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Title: The Human Variant Summary: An old case is re-opened. S and M's discoveries put some serious strain on their relationship. Boundaries are shifted but to whose advantage? The Lone Gunmen are called in to render obscure services. Skinner, Krycek, CSM, Mrs. Mulder, Miss Covarrubias, Emily are very much involved. Author's note: I had to change the ending of the story, although I preferred what I'd originally done. Mulder admits having Consortium power, the X-Files being a clever smokescreen. Scully's remark ending the story was :-) (after she kills him). It messed with consistency and so I had to ditch it. Ok, it killed the romance! FBI Headquarters Basement Office "It's like this, Scully ..." Again he needed to justify to her what step he was going to take, why he needed to take it and why it was at all necessary to try and move in the first place. He had to fight for everything with her. Most of all dignity. She turned around again to face him. Tired of this. "I thought this discussion was over, Mulder. You have no reason for re-opening that case. Forget it. We have matters more urgent that need our attention. This is personal, Mulder. You shouldn't get involved in this." Mulder broadened his shoulders slightly but still visible enough for Scully to cross her arms and look at him more intently. "This needs to be dealt with. I have to explore this. I need to be able to put this past me, whatever it is. I'm surprised my own mother never mentioned it to me. She's hiding something from me and I think, no I ... I know it has something to do with Samantha. We need to re- open this case. There were things left uninvestigated. I'm sure that whoever first opened this case did his utmost to try and prevent the truth from getting out." "Of course, Mulder. Of course you'd say that. Otherwise you'd have no reason for re-opening it." "Are you doubting me, Scully?" He got angry, slapped his hand on of the filing cabinet. "I AM re-opening this case, despite what you say. Why am I even explaining this to you at all, Scully? I don't need your approval!" If there was one thing she hated most, it was this obvious display of male dominant attitude, most of all when he took refuge in it. When he abused his position to run past her. Ignore her. Didn't the superior agent have the final say? The superior agent! It-was-her-job-to-listen, she kept saying to herself, her own mind set on tormenting her. She was convinced he would do this without her, anyway. Why did he need her approval? Why was he always asking her? In the end, didn't he always do just what he wanted? She forced herself to try and keep control. Kept her hands hidden behind crossed arms and squeezed them into fists. Her own fight for control, defeated the agonizing urge to walk out of the office and leave him. "Fine, Mulder. Then don't ask for my approval!" she bit back as she attempted to walk away from him. He grabbed her upper arm when she walked past him, pulled her back to where she had previously stood, facing him. "No, Scully. I need you on this. I'm not sure how this is gonna turn out, but I don't think I'm gonna like what I find out." He was too late to correct his mistake, sighed. Made up for it. "I'm sorry, what *we* find out. Please, Scully, I need you on this. Please?" He watched her for a moment. Despite what he had said before, he did want her approval. Waited for her to say yes-of-course-you-are- right-Mulder-you-are-always-right-Mulder-by-all-means-Mulder-go-ahead-drag-me-into-your-little-game. "Please, Scully?" Inside he knew how to slow down. How to convert the eagerness to tell her once and for all what it came down to into patience. He could be patient. After all, he knew he was right and she would see that ... eventually. "I still think you shouldn't, Mulder but I don't think I have much of a choice. You are determined to re-open the case and I know that if I don't help you, you'll end up investigating this on your own. I know you, Mulder. I'm not letting you get away with this. You owe me." No matter how much he had pushed away the thoughts, he had started to hate her. He'd started to hate her for her reaction to him. Would he actually ever tell her? Of course not. They had never been able to address issues like these. The both of them stuck in this pattern and no one to force them out of it. She was not the only one forcing herself to keep control over her violent emotions. There was struggle on both sides. A continuous day to day fight to defy something as base as human emotion. A dirty fight fought without an audience. Fought in silence. Why would he change his approach? He knew she couldn't. The woman did not know how to relax. She did not know how to keep an open mind. Ok, so she'd had a better education than he had. Ok, so she was a damn doctor. So? What about it? That shouldn't matter. First of all, she was a Federal Agent. A Fed with a doctor's attitude, a rich kid's ego and the rigorous morals of a good catholic school girl. Now that's a combination, he thought. He hated her for being cold and distant. This was a woman he wanted and during the last five years he'd been trying to find a way to get *through* to her. To find a way to break through these barriers. She did NOT understand signals, yet there were those rare moments, when she seemed to respond to them. After five years, he knew just what that meant. He thought he did. He'd known right from the beginning. The barriers had never been higher and more diverse. Something had somehow managed to twist his vision of her. He had always adored her for just being around. Now, he couldn't care less about her. If she stretched this moment any further, they would both pay dearly for the consequences. He did not want to waste any more time. They had to start discussing the case now. Maybe it was just one of those days when he detested the fact that he had to practically convince her of every single thought he had. She was still looking at him. The thoughts going through his mind were frantic, no way to control them. He could barely hang on to what he was trying to say. He gasped for air, then he remembered. "So, you wanna join me, Scully?" He pointed to his desk to invite her to follow, walked over to it, leaving her by the filing cabinet. She took a chair, grabbed it and moved it over to his desk in such a violent manner, throwing him a look that made him feel instantly as if he'd been smashed into little pieces. A mosaic of random thought. No flesh, no bones. No nothing. "As I was saying ..." He smiled, paused a moment until she was sitting in front of him. "Are you sure, Mulder? I mean what's your proof that this case was not processed properly in the first place. A hunch?" She hesitated. Then waited for him to respond. Suddenly, it dawned on her. "It is, isn't it? A hunch! Mulder? Mulder? Look at me, Mulder." He slowly lifted his head to look at her. Shook his shoulders in an apologetic way. It couldn't be helped. He was like that. Words could not explain and he really wasn't intending on explaining it to her. "Don't tell me, Mulder. I think I've heard this before." She sighed and lifted her hand to her forehead. Mulder's shoulders dropped. "Come on, Scully. If you take one look at this, you'll know as well as I do that something isn't right about this." That didn't seem to work on her. Scully didn't even move or ask to take a closer look at the file. She'd seen what she needed to see already and was obviously still looking for a way out of this. She obviously still thought she could convince him to drop this case. "When have I ever been wrong? I have great hunches, Scully." "Frankly, Mulder, I don't see any evidence of that, anywhere." He laughed and she realized she'd spoken too soon, the both of them having practically lived off his hunches for the past years. "I meant, I don't see any evidence of *something that isn't right*. You are very fortunate that you and your so called hunches were right on several occasions in the past. I also know that going on hunches or following your intuition means you're about to attract trouble or get us involved in something we should not be involved in at all." She took the folder out of his hands and started leafing through the papers again, the way she had done the day before. The way he'd asked her to do more than just once during the past day. "The necessary paperwork is all there and it all looks just fine to me, Mulder. In fact, this looks absolutely perfect. I don't think I've ever seen a more properly processed case." He sighed again. "Exactly my point, Scully. When have you ever seen a case this complex with immaculate paperwork?" She was at a loss there. How could she argue with a comment so ... illogical. It wasn't even worth responding to. "Let me get this straight. You are re-opening a case on the sole suspicion someone actually cared about their paperwork? Have you lost it? I mean, are you crazy? You can't do that, Mulder. It's ... it's simply unheard of!" Arguing was quite pointless. His mind was made up. She could tell just by looking at him. There was not a damn thing she could say now that would make him leave this alone. Not a damn thing. Maybe there was another reason he was re-opening this case. Maybe he couldn't tell her or he thought he couldn't. There just had to be another reason. There had to be something more substantial to base this investigation on and he didn't want to share that with her. How could he even get away with this, otherwise? In fact, she was convinced now he had to have another reason and thought his futile comments were just a masquerade for not having to tell her the real reason, the one he didn't want her to know about. She felt stepped on. Ignored. "Look, Scully, you don't have to agree. By now, I'm used to you not agreeing with me but I know I'm right. You know what happens when I know I'm right?" She looked straight at him only to lift her eyebrow at him, making him grin without wanting to. Scully slowly placed the folder on his desk, crossed her arms and gave him a stern look then uncrossed her arms again, for a moment not quite knowing what to say to him. How to make her point. She brought her hands to the sides of her suit and straightened the jacket, gathered her thoughts and started to whisper, slowly uttering the words. "When you think you know you're right, Mulder, you're like some kid who refuses to believe there is no such thing as Santa Claus. You want to keep looking for traces in the snow. No, actually, you are worse. You're the kid that keeps insisting Santa Claus is an alien in a red suit with a plot to suck your brain." "What!" Mulder's jaw dropped. He wasn't sure how to respond to that. "You would actually tell your kid there is no such thing as Santa Claus? That's cold, Scully." She sighed and asked herself whether this conversation would ever end. Why go on with it? "I'm just saying you need proof, evidence to suggest that this case has been manipulated in some way. You have nothing to go on. You have absolutely no reason to investigate this further. Not even a footprint in snow." "How much is your partner allowed to humiliate you?" "A lot. But you need it, Mulder." "Scully?" Mulder smiled at her. "Yes, Mulder." "You're turning me on." He could see it coming. He saw even before he had finished his sentence, what her reaction would be. It didn't look good. This was getting on her nerves, you could tell. She used to be able to smile at this. What was going on? Perhaps it was the pointlessness of it. "Promises, promises ..." she mused. Mulder felt as if she was squeezing both of his lungs for air, feasting on him like a parasite. "Mulder, that hardly has anything to do with what we're discussing here." Although, the argumentative tone was deeply imbedded in her voice, there was hardly a matching expression on her face. Her face screamed anger. Yet, somehow Mulder overlooked this and thought it was her way of dealing with a bad joke. They were, he thought, like always, just kidding. In fact, she had grown more than tired of these stupid lightheaded allusions. They did absolutely nothing for her. Not anymore. "What I said isn't what we're discussing? Good one." He opened his desk drawer, found what he was looking for, took some papers out of an envelope, threw his hand against the drawer to bang it shut. He looked at her only briefly, got up and stepped towards her, then put his mouth close to her ear. "Why don't you lighten up, Scully?" As his warm breath hit her ear, it felt like it traveled straight through to the center of her. She could feel the sensation resonate throughout her entire body.
A few hours later, Scully was trying to shove their last case into the much hated filing cabinet. It was one case among few that they'd been able to solve. She walked back to his desk and picked up the open folder. "So, what do you think we should do with your case?" "Probably devote some free time to it. I don't want another lecture from Skinner before I can provide him with some proof." He looked at her only briefly. "And I don't want one from you either." Scully took out the long list of names. All women's names, with a lot of numbers, letters, some kind of code and dates. Looking over the computer print out, Scully noticed that the dates were marked: male or female. Brief calculation led her to the obvious conclusion that the list mentioned when the women had given birth. It had to be that, although she couldn't see any reason for there to be such a list in the first place. Why would someone have a list of women's names, stating the dates when they'd given birth and the sex of their infants? She explained to Mulder, showing him on the list how she'd figured it out. He seemed to agree with her. "It's even worse than I thought." "What do you mean? Is there something you're not telling me?" "Never mind, Scully. Just thinking out loud." Funny, she didn't believe that. "There's a lot of people on that list, Mulder. Maybe we should read through it again. Before doing anything, I mean. You think we should start by visiting one of the mothers?" "Which one, Scully? There's hundreds of them. Do we pick one? No, they all have something in common. There's a reason why these women are all on that list. My mother's on that list." "Then why don't we start there?" "Visit my mother? I don't think that would be such a good idea. I doubt she'd even be honest with me." He walked over to where she was standing, smiling awkwardly. "What?" "Pick one name on the list, see where it gets us? It's not the best option. I need to know what to expect first. I need to know what all this is about, what's behind all this. Anything else, Scully, just isn't my style." "Spending your life in a basement, now that's style!" "May I remind you that you share that basement with me." Mental note to self, she thought, never go there again. "You're saying that's not the path we should take. Good, then what do you propose we do to figure out what's behind all this? If there is something behind all this." He smiled down at her gently. "Well, Scully, there's not much we can do without causing a stir. However, I do happen to know some very nice people who would be more than willing to help us out." Mulder walked toward the door, grabbed his coat and waited for her to follow him. "Mulder, it's time to go home. I'm sure we can continue this in the morning. It can wait." "Why, you got a hot date, Scully?" He didn't give her time to respond. "I'm just gonna go fax this list of names to Frohike, so he can get started on it immediately. Maybe he'll have found something by the time we get there, so we won't have to wait." "That usually means we'll be stuck there for hours!" "Hey, at least they know how to party!" She rolled her eyes at him, followed him out the door. The Lone Gunmen's Quarters There were no lights coming from their *habitat*. As Mulder and Scully slowly walked from the car towards the heavily bolted door, they saw something flicker inside. "Hey Scully, we're in luck." She didn't understand, but knew she would immediately get some kind of clarification. "Must be Dungeons and Dragons night." Mulder used his head to indicate the building they were about to enter. She rolled her eyes, still not at all understanding the allure nor the point of three grown men playing childish games. "No, Mulder, I think ... no, I'm sure that *we* -as Federal Agents, let's *not* forget- were never in a more appropriate place at a more appropriate time." She did the annoying little high pitch thing with her voice again, Mulder thought, announcing her superiority over him. "Oh, really?" He shivered inside and not because she had just scared him again, but because he felt like grabbing her and shaking her brain around in her head so she would stop belittling him. He sighed and averted his eyes instead, being more than obviously annoyed. At least to the outside world his facial expression would indicate he was a big man annoyed with a nagging woman and he wasn't even sure he was happy about that. "Come in." It was Langly. He didn't look at them and walked away from the door. Something was bothering him more than usual. A thing that was more than apparent, if you knew how bothered he normally was. It was dark inside, nothing but a few desk lamps. They had just barely walked in, when Byers rather unexpectedly came out of the pure darkness behind the door and closed it behind them. Scully immediately walked over to where Frohike was sitting. He was conversing with his computer, typing so frantically he could just as easily have been mistaken for a secretary. No one mistook him for one, though. "Have you found anything yet?" Frohike froze at the keyboard and looked at her. "No, I'm getting nowhere. The names you gave me are not showing up anywhere. I don't think any of these people are still alive. They're all women. What's with that?" "We don't even know that." "You do know, I'm risking my neck here don't you?" "Don't worry, Frohike." Mulder said. "If you get caught, you can blame us." "I will, count on it." "That's loyalty for you." Scully said. Frohike ignored that remark, not even believing it could have come from her. Too busy going through huge databases of information most people didn't know existed. Then something went wrong. "Hey, golden boy, get your ass over here and look what you've done to this thing. It's gone all weird on me." Langly smirked at Frohike's comment and dragged himself toward the noise. "Now what? What have you done now?" Langly shouted at him from a distance. That attitude changed when he saw the monitor. The indicator showed the processor was heating up fast and there was no way to stop it. "Jeezes ... what is this shit? What the fuck are you doing? You idiot, can't you see someone's messing with our stuff! Stop, you moron! Give it up, there's nothing you can do. Just terminate the connection, you ass! Kill the modem. Kill it!" "Can't. You insisted on installing an internal one. I told you not to do it but you never listen." Frohike said. Langly's face had turned bright red and Frohike could just about kick himself for not having noticed in time that something was not going according to plan. Mulder glared over Frohike's shoulder as Byers finally caught on and pulled the plug on the heavy machine. Smoke was coming out of it. The three of them were staring at it as if they'd lost some dear old friend in a freak car accident. "I didn't think this was even possible. What happened?" Byers was staring at their loss, perplexed. "Hey, nobody's perfect." Mulder said, addressing Frohike. "Thanks, Mulder, I'm sure I'll remember that when they haul my ass in jail for almost continuously pulling illegal stunts for an obscure downtrodden department in the FBI." Mulder, feeling horribly out of place, went to sit next to Scully on the couch, leaving the guys to figure out what had gone wrong. "Let's see what we have here." Byers joined his two buddies behind the computer screen. "Well," Byers said, "it looks like we weren't able to get any information at all and to top it all off, I think it's ... it's ..." "Fried! That's what it is. Fried!" Langly was shouting at no one in particular. Byers had long gotten used to the way things were done around here and was half expecting Langly to burst out again but he settled down, wondering how this could have happened at all. Things were quiet for a long time after that. The guys were trying to pick up the pieces, not interested in sharing how their attempts at finding information had failed. Desperately trying to rescue bits and pieces of a smoked out system. Then suddenly ... "Hey guys!" Mulder shouted for some attention as he hadn't heard anything for the past hour and was getting bored sitting next to a partner who favored spending her time reading instead of talking. "You think maybe we should try and get this information the right way? I mean, I'd rather not because I prefer something that hasn't been at all tampered with and I don't want others sticking their dirty noses in it before I have a chance to solve this ... "What's your point?" Frohike asked. "If this is gonna take all night ..." Scully turned her head and looked straight at him. First he dragged her over here, now he wanted to quit and go home just like that? He wasn't leaving her here, if that's what he was getting at. "Off course, why didn't I think of that. That's the root of our problem! We're keeping Mr. Mulder from his beauty sleep." Her cruel sarcasm kept groping at his throat as he heard her voice echo in his head. All it did was get some life back into the place. Byers and Langly had quickly gotten bored while Frohike was still trying to fix the problem. Trying to fix something that wasn't even worth salvaging. It was hopeless. "What's the matter," Langly shouted at Frohike, "can't remember how to turn on your machine?" One of those days again. "Fuck off, kid." "Hey," Byers whispered as his face came out from behind the guy's latest newsletter. "Did I miss anything?" No doubt he was referring to Frohike's wellknown and patented courteousness. "Yeah, man, agent Scully said ROOT." Langly was amused at that, but he was like that. Easily amused. No doubt from having watched one too many Beavis and Butthead episodes. Byers only frowned at Langly's display of utter ignorance, being the most reserved of the three of them. "UNIX BITCH!" Frohike shouted back. Meanwhile his computer's condition was gradually getting worse. "Hey you guys, cool it will you!" Mulder had been observing their every move, while Scully was trying to sort through some of the papers that had been carelessly thrown together on, under, in front of and behind the couch. "I was talking to Dungeons and Dragons over here." Frohike vaguely motioned to where Langly was standing. Scully failed to understand, as did Mulder who was unable to utter a single word. He hadn't ever seen them so frantic before and found it fascinating. Byers took it upon himself to explain what kind of magic the word root could provoke in the three of them. When you are root, you have all permissions on the Unix system you are logged into. It could mean that it's your system. It could also mean that it's not your machine. Depending on your skill, it's likely that one bright morning the Feds will come and visit. It will be less than a social call. So, in a unix system, when you're root ... hey, apparently you can do magic. "If you're running a Unix platform, Root is God." Leave it to Byers to explain things. All three of them laughed and nodded in recognition, remembering things from a not so distant past and picturing things to come. From the look on both Mulder and Scully's face, the explanation did not do much. Let's face it, Byers didn't really have the time nor the patience. One of his buddies had just been under some kind of attack. Although, on a good day, Byers was neurotic enough to go over their much loved newsletter more than six times to filter out typos and blame himself for this utter carelessness. "Root? Unix Bitch? I hope you aren't calling my partner names? You better not be. What the hell's going on here?" Nagging insistence on Mulder's part. "Mulder, why don't you let them work, ok. The sooner they finish, the sooner you can go home and get some sleep. Maybe watch a video." "You just keep reading!" Mulder sank back down on the couch and sulked. Byers sighed, walked up to one of the book cases and took out the worst looking ... thing Mulder had ever seen. It was barely together. "And this is supposed to be what?" Mulder still dared to ask. By now, he was holding the book up in the air, the front flap in between two fingers as if holding a dirty diaper. "A nice way of saying read the fucking manual?" Langly barely managed to finish the sentence. "Byers, stop torturing our dear friend." Frohike managed to say, being the gentleman he usually isn't. He shouted at his computer one more time and turned away from it to join Scully, Mulder, Byers and Langly on the couch. Byers could take a hint. "Look, we're all under enormous pressure here. It looks as if you might have to give us more time," Byers said. Scully didn't even blink. "Let's just get on with it, shall we? What did you find out?" She didn't get side tracked at all, much to Frohike's surprise. She had come down here to get some clear answers and she wasn't counting on going home without them. Byers could usually bring out the best in people. Clearly, he did not have the same effect on agent Scully. Mulder was smiling at Frohike to see how he would handle squeezing out of this. Of course he couldn't, being much to honest for his own good. "We couldn't get to the information fast enough. Somehow they must have seen me coming." "So?" Scully asked. "My computer got nuked." Frohike finally admitted. "What that in plain English?" "It's ruined." "You never do anything right! You just can't do it, can you? You should have let me do it. At least, I would not have gotten this fine piece of hardware blown to Hell and Beyond." Langly, who was clearly not one bit disappointed had worked on the hardware for more than two weeks and had seen his work destroyed in a matter of minutes. "Shut up, wise ass. What makes you think it wasn't your fine piece of hardware in the first place!" Last comments from Frohike. "What are we gonna do now?" Scully whispered. She had been pacing back and forth between the couch and the front door, trying to think of a way out of this mess. But she failed to come up with any answers. Mulder was still on the couch, busy watching her walk. Byers, Frohike and Langly took one look at Mulder, noticed the way he was watching his partner move. Eyes pinned on her. The three of them nodded to each other. A secret shared. "Can't you fix that thing?" Mulder asked. "We could tape it together and donate it to a museum, but that's about all we can do with it." Langly said. "Funny, Mulder. Funny." Frohike replied, roughly calculating how much they had lost. They would have to start over. Not sure what had made the hardware literally burn itself out. Completely. They'd never seen anything like it. Frohike turned to look at the clock on his desk. Suddenly he became agitated. "We'll have to get into that later, Mulder. We gotta go now." Frohike got up, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "That's a first. Are you guys allowed to go out that late? You're not by any chance planning on doing anything stupid, are you?" Mulder casually asked. "Hey, Hot Shot. You're not with us 24 hours, 7 days. Sometimes we do actually do normal things too." "Like what?" Byers commented. Langly just laughed. "Like what?" Byers insisted. "Picking up chicks from the airport." Langly couldn't help himself. Frohike threw his buddy a dirty look, then checked the clock for the time again and ran to the front door. Along the way, he grabbed his jacket off the floor. "We're late. Come on. The plane's probably already landed. We're gonna be late, didn't you guys hear?" Frohike wrestled into his jacket and was growing more nervous by the minute. He turned around again. "Hey Mulder, Scully ... no offense but you guys will have to come back later. We gotta go." "Why are you going to the airport?" Scully asked, ignoring the haste he was in. "No offense, agent Scully but it's private." Frohike ran outside, leaving the door open and was seen hurrying to the van. Scully didn't understand, looked at the remaining two. Again, Byers was eager to explain. "We're going to the airport to pick up his kid." "Frohike has a kid? He never mentioned it. Not to me." "Well Mulder," Langly said, "it's not like it ever came up. We've always been far too busy saving your ass." Langly and Byers exchanged a meaningful glance. Wondering if they would actually tell them. "He only told us about it yesterday," Byers admitted in shame. "You guys didn't know either?" "Yeah, funny thing is," Langly started, "it turns out I used to know her in college. Not from any classes or anything. She was a Dungeons and Dragons fan, like I was. She was a sore loser, though. He's had trouble talking to me ever since he found out." "I'm sorry." Scully meant it. "Oh, please ... I haven't had this much fun in ages." Langly and Byers showed them out and hurried their way over to the van just in time. Frohike had the engine going and he would have left without them. Mulder and Scully were left outside, watching the three of them drive off. "I can't believe Frohike has a daughter." "Why, because it's hard to imagine?" She lifted her eyebrow at him. Took the last steps to the car and opened her side of it. Got in and waited until he was seated behind the wheel. "Of course not. It's just that I never actually pictured him being a father. It's strange how little we actually know about them. Yet, these are the only people you trust ... completely. I don't get that, Mulder." "I trust you." What had he meant by that, she thought. There was something in the way he had said it, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He saw she was thinking things over and continued. "Scully, there's probably lots of things I don't know about you, but I trust you ... completely." She let her eyes settle on his smile, returned it. Grabbed the seat belt and yanked it into position as the car started moving, claiming it's place in traffic. "I never played Dungeons and Dragons," she said. "Now, why does that not surprise me." He waited for a few moments, settled his hand on hers. It took her by surprise. "I'm sure it'll be ok, Scully. They'll try again. I know they will and they'll tell us if something comes up." She nodded, squeezed his hand. Didn't understand why he was so suddenly worried about finding this information. Why was he comforting her? "Why are you so worried about me, Mulder?" "Worried? What makes you think that?" "Tell me, Mulder." "When you found Emily ... I found a similar list. I didn't tell you I'd seen that list before because I didn't mean to upset you." "Why?" He took a piece of paper from his jacket, handed it to her. Scully's eyes quickly found the information. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe what she was looking at. "My name is on that list." FBI Headquarters Basement Office "Good morning." Mulder said without looking up from his papers, when he heard the office door open. He naturally assumed it could only be Scully. He was wrong. A tall blonde stepped into the office. Miss Covarrubias was still wearing her raincoat and didn't appear to have much time. There was a plastic bag in her left hand, hiding her right hand behind it. Mulder didn't recognize the footsteps and looked up immediately, surprised at seeing her here. Surprised at the object in her hand. "What are you doing here?" Mulder jumped up from his chair. "You're a hard man to track down, Mr. Mulder. I had no idea the FBI had offices without a view." "My partner could walk in here any minute." Mulder kept staring at his visitor. After a few seconds of silence, she looked at her watch and then spoke. "Agent Scully has just had some car trouble on the way over here, I'm afraid." Mulder stepped from behind his desk, not taking his eyes off this strange but beautiful woman. "What do you mean car trouble? What does that mean exactly? Would it hurt to be a bit more specific?" When he got no answer, he insisted. "Has something happened to her?" Still no answer. "What did you do to her!" Miss Covarrubias walked towards Mulder and offered him the plastic bag. Mulder looked at her, then accepted it with some hesitation. "You shouldn't worry so much, agent Mulder." She smiled, carefully. "Your partner has a flat tire. Nothing more. With any luck, anyway. Shouldn't she have called you by now to tell you?" Mulder was defeated by those words. It questioned his importance in his partner's life. She couldn't have attacked him in a better way, it all fit. They were all trained like that, it was the force that bound them all together. What was the real reason for her visit? "So, why are you here?" "Agent Mulder, you were right to re-open the case. In this bag you will find the information your friends were so avidly scanning for yesterday. Unfortunately, the system's analyst had no choice but to put a rather abrupt stop to their little invasion." "How do you know all this?" "Even I have my sources, agent Mulder. But it would not be wise to tell you where I get my information from. I've seen you work." As she was heading towards the door, she turned around. "Your friends could get themselves into very serious problems and frankly, Mr. Mulder ... They're not that good." "They must be somewhat intimidating or they wouldn't be at home looking at scrap metal." Her eyes went right through him. The remark hadn't even surprised her. She pretended not to have heard. "They could have caught them a long time ago, but that would not have been in these men's best interest." "Not in their best interest? What are you talking about? Why not tell me?" She took one step towards him in an effort to explain. "If you question these men's capabilities, agent Mulder, you'd better prepare yourself for more than a little surprise." "Sounds familiar." he mumbled to himself. "Excuse me!" "Never mind ... So, why bring this information to me now?" "Let's just say things have changed over the years. It's time the guilty were prosecuted." She crossed her arms, expecting an answer. "So, whoever is responsible for these crimes is no longer of use to you and you want me to clean up the mess, is that it?" Mulder knew he wasn't going to get an answer to that, but he tried. He also knew he was right, he was being used. Otherwise , he would not have been contacted, he would never have gotten information. "Good day, agent Mulder." She slammed the door behind her. Mulder didn't even want to think about how she had managed to get into the building. Nor did he want to think about how Scully got a flat tire at this rather convenient time. That scared him more than anything. It had to have happened while she was driving, he thought. Scully hadn't contacted him, because she had forgotten her cell phone in the office the day before. If the tire had been taken care of outside her apartment, she would have called him from home to tell him. About ten minutes later, Scully walked into the office looking very annoyed. Sweaty. Exhausted. "You look ..." He looked at her, glad to see her in one piece. Laughed. "You look tired." "I had some sort of an emergency. I couldn't reach you." He held up her cell phone. "Let me guess ... flat tire. Just a hunch, Scully." There was a puzzled look on her face. "Mulder, you're good but you're not that good. How do you know?" "Lucky guess." "What's in the bag?" "Something tells me it's nothing to look forward to."** They spent three hours going over papers, photographs but it didn't seem to get them anywhere. It was a big mess. Only Mulder wanted to do his utmost to try and make some sense of it. To defend his position. To let her know, I told you so. "Ok, let's go over this one more time, Mulder. What you're saying is, that you now have proof that your mother had another child and that that child is still alive?" She stared at him, not at all sure what to think of this new and rather sudden development. He took off his glasses and looked at her. "No, I don't have *proof*, Scully. As far as proof is concerned, we only know that my own mother was involved in this case. The case I've re-opened, by the way. And, that for a long time she was even thought of as being somehow involved. For no reason whatsoever, at least not for what I think is any apparent reason, the investigation went in an entirely different direction and she was cleared of all accusations against her." "Mulder, the guys couldn't find anything the other day. You were there. You saw what happened. Maybe we should postpone this until they manage to come up with something." "I was told, their material was destroyed on purpose to prevent access. I don't think I should impose. I think we should go on what they've offered us." "Even if that information might be incomplete and used to trick you or to keep you off track? How can you trust them?" "Exactly, but why would they do that? Why go to all that trouble if this case wasn't in some way something they want to keep closed. There are other ways to keep us from this." "How? We're not even investigating this. Officially." Scully went back to the original file, went through some papers to check if she'd gone over every bit of information. "As far as I know the information about there being another child is not in here. It's not in the case file, Mulder. So, who gave you that information and since when have they had it?" Mulder hesitated. "Interesting choice of words, Scully. All I know is, a contact of mine came in here this morning, while you were delayed with a flat tire and ... that person gave me that bag." He pointed to it as he spoke. That was a bit too risky, even for Mulder, to share that much with her. Next, she'd be asking who this contact was. Then he would have to explain. He didn't want to explain. She'd never buy it. He wanted to see where this would lead them, even if he was being used. Scully, she wouldn't. She wouldn't let them lead her anywhere. "And you trust ... whoever gave you that bag enough to take their word for it? Mulder! What you have here is a plastic bag filled with a bunch of torn up, stained, illegible material. I really do think it would be a waste of time to go into this. Have you even considered it might be fabricated?" "I have Scully, but I need to take a chance with this. What if my mother had another child? It might even have something to do with my sister." If something like that had happened to her, she'd want to know. Maybe they should follow a few leads, if they could find them, and see where it would take them. Just for a few days. There was not much left to do but paperwork. Until a new case would turn up? Just a few more days. "Ok, but only for a few days. I still have paperwork." He smiled at her, grateful she was willing to do this. "Mulder?" "Yeah?" "Until something else comes up." He nodded. "And you're theory is?" She was now looking at the papers Mulder had been given: a birth certificate, a piece of paper with names and addresses, pictures of a growing boy, pictures of his mother. He'd never seen these pictures before. "You're assuming I have a theory," he said. "Don't you flatter yourself, Mulder. So what now, now you don't seem to have a theory?" She looked up at him. Somehow he was disappointed. "Do I have to point everything out to you, Scully? Read the birth certificate." he ordered. A few minutes later, when Mulder could see some kind of reaction forming on Scully's face, he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head. Scully stood from her chair slowly and then pulled off her glasses. She looked at him. "My God, Mulder. What are you gonna do?" The name on the birth certificate was Krycek's. "Don't know, Scully. Wanna go visit mom?" Mulder Residence "Funny. She should be home." Mulder knocked on the door again. No answer. He became agitated, looked around, then turned toward the car and lifted his shoulders. Scully unfastened her seat belt as she felt a sudden urge to get out of the car, then she noticed he was already on his way over. Obviously they were leaving. As she clasped her hand round the belt to force it back round her body, a loud perforating noise made the seat belt slide back to its source. The shot had left Mulder frozen on the curb. No one was seen leaving the house. Thinking that whoever fired the gun was still inside, they decided to break in. They had to. He didn't even have the key to his mother's house. "You don't have a key to your mother's house?" "Why would I need one?" His voice pressed down on her. Sarcasm had missed it's purpose. "Mulder, calm down." He couldn't think straight. She took off her raincoat, took out her gun and used the coat to shield her hand as she tried to smash in one of the windows. After a few violent hits, she managed to crack it, kicked it in and crawled inside. "Oh my God." The house was a complete mess. It looked as if it had been stripped to the naked frame. Not a single piece of furniture had been left untouched. When she finally opened the front door, he pushed her aside to get in. His mouth fell open. "Where's mom?" "I haven't checked." "Why the hell not!" Rage was all that was left. "Because you were pounding on the door so damn hard that I had to let you in before you did any more damage." Rage was a good thing. He looked away from her with an expression on his face as if he'd just smelled something bad. He hated her. He hated being powerless. Rhythmic pounding told her he'd gone for the stairs. She ran to the window to check if there were any changes outside. None. Sweat glistened on her skin as breathing suddenly got more and more difficult. The air inside was different, thicker and dryer. "She's not upstairs, Scully. I can't find her. Have you checked everything downstairs?" Mulder ran his sleeve brutally over his forehead as he ran down the stairs and tried to locate his partner. "Can't find her. Maybe she wasn't even home." Scully shouted from the kitchen. "Do you have any idea where she might have gone? Does she have any friends, family?" "No. Not anymore. Just me, as far as I can tell." He didn't even know what went on inside his mother's life. He had never wondered about her. She was his mother and until now, that had been more than enough for him. He didn't need to know what she did at all. He couldn't care less. Scully had gone through every room twice, had looked in closets, under tables, behind the couch. Everywhere. She wasn't here. She joined her partner at the bottom of the stairs. "She's not here." "I found blood upstairs, Scully. I can't ..." He sat down on one of the steps and looked up at her. She wanted to say something, but didn't and went upstairs to check for herself. It didn't stay quiet for long. "Mulder," she shouted, "call this in. We need to put out an APB on her. I think someone might have taken her. It looks as if there was a violent struggle." He didn't even hear what she had said, then his cell phone started to ring. "Mulder." "Mulder, you know how easy it is to get to you? Do you realize the implications of a lack of security, especially in someone's home?" "What do you want, you bastard!" He could hear the man light a cigarette. "It's not what I want, it's what you need." "So, what do I need?" A short silence at the other end. Mulder could swear he heard footsteps in the background. New shoes on a shiny floor but with a strange kind of echo. "You'll know soon enough." The call was disconnected. "Scully!" "Yeah, what is it?" "Did you check outside?" "I did, why?" Mulder went to one of the windows and saw a black van drive off. He smashed his phone into the ground. "Fucking bastard!" Inside the van, there was something vaguely familiar. Someone old put down his headphones and squinted his eyes as he inhaled. Enjoying this, he turned his head to the woman next to him. "Teena dear, you didn't have to hurt your son. You know he was only following orders. My orders." Krycek was in the back of the van, out cold on the floor, a poorly bandaged arm in his lap. "Where are you taking me? I thought this was over!" "I'm keeping you safe. You have yet to realize it." FBI Headquarters Basement Office Scully was glad to get out of the office. Her excuse? Going to the lab personally, to try and convince them to get faster results on the blood. This was urgent. Actually she was reluctant to leave Mulder behind, brooding. It had to be hard on him. She couldn't focus on what had happened recently. How did Mulder get his hands on all that information? If it was given to him, then why hadn't he questioned it's origin more than he had? "Agent Scully? I'm sorry, agent Scully? Agent Scully?" A nervous lab technician stood in the doorway, calling out to her. He had seen her walk past the window. She seemed miles away. It looked as if she were sleepwalking, that's what came into his mind. She turned to face him. It took a few seconds before she could see his face and wake up from her thoughts. Her hand went to her forehead. "Are you alright, agent Scully?" He took a few steps toward her. She lifted her hand to indicate his action was uncalled for and smiled to soften the sudden harshness of her gesture. Her face in angry wrinkles. "I'm OK, really." His forehead in frowns, uncertain. "Just never enough rest." she explained. "You know how it is." He thought she was weird and he didn't go for weird. She thought that in comparison to her partner, he was one of the few men she had encountered who acted normal in her presence. Casual. Let's face it, uninterested. Mulder would have seen it, but Scully somehow lacked that kind of finesse in judging people. "I'd like to take it with me, if you don't mind." she pointed to the paperwork. The last thing she needed was an explanation. She would read it on the way down.
She was just about to open the basement office door, her hand stretched out, dabbing in mid-air. Her head buried in lab results. She couldn't believe it. Kept re-reading the words, couldn't hear herself breathe. Apparently, she wasn't the only one deep in thoughts. Suddenly the door was pulled open. She didn't realize it until it knocked into the filing cabinets. By then it was too late. Mulder had run into her in quite an embarrassing way. Full frontal impact. He was surprisingly quick enough to grab her waist as she started to tumble, causing her head to jerk backwards. For a brief misguided second, they could have been dancing. That's when he lost balance and fell backwards, into the office. His left hand and wrist landing on the floor hard, taking all of the impact. Still holding her waist, she landed on her back. Having anticipated her fall, she bent her head forward and clutched at his body. That's when his hand gave up, his elbow hit the floor and he just barely managed to pull her to him hard so her head would be safe. "Mulder," she said as she pushed him away from her. "Get up. Just get up." She kept pushing. He didn't resist her hands. Violent palms hit him in the chest, on the shoulders. He felt exhausted, but he had enough self-preservation to crawl away from her, using his hands to push his body out of reach. No voice left to call her back to reason. A few minutes later, they had had enough time to assess personal damage. They looked bewildered, like children that aren't supposed to go out and play in the woods and come back bruised and bitten. Nothing had happened, really. "See you tomorrow." Mulder got up, reached down for his raincoat. Left her sitting on the floor and left. Angry. At the same time so glad he had left her on her ass. Not even sorry he'd smashed into her. Empty and exhausted feelings. He had somewhere to go. Home. While Scully had gone upstairs, he had received another call but he had no intention of sharing that with her. Strange for this guy to be calling him on his cell phone at this time. Only the bureau and Scully knew his number. Apparently others had gotten hold of it as well. Maybe they had always had it. His mother had that number. This was not an ongoing case. Not until he could prove events were related to whatever it was he was re-opening. Why did he have to re-open this case? He had no particular reason for it. A not so distinct gut feeling told him to re-open it. How could he ever have embarked upon the unsatisfying attempts to explain these gut feelings to her. She did not let him get away with anything. She slowed him down. He had begun to hate himself for letting her slow him down, for not doing a damn thing about it. He let her proceed with whatever it was she was doing. He bent over backwards to talk to her, to try and make her understand. Somehow that had become so damn important. His cell phone rang again. "Mulder." No answer. The call was disconnected immediately. Before he was able to say anything else. Unable to form some kind of structure on what he was thinking about before. What the hell was it that he was thinking about? Scully? Oh that. His brain went frantic without announcing it to him. He went with it. It was easier jumping a crashing plane in mid air than it was jumping h ... Cancel that. Something had visibly shocked him. His mind cooled and settled. How ridiculous. He laughed. What the hell was it that had begun taking over his thinking pattern? FBI Headquarters Basement Office She came back to the office that morning. Later than expected. In stealth mode. He hadn't even heard the door open, so she caught him in a fit of embarrassing laughter. "Well, at least someone's bright and cheerful. Wanna share?" He turned to face her with the most stoic of grins. He was good, no doubt he was thinking about that as he assumed his normal posture. "Well, I could say you're bright and early, but I won't." "I would say that's very clever of you." "So, what did our friend Jake have to say, yesterday? I couldn't find the test results." "You obviously didn't care about them yesterday. I took them with me, Mulder. I asked a colleague of mine for some advice." "And what kind of advice would that be?" Mulder slow motioned into his chair and made a face as if he was lowering himself into a steaming sauna. "Should I tell you now or would you rather have me wait until you have put your old bones to rest?" He glanced at her, but didn't have the nerve to smirk at her. Her tone of voice didn't call for that. Don't make a sound, little boy. The big bad wolf is coming to get you. "Good or bad, Scully?" She sighed and threw the crumpled papers on the desk. He didn't want to look. He didn't even want to be a part of this anymore. "Not what I would have expected. The blood is ..." At that precise time, Mulder found his answer. "... not my mother's. It's ..." His mind was screaming for input as his eyes searched the paper. "We don't know." "You mean not yet." "No, Mulder. We don't know." "Well, then what do we know, Scully." "Good question. Not much, it seems." FBI Headquarters Basement Office Five more days had come and gone. Nothing. No leads. And this day was running on it's last legs. The time had come to move some long forgotten documents to their rightful place. There was nothing else for them to do. In the past couple of hours, Mulder had been caught staring at his cell phone. "Wishing is not going to make it ring, Mulder." He had to do something to help his mother but he was left powerless and he knew that's what they were aiming for. Somehow his mother was the cornerstone in this investigation. Whoever held the key to the mysterious events in his life did not want Mulder to be a part of this at all. He had been serving some hidden purpose, that he knew. All of his life. How could he be certain of anything anymore? What sick game were they playing with his life and why? His sister had been taken from him. His father. Now his mother. Now he was suddenly made aware of the fact that he had a brother. Scully had once been taken from him. Krycek, was he really his brother? One morning he had just been there, suddenly he was there. The man surfaced when Scully had been taken. Scully. The moment that name entered his mind, he looked up. Saw her rub her forehead. No use trying to make sense of it all, he thought. No use at all. No matter how involved he was in all of this, no matter how much his own mother was involved. All of this somehow lacked perspective. "Does any of it make sense to you, Scully? I've been going over the papers again and there's nothing there we can use. I had the guys go over the names on that list that was in there but ..." She looked up in time to see his shoulders lift. Again nothing. "Mulder, do you still think that your mother's disappearance has something to do with the information you've been given?" She rubbed her eyes, moved her hand to support her chin and felt a yawn coming. "You look like you can't wait to find out, Scully." He ignored her reaction. "Why Scully, do you still think it has nothing to do with it? I mean, your guess is as good as mine. It would be quite a coincidence if it had nothing to do with it, wouldn't it?" "I don't know, Mulder." "Come on, Scully! Someone just accidentally hands me a pile of free information pertaining to my mother. Then she disappears. She doesn't just disappear, Scully! She leaves a trail of blood." An unlucky pencil went flying through the office. "I could have been worse, Mulder." "It could have been her blood." "I'm sorry, Mulder." "Yeah, well. Why don't you go home, Scully." It sounded like he wanted to get rid of her. He did, in a way. The contents of the plastic bag he had been handed so generously before, couldn't help them with what was going on now. His mother. His sister. His partner. His alleged kid brother and former partner, actually his worst nightmare. His father had been ... but he didn't really want to think back to when he'd found his father on the bathroom floor. Blood everywhere. Now again. He took his keys, got up while taking his jacket from the chair. "I'm going home. We can't do anything now. We should go, see what happens tomorrow. It's seven thirty. I think we've done enough for humanity tonight." A tired smile across her face. She was out the door faster than you would expect. Mulder's Place Apartment 42 Mulder didn't notice the change when he stepped into his apartment. The long and stuffy day, the whole business of his mother being taken. The image of blood. All of it was fresh on his mind and messing with his instincts. Badly. He was looking forward to a good night's sleep, but he wouldn't get it tonight. Someone was sitting on his couch, waiting for him. Mulder did not exactly tiptoe into his apartment. The footsteps were loud. Then, to top it off, he threw his door shut with a bang. Enough to make the neighbors think their own place was being broken into. "Finally, you get here." It was not a woman's voice. "Jeezes, man. What the hell do you do all day long? Do you have any idea how long I've been sitting here, waiting for your sorry ass to drive itself all the way up here. God, it's pathetic." "Yeah, it's pathetic you actually do that." Mulder walked in to his living room with his gun drawn. Over his initial shock, with his finger on the trigger. He knew this guy, alright. Did he ever. This was the guy that had kissed him. The arrogant bastard who had lied to his face and had a history so complicated your imagination would somehow do it justice. "Oh, look who's come to visit?" "Mulder. We meet again." "Hi and welcome to my gene pool. Should we celebrate?" He could see Krycek's teeth glisten in the dark and tightened his trigger finger. When Mulder moved to the table and stretched his hand toward the lamp, Krycek protested. Mulder was a child about to break a rule. "Now now, big brother, let's have none o' that." Krycek obviously enjoyed his conniving little games. "Why don't you relax, drop the gun and come join me on the couch. I have a little story for you." "Oh, so you have a little story for me ..." For a second, Mulder contemplated raising his gun but his common sense voted against it. He slowly put the gun down on the table in front of him and sat down at the other end of his own couch. His eyes had grown somewhat accustomed to the dark and he could see Krycek had had better days. He looked exhausted, just sat there like he was recovering from something. Mulder suddenly wished he'd kept the gun, right there when he would need it in case of an unexpected event. Krycek seemed to relax. "Do you think it's some kind of joke, Mulder?" Krycek's head went sideways. He was furious. Sweating. "I find out today who my mother is and then I find out who she is. Mrs. Mulder. Your mother. It can't be, right. Right?" Mulder wasn't expecting this. He suspected Krycek had known all along. He was convinced his mother had known the identity of her other son and had been lying to him and his sister all their lives. "You didn't know. Oh, come on Krycek. Don't bullshit me. How could you not have known? You probably know more about it than I do." "Yeah, you'd like that wouldn't you. Oh, that is SO like you. You think you have it all figured out, don't you. Oh, that's just perfect, Mr. I'm-a-fucking-saint Mulder. Why should I believe you?" "And why the hell should I believe you? You've broken into my apartment and you're holding a gun on me. Why don't you just hold on to your lies and get the fuck out of here." Krycek jumped up from the couch and left. Outside Mulder's Apartment Hallway "Well, did he believe you?" A voice came from behind him as he was standing in front of the elevator. The man lit one of his cigarettes and waited for Krycek to turn and face him. He didn't. "You know Mulder. I doubt that son of a bitch believes anyone." Krycek started to laugh and continued. "Except for the little green aliens. So funny when you think about it, isn't it?" "I don't think it's funny." The man had no intonation. His words were one long line. You had to listen carefully or you would fail to comprehend what he was trying to say. His sentences short, clever. Slightly annoying too. Fortunately for everyone concerned, his point was usually made fast. "Listen carefully." He grabbed Krycek by the shoulders, flipped him over and crushed his back against a wall. Krycek tried to struggle, but it was of no use. "Hey, watch it." "I already told you, do not underestimate Mulder. He's a dangerous man and he must be kept within reach. He needs to be where he is now. It's important that you realize that." The bastard could go stealth if it wasn't for that air of smoke he carried around with him. One habit hard to shake. "This had better work or I will see to it personally that you, how shall I say, loose your leverage." He let go. "You don't have that kind of power, son." When the elevator doors opened, the man left Krycek standing there straightening his clothes. He looked ready to vomit. Pure hate. "You see to it he finds his mother." The doors started to close as the man took a long draw of his cigarette. "How do I do that." "Contact those friends of his." FBI Headquarters Basement Office "Mulder, you're late. Frohike called." The beginning to a bright day. "I'll call him back tomorrow." "He sounded urgent, but he refused to talk to me." She lifted her eyebrow at him. He was thinking of Krycek again, trying to understand what he had said to him the other night. Trying to put it all together. What the hell was that creep doing in his life? He wondered about his mother. Was it true. How? How could she have given birth to another baby, a younger brother? He would certainly have noticed. What about Samantha? When he asked himself that question, it all fell into place. That's when he realized that he had never seen his mother pregnant. "I've never seen my mother pregnant." "To start off the day, Mulder, this is not a good way to greet your partner." "It's true, Scully." "What!" He tugged on her suit and walked over to his desk. They sat down. Mulder was having a hard time remembering. Why had he never asked himself that question before? This was strange. "It's true." He decided to tell her about the visit from Krycek, how he had started thinking about things from when he was little. How it had suddenly hit him. "Krycek is younger. He's two years younger than Sam is. First, I thought it was all a lie, obviously. If I did have a younger brother, I would have noticed my mother gaining weight. He couldn't be, right? What interested me more was why they would go to all this trouble, falsifying documents, to make me believe he's my brother?" "Finally, Mulder. I was beginning to think you'd lost it." They vaguely smiled at each other. "It doesn't make sense. But somehow all this brought something back to me. I didn't know before what it was. Then just now, I realized ... that I have never seen my mother pregnant with Samantha either." "She could have been adopted." He cleverly ignored that. "I don't remember. It's funny, but I don't remember when she was a baby. I mean, I was old enough. Still, I don't have those memories." "Mulder, you were four years old when she was born. How can you even say you should remember?" "Don't ask me why, Scully. I know I'm right." "I know you want to be right." "And what's that supposed to mean?" He couldn't make sense of it. There was one big hole in his past and he knew he couldn't rely on his family or anyone who was supposed to be his friend. "So now, Krycek being my brother doesn't seem so bizarre." "That would be what you call logic?" His mother not being there only lengthened his agony over this. She would have cleared this up in no time, if she were still with them to shed some light on this. "So what's your definition of logic?" "Your mother isn't here. Someone knew you would go straight to her, that's the first logical step. Sounds to me like someone planned this right from the beginning. Whoever did this, dropped this on you like a bomb." He just sighed. "Without your mother, there's no way you can find out. You say that you've never seen her pregnant?" It looked like some fragment of long lost memory was coming back to her. There was no grip on it. It was as if she knew what this meant. He noticed the fear on her face. "Scully?" She didn't answer him. "Scully? What's wrong. Are you alright?" "Mulder?" "Yeah." "What did your mother do before she had a family?" "What do you mean?" He looked at her funny, not understanding what that could have to do with anything. "I don't know." "I think we should ... Let's go over the names again, maybe they mean something else. It is as though they want you to find something, but you have to solve the puzzle first." "Aren't you little Miss Genius!" He ran his fingers through his hair, then scrambled the pieces of paper over his desk. "Random order, Scully. Pick one." Mulder was sick and tired of being a pawn in someone's sick little game. To beat them, to expose them had become the motivation that kept him going. Right now, he wished he hadn't re-opened his father's case. That had been the beginning of all of this. What had he done with it, what had happened at the time? Who had killed his father? Was it Krycek? There was a knock on the door and before either of them could say anything, in came Skinner. He hadn't taken the elevator or he was out of shape. Hands to his sides, he waited for his breath to come back. "What is it, Sir." Scully walked a few steps towards him, encouraging him to talk. "Agent Mulder, you're mother's been found." Mulder was disoriented, he needed to hit something. He put his hand to his forehead as if it would help stop the restlessness in his head. He put his hands on his desk for support. "Is she ...?" "No." Skinner said. "She was found a few blocks from here, in an alley. There were drugs in her bloodstream." "Who found her?" "Your friends got an anonymous tip, decided to check it out after they were unsuccessful in reaching you." Mulder bent his head. "They called an ambulance, then they called me." "Thank God." Scully said. "She's conscious now, looks as if she'll be fine." Skinner had visibly calmed down now. "I have to go to her." "Mulder, please sit." Skinner ordered. He complied but he didn't shut up. "There's something else, isn't there? Isn't there? What are you not telling me!" He'd gotten up from the desk, not trusting Skinner now. Not at all. He was hiding something from him. His mother had been missing for over a week. Lots of things could have happened to her. "She has requested to see agent Scully. She said she needs to tell her something. Afterwards, you can go see her as well." It made Scully uncomfortable. She had had this feeling ever since Mulder's mother went missing. Something vaguely familiar. The scent of things about to be repeated. A never ending cycle. She knew why. It had something to do with her own abduction. It wasn't conscious thought. A feeling, rather. He looked hurt. One more look like that and she would ... She would ... -admit it her mind said- ... hit him. Then it was all over. The moment had gone. She couldn't care less about how he felt now. She needed to get out of there. He wouldn't understand. "I suggest you go visit Mrs. Mulder now, agent Scully. See what you can find out. Mulder you stay here. That's an order." Hospital She looked dehydrated, tired, bruised, yet her chart seemed to indicate she was going to be just fine. "Hi, how are you feeling." "I'll be alright." There was something Scully wanted from her, badly. The answer to a question she didn't know how to ask. "You wanted to see me?" There was something between them now. A strange bond. A connection. "You know now Dana," she said with great effort. "You are the only one to put a stop to this." "To what?" she whispered. She didn't want to know. No, she didn't. Some strange terror kept feeding her sickening stomach. "Fox is not the pawn in this game, Dana. Not in the least. You are. We all are. All of the women who have been taken. Who continue to be taken under the guise of alien abduction. The truth is very different, Dana and you know that." "Taken for what?" "To feed scientific progress. To be abused and used to produce innocent children." Scully edged away from the bed. "I was fortunate enough to be able to keep one." "One? Mulder." She nodded. "There were three. Now there's only one." "You need to rest. You've been through a lot." "I have to explain." She struggled into a sitting position. Scully was too devastated to realize she should be helping. Just stood there, then decided to speak. She shouldn't have said anything. "There were three. Mulder, Samantha and Krycek." "Yes, Dana." "But I don't see what that has to do with me." "You will." Mrs. Mulder bent her head. It was difficult for her to go on. "What do you mean by that?" "There were more." A quivering hand reached out to her and Scully took it. Scully swallowed hard, not sure if she wanted to hear. "When I was a young woman, my ovaries were taken after I had given birth to three children. They were taken, Dana. Just like yours have been." "How do you know all this?" "Let me explain." Scully had so many questions, her vocal cords ached from keeping them inside. "Why?" "I don't know why, Dana. I've been closer to the project than you will ever be. I was part of it at some time. I never thought the men would use this technology on their own agents. "Their own agents?" "I used to be with the bureau, that's something Fox has never known about me. It's a part of my life that I've kept hidden from him, along with this. I couldn't tell him he's just a side product of human gene experimentation. He's not, not to me he's not, but he wouldn't see it that way. That's why I need to talk to you." This was going too far. It was worse than hearing Mulder talk, yet Scully was willing to believe this woman. She needed to believe her. "Dana, when you were taken ..." Scully noticed Mrs. Mulder had trouble saying this to her. Not from the apparent exhaustion and the speaking difficulty that came with it. "Emily ... She's my granddaughter." There, it all came out at once. So fast and sudden, the words not taking any hold on her. Scully thought she'd taken a bullet to the chest. "I don't understand." She wanted to jerk her hand away from this woman and run. Run to never stop. She felt the ground below her feet but couldn't move. Wanted to run but had forgotten how to put one foot in front of the other. Dana, she said to herself, you have to go now. Get out. Run. "The child that was created, was created not only with your genetic material but also with my son's." "But she ... How can it be?" She tried to say anything, going past the boundaries of reason. Nobody could force this on her. Nobody had the right to try and force this on her. It couldn't be. It just couldn't. "You are a doctor. Don't try and convince me you've suddenly lost all those years of study." She wasn't getting through to her anymore. It would be of no use. "You have to get me out of here first. I will tell you everything, I need to get out of here." Mrs. Mulder realized that she had already said too much and that someone was probably watching them. Teena Mulder wanted to do at least something right in her life. To put things right for these young people. For her son and for the woman he loved. Perhaps because she herself was never given the opportunity to have a normal life. She, at least, wanted to try now to put things right for their sake. How nobel of her. Lone Gunmen's Quarters "Open up." Mulder banged his fists on the door. There was no answer at first and he was just about to leave again but to his surprise, a beautiful young woman opened the door. Late twenties tops. Black jeans, messy dark blonde hair and a tight T-Shirt that read "Fuck the Pigs". She must be Frohike's daughter, he thought. He only thought that because of the suspicious, at the same time inquisitive look she gave him and because she'd only opened the door a few inches. Piercing him with her frightening green eyes. "Hi, my name's Fox Mulder. I'm a friend of the guys." "You? You have to be kidding. WHO are you?" It gave him an idea. With a grin he showed her his badge, which obviously upset her as she lowered her head and began swearing to herself. "Oh, fuck me! This can't be happening. Oh, man. Feds." She turned her head away from the door opening, then took a quick peek at the Federal Agent again, growled and threw the door shut. Mulder banged his fists on the door again, angry. "Hey, open up. It's me. Mulder." Mulder put his ear to the door. She was shouting something to the guys. He could barely hear. Then the door opened a few inches again. It was obvious they were pulling some sort of stunt on him and now was not a good time to be doing it. "Hey, there's a guy in a suit at the door. He claims his name is -get this- Fox Mulder. He's flashing his badge. You guys know him? He for real?" "Do we know someone called Fox Mulder?" Frohike pondered out loud. "Roxanne, just open the door!" Byers said. He could see Langly coming towards the door, no doubt to come add to the fun. "Hey, watch it, you geek. Watch where you're going! Don't do that, don't touch me." She slapped his hand. "Move, I need to open this door." Langly grabbed her at the waist and moved her to the side, ignoring her petty remarks. "Fuck you!" "Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I know I know. Fuck me, fuck you. You keep it up pretty soon you'll have a whole verb. She laughed out loud, felt like old times. When he saw what was going on, Frohike came towards the door, holding a bundle of wires in one hand and some sort of undefinable appliance in the other. His glasses were on his forehead. "Hey, keep your hands off my daughter." She threw her father a dirty look. That would probably be the last time he'd try to help her. Frohike shrugged his shoulders, sighed, turned around and went back to his work. Langly opened the door and was immediately pushed to the side by someone who didn't have the time nor the patience. "Frohike, how come you were able to find my mother?" "Someone called us, said he knew where to find her. Said it was a matter of life or death. Hey, so we went." "Any idea who called?" "Untraceable," Byers added. "Damn." "Hey, why did you come all the way over here? You usually call us to have us do your dirty work." Frohike said. "Yeah man, Why didn't you just call? Your phone dead?" Langly seemed eager. Mulder moved his eyes slightly, took out his cell phone and handed it over to Langly like he was lifting a banana peel over a trash can. "I've been getting some annoying calls lately." "So have your number changed," Byers offered. "Somehow, I don't think Scully will like that." "Who's Scully?" A young female voice came up behind him. "Oh, she's my partner. She's a pathologist. She's ... Haven't they told you yet? God, they must be getting rusty." Roxanne winked at the guys from behind Mulder's back. They laughed but Mulder couldn't quite follow. "Hey Byers," Langly shouted, "hand me the screwdriver. Well, come on, man. I have work to do." He looked up at Mulder and continued. "And so very little time to do it in." Mulder nodded. After about ten minutes, Langly had finished working on Mulder's cell phone. He'd taken out an unidentifiable chip. "You had a bug in your phone," Langly said as he handed the phone back to Mulder. "Hey, anything else we can do for you?" Byers asked. "Not just now. I'll talk to you later." Mulder faced Roxanne, shook her hand. "Roxanne? Nice name. Are you sure you weren't misplaced at birth, because I seriously doubt he's your father. You don't look anything like him." Mulder smiled. "Oh, you sexist pig. I happen to be a lot like my dad." Frohike straightened himself, proudly nodded. "Well, then what are the stunning talents that you bring to this sacred gathering, Roxanne?" Her jaw dropped. She couldn't believe this guy. Next thing she knew he'd start singing at her. She looked at her father, his partners. "Is this guy for real?" They nodded. "I'm into Computer Science." "Oh, that figures. Yeah, I can see the resemblance already. I'm sure you'll fit right in. Welcome to the family," he said as he was walking towards the door. "Sure." Mulder left, slamming the door shut. "You guys are into Feds now. Have you lost it?" "It's a long story, kid." Frohike said, but he didn't seem at all willing to explain. Hospital The hallway was clear, no doctors, no nurses. An exit soon found. It almost seemed too easy. Scully grabbed her gun, just to be on the safe side. Mulder saw them leave the hospital together. After his visit to his friends, he decided to go to the hospital and find out for himself what his mother had experienced. He hadn't liked the arrangement one bit. He didn't appreciate being left out. "What the hell does she think she's doing." He was referring to his partner, who he didn't know to be at all impulsive or stupid enough to take his mother out of a hospital for no apparent reason. His car was parked in the proximity of the side entrance, where he had enjoyed a clear overview of the premises for about an hour. Then this happened. He hit the palm of his hand on the steering wheel, hard. Started the car and followed Scully and his mother to her apartment. He wouldn't give her any opportunity to get away with this. He wanted to know what was going on here. Scully's Apartment Mulder ran from his car across the street, as Scully was supporting Mrs. Mulder, guiding her up to the front door. "Hey!" He called out to her. "Scully, what do you think you're doing? What are you doing with my mother?" She failed to turn around. In fact, it was rather a difficult thing to do, with Teena's arm draped over her shoulder. Mulder ran past them, turned toward her. Scully was out of breath. His mother was getting heavy, difficult to support. Scully's arms were getting weak. Mulder still had enough compassion in him to notice and he took over, giving Scully time to open the door and get the couch ready. When Mulder had helped his mother on the couch, he looked around for Scully. Dying to hear what she'd have to say about this. She was in the kitchen, hiding. Avoiding him but he didn't care. He wanted to know, no doubt about that. Scully had made up her mind not to tell him. It was not for him to know. What she had gone through. What they had made her go through was her business. She'd have to deal with it. Not him. She had been taken. Things, bad things had been done to her body without her consent and there was absolutely no need for him to know everything about it. He grabbed her arms, shook her. "What the hell is going on here?" She refused to look at him, so he grabbed her head and tilted her face towards his. "I need for you to tell me, Scully. What's going on?" She looked up at him. "I can't," she said. Scully grabbed his arms and pushed so he would let go of her face but Mulder was too strong and too determined to find out. He refused to back down and didn't let go. Trapped her. He wouldn't let go until she'd tell him. "Dana." Mrs. Mulder called out to her, as if demanding to know what was taking her so long. "Dana." Mulder froze when he heard that name. Forgot what he was doing. Suddenly, he felt quite uncomfortable holding Scully's face, wanted to let go but couldn't. In his confusion, his grip lost strength and she pushed him away. "I'll be right there." She faced him. "You have to go. There are things I need to discuss with her. I need to find this out on my own, Mulder." "I want every single detail. I want to know what happened, Scully. I have a right to know." "Not now, Mulder." "What are you keeping from me? It had something to do with your abduction, didn't it?" "Look, I'll tell you about all of this later." She actually felt sorry for him. He wouldn't find out. She wouldn't tell him anything. Ever. "Mulder, you need to go now." For a moment, it looked as if he was trying to say something. His eyes grew damp. She hadn't noticed until now but his tie was loose, his shirt was hanging out of his pants and he looked exhausted. Before she could react to the concerned look on his face, he picked up a kitchen towel, threw it to the floor, turned around and left. He didn't say anything to his mother. Not a word. Nearly unhinged the door when he slammed it shut. She couldn't get that sound out of her mind.
It was self evident that Mrs. Mulder would stay with her. Too many unanswered questions. Intriguing questions with answers that would leave no food for the imagination. This was going to be bad. In a sense, Scully already knew what Mrs. Mulder had to say. She'd lived through it, only she couldn't remember that much about it all. She had no idea what exactly had been done to her. She knew that Mrs. Mulder had full possession of the truth in this matter. She had trouble believing it all. All children born into this world are a clever mix of ingredients donated by two people. An ovum and some semen. Never anything else. It wouldn't work. So whatever Emily had been ... There were ways to alter cells, but there was not a way to create children from anything but this material. Create not clone. "Alright, explain." Scully would show no mercy. This woman had been in on what had happened to all those women. She had been a part of the project, that she had admitted. She had known about it and because of her silence, this woman had let it continue while her own son was trying to uncover the truth. Mrs. Mulder had to have a reason now to suddenly want to expose everything. Scully hadn't abandoned skepticism altogether. She was used to that from having to deal with Mulder. Having to deal with Mulder. Nice choice of words. "Where do you want me to start?" "Explain to me why Emily died. Why she had that growth inside of her. Why her treatment was secretly continued. Explain to me what happened to my child." "She wasn't human. Not completely." "What!" "For each hybrid ..." She paused briefly. "I need to tell you this first, Dana. The Emily you encountered was a hybrid, a cross between alien and human DNA." Why did she make it sound so awkward? "How is that possible?" "Through the years, we discovered that for each hybrid, a genuine child needs to be created first. There have been attempts, experiments rather ..." She sighed. "Go on." "We couldn't use the natural way of conception. We couldn't let the aliens and humans mate because the reproductive systems are very very different." Scully couldn't believe this. Perhaps she was delirious or she had taken a blow to the head ... but this? "Back then we lacked the technique to take human ovaries to try and fertilize them using alien ... material. These experiments just could not be carried out. Another approach was needed." Mrs. Mulder found it hard to go on. "An approach that would be far more dangerous." "What approach?" "We couldn't create embryos directly, so it was decided we should use cloning techniques." "But that technology is just starting out." "There's a lot you don't know about, Dana." "How come you know all this? And how come you haven't said anything earlier?" "I couldn't, because they'd kill me. Now, I just don't care about that anymore. Other things have become far more important. Well, as I was saying ... To use cloning techniques, we needed test subjects and we just couldn't take them out of the population. We were all asked to get involved in the project." "You as well." Mrs. Mulder nodded. "In those days, there weren't many women in this line of work. They asked me. I was one of the first to participate." Scully could not believe what this woman was telling her, yet she couldn't interrupt her like she had often done when Mulder had told her one of his theories or hidden plots. "What happened?" "Fox was born the natural way." "Go on." "How could I tell him this? He doesn't know who his father is. If he knew who his father was, he would kill him." When she started to cry, Scully moved closer to her and held her in her arms. Tried to comfort her, but she quickly broke free. Eager to continue. Glad she could finally tell someone about this. "How can you tell your child that his conception was part of an experiment. I carried that baby for nine months and I gave birth to him. I had to go through it, consciously and fully aware. It had to be done like that." "Wouldn't someone have been suspicious in those days?" "To draw attention away from the project, I was married to someone picked randomly before I was pregnant. A man Fox's real father had met a long time ago, so they told me. As time went by, I didn't want to have anything to do with the project anymore. Fox was getting older. I loved him so much." "Did the man Mulder knew as his father know." "Yes." She started to cry again. "Then, because I was desperate, I asked Fox's biological father for a personal favor and I was surprised he complied. We had been partners for a long time and he agreed. It was the right thing to do. There was one condition." Scully's eyes resumed focus on Mrs. Mulder's face. "We had to keep in touch with a Dr. Kurtzweil. He had been actively involved in the project and he wanted to monitor the progression of my children until they could be used." "But there was only ... Fox." "That was the condition. I could keep Fox, but I would have to give them two more. Give them up." "Oh, my God!" "I had Samantha. They didn't need her until she was older. But it hurt to see her go. I had no choice. They would have taken away my son too if I didn't let them have her. Then I wouldn't have saved anyone. That's when the lies started. My son still thinks she was abducted." "What about Krycek?" "He was taken away at birth. Krycek came into this world by a new technique. The pregnancy lasted one month. No one ever knew, not even my other two children." "But what does that have to do with me? I didn't carry a child." "Yes, Dana, you did." "What are you talking about! I was only gone for a short time. They did take my ova. All of them. Anyone could have carried the child. What makes you so sure I did?" "You did, Dana. You carried the child, you gave birth. There's a chip in your neck now to conceal the damage that was done to your body using this technique." Scully's eyes urged her to explain. "I am no scientist, but I know they'd developed a certain chemical substance that can accelerate bodily processes. It was developed after a while, when we grew out of test subjects and we were finally ready to broaden the field. I was the first to try it." "But that's impossible! It's outrageous!" "It's not, Dana. When the technique was perfected, we started using women. Innocent women, carefully chosen women were taken and used to create children. Intelligent women." "You are making this up!" "I'm not. You nearly died. When you were found, they saw there was something wrong with your DNA structure. It was one of the technique's flaws. Speeding up biological processes drains you, can kill you ... but you survived and you delivered a beautiful baby girl. I held her in my arms when she was born." Scully's eyes started to water. "Wait, wait ... so ... you've told me there is a human child that serves as a basis to create hybrids by using cloning techniques. That I gave birth to that child. So, what you're telling me is that ... that I have a healthy child?" Mrs. Mulder nodded. "Of course, after a while the technique showed another flaw. The women developed cancer. All of them did, without exception." "I did." "That's why the chip was created. To stop the cancer, to keep your DNA healthy and to monitor your bodily functions remotely." Mrs. Mulder excused herself to get a drink of water. Scully hadn't even noticed she had gotten up from the couch. When she came back, she returned with her son. Mulder hadn't left. He'd thrown the door shut. He thought the only way was to return to his apartment and wait, but he wouldn't and he couldn't let this happen. He would not stand by and let her deal with this by herself. He didn't trust his mother that much. Somewhere in his heroic intentions was a sensation best described as curiosity. So he had thrown the door shut and had been so grateful that his mother couldn't be bothered by the noise. He had carefully avoided Scully coming out of the kitchen and had somehow managed to keep quiet and listen. "Mulder? What are you doing here? I thought you'd left." "Well, I didn't and I'm glad I didn't. I'm surprised you didn't want me to hear all this. Why not?" She got up, looked at him sternly then realized he had heard every single word and simmered down. "Mom, if you don't mind, we'll just continue this tomorrow. I need to talk to my partner." They were caught in each other's gaze and did not seem to be able to break free from each other. This was getting difficult. But she couldn't tell him. She wouldn't. "I'm sorry, Fox, but this isn't over. I'm sorry you overheard. You know I do love you, don't you?" his mother said. He nodded. However, that was hardly the point. His family had suddenly become non existent. The image he had of family life had always been a strange one. It had always felt like it was much more of a tightly organized functional institution rather than that his family was made of real people. There had never been love, there had always been a plan. At least it had always felt that there was a plan. A code to be lived by. Not broken. Never that. "You're telling me that Scully had a child when she was taken and that it was conceived as an experiment. That she's been subjected to a dangerous technique and that she nearly died as a result of it." His mother nodded. "And you knew about this al along! You never said anything. Why are you telling her now, mom. Why now?" "I can't deal with this now, Fox. I'm going to bed. I'm sorry for both of you." She went off and left them. "She's sorry for both of us?" He knew his mother better than anyone. He really did know what she was capable of. Despite her declaration that he had no absolutely no idea. Especially after his sister disappeared, he had never been able to fully trust his own mother. Now he got his answer as to why. "Mulder." Scully said. "What?" "I think your mother's right. We should talk about this tomorrow." She lowered her head, sighed. "I'm sure this came as a shock to you. I'm still having trouble believing this." She looked up at him. He'd just heard that the man he had always thought of as his father wasn't and that his partner's body had been used to create a child. He didn't know the child was his. He'd never find out. His and her child, she kept thinking. What that meant wasn't clear but somehow it kept echoing in her mind as if it had gotten a life of it's own and was looking for a place to stay. He wouldn't understand. He would never accept it. "Scully. We need to talk about all of this." He hesitatingly took a step towards her. She wanted so desperately to avoid conflict, especially now that his mother was in the next room. "I need to call Skinner. We'll talk in the morning." So like her. Expecting him to leave now but when she came back, he still hadn't left. "What did Skinner say?" "He's sending some agents over to keep an eye on your mother and on this apartment. Go home, Mulder." There was something brooding in his mind. He took her hand and gave her the keys to his apartment. "You go, Scully. I need to be with my mother. I need to stay here. You stay at my place. OK? Just for tonight, Scully. I need to ask her about my father, about the experiments." She hesitated, almost gave the keys back but then didn't. It wasn't a contest to see who had suffered the most. He needed some answers and he would keep his mother up trying to get them from her. Going over the same questions again and again. Why had she done this? Why had she done that? He needed to know. To ask about his sister. About his ... brother. It looked as though those two had gotten the short end of the stick and he didn't feel in a position to complain. There were things that had to be talked about. He had another reason now, for getting Scully out of her own apartment. First create some distance. After Scully had left, Mulder went to the bedroom window and saw a familiar figure outside. Leaning comfortably against a tree, smiling at him. Daring him to come out and play. Krycek. "The audacity of that bastard!" he shouted. "What's wrong, Fox?" his mother asked. "Nothing, I'll be right back." Mulder ran outside to try and catch this guy. He would be too late, he thought but he was wrong. In a way. "What do you want?" He didn't answer. "Look, I don't care what badge or service you hide behind. If you come near me again, I will kill you. You've caused enough problems." "Funny you should say that." "Oh, yeah! Why's that?" "Never mind. I need some information." "Oh, that would be the first time you've asked me anything. What kind of information would that be?" "What did she tell you?" "What the hell are you talking about?" "I don't think you have a choice here, big brother." "I don't?" "No." "What do you want?" "How is she doing?" "My mother's resting. Stay the hell away from her. You've done enough." Krycek pushed Mulder to the side, then ran off. Mulder's Place Apartment 42 Scully opened the door and was glad to get in. It was freezing out and the raincoat she had carelessly put on did not keep out the cold. A familiar voice marked by years of smoking. "Not the person I was expecting." He was -of course- expecting her, but what he said usually was far off from what he really meant. She walked further into the apartment, emotion building up inside of her as she kept walking to where the man was sitting. Comfortably on Mulder's couch. Her anger had formed itself into a large knot that couldn't be untangled by her words. "You're his father." "I can see who has the brains in this duo." He inhaled. "So, did she tell you everything you needed to know?" "More than I needed to know. Not enough. Why?" The man smiled and leaned back on the couch. He exhaled. Smoke everywhere. "Why not ask her?" "I want to hear it from you, granddad." That got him up. Fast. He nearly choked, coughed. "Don't call me that." "Where is she?" She took a few steps towards him. "Where is she!" He avoided her, walked past her. When he had gotten all the way to the door, he turned around. "She's safe. No need to worry." He left. There were some papers for her on the table. The reason why Mulder wanted her to stay in his apartment was soon to become visible. He appeared in the doorway an hour later. "We need to talk." "How's your mother?" "She'll be alright." She didn't look surprised at all. Got up, took off her coat and sat back down on the couch. She had been sitting there for almost an hour. Had sunken down on it after that bastard had left. "I don't want to talk about this, Mulder." He went over to her, sat down on the couch. "We have to figure out what we're gonna do about this, Scully." "We can't do anything about it, Mulder." She turned her head to the right, to where he was sitting. Both on the edge of the couch. He sat watching her for a minute. "What are you talking about?" She didn't answer. "Why not?" "She's dead." "How do you know that? "Someone we both know came to the apartment." "Krycek?" "No." "What did he say to you?" "He left this." She handed over the papers he had left. Tests results. Blood work. A clean Bill of Health. A death certificate for a four-year-old. Scully couldn't take it any longer. She turned her face from Mulder's gaze, trying to conceal the tears. He tugged on her sleeve, pulled her to him. Hugged her. "I'm so sorry, Scully." Then his eyes fixed on another piece of paper on the table. One she must have overlooked. "Scully, what's this?" He pointed to the paper, took it from the table. "Scully, it's a birth certificate." What did this mean? He read it, sighed, threw her an angry look and confronted her with the piece of paper. Under mother's name it said, Dana Scully. Under father's name it said, Fox Mulder. The name of the child was ... "Emily Mulder? Is this another one of their sick little games?" "No, it isn't." "What do you mean?" "Your mother told me in the hospital that Emily was her grandchild and that you are the father." "When were you gonna tell me, Scully? When?" "I ... couldn't tell you ... I couldn't." He wanted to try and figure out how this was possible, how it had been done but his mind kept dwelling back to her. Scully. His partner had carried his child. What could he say? Thank you? He pulled her to her feet. "I don't know about you, Scully but I could do with some rest. Why don't you sleep in my bedroom. I'll take the couch. I don't think we should get into this now. You?" "No." When Mulder opened the bedroom door and turned on the lights, he thought he saw something. "Scully. Come look at this." They both saw a tiny figure sleeping in the bed. The child they had seen before. Their child. Suddenly it all made sense. Mulder went over to his bed, followed by Scully. They walked slowly and quietly to where the small delicate form was sleeping. Yes, this looked real enough. Theirs. Their child. "What now, Mulder?" "I don't know, Scully but that little girl is innocent. She had nothing to do with this. She didn't ask for this. She needs to be loved. She ..." "Mulder, I don't know if ..." "Don't, Scully. Let me finish. That little girl isn't the only one who needs you ... I .... I need you ... Scully." "I don't like this, Mulder. They had no right to do what they did. None. And what are we supposed to do now? Play house, because they want us to? It can't happen, Mulder." "I think it cost someone a whole lot of trouble to get this child to us, Scully. A whole lot. We would never have found her otherwise." "So, that makes it right, does it?" "I didn't say that, Scully. I didn't. I'm sorry for all that has happened to you. I am. But I'm also glad that something good's come out of it." He sighed, looked at her. Mulder took her in his arms. Gently kissed her cheek, her closed eyelids. Her forehead. Her lips. A soft kiss. Hugged her again, held her close. Tight. His long arms folded around her back, keeping her body to his. Scully's cell phone rang. "Don't answer it." "Mulder, I have to." She pushed him away, to get her phone out of her jacket and stepped out of the bedroom not to wake Emily. He followed. "Scully." "Oh, my God!" "When?" "Describe him to me." "We'll be right over." "What happened, Scully?" She didn't want to answer and walked away from him. Opened the bedroom door to see if the child was still there. She was waking up. "Scully, what happened?" "They found your mother, Mulder ... She's dead." "Where? Your apartment?" "Yes. She killed ... She hung herself. From what they've just told me, they also found the man who brought us Emily. Your father. He's been stabbed to death." "My father!" "I'm sorry, Mulder." "Don't be." Suddenly, there was a third voice in the apartment. The front door hadn't been locked and apparently that was enough of a welcome for Krycek. "Well, isn't this cosy?" "What are you doing here?" "Now, Mulder. That's no way to greet your baby brother. I have to talk to you." Krycek confidently walked further into the apartment. He noticed Scully and smiled. An evil smile that made her shiver. She tried to remain calm. "Well, it seems two very capable people have been taken from us. You see, it's always hard in a project as big as this to try and find the ones leaking the information. Trying to put a stop to everyone else's good work. As a scientist, you must know what that's like." What the hell was happening here? "You killed my mother?" "Our mother and our father, Mulder. Don't forget. No, I didn't kill them. I worked with them and I never even realized I was related to them. Don't expect an explanation from me, Mulder. I came here to tell you something. Now listen. You too, agent Scully." They nodded. "Our mother and that smoking bastard had found a way to undermine the project. They'd been doing that for years and the men I work for kept their eye on it. So they could be controlled." "What the hell are you talking about!" Mulder shouted. "How they let agent Scully be taken. How they let her carry your child. To keep their people, our mother and father faithful to the project. You see, Mulder, it never had anything to do with what you thought you were uncovering. All you've seen, our father wanted you to see. For the sake of the child. They knew they would one day be killed." "They used me to keep people in check?" Scully asked. "And to feed the project. You were sent to work with agent Mulder for exactly that purpose. For that purpose alone." "Get out!" Mulder shouted. "I would guard that child well, if I were you." Her face grew red with pain and anger. She tried to stop her eyes from watering but she couldn't. "You wouldn't!" The small child appeared in the door opening. Looked at them with big round eyes, clutching a worn out furry animal by it's ears. "You touch one hair on that little girl and I will rip you into pieces, Krycek. I swear I'll kill you just like that." "Hi, Alex." Despite Scully's efforts to keep Emily back, the child ran up to Krycek. He picked up the little girl and hugged her. "I came to say goodbye to you. You be good, ok." "Ok." Krycek handed the child to her father and left in a hurry. How it all fell into place. The End
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