulder said, rolling the dice. "William knows that would be wrong. Cheating. Right, William?"

"I know," said William, absently. He was concentrating - counting the $1 bills in his pile. He suddenly looked up, happily. "My turn? I want to de-morgagize Park Place."

Mulder took William's money as the boy carefully counted each bill out into Mulder's upturned palm.

Scully tapped a fingernail on the hotel she'd placed on Marvin Gardens. "Sure you want to do that, William?"

"Yes," he said, and glanced up at her. "Life is full of risk," he said, earnestly. "Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and leap."

Mulder and Scully glanced at one another. The degree to which they continued to find themselves completely leveled by William seemed to rise with each new day. Perhaps because he was special.

Perhaps he's even more advanced than they know. Or perhaps he's just a boy who happens to be their son.

Ten minutes later, William had landed on and bought Boardwalk, and both Mulder and Scully had landed on Park Place. Risks and leaps were apparently right up William's alley - just like his father.

Yet as they played, distraction was being etched deeper and deeper into the boy's face as he seemed to be weighing and measuring something very carefully. They'd found William to be forthcoming about nearly everything, unafraid to say what was on his mind or question a decision, but this was apparently something that made him wary enough to question bringing it up at all.

Mulder noticed William's dilemma and nudged Scully under the table. With a single imperceptible glance in his direction, Mulder was assured that she also was aware of the internal struggle going on in the vicinity of Baltic and Community Chest. After some moments of silence, William looked up at them. He smiled, immediately understanding that he had their undivided attention.

"This is going to be hard," he said softly.

Scully briefly touched William's hand. "You can say anything you need to, William."

William nodded. "Harder maybe for you than me," he said to both of them.

"That's okay," Mulder said.

William nodded again and stared at the top of the table in front of him. An eternity passed. "Why aren't you my real mom and dad?"

Scully had known it was coming. She had prepared for it. If she was being honest with herself, she would have to say she'd been preparing for it for six years. It still left her without a breath in her lungs.

"Why did you give me up?" He sighed. He was obviously confused, but he was calm and in control of his emotions. "I know so many things. I know you wish you hadn't. I know you wish you had a do over. But I don't know this," he finally made eye contact with them again. "I don't know why."

It was all Scully's question to answer and she let Mulder know by grasping his fingers. Mulder squeezed her fingers back in encouragement.

"When you were a baby," she began, "Mulder - your dad - had to go away." How much to say? "He was in danger - so I thought he would be safer if he left." Yet another decision she regretted. She took a breath and chided herself: one flogging at a time. "I was alone and I missed him. But I had you and I was happy. You made me so happy. I could never have imagined giving you up. I could never have imagined that there would be anything that would make me believe that giving you up was my only choice. But then it was you that was in danger and suddenly it was my only choice." She grasped Mulder's hand fully now and held it tight. "If I - William, if I could go back and do it again - I would change it all." She glanced at Mulder, unsure of exactly what he was feeling.

"I would want to change it, William, but I can't." She sighed. "Even if I could..."

William nodded at the tabletop, considering this. His own emotional temperature had nothing to do with his feelings for his adopted mother and father. He loved them. They were his parents. Still...

"My mom and dad - they won't understand - not any of this. Nobody else, ever, would ever understand any of this - except you. They don't even ask anymore," he revealed. "I guess it's better that way - when I do something weird they don't ask, they just know I can't explain it. And even if I could, it would be..," he trailed off, uncertain of what his next words should be.

"That sounds lonely," Scully ventured.

He sighed in obvious frustration and his voice was suddenly hoarse. "What am I supposed to say about this? 'Sorry, Mom, I'm busy saving the world. Back in a few days,'?"

Mulder couldn't help it and he chuckled softly. Scully shot him a searing look.

"No," William said. "It's all right. It is funny. It's - it's -" Irritated with himself and the world, he slapped his hands on the table. "I don't know the word!"

"William," Scully soothed.

He suddenly glanced up at her. "You should have been my mother," he said, a revelation. "That's the way it was supposed to be," he hesitated. "I know I was in danger. I asked why you gave me up."

Mulder closed his eyes against the sudden waves of pain rolling off the woman next to him. It was the same question he asked years ago that was nearly their undoing. "William -" Mulder started and Scully put her hand on his arm.

"I was afraid," she said, "that I couldn't keep you safe. I didn't want to wake up one morning and find you gone. Or dead." She shook her head. Her eyes were welling with tears, so she closed them hoping to keep them from spilling. When she opened them again, William had turned his head away. "The end of you would have been the end of me, William."

William had allowed a tear to escape so he wiped his eyes and dropped his palms back on the table. "You were afraid," he echoed. He glanced at Mulder and back to Scully. He sighed, resigned. He could not change anything either. None of them could.

"You should have been my mother," he said it softly. It was just a fact, not an accusation.

"I know," she said.

William and Scully both turned to Mulder making his inclusion implicit. Some moments of emptiness passed before they each took another's hand and they simply sat, silent, sharing the regret between them.

An unaccountable amount of time later, the door to the rec room opened and Roy was caught by surprise since it looked like either a séance or a prayer group.

"Hey - oh," he muttered as the three of them turned. "Sorry. Am I interrupting?"

"Yes," Mulder said.

"Okay," Roy said. "When you've got a minute, come down to the lab. We've got it."

When Mulder, Scully and William walked into the lab - slightly ragged and emotionally exhausted - Roy, Joan and the other technicians were huddled around a sealed chamber. A white rat sat immobile as a fine mist was sprayed onto its body. It sat, at first, like an oily residue on the tips of the fine hairs before it began to absorb through the hair and down into the follicle itself. After a short moment, the rat twitched and staggered to the opposite corner of the cage. In the next heartbeat, tiny worm-like particles of black oil oozed out of the rodent's orifices. Scully dropped her hand protectively on William, as the worms trailed across the bottom of the chamber, slowed and finally eroded from the inside out. What remained were bits of blackened ash.

The group around the chamber murmured their awed delight. One of the men, stepped back, took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. He noticed the three new arrivals just inside the room and smiled at them. Thank you, he mouthed.

Roy turned and beckoned them to join the others. "William," he said. "Come on over here."

"You infected a rat?" Scully confirmed as she stared at the chamber. She leaned in and peered at the dried virus.

"We've infected a lot of things over the years. In the last three days since we've had your blood, we infected it without a host, and in a rhesus, rat, a pig and a human."

That got Mulder's attention. "You did human trials?"

"One, Mr. Mulder. We had to. Did you really think," he chuckled, "that it wouldn't come to human trials? Would you prefer if we had just dosed the planet without testing?"

Mulder was slightly at a loss. Scully brushed her hand down Mulder's upper arm. "Mulder. Of course they had to." She turned to Roy. "It was voluntary, of course." Her tone said it all: if it hadn't been voluntary, she would single-handedly shut down this entire operation. Or something equally satisfying and less drastic, she amended to herself.

Roy smiled. "Yes, it was. Joan?"

The technician who had withdrawn their blood stepped forward. She smiled at the three of them. "Voluntary," she assured them.

Scully was fascinated. "Side effects? How are you feeling?"

"Well, we did it twice. The first time, I was infected and then given the serum. It works as an antidote and a vaccine. I was a little groggy right after the injection. I felt a little numbness or tingling in my extremities - almost how you'd feel if you'd hyperventilated. The next day, I was dosed with the virus again. This time, I didn't feel anything except the sensation of the oil itself. It's a bit creepy crawly. It entered me and almost immediately - not more than two or three seconds later - it exited and dried when it hit the air."

"Was that because the serum was still in your system," Scully wondered and turned to Roy, "or was there a genetic alteration after the first injection?"

"There was an immediate change at the chromosomal level, Dr. Scully," Joan said.

"How is that possible?" she whispered, awed.

"Have a look through the EM," she said indicating one of the two electron microscope stations. "Remember, the original mutation was alien. The biological effect of those resulting genes is what we've been trying to capture - the generation of cells that repel the alien virus. It is, as far as we can determine, 100% effective."

Scully looked up from the microscope in wonder. "Amazing."

Mulder had suddenly appeared at Joan's side. She looked up at him. "You sure you feel all right?" he asked.

Joan smiled. "I assure you, Mr. Mulder. I'm not infected." She turned to Scully. "What you're looking at there, is a side by side example. My blood before and after the serum. You see the difference?"

"Uh, yes, I think so."

"My blood," Joan continued, "William's blood, yours, Mr. Mulder's - it would all look different from anyone that has not yet been vaccinated. Yours and Mr. Mulder's are not quite the same as ours though," she said, indicating herself and William, "in that the cellular change was only partial. When William was conceived, of course, the genetic mutation was completed."

She smiled at William who's face had reddened. Mulder imagined it was probably the thought of being conceived, and he smiled.

"So, what is the intended delivery system?" Mulder asked Roy. "You have considered that inevitability?"

Roy smiled, not quite offended, but almost. "Mr. Mulder, there's no need to be condescending." Mulder looked surprised and innocent when Scully frowned at him. "We have considered many means of delivery," Roy continued, "including an airborne scenario and putting it in the water systems. We'd also considered being more traditional and just hoping most of the population takes advantage of the offer."

"Well, that's problematic," observed Scully.

"Yes," Roy acknowledged. "I think we're looking at a probable combination of all three methods to be as effective as possible."

"It bothers me that you would treat people without their knowledge, but I have to agree that it would be the only way in most cases."

The adults in the room all nodded in agreement.

William took a step forward. "What about when they come? What are you doing about that?"

Roy glanced around. "This is what we're doing about it, William," he said.

"But you expect everyone to die."

"Not from the virus," he said.

"And that makes it better?" William asked.

One corner of Mulder's mouth crooked in a smile and he cocked his head at Roy. It's your show.

"I won't let it happen," William said. "I want to know how to stop it."

Roy sighed. "Maybe that's something only you can figure out, William. When you do, let me know and I'll be with you. We all will."

William sighed and looked at Scully. He frowned, disappointed and she kneeled down next to him. She brushed his unruly hair out from in front of his eyes. "We'll figure it out together, William." He nodded and leaned into her, his temple against hers.

~ Chapter18 ~

11:21 pm
Mitchell Mesa Complex
Monument Valley, AZ

They spent the rest of the evening having a round table of sorts - a free-for-all brainstorming session geared toward the coming months and vaccine distribution. It was heated and emotional and exhausting. After most of the group had dispersed and William began nodding off against Scully's arm, Mulder carried him up to bed. When Mulder returned, only Roy and Scully were left. A thickened silence, sticky and awkward, hung over the table as Mulder sat down.

"What's going on?"

"Your wife is being extraordinarily difficult," Roy bit out.

"Wow," Mulder said, insulted and impressed at the size of the man's balls at the same time.

Scully bristled further. "And you're being a selfish, paranoid son of a -"

"Okay," Mulder interrupted. "What the hell?"

"He won't give us contact information, Mulder. He just expects us to sit on our asses and wait for the inevitable now that he's got everything he needs. Or until he needs us again."

"All I'm trying to avoid," Roy said, "is a misuse of what you think my position is."

Mulder made a face that clearly indicated either complete perplexity or a tremendous odor. "Then maybe you should clear that up, Roy. You are running things here, are you not?"

"I am," Roy sighed, "but that doesn't mean that I would have any other answers aside from what you already know or what I've already told you."

"But that will change," Scully said. She was no longer seething, just simmering. "What if we suddenly have information you need?"

"What is the issue, here, Roy?" Mulder asked. "Are you really begrudging us a fucking phone number? A last name - a real last name," he amended.

Roy finally relented. His excuse was habit. He'd been hiding his identity and working in the shadows for so long, it was difficult to know when it was safe to come out.

As much as she tried not to, Scully realized she understood.

Monday, April 21^st
9:15 am
Mitchell Mesa Complex
Monument Valley, AZ

After nearly a week of being cooped up indoors without reprieve - and buried under a mountain, to boot - getting out into the wide open air was more than welcome. They still would have to hike the mile or so to their Jeep, but after a fairly sedentary six days, they all looked forward to the physical activity.

Roy climbed the stairs with them up to the entrance. He had apparently been up the remainder of the night and into the morning grunting out equations and scenarios, not wanting to waste a moment. As a result, he was punchy with exhaustion and too much coffee and unusually chatty.

"So, unless their timetable changes," he was saying, "and we have absolutely no reason to believe it has or it will, we're looking at a one of several scenarios that I can think of for the invasion."

Scully nodded absently as she walked behind Roy and suddenly realized - again - that she was accepting this information without a skeptical thought in her head. Invasion? Sure. Alien invasion? Well, yes. She estimated that she hadn't rolled her eyes in disbelief in about eight years.

"First," Roy was saying, "they'll try to infect with the virus. Failing that, and they will, they will likely opt for a more," he glanced at William, "animated approach - as we talked about last night. It's possible we can defend ourselves with conventional military might without resorting to nukes. I hope so, anyway," and he didn't elaborate on the consequences of that failure in deference to William. Say what you might about Roy, he was considerate of the fact that William was just a boy, however advanced that boy may seem.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Roy swiped his keycard and punched in the exit code. He and Mulder pushed the heavy metal doors up and away. Even though the sun was still low in the morning sky and they were hidden in shadows against the side of the mesa, they still had to shield their eyes against the brightness - a result of six days under fluorescents and dim incandescents.

They climbed out of the hole in the ground and all instinctively took a deep breath. Fresh, clean air. They could see their Jeep in the distance - right where they left it.

"I understand," Roy said, touching Scully briefly on the shoulder, "that you elected not to avail yourself of the chip."

She nodded, not particularly wanting to acknowledge her decision at all. Mulder had not been happy about it. He was under the impression that she was leaving it behind out of some insane allegiance to her own guilt about - everything. She had told him that was ridiculous, but as with all things ridiculous, there was a grain of truth to it. Still, she hadn't burned her bridges. They could still come back and get it.

"Well," Roy said. "Suit yourself. We loaded up your Jeep early this morning. All the stuff you brought with you, plus," he said, "a few things you might find handy later on. I'm sorry we can't get you to your vehicle easier, but you made it this far the hard way..." He smiled then. Scully took it at face value and smiled back. He was a tough nut, that Roy. One minute he was on their side, the next he was as suspicious as any minion of darkness she'd ever had the displeasure of meeting.

"We also dealt with your other rental and arranged for you to drop the Jeep at your next destination - which I'm assuming will be at the nearest airport in Wyoming," he glanced at William. "Probably Rock Springs-Sweetwater County, right William?"

"I guess."

Roy looked back to Mulder and smiled. "It's Rock Springs. About twenty miles from William's house." Roy stuck out his hand. "Dr. Scully." She took it without reluctance, and handshakes all around followed.

"It's been a great pleasure, William. I hope we meet again."

"In about four years," William said, matter-of-factly.

Roy filed that to ponder later, turned back for the entrance and glanced briefly at Mulder and Scully. "Good luck," he said and closed himself, once again, inside the mountain.

The walk back to the Jeep was uneventful and quiet as they each found things to contemplate stepping from rock to rock to rock. Mulder found he could relate this semi-malaise he was experiencing to the feelings he encountered after Scully's cancer had gone into remission. It was overjoyed relief mixed with a sadness that can only come when an emotional and time consuming event is suddenly over. It was wonderful, but it left an emptiness - however welcome it was - that suddenly had to be filled.

Mulder wouldn't let himself see past the point where William was no longer with them. They would get to the Jeep and drive and drive and drive... And that's where he drifted off and began thinking about something else - like where he could get his hands on some of that sticky fry bread back home.

All Scully could think about was exactly what Mulder was avoiding. How would they say goodbye? What would William say? She was also entertaining a fantasy of finding that his parents were really evil ogres which would justify her grabbing her son and running away as far as she could.

She hoped William couldn't read minds.

He couldn't. William was also doing quite a bit of contemplating on the hike back. He missed his parents terribly, but he felt a connection to his true parents that he just couldn't ignore even if he wanted to. They were the same, they had the same worries about the future and they shared a deep regret of the past. But there was more than that. They did not feel like strangers.

He also imagined what it would have been like had he grown up in their world and not on a remote piece of land in Wyoming. Oddly, he didn't imagine a life filled with intrigue and excitement. Instead he imagined a quietness much like his current life, but with understanding. His parents were loving and caring, but there was and had always been a distance that they shared. They were never quite as comfortable with each other as they all wished they could be. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully felt comfortable as soon as he saw their faces.

He wondered what it was going to be like seeing them walk away.

They were sidetracked along the way by hunger (cheeseburgers and milkshakes at a diner in Colorado) and both William's and Mulder's overwhelming desire to stop at Dinosaur National Monument. When they got there, they found the museum and visitor's center closed - indefinitely - citing life, health and safety issues. Certainly it was this that contributed to their moods and not the call from Walter Skinner on Scully's cell to say that the Van de Kamps were expecting them.

When Scully told Skinner where they were, he firmly advised them to not stop anywhere else and drive directly to the Van de Kamp's. He advised them in the same tone he used to use after they had pissed off the various local police departments.

"This was a fine line, Scully," Skinner was saying. "It's fortunate for your sakes that the Van de Kamps are being more than accommodating. In fact, had these circumstances been any different, their indulgence of this event would be completely unreasonable."

"Yes, sir."

"You agree with me," he prodded.

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Had I not spoken with them myself, I might have characterized it as a lack of concern, but I don't believe that's the case. At any rate, you'll be there this evening. And I know I don't have to say this... you will not attempt to alter the status quo in any way that is not through the proper channels."

"No, sir." Scully didn't elaborate and the silence hung between them.

"Have a safe trip home, Scully," he said, his voice softening. "Call me if you need anything." Several moments of silence later, he finally disconnected the call.

Mulder glanced from the road to Scully as she dropped her hands in her lap and turned to look out the window.

"You all right?"

She sighed. "He was being unusually - parental."

Mulder smiled. He reached over and took one of her hands in his. "Buck up, Starbuck."

"Hey," William said suddenly from the back seat. He pulled himself forward and dangled his arms between the two seats in the middle. "That's Moby Dick."

Scully turned and marveled at him. "You know that book? Your parents read that to you?"

"No," he said. "You did." And he scooted back into his seat and buckled up.

~ Chapter19 ~

When they crossed the state line into Wyoming, Mulder announced that they were only about an hour away. After nearly eight hours on the road, he had hoped that it would be welcome news, but as soon as it left his mouth, he felt the phantom pain of separation. Anticipating a dreaded event was inevitably worse than the event itself.

"Do you think you'll stay for dinner when we get home?" William asked, effectively bursting the bubble of silence that had enveloped them.

"Oh, I don't know, William," Scully said. "It will be late and - your mother and father will want to spend time with you." That felt terribly feeble to Scully, but she thought it would be best to break away clean. She learned this from her father and mother every time her father was to ship out. Don't linger over the goodbyes. It only makes it harder.

After another five minutes of silence, he asked, "Can I come visit you?"

Mulder and Scully traded glances. Mulder found William looking at him in the rearview mirror, and he smiled. "I hope so, William."

"Mulder," Scully whispered.

"I do," he said. "Don't you hope so, too? Why is that wrong to say?"

"Oh, it's not. And of course, I do," she said and sighed. She turned in her seat and looked back at William. "Of course, I do. But hope -" she started and reached for his hand. "I don't want to get any of our hopes up."

William shrugged. "I'd rather hope than think it won't happen at all," he said. "Even if it doesn't."

Scully smiled and reached out to brush his hair out of his face. She nodded, resigned to suffer with the hope along with her son. "Me, too."

7:00 pm
Rock Canyon, Wyoming

It was dark, but William recognized the turn off highway 191 immediately. "It's right up here," he said. "Turn right. Right here."

Scully's heart began thudding uncomfortably in her chest and her stomach tightened. Knowing she would be leaving William behind coupled with meeting the people she had entrusted to care for him for the rest of his life - she'd never been more nervous in her life.

William continued to give them directions, "lefty here," he said, and "right here," until they found themselves on a long, bumpy dirt driveway and closing in on a large house, though it was not the stereotypical farmhouse that Scully assumed it would be.

In fact, the property was not what she imagined at all. The Van de Kamp home was well-lit from within which made it look homey and inviting. She had imagined a plain and weathered dwelling, fences surrounding the obligatory chickens and cows on a flat, brown countryside.

Instead, the full moon and the outside lighting afforded quite a good view of the house and the surrounding property which was beautiful and green, surrounded by trees and nestled in rolling hills. In that, at least one of Scully's many concerns was thus eliminated. He certainly didn't live in squalor.

"Mulder," Scully whispered. "Pull up slow."

Mulder nodded as the Jeep rolled slowly around the drive toward the house, the tires crunching on the gravelly dirt below. They watched as the porch light came on and the front door swung open. William's parents stepped into the chilly April evening.

Scully thought they looked relatively young - at least from this distance. Probably close to their own age. The Jeep finally rolled to a stop about twenty feet from them. When Mulder cut the engine, all they could hear was the sound of their own breathing, the engine ticking and the faintest chirp of crickets outside.

They sat in the dark, in the silence, and waited for someone to make the first move and though it was only a matter of seconds, it felt like an eternity before William suddenly bolted from the car and ran, joyous, into the arms of his parents.

"I missed you," they heard William say, and "we missed you, too, Will, oh, why did you run off again without saying something," and they loved him and he loved them and it was all fine again. All fine.

Mulder and Scully sat holding hands in the car, unsure of their place. They each mirrored the other's posture - heads down, staring at their knees. No answers there.

"Dana?" They heard William's voice muffled through the closed car doors.

Mulder and Scully pulled themselves together and stepped out of the car. Scully's mind tried to form simile out of the situation as they walked, but there was nothing analogous to it. Meeting my baby boy's adopted mother and father is like...

Nothing.

Her mouth formed the best smile it could under the circumstances as they approached. Mulder was the first to stick out his hand, but William was the first to break the silence.

"Mom, Dad. This is my real mother and father."

Scully saw the flicker of pain in the other woman's eyes as she shook her hand and smiled. Scully gave all of them credit for just letting it go. William didn't mean for his words to hurt and couldn't possibly have understood if they had shown it.

"It's - it's nice to meet you," Scully said. "Dana Scully," she said and shook the man's hand, as well. "And this is Fox Mulder."

"Brett Van de Kamp," William's father said. "This is my wife Sarah."

The four of them looked down at William who was delighted over the entire scene. Their discomfort did not register with him and they were all happy about that.

"You've had a long drive," Brett said. "Would you, um, like to come in? Have some dinner? Have a drink."

Mulder looked to Scully and found her shaking her head and smiling. He turned back to the couple in front of him. "Thank you, but, I think we'd probably better go." He looked down at William. They shared a long moment and smile. Mulder looked back to the Van de Kamps. "We'd like to say goodbye to William, if that's all right. He probably has a lot to tell you, but if we could just say goodbye, we'll - let you get back to - " Mulder just stopped talking, not really sure what words were coming out of his mouth.

"Of - yes, hon? Yes, of course you can," he said and took his wife's hand. "We'll be inside, Will. Okay?" William nodded and Brett looked back to Mulder and Scully. "It was - " Obviously, Mr. Van de Kamp was not certain what "it" was exactly. He smiled and nodded at Mulder. "Drive safely."

The couple turned and walked back inside the house. The man didn't look back. The woman never stopped looking back until she was inside and the door had closed.

Mulder and Scully knelt down in front of William and took a hand each.

"I don't know, William," Mulder started. "This is harder than I - I knew this would be hard."

"But not this hard?" William said. "I know."

The first tear started and soon, they were all damp. It was joyful and heartbreaking at the same time. They held each other and murmured as many goodbyes as they could think of without really saying goodbye.

"Promise me something," Scully said as she wiped her eyes. "Don't ever just leave here again - not without help. If you need to go again, like you did this time, tell your parents. Or call us. And we'll help you. Please don't ever go alone, again. Okay?"

"Okay," he said wiping his running nose on his sleeve. "Can I come see you? Please?"

"We'll find a way," Mulder said. "I promise. We promise," he turned to Scully. "Don't we?"

Scully nodded. "Promise," she said. Scully looked up and saw Sarah Van de Kamp's face peering surreptitiously through the screen door. "You'd better go inside," she said. "And we better go."

She pulled him to her again and squeezed. Once again, she was hugging her son goodbye, entrusting him to others, never knowing if she would see him again. She started to pull away before she broke down completely, but William held on, pulled her back, wouldn't let go. Mulder wrapped his arms around the both of them. "Come on, Scully," he said after a moment. "Let's go."

Scully pulled away and William launched himself into Mulder's arms. "We didn't get a catch," William said. "Next time?" he asked, his little voice muffled against Mulder's shoulder.

"Next time."

They held each other until William, finally let him go. He took two steps back, sniffled and turned away. He gave them a smile just before he disappeared inside his house.

They supported each other as they walked back to the Jeep, got in and started to drive away. They hadn't moved ten feet when Mulder suddenly stopped the car, got out and rummaged in the back. He ran to the porch and left William's bag of new jeans, his Navajo blankets and his baseball glove by the front door.

~ Chapter20 ~

To drive to the Rock Springs airport on unfamiliar, dark country roads while in an emotional state of complete disrepair was a challenge that Mulder was not really up to. He had to stop the car by the side of the road three times - once to console Scully who was as inconsolable as he had ever seen her and twice to get a hold of his own overwhelming emotions. The twenty minute drive took them an hour and a half.

A redeye and a layover in Denver later, they were back home.

They walked into their small, comfortable house and stood with the open front door to their backs staring into the empty space of the living room in front of them.

They were completely different, absolutely the same and everything in between. But they felt it together.

Tuesday, April 22^nd
11:22 am
Mulder's and Scully's House
Rural Virginia

They had fallen into bed the night before - emotionally and physically exhausted. Their bags were piled like the undead in the middle of the living room floor and when Scully got up, she was the first to see them. The Navajo blanket they kept was crumpled in a heap next to the bags and Scully made it her mission to fold it neatly and lay it over the back of the sofa. It didn't really go with the couch, but it matched the décor which was a mishmash anyway.

Mulder made himself known by stumbling around in the bedroom upstairs and apparently injuring some portion of himself.

"Fuck!"

Scully waited an appropriate amount of time before she stepped onto the first stair. She was about to call out when he appeared on the landing above and started down.

"I'm all right," he mumbled. "Knocked my shin."

Mulder gave the luggage in the middle of the floor a dirty look on his way to the kitchen. "I'll take those up after I have some coffee, Scully."

"Okay," she said, following him to the kitchen. She watched him prepare the brew on automatic pilot as she sat at the table.

"We forgot to file taxes," he said, dumping spoonfuls of coffee into the filter. "I remembered sometime over the Rust Belt."

"Oh."

Mulder poured water in and pushed the button. He didn't turn. He leaned into the counter, palms down and pressed his forehead against the cabinet in front of him.

She waited.

"I miss him," he finally said. "Already."

She nodded. "I know."

When he sighed and sniffled, she stepped behind him and wrapped her arms around his chest, pressed her cheek to the warm skin on his back. "It's not over, Mulder. I don't know why or how, but I know we're going to see him more than we could have ever hoped. I don't know if that's necessarily what's best for everyone, but I think -" She sighed and closed her eyes. "I think it's just the way it is. It's like fate, Mulder," she whispered. "Us, William... No matter what the circumstances are, we'll find a way to - be together. Somehow. It's the way it's supposed to be."

He turned in her arms and smiled down at her. "I'll bet you believe in aliens, too."

She smiled and stood up on her tip toes to kiss him. "I know what I know," she said against his mouth. He grinned and she patted his stomach. "Help me get the bags upstairs."

Scully tossed all the ripe clothing into a pile in the corner of the bedroom. They'd have to air these suitcases out. Maybe they could just buy new ones. Scully began rummaging through the zippered pockets and pulled out a handful of items she didn't recognize. One item was a plain business card with a phone number on it, not even a name. She recognized it as a South Dakota area code. A brief fantasy floated through her mind of Mount Rushmore and a secret installation hidden somewhere behind Teddy Roosevelt's mustache.

She put the business card aside and picked up a postcard. It was stamped with a Holiday Inn, Kayenta logo. On the front was a picture of Monument Valley at sunset. On the back was William's email address and phone number. Below that, he'd written,

it was the bullfrog song
love William

"Jeremiah," she whispered, smiling ear to ear. She shook her head, amazed, and she allowed his face to float into her thoughts. I'd rather hope than think it won't happen at all, he'd said.

"I'm glad you're growing up an optimist," she whispered into the air.

She continued her investigation in the zippered pocket and found yet another oddity. It was a small acrylic tube filled with water. She frowned, shook it slightly, peered at it closely. There, floating in the solution was a tiny chip. She sifted through the extraneous items in the pocket and came up with another piece of paper:

Dr. Scully,
Just in case -
Roy

Scully dropped down on the edge of the bed, the little tube clutched in her hand.

When she found her legs again, she walked downstairs to show Mulder. He, oddly, didn't seem all that surprised.

"It's kinda sneaky and sweet at the same time," he shrugged. "That seems like exactly the kind of thing Roy would do."

Scully nodded. "We'll have to talk about this, Mulder. I don't want this to be - just my decision. Okay?"

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I'm yours. Whenever you're ready," he said. "Coffee's almost ready - did you check messages?"

"Not yet," she said. She ventured into the living room and absently tapped the buttons on the answering machine. She was still marveling at the chip in her hand, when the machine beeped.

"Dr. Scully, this is Father Ybarra. We thought you should know that Dr. uh - Boyce at the University of Minnesota Medical Center called us and wanted us to relay this message to you. He said, your boy undergoing the Sandhoff clinical trials? Christian Fearon? He is - improving," he managed with a hint of surprise in his voice. "Congratulations, doctor," he finished and the call disconnected.

"No more messages," the machine announced.

Stunned, Scully smiled. When she turned toward the kitchen door, she found Mulder, a cup of coffee in his hand, leaning against the door jam. He was smiling at her.

"Don't good things happen in threes, Scully? Should we just wait for the third thing to come to us?"

She couldn't quite form the words around the smile on her face so she had to wait it out. Mulder waited with her. Eventually she shook her head and said, "Let's go find it."

The End

End Notes: I'd been itching (in the way that poison oak tortures you until you reluctantly have to tear your skin to shreds to do something about it) to write a William story of some kind because the way it was approached and finally dealt with irked me.

Still, it was not my intention to insert him and my agenda concerning him into this story. Believe it or not, this started out as a simple little post-movie vignette. As I started writing, though, William kept drifting into Scully's head, thus forcing me - and Mulder and Scully - to deal with that whole debacle in what - to me - was the most realistic way I could. Not so much happy, but not so much sad either. I also apparently felt the need to right some of my own perceived wrongs that occurred at the end of the series. Well, really just the one big ball of wrong as is evidenced by the scene involving AD Clarke.

I haven't written an X Files story of this length since China Lake, so imagine my surprise when I realized I needed to start keeping track of an actual plot. Now, imagine my chagrin when I realized I needed to revisit the mytharc.

I've tried to stay true to reality and to plausible extensions of known scientific fact. For instance, cell phones work (or don't work) when it suits the story, Jeep rental companies can be invented in towns where they don't exist and Mulder and Scully can always manage to go where normal people are not able. Of course, it would be silly to have Mulder and Scully teleport from Virginia to Arizona, especially since a perfectly realistic and plausible plane ride can be substituted. It might also be considered silly to build an entire state of the art complex under and within a mesa in Monument Valley, but in that, I respectfully and unashamedly cry "Creative License!" And let's let it go there.

Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for seeing it through to the end with me.

PD