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Title: Multiplicity Summary: How Mulder Spent his 2001 summer vacation Author's Notes: Well here I am again, I have not done this in years so I am hoping that I have not gotten too rusty at it. I started this little fic before the second movie so I guess this this is REALLY AU. It's another challenge fic, I seem to like to do those for NeoX, she has some great challenges and this one I think fulfills more than one Anyway enough mindless rambling thanks for reading hope it is enjoyable! I'm a doctor, right? I should know how to handle this, I should know that the leaking, oozing and bleeding should all be par for the course, I should be reveling in the magic of motherhood and thanking whatever fates that I have this chance. I look at my son sleeping peacefully in his bassinet, curled on his side, and periodically makes an odd noise in his sleep, he is lost in the oblivion that only the truly young and innocent can know. I am reveling. Really. I am. But as I sit on my once pristine living room floor folding what seems like dozens of sheets, sleepers and onesies recently laundered, I can't help but wonder how much more enjoyable this would all be without all the bodily fluids. And endless laundry. And endless doubts. And endless questions. And let's not forget that endless global conspiracy thing. Which is exactly why I am sitting here folding all of my son's laundry, alone, along with the midnight feeding raids, the rollercoaster of emotions and the endless endlessness. Motherhood is beautiful, but it also should be shared. I found myself asking the question for about the millionth time, Where Are You Now? It would be easier if our relationship had ended, there would have been a sense of closure to that. There would have been a sense of something. Now we are simply relegated to emails and too short late night phone calls. I miss him. Not just for the benefit of an extra pair of hands, or the fact that in the ten months that he has been gone he has missed so many milestones that he will never be able to regain no matter how many trips I make to the one hour photo a week. No, I am missing him as any woman would miss a man, in her heart, in her mind, in her bed. It was the phone that shook me out of my pity party. Ten seconds of wavering between cursing having awakened Will, and praying that its him, I managed to eek out a breathy Hello. "Agent Scully?" It was a voice I knew well, but not the one I wanted to be on the other end. "Agent Reyes." Which came out more of an accusation than a greeting. So you're the one who dare awaken The Baby. "I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time..." "Oh. No." I may have said it too quickly or even too curtly, but fuck it, the baby is crying and Bessie has returned to the barn. The one good thing about being a single new mother, bitchy behavior is not only understood and anticipated, but often encouraged. "Well I have something here that may be a good thing." Oh crap, if she tries to pawn off one more of those whale songs cd's as a means to get William to sleep, I am pretty sure I am going to shoot her. "Really?" I answer in my best yeah I am REALLY interested tones. "I need to come over and hand it to you personally, but before I get there I want you to keep an open mind..." Oh God, it is another Whale Song CD. I need to head this one off at the pass. "I appreciate it Monica, but I am right in the middle of--" Breastfeeding? Folding Clothes? Wallowing in self pity and doubt? "--Working on some paperwork." Better. "Dana," she stammers. "Please." Maybe it was the quiver in her voice, or the fact that I was desperate for grown up conversation, but I found myself agreeing to her visit before I had the chance to stop myself. Great, now I have to make nice-nice and do girl talk on a Saturday night when I could be watching some mindless Must See TV. Not too late to shoot her. She got to my Apartment faster than I thought, faster than I had hoped. I had not even gotten the chance to top off. William, who was one for taking his time to eat, he kind of hovered over feeding time as if he was never going to see the nipple again. I managed to shove my half engorged breast back into my bra before I answered the door, which is a good thing because Monica had not come alone. It is true, FBI agents really do travel in packs. "I hope you don't mind, John and I were just on our way out of town, so he wanted to drop by and say hi." She grinned at me a fool's smile as they filtered into my living room. I smile but I don't think it is really fooling anyone, at least I hope not. Ever since Mulder...left, the people in my life have lodged a campaign of assistance. Now don't get me wrong, a single mother needs at least three people she can rely on, and I am not too ungracious to realize that I have that in spades. Whether I wanted it or not. "No not at all, so what is it today?: I was trying to move this along, I still had three hours before I could have a bath, and another five hours of work yet to be done. "Have you been in contact with any old friends?" John finally spoke, he had begun looking around the Apartment as if expecting Mulder to pop out at any moment. "No..." I hedged, I hadn't but I was reluctant to voice this to anyone, partially out of paranoia, but mostly out of shame. Yes ladies and gentlemen, you read right. Shame. How ungodly is it for a nice Catholic girl to fall for someone, get knocked up, left, and still not have a ring ..."Why?" An odd look passed between the two of them, as if they were trying to come up with the right words that would not get them into trouble. I knew that look, Mulder and I were guilty of exchanging tons of them mostly in Skinner's office. "He has gone off the radar," John said quietly. "What does THAT mean, he has gone off the radar; he has BEEN off the radar. I don't understand." Ok, where did I leave my sig? Reyes came closer to me, oh God now I know I am going to kill her. "Dana, relax. Breathe." Oh I am gonna breathe all right, but you may not. "What John is trying to say is that he has moved from where he was." "How the hell do you know where he was?" I screamed loud enough to elicit a What The Fuck cry out of my son. Quieting him down was the last thing on my list of things to do, but I faked it some how. ' I placed the now quiet baby into the arms of John, who had been holding his out in the universal gesture. "I'm gonna go into the bedroom and see if he needs a change." He offered magnanimously. I do forget that he has done this all before. "You two talk." He flashed a look towards Monica who nodded her assertion back. Were Mulder and I ever this annoying? Monica made herself comfortable on my couch, well as soon as she had cleared a spot. I sat in the chair across form her not knowing what to expect but knowing my gun was nearby. "We, that is to say, John and I knew of Mulder's whereabouts, we had discovered him quite by accident Dana." Her smug expression was going to get her a headlock, but I'd at least let her finish first. "Well its goof to see that those years at Quantico have paid off, but I don't understand why all of this has warranted a late afternoon meeting?" I quirked. "We actually had hoped he was here. See, we were keeping tabs on him through Gibson..." "He's with Gibson?" I asked, like I didn't know. He had never told me where he was, but it was the only logical place for him to be. Monica nodded and briefly looked out the window. "When Gibson called to warn us that Mulder may be on his way, we were ...concerned." "I appreciate your concern Monica, but if Mulder has decided its safe enough to come home then I am sure its fine." I was talking to her like I would a five-year-old, she was annoying me to no end. "The point is we don't know where he is Dana, no one does." She asserted. "And I am sure he is fine Monica, I appreciate your concern, but this has gone far enough. Mulder has been in situations that would have had you pissing in you Victoria Secrets." Ok, I was really agitated at this point. "And there are things you don't know—" "Will's asleep, and we have a plane to catch." John smiled rubbing his hands together. "Who else is gonna keep the world safe from things that go bump in the night?" I glared at Monica, a warning of a conversation to come. "If you hear from him Dana, you'll let us know?" she added before following Doggett out of the door. I want to say that things got easier once Monica and John left, with Will sleeping and the housework to do before I could reward myself, I want to say that my mind was eased after they left and I could easily blow them off as typical nutty Reyes behavior. I Really wanted to. But the truth was nine years with Mulder had taught me to listen to that gut instinct, to hear that small inner voice when it starts its incessant niggling. God, I am starting to sound like Monica, where's my gun again? The Gunman were gone, no not dead as everyone believed, I went right along with that little play, I knew what they were doing, and I knew that soon I would have to do it too. Point is, they were beyond my reach right now, they had no contact with me or Mulder, save the occasional clandestine personal ad in the Washington post, usually under the guise of a lost dog returned. There was only one person I could contact, and he had better have answers or I was not gonna be responsible for my actions, mind-reader or not, you still can't out think a bullet. "Gibson," I bark into the phone. I had better sense than to call him from home, it had been a long night's wait, but I managed to survive until the next day when I could call from a distant pay phone using a calling card. He didn't sound happy, nor surprised to hear from me. "He's not here," His voice had gotten deeper since the last time I talked to him, but I could still tell it was him. "When did he leave Gibson?" I demanded. "About three weeks ago. I don't think he is on his way there." "But I just talked to-" "Agent Scully, they're being watched, I know where he went, and he'll be back here soon." "Where, is he in any danger?" "Agent Scully, maybe you should come out here, I think we need to do this one face to face." More double agent bullshit that I did not need in my life. But I knew I would go, I needed to see him, it had been almost a year and I needed my Mulder fix, badly. "All right Gibson, I'll be there tomorrow." Next call I made was to Mom, there was no way I was going to sit on an airplane with a ten-month-old. It was a long drive through the desert from the airport, another rental car ride to nowhere. These drives were so much more fun when I was younger and had a driving companion with an oral fixation. The heat was starting to get to me, and rolling down the window was no longer an option, and the air conditioner, as usual in rental cars, was non existent. So I had begun to sweat—profusely, my white tank top rapidly turning grey, and my patience wearing thin. Not to mention the fact that my breasts were swollen to a size that could now accommodate a small African village quite nicely for a year. This secret squirrel shit was so much easier five years ago...and I really am getting too old for this shit. The landscape changed to less civilized and more John Carpenter. I started to look for the exit that would lead me to the small bank of mobile park homes situated in the middle of the desert. Apparently, Gibson had married the deaf girl of his dreams, and in prime teen-aged trailer trash livin', they were expecting their first drain onto society. Thea greeted me with a smile and a wave as I pulled in front of the trailer. Her stomach was about as big as you were gonna get before reaching critical mass. Been There, Done That. "Agent Scully." Gibson still short but walking with a much greater swagger, as if the mere presence of Thea's distended abdomen was proof being a virile and studly male. I am man, see her belly. I plaster on a smile and hug them both, then we all crawl into the relative coolness of the metal tin can that they called home. Thea's touch was there, and by that I could tell that there had not been just a bachelor crash pad. She had even set up a makeshift nursery in the far corner of their living room. "Twins?" I had noticed a second crib in the back where their bedroom was. The two teens exchanged a look and I started to wonder if Thea wasn't able to read minds along with lips. "I think we need to talk Dana." Gibson sighed heaving himself onto the couch. Thea had begun to pace, which was no small feat in the trailer. It was obvious that there was a heavy conversation that was to be had by the three of us, and I for one was done with all the mystery. "So—oo, you wanna tell me what exactly is going on here Gibson?" I tensed. "You told me on the phone that Mulder was fine." "He is." The young man offered quickly. "But there have been some..." he trailed off and began to fumble around the chipped coffee table in front of him. Seconds later he had a cigarette lit and an irate pregnant woman. "Pud id ou!" she screamed centimeters away from his face. She then signed something that had Gibson trailing for the back door with me hot on his heels. "She don't want the smoke around the baby." He smiled. "I don't blame her." I sniffed trying to also maintain my distance. Not just for my continued health, but over the years I had developed a real distaste for the smell of cigarettes. Occupational hazard I suppose. Gibson looked around as if to make sure that we were alone, his eyes darted back and forth and it was in these moments that I noticed there was more of a change in him than the arrogant swagger. His eyes were different. Aside from the nervous darting there was something new in the blue pools, something that I could not quite lay a name to. "Dana, there was a problem soon after Mulder first got here." Gibson huffed as he blew out a long lungful of blue smoke out into the Arizona night. "You know Gibson, Mulder was always the one that liked the games and puzzles, me,. I always turned to the back page to go straight to the answers..." "He was abducted briefly..." Gibson sputtered, and dare I say I witnessed a—cringe as he delivered the news. For ten seconds I debated the pros and cons of rectal disembowelment versus going through the abdomen. At some point I remembered Will and got a hold of myself...just barely. "What happened?" Gibson did that odd eye thing again as if to make sure we were completely alone. "He was only gone for a couple of days Dana. At first I thought he had gotten homesick and went home, but then after the call from the guys, I knew something was up." He lit another cigarette before he went on. "Anyway its not like I wasn't going to call you, as soon as I heard from the guys I had gone to find your number, but then he was back." "Just like that?" I asked in disbelief. "Yeah," he sneered. "Just like that. He didn't even believe he had been gone, til we were sitting around watching the news and a report came on about some lights in the sky over Parrump. He freaked. I was all I could do to keep him from leaving for parts unknown right then." My mind was racing a mile a minute, it was obvious that Mulder didn't want me to know about the recent abduction, but what got to me was the notion behind Gibson's eyes that there was so much more to this. "There is." He shrugged looking away from me. "There is so much more Dana that I can't even begin to whindle through what you ought to know and what will only give you nightmares." It had started to get cold, and I guess we would not have known that if Thea had not come outside gabbing madly and gesturing wildly as to coming in before we both ended up in the hospital. It was not hard to see who wore the pants in this relationship. I had to smile secretly imaging Mulder having lived under her roof for the last nine months or so. And he though I was a neat freak. She bustled around the small trailer in an odd sort of silence, and that was when it struck me, their relationship made sense. Thea was born deaf, and had difficulty being understood when she spoke, but Gibson always heard her, no matter how it came out sounding when she railed at him about the toilet seat, or the ashtray she found under the couch. He always understood her. Yeah, I guess in an odd sort of way I think I could wrap my brain around that particular concept. Gibson continued his constant twitch as Thea made us some sandwiches and beer. Yeah, expectant sixteen-year-olds living in a trailer with beer, where is Jerry Springer when you need him? "Its not like that Agent Scully." Gibson sniffed out of no where. "It's not as if we were walking around fucking like rabbits." A long pull off of the bottle of beer and he went on. "Thea got pregnant last year by accident." "I'm not here to judge you Gibson..." but he waved me off in such a way that made me stop in the middle of the thought. "Thea and I never...." he looked over to Thea who nodded for him to tell." What do you know about the breeding programs Agent Scully?" he had begun to search around for a cigarette, then seemed to remember the angry redhead next to him. "They're at it again Dana, and though their numbers are no where what they used to be, they are driven by an ever decreasing timeframe." "To what end?" I asked. Gibson threw his head back and guffawed so loud that even Thea jumped at the unexpected vibrations. "To what end? Since when do they need an end Agent Scully, you of all people should know that." He turned serious again and glances at his wife. "Their purpose from what Mulder believes is to create a race of servants, so they use people that fit a certain criteria, they breed us Agent Scully, whether we want to be bred or not." Now it is to be noted here that after my illustrious nine year career on the X Files, I still have a hard time turning down a good yarn, especially one that I have heard before but maybe a new twist. Yes I needed to know where my absentee former partner had disappeared to, but my gut was burning to hear the rest of this story. "So that is what happened to you two, " I gestured towards the young "couple. " The young man nodded as he spoke. "They have perfected their methods Agent Scully, but they were surprised at your pregnancy and successful birth, so much so that they wanted...more." I was stunned; not only had this new organization perfected the plans of the old Consortium, but they seemed to have an all new and improved insidious plot. "More, more what Gibson?" "Genetic diversity Agent Scully, the more they could do now the more they would have after the colonization." He played with something on the table and made a face, he wanted a cigarette, but obviously too scared to go have one. "They want to get as many of us as they can. They are actively seeking out those that fit the criteria or creating new criteria, and breeding us until we cannot possibly stand it...or until colonization whichever one happens first." The trailer had grown silent again as I allowed his words to sink in. "How do you know all this?" I railed. "I mean this all sounds a bit out there even for what I have seen..." "You aint heard the half of it yet, Sister," Gibson mumbled almost low enough where I did not hear. Sighing he rose off the couch and began to pace the floor. "Mulder was the first to tell me about most of this, but the rest I have seen with my own eyes. He has seen first hand what their plans are.." "I still don't understand..." "Its not for you to understand Agent Scully, it is not for any of us to understand. Don't you get it? We have no choice, if they want us, they just zap us onto their playground and do whatever they want! Mulder didn't want to be some sort of freaky lab rat... He damn sure never wanted you to know..." "Know what?" I implored, nearly half out of my mind with the need to know where all of this was going to. "Thea and I have always been really close, ever since I came here to live. She was the only one that I trusted with my secret." Gibson eyed his wife across from him, and smiled. "She was taken last summer shortly after the incident with you in the desert. I was laid up all that month with my broken leg and I could not do a damn thing to help find her." I found myself nodding in sympathy, I had gone through hell trying to find Mulder when he went missing, only to have found him dead in the middle of a field...but this line of thought and memory only lead to kicking my already over active hormones into overdrive. Before I realized what was happening, the front of my white tank top was drenched. "Here-" Gibson spoke, but it was Thea thrusting a breast pump at me and motioning me to the small bathroom. God Bless her she may not be too young for all of this after all. By the time I came out feeling more relieved and less full, Thea and Gibson were in the midst of a heated hand argument. I could tell only by the wild hand gesturing that Thea was doing, otherwise the room was deathly silent. Once they noticed my reemergence, thea whirled past me long enough to grab the bottles of milk from me and slam them into the fridge. Gibson's 'whipped dog' look was hard not to notice. "She wants me to tell you where Mulder is but I promised...he doesn't want to be found yet." "Gibson regardless of what he wants or not I have to find him, he has been missing for nearly a month, there could be something wrong with him..." "There's nothing wrong with him that a few more weeks won't cure." He laughed, though there was little humor in it, in fact there was a note of brimming insanity to it, as if just below the surface he was near hysterics. The hard slap of Thea's hand against Gibson's cheek made me jump, the fact that Gibson did not know it was coming made me cringe. OOOhh she is good. "Dell her Gibs'n!" Thea screamed into his face as he slid into the ratty cushions. "Dell her now or I will." I figured the whole thing was a disgusting joke, that Gibson had told the joke that got the whole world laughing. I had maintained this theory the entire drive through the dark desert. They had begged me to wait until morning to start my sojourn out, but armed with the mere wisp of truths that had been whispered to me in the hushed tones of Formica hell, I knew I would not be able to rest until I had the proof myself, until I knew just what was waiting for me at the end of this particular yellow brick road. It was a small bungalow that had been rented illegally under some assumed name that was supposedly safe. You had to drive up steep hills and twisting paths to come upon the small two story house. There were no outside frivolities, not even a basketball hoop to warn me that there was a live Mulder here. But I knew he was here, as sure as I knew anything, I could feel his presence like a tv left on in a distant room. He crawled over my skin like freshly wet sand—hard as hell to finally get rid of, and sometimes grating irritating. The small porch held one lone rocking chair, bereft of anyone seated in it; I proceeded to the front door hesitantly yet firmly knocking. A soft rustling greeted me along with the face of the man I had come for. Seeing him peer at my through the window made my heart leap into my throat. He looked as if he had gained some weight, darting his head from the curtains, I waited for the front door to be thrown open and to play out every reunion fantasy I had toyed with over the past ten months. The door opened slowly, even creaked as it swung on the ancient brass hinges. "Mulder?" I called inside before heading into the house. To say it was dark would be an understatement; Mulder had taken great pains to make sure no sunlight would eek through into his makeshift cave. What I could make of the inside of the small house seemed to be pleasant enough, but I was not here to decorate, and after searching the downstairs I finally made my way up to the second floor. I found him in the first bedroom I came to; he was seated in a huge recliner in what must have been the master bedroom. His back faced me yet he spoke from his perch. "Why are you here, Scully?" "And it's nice to see you too, Mulder.' It came out angrier than I had originally thought, but I let it fly regardless. "So Mulder, I didn't know you were in the market for a new house, you should have told me, I would have helped you pick something out." I smirked. "Don't be glib, Scully," Mulder hurled back at me at nearly the same speed and ire. "Where is Will?" "Safe." I was not going to hand him the satisfaction of a complete answer until I had a few of my own, and he could at least have had the decency to turn and face me. "What do you want, Scully? You come to stare at me, to gawk at what is sure to become a medical feeding frenzy?" Ok, so now not only was I completely confused, I was also rapidly beginning to freak. "What are you talking about, Mulder?" I asked pointedly, slowly inching upon his reclining form. He chuckled in a morose tone, not even bothering to get up from his seat. "Don't come in here, Scully." He nearly moaned. "Go home to Will, go do something that is going to make a difference." I was incensed. "What the hell is your problem?" I fumed. "At the very least you could pretend to be happy to see me. I have been through hell to get out here then find out where you were..." "You don't know what hell really is, Scully. " his voice was scaring me more than a little, and I decided to end the charade, quickly and without giving Mulder enough time to react or run, I advanced upon him like a hungry lioness. "Mulder," I accused as I spun him around. Once I had I instantly wished I hadn't, but that is the problem with knowing, once you know you truly cannot go back. His face and composure crumpled under my scrutiny. I don't even think he realized what he was doing as he clutched his arms around his middle. His Middle. "Mulder...?" "Don't fucking stare at me Scully, I'm not a freak!" he yelled. Mulder rose to his feet, only to sway under his own seemingly crushing weight. "Whoa...take it easy there big fella..." I soothed as I eased a very rotund Mulder back onto the bed. I had so many questions, but the last thing he needed right now was an angry shrew in his face, and the last thing I wanted were answers to mostly impossible questions. He lay on the bed breathing heavily from the head rush, eyes closed he seemed to be sleeping but I knew him better. "So now you know..." "How did this happen?" It was the safest way I could find to phrase the question. "Oh come on, Scully,' a small smile spread across his puffy face. "Birds do it, bees do it even educated MD's..." "Mulder!" I admonished trying hard not to cry. "How?" He sighed, and then the tears came, in big wet drops that his hand could not wipe away fast enough. "I was abducted again, Scully." Sniffle. "I was taken again and held against my will." Sniffle. "I was only gone for two days, and I had no idea what was done to me, or even that I had gone missing. Gibson had to tell me." I chose silence as a supportive means, I knew he was going to spill his proverbial guts, talking during his confession would only serve to delay the inevitable. "And this was not an important enough occurrence to let me know what the hell was going on?" He recoiled noticeably from my words, but fuck it; I want him to know how scared I was, and how utterly panicked I am right now. "I came here to die, Scully." The words hit me like a wall of ice cold water. "I didn't want you to know that I was dying...for the second time. What did you think would happen at the end of all of this?" he spoke the last words as he gestured at his expound middle. Oh yeah, did I mention that the father of my son was either pregnant or had some serious weight issues. "We need to get you out of here Mulder..." I stammered, not really wanting to make an already volatile situation completely untenable. "And go where?" he raged. "Where do you suggest we go, Scully? Oh I know, let's go to the local hospital, or better yet, let's cut to the chase, let's get the major media in on the fun." His words had come in a hoarse torrent, followed swiftly by another round of coughing and wheezing. "You shouldn't lay on your back like that Mulder; it'll compromise your breathing." My attempts to nurture were rewarded with a scowl, though I noticed he did make an effort to lay onto his side, in a manner reminiscent of a five-year-old who had just learned why not to touch the stove. I wasn't sure how to approach him, but I felt a driving need to give him a quick once over. "You need to talk?" I asked, but what I really meant was 'how did all of this happen?' Mulder, always the show off, decided now was as good a time as any to come out with the truth. "I was abducted," he said so simply as if to explain the whole thing. Nodding, I took the opportunity to advance upon his lanky prone frame. His middle was so distended as to be comical in any other form, but the situation would not broker any humor from me, and I needed to know more details. "If you want to know the high tech medical term for all this Scully, then you are barking up the wrong tree..." eyes met mine as I did my rudimentary examination, surprised at how pliable he had become to my ministrations in such a short amount of time. "I woke up in the front yard of the trailer, Gibson had to convince me that I had been missing." He moaned as I tried to check his abdomen. "That doesn't come off you know." He sneered. "Mulder, we have to get you out of here. I am not comfortable with the progression of your...condition and if I have to do something particularly radical I would feel safer doing so in a more sterile situation." "No." I was prepared for a fight, I knew Mulder could be a difficult patient, having been his personal physician for so many years had toughened my resolve against his tantrums. "Mulder, we have to get you into a better environment, at the very least a sonogram so we know what we are dealing with here." "I know what I am dealing with Scully, and I am not equipped with the plumbing necessary to see this through. "a small sigh escaped his lips as he shifted positions on the large bed. "This is going to kill me." He seemed so sure of it, so damn positive that this was going to be the end of his life, I wanted to reassure him, I wanted to tell him that things were going to be fine, but I had to start to believe that myself. "Mulder, there are options, let me make a few phone calls, I promise that no one has to know what is going on here, I promise you that you will not be poked and prodded by anyone you do not want to." A slight nod of his head was all I received before he drifted off into sweet bliss. I had a hard time getting him into the car, my friend from medical school offered her vacant offices no questions asked, of course I had to use my creds to access privacy, but Kersh could crawl into my ass later, I had bigger and mouthier fish to fry. Said fish was passed out in the back seat of my rental car, and snoring loudly. He wore the only things that would now fit his girth, sweats. They gave him the look of a man who had too many visits from the clown and too many dances with Sara Lee. Driving through the desert at midnight was hardly my idea of a great time, but the wind was blowing well enough to encourage the open window, and the late night talk show on the radio kept me annoyed and awake with its preponderance of end of the world doom and gloom. Who the hell was Major Ed Dames and where was he getting his info from, cause from my vantage point he was way the fuck off. "I'm going to die from this you know." He mused plaintively from under the arm slung across his face. I am used to him as a downtrodden man, I have been witness to him deal with the loss of both his parents and the final resolution of his sister's death. But seeing him deal with his own mortality in the face of such humiliation was nearly too much for me to deal with. My hands wanted to pull the car over and cry, but it was everything else that kept me pointed towards Flagstaff and the only possible salvation that Mulder may have. "I don't see this killing you off Mulder," though my voice may or may not have cracked on one or more of the words. He responded with another faint chuckle, a half hearted one that seemed to have gotten stuck in his throat. "Don't tell me you are now claiming to see the future..." I could see him smirking even though both eyes were firmly fixed on the road. "Someone get Yappi..." "Mulder I am serious, we will get through this." "Why this Scully? I mean of all things they have done to me or tried to do to me, why this?" A smile played at my lips. "Well, killing you didn't seem to work." "Not funny Scully." He sat up and leaned back into the faux leather of the back seat. "I don't know if I can live through this Scully. I don't know if you know this but I am not exactly properly wired for this kind of thing." What could I say? 'Oh yes Mulder it will all work out. Yes Mulder things are going to be fine this is the kind of thing that happens all the time, Yes Mulder this is going to all end perfectly naturally.' What could I say and what I should say were on two separate planets. In the end I opted for what we knew, what we were. "Well Mulder, you could always go back on jerry Springer..." At some point I will learn bedside manners, more than likely whenever I start treating live patients. Mulder did not answer the quip, did not even snicker. It was the silence that scared me most. "Mulder I am sorry I was kidding..." No answer, pulling over the car I made a mad dash for the back seat, imagining the worst but hoping, hoping. I checked his vitals, his breathing was far more labored than when we first set off. I had debated transporting him across the state, but given the options I knew the only answer was to get him to my friend's office. "Mulder?" I asked desperation had taken over my voice and I could hear myself squeak. "Mulder!" I tugged at his arm which seemed the only safe place to touch. He seemed completely lax to my touch. Any other time I would have grabbed for my cell and frantically dialed for help. But this was not the time for outside help. I didn't want Mulder to become a spectacle, nor drag out into the light the horrid life that we had been forced to lead. I touched his forehead gingerly and whispered his name once again. "See, nothing to laugh at Scully." "Char, I told you this was a bureau matter and that I would need complete privacy, no one was to be here including you." I was sticky and hot, still dressed in the same clothes that I had flown in. Charlene Carson was standing at the front door of her clinic, the only car parked in the lot was her Lexus. She was a pretty blonde but had a real yen for drama. "Someone had to let you in, Dee.' She loved using that nick name from college; I was in turn glad that Mulder was in the back seat and could not hear it. She dangled a set of keys from her elegant hand, jingling them as she spoke. "Besides, you would not want me to miss out on such an exciting event as a real life FBI case." Did I mention she watched way too much TV? It was almost her downfall in med school. If it weren't for a rich father and a mid term shift in priorities, I would be sitting here discussing what color I wanted my hair dyed. The same cold hard stare I gave her during finals when she wanted to throw a party backed her off. "OK." She surrendered along with the keys. "But at least let me in on the details afterwards." I granted a non-committal smile as she hauled herself back into the car. I watched her drive off before securing my package from the back seat. He was none to happy at the jostling and warned of urinating on me in protest. Definitely a side of Mulder I can do without. Remind me never to knock him up. By the time I got him settled onto a bed in the back, his color had begun to fade. Mulder's face was becoming a mask of grey flannel and his heart rate began to fluctuate. I knew I didn't have long to get whatever it was out of him, worst fears consisted of a hybrid that would ultimately was a hybrid that would eventually eat its way to freedom. These were fears that I wisely kept to myself in the memory of my own thoughts and fears during labor and delivery. Oh God., Labor and Delivery. It dawned on me then as I dragged the portable ultrasound through the empty back rooms that I would have to perform a C Section on Mulder, there was simply no other way. The operation was dangerous even under the most ideal circumstances; this was what my father would have called a goat fuck. He trusted me to get him through this, he held out the hope that I had dangled in front of him. What the hell was I thinking? I am a doctor that operates on the dead, and while I knew the basics of the procedure, there was so much that could go wrong that I could not begin to list. I held not only Mulder's life in my hands, but that of William's too. One wrong move on my part and my son is forever without a father. And that is when the anger hit. How dare they? After all that he had been through, we had been through How dare they use him in this manner? What right did They have to turn this man into Frankenstein's monster? Just because they have the ability to do it does not make it right. I wanted to stamp my foot in some way, scream thousand angry curses, break something. Instead I solemnly prepared the small operating room and breathed a prayer with each instrument laid out. It is funny to note here that for a man of Mulder's penchant for trouble, he harbors a lot of fears. Bugs, fire, needles and yes surgery. To say he was less than happy at being strapped down was less than accurate. "Victor," he murmured. "Have I not a soul?" "Shut up Mulder, you passed English Lit a long time ago, we are now in the Final Exams of Anatomy." I glared at him. "I have to put you out Mulder, and here is the thing, I am not sure how this will affect the ba—situation. "I stammered over the baby word I had done a cursory ultrasound with the portable monitor while Mulder was tapped out. Thee was nothing there more than what seemed to be a full term infant. Mulder had never acknowledged this as anything more than a health issue, and I could not help but feel that in a lot of ways I was performing an abortion. His blood pressure was starting to rise to a level that concerned me, "Mulder?" I asked again not knowing if he were unconscious, or just trying to consider if he wanted to do this or not. "What I am saying Mulder that even in the best of circumstances, a C-Section is dangerous." "You have terrible bedside manners, Scully." Mulder muttered. "Are you trying to talk me out of this? What are my options, maybe I should get a second opinion." "Mulder..." "I trust you Scully,' was all he said before closing his eyes. As I administered the anesthesia, I found myself again praying for his safety. Maybe we were just all out of miracles. VvV As I began to cut into my partner I had to shake the feeling that I was working on a corpse, I had to remind myself that he was not dead. It's not as if this was a high tech sort of surgery I had working here, Char had almost no monitoring equipment, save for a sonogram machine and the very basics. I knew that once I made the first incision, there was a ten minute window of opportunity to remove the fetus from whatever setup was inside of Mulder. What I found inside of him made no sense whatsoever. Once past the abdominal musculature, I encountered a web of fibrous tissues. Not quite a womb, more like a net. Slicing inside revealed a thick pearlescent, gelatinous material. There was enough of the material to make me question the existence of a fetus at all. Well whaddaya know? The baby was tucked tightly into itself, curled around its own body. The gelatin made it difficult to get a hold of the infant. Clock ticking away, I knew I only had a few minutes before Mulder's pressure dropped to dangerous levels. But in the end, whether God heard my prayers, or I was still at home asleep in my messy Apartment with a ton of laundry covering my head having the trippiest dream I ever had without the aid of self medication; either way this had been too damn easy. Mulder's vitals never slipped, the fetus slid right into my grip at the last minute. Not that I would ever want to do this again, but if you are going to perform a Caesarian in a tight spot, this was nearly textbook. Mulder didn't begin to wake up until three hours later. It was nearly two in the morning and I had successfully cleaned the evidence from Char's observation area. She would love to see this one and knowing her predilection for anything on a television, I made enough time to make sure all of the security tapes had been erased. Didn't need more of us on television thank you very much. "Wow that was a helluva party Scully, but next time I get to be the one with the scalpel, ok." I smiled, just grateful to hear his voice, grateful that he would live through it, grateful I didn't have to explain to William that his father was dead. "Hey Mulder, or should I say, Mom?" I had waited three hours for that one damn it. He didn't smile, merely groaned and tried to sit up. "oh no you don't, we have to leave soon, but I still need you to lie still for another hour or so." He snorted, but lay back down again. "So what is it?" he asked making a gesture at the infant happily relieving my swollen breasts. "It's a boy, Mulder, you have a son. Another one." "I didn't cheat on you, Scully," I guess he picked up on the slight exasperation in my voice. Leave it to Mulder to be perceptive, even while healing from what can be called major surgery. I was angry, but on about twelve different levels. "I know that Mulder, what I am feeling I can barely wrap into so few words as we have time for right now. I need to get us back to your little hideaway in the desert, then after you have healed, we can figure out where to go from there." In the end, I left Char a thank you note and contact information in case there was anything she needed in return. I had to use the old wheelchair to get him and the baby into the car. As unsafe as it was, I had to rely on Mulder to hold the baby as we made the six hour trip back through the desert. We ended up staying at the house for a week. We had stopped along the ride to max out my emergency credit cards on baby shit. Seemed almost pointless considering I had so much of this shit at home. Home, that was another world away. I was having a hard time reconciling the two worlds into one; the one I left three days ago, and this new odd existence that consisted of a child that I could not account for, a life that included more of the weirdness that I thought would have left us alone by now. I knew Mulder and I were in serious need of a discussion, but I wasn't sure how to go about insisting that he come home with me. How would we explain another baby that looked too much like Mulder to not be from him? Which begged a whole new line of issues. If Mulder is the father of this baby, then who is the mother? Whose eggs contributed to this new miracle squishing his face readying for an ardent insistence upon an early breakfast. "Mulder, we need to talk." I began as I helped him into the house being as careful as possible not to break open his stitches. I had not slept in two days, and I knew this was going to catch up to me sooner or later. "Can we get a little sleep first before you decide what we should do." He smiled in earnest then. "Well, you need to make some decisions about-" "I know that Scully, I want, I think I want to keep him Scully. I know it's not the best thing in the world, but, I know he's mine Scully, I can't leave him out there." "Mulder, you're right. We should sleep on this, and decide when you are not so hormonal." "You know that is not a very nice thing to say to the man who-" He stopped in mid-sentence. Following his gaze, I realized what made him stop talking. "Gibson? What are you doing here? Is everything ok with Thea?" Gibson seemed different somehow, I could not put my finger on it, but it was something I had not felt in a while. Gibson smiled as he sat in a nearly perch like stance in the modest living room. "Nice to see you up and about Mulder, and noticeably, smaller." He grinned a little nervously. "Gibson, how did you get here?" I told you, seven years with Mulder has made me question things. We had not seen another car when we pulled in, and I doubted he would have walked here. "I see that the surgery was a success, is that," he looked pointedly at the infant in my arms. "Him?" Mulder gave a small shift in weight, I was suddenly conscious of his need to lie flat. "Gibson, can you please help me get him settled down on the couch." Once I had a blanket over him, I sat in the chair next to him cradling Mulder's baby in my arms. I was hesitant to feed him in front of Gibson, but I knew he was ready to eat again. "Go ahead Agent Scully, it won't bother me." I keep forgetting about that 'can read minds thing' he should have to wear a sign on his head or something. "Now that would just give too much away don't you think, Agent Scully?" His voice, not the timbre, it was the cadence of speech that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. "Gibson?" Apparently I wasn't the only one mildly put off by our late night visitor. Mulder began to sit up a little, despite the apparent pain it caused him. "I know you wonder if this child is safe, Agent Scully, I assure you he is quite healthy." Gibson began to search his pockets for something. "I know your other questions too. It is so wonderful to know.' His face contorted into a sort of placid horror. I knew that look, how could I have missed it all these years. How could we both have been played for fools for so long? How?" I asked clutching the baby closer as if to save him from the evil being next to me. "My dear, the same way you hold that child now. We have had the ability to clone humans for nearly eighteen years, thanks to our friends. I was the first batch that made it. It was a good idea your father had, Fox . He thought it would be good to clone one of us as a means of continuing the Project." He found what he was looking for, no surprise it was a pack of Morely's. Gibson placed one long tube into his mouth before going on, "I wanted to come and ensure your safety. The two of you have served us well in the past, but it is time for a new generation." He looked pointedly at the baby, a cold chill ran down my spine. "I am not the only one cloned in this room." Mulder and I exchanged dumb stares as we tried to understand what was going on here. "We knew the project would out live us, we knew that Colonization may or may not happen in our lifetimes. We needed a little insurance that our fight will continue." "What the hell does that have to do with us?" Mulder stormed as loudly as the pain would allow him. Gibson's smile made me shudder as he went on. "Very little now, but I am hoping that your next 'incarnations' will be able to pick up the fight. I have changed the rules just a little bit though." Gibson rubbed the unlit cigarette back and forth in his fingers. Old Smokey would have lit it baby or not, but I could not help but think that Thea's presence may have changed a little of his nature. "Changed indeed Agent Scully, and that is not the only thing changed. This time it is I who has the advantage now." My gut wrenched inside of me, I could not imagine how to begin to fight someone who knew a move before you made it. I have no idea where this leaves us as far as hope; maybe there is none left at this point. Looking at him there were some similarities that I should have seen all along, aside form the small facial similarities, the child had always fostered within a realm of shadows and secrecies that I originally chalked up to his unique skill. "What do you mean another clone?" Mulder asked. He looked at me holding his son as if I could morph into an alien bounty hunter at any time and wolf down the infant in one gulp. I had never felt that level of distrust from Mulder aimed my way, for the ten nanoseconds it lasted, I felt completely alone in the universe. "You are making Agent Scully nervous, Fox . I will put both of you out of you misery. The child is you, Agent Scully." He smiled. "That is impossible, this child is male," I ranted. Mulder was oddly quiet as he mused over the possibilities. "Its possible Scully, it's only the manipulation of one chromosome. But aren't you worried that would alter the outcome of things?" Gibson made to light the cigarette hanging from his mouth, a slight nod from me in the direction of the baby made him change his mind. "I wouldn't worry too much about that Fox , there is a version of you that will soon know the joys of womanhood. We figured you may be quite a bit more docile as a woman." "You don't get out much do you, Smoky?" he muttered. "Be that as it may Fox , you will be quite a bit more reserved." "Where am I?" I guess this is the part of the story where all of the lies are explained, all of the ends are neatly tied into a perfect bow and you the reader can leave feeling satisfied that you have read a great piece of fiction. Would that it were fiction that is. The fact is that after Gibson finished explaining the whole thing to us, I felt helplessness that I had not felt in years. There was no hope. We were destined to play out these roles in one form or another ad infinitum. I didn't like the sound of that, nor did Mulder like the idea of his other, more curvier self being raised by Thea and Gibson. Gibson left in a hail of conspiracy and cigarette smoke and all I could think was that I truly was too old for this shit. I guess that's the whole point isn't it? In the end I convinced Mulder to come home. Gibson had pretty much guaranteed our safety, they were done with us. Mulder seemed completely different. It was almost as if the fight had gone out of him. We had been home for a month before I got up the nerve to ask him about it. "What's the point, Scully?" he asked after having tucked the kids into bed. Mulder decided to name the baby Joshua, a name as far from anything resembling my name as possible. I can understand Mulder's reasoning; wanting to give this kid his own chance in the world, maybe steer him away from the medical and criminal justice field too. What this family needs is a nice, greedy CEO. I tucked into the couch beside my other half, keenly aware of his feelings of hopelessness. "I don't think we are looking at this in the right light, Mulder," I offered. "Who is to say that these children will grow up to be us anyway? We are not merely a product of our genetic code, we are a series of decisions made by us and others as well." He looked at me but I could tell that this was far from over. "There is one other thing Mulder,' I offered trying to give him one last bit of hope to cling to, to keep fighting the good fight wherever and whoever it may be. "There is still an unknown variable." "Scully, you know I love it when you go all Algebraic on me." I could see the small glint of hope cross his face as the humor came back to him. He was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I had turned it on for him. "Our little unknown variant, he was never part of this before, they can breed us, and clone us, but Will is all natural, no additives or preservatives." "Yeah,' he nodded as if it were all making sense to him. "Yeah, we can affect the future from right here, Scully. We can stop this, in our own way." Raising himself off of the couch, Mulder ambled toward the computer. "Mulder, what are you doing?" I asked shocked at his sudden surge of positive energy. "I am affecting the future." He smiled. "Hey Scully, how do you feel about England?" The End
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