Title: Evoke
Story two in The Resurrection series
 Author: Neoxphile
Summary: We'd be lying if we said we had no idea what lead up to the
events on Halloween night.
Webpage: www.geocities.com/mulderscreek/resurrection.html 
Category: Kidfic; Post-series. 
Spoilers: Emily; All Souls, William, Release, Empedocles 
Disclaimer: Scully, Reyes, William, Mulder and Doggett are only being
borrowed. But Tabby and unborn baby Doggett are mine. All mine!

Author's note: Please read Small Hauntings before you read this one.
Although 3/4ths this story covers a period of time that is
chronologically just before Small Hauntings, it's more in the nature
of a flashback than a true beginning to the series.

**

October 23rd, 2004

It all started as a game. We were bored, and my broken ankle meant I
was destined to be a caged Fox rather than a dancing fool. Even
though the Halloween Ball was no longer in the cards, Reyes and
Doggett still came over with their daughter. They claimed that it
wouldn't have been the same without us, but I think I detected a note
of relief in their voices. Not wanting a late night when you're owned
by a toddler isn't hard to understand.

Tabby was sleepy, so Scully put her to bed in William's old playpen,
which had been set up in his room. From her account he didn't wake
up, and the baby fell asleep instantly.

Downstairs, Reyes revealed that she'd brought a ouija board. I looked
at it with interest, since I'd never used one before. Once, long ago,
I'd asked my Dad to buy one for Sam and I. Predictably he'd said he
wasn't going to spend good money on worthless crap.

This in mind, as she rejoined us I tried to telepathically plead with
Scully not to dismiss the idea as stupid.

"Oh! Missy and I used to scare each other with one of these when we
were little girls." Scully exclaimed gleefully.

Apparently my telepathy isn't too bad.

**

"The directions say that it's best for a man and a woman to do it,
with their knees touching." Scully looked down at my ankle. "Want to
give it a shot?"

My mind was still caught on her wording - do it, heh - and it took
until I noticed she was staring at me to bring me back to Earth. I
shrugged noncommittally. "If you think you can contort that way,
fine."

She got a mischievous look in her eyes. "Spread you legs apart more."
She commanded.

Doing as she asked, I moved the leg that wasn't elevated apart from
the other. I hadn't figured out what she was up to until she'd
already pulled her chair forward until she was seated with her knees
between my legs, the uninjured one she pulled back towards her until
our knees did indeed touch. That distracted me, making me wonder if
she had any other creative manipulations in mind for after our guests
went home, at least until she put the board on our knees. "I know
it's not what they had in mind, but it technically fulfills the
instructions."

"Yeah...What next?" I still couldn't believe that Scully was well
versed in an element of the occult that I was clueless about.

She looked at the box. "Next we put our fingers lightly on the
pointer, and ask a question."

"Is Micah Hoffman in the house? Paging the ghost of Micah Hoffman." I
smiled at Scully. "I guess he decided not to haunt us after all."

"Funny." She looked around, then addressed the empty air. "Is there a
spirit with us tonight?"

To my shock, the pointer jumped under our fingers, making a beeline
for YES.

Watching, Reyes gasped then giggled. Doggett just smirked.

"Who do you have a message for, spirit?" Scully asked gravely.

The pointer flew from letter to letter, spelling out A-l-l.

"What do you have to tell us?" I asked, playing along.

I could feel the tug of the pointer under my fingers. A glance at the
way Scully's fingers were slack seemed to suggest that she wasn't
controlling it either. But if I wasn't controlling it, she had to be.
Didn't she?

I-w-a-n-t-t-o. Then the pointer abruptly went still.

"You want to what?" Reyes asked aloud. Even without looking up I knew
she wasn't talking to me or Scully. Scully gave her a disapproving
glance; I remembered from the instructions that only the people
touching the pointer were supposed to ask questions.

We all stared at the board while the pointer flew from one letter to
another. t-o-c-o-m-e-h-o-m-e.

"Where's home?" An amused note in Doggett's voice suggested that he
for one wasn't taking it seriously at all.

w-i-t-h-y-o-u

"Do you mean right here?" Scully asked. Her voice was a bit shaky,
like she'd forgotten that it was a game.

The pointer dragged itself to YES before it went to letters again.

w-e-w-a-n-t-t-o-c-o-m-e-h-o-m-e.

"We?" I asked. "There's more than one of you?" Another YES. "How
many?"

A silence met my question.

I'd thought the game was over, but then Doggett laughed. "Sure, come
home. I'm sure being haunted will do wonders for Dana's resale
value."

The pointer came to life once more.

m-i-s-s-y-o-u-D-a-d-d-y

"That's not funny." Doggett complained.

Agreeing with Doggett, I let the pointer go. It surprised me that
Scully would go for that nerve for the sake of a joke. "Well, that
was fun." I put everything back in the box and handed it to Reyes.

They went home not long after, and I went to bed, surprised to find
myself drained of energy. I guess a little excitement will do that to
you if you're not at your best, and with a bum ankle, I wasn't at
mine.

**

Everything was quiet that night, but two afternoons later things
began to go south. It wasn't until days later that I learned that my
experience wasn't as unique as their silence first let me think it
was.

 I'd had a doctor's appointment, and had requested the afternoon off,
so I'd taken a cab home.  Scully was still at work, and I was too
tired to consider getting William out of daycare, so I had the house
to myself. My greatest desire was a nap, and I was already yawning by
the time I unlocked the door.

I'd crutched about halfway through the living room when I saw it -
Stratego. That stopped me dead in my tracks. What that doing in our
house?! The first coherent action I'd performed after they took
Samantha was to gather up the game and condemn it to the basement. If
my folks had wondered why, they hadn't asked, nor had either of them
ever moved it. Yet, impossibly, it was in my living room.

I was afraid to go near it, suddenly sure that if I did the walls of
time would dissolve around me, thrusting me more than three decades
backwards in time. The fear made me feel ridiculous and weak, but it
clung like spider webs even as I berated myself for being foolish.

It was far more likely that someone who had it in for me had decided
that psychological warfare was the best way to get to me. What better
way to subtly drive me mad than to break into my mother's house, and
steal the one object there that'd bring me the most anguish?

But it could be aliens come to drag me into the past.

Gathering my courage, I forced my squeaking way forward. The unsteady
sounds of my metal crutches annoyed me, but it was a welcomed
emotion. Anything to lessen the grip of senseless panic.

Once I was only a couple of feet away, I realized my error. The
pieces were shiny, new, not the set from my boyhood.

My pulse was beginning to calm when I realized something - the pieces
were setup in a layout that had forever been burned into my memory.
Even now it looked ready for my sister to make her next move.

When I recoiled in mingled surprise and horror, I got the crutches
tangled between my feet and nearly feel. After scrambling to regain
my balance I got out of the room quicker than anyone, including
myself would ever give me credit for.

The walls shook with the force of the bedroom door slamming. That
made me wince a little; Scully would kill me if I cracked the walls.
We'd spent a lot time and money making this handyman's dream livable,
so undoing that work would be stupid. A cursorily look suggested that
my enthusiasm hadn't done any damage.

Sighing in relief, I stripped off my clothes and climbed into bed
wearing just my underwear. It was so quiet, and the bed so warm and
comfortable that I began to drift off within minutes.

Sleep was so close I could reach out and brush it with my fingertips
when a noise began to intrude on my peace. Groaning softly, I
burrowed my head deeper into the pillow, but the respite* this
offered was brief. Eventually the disturbance gained such volume that
I rolled over to locate the source.

The moment I solved the mystery, I feel out of bed with a mewl of
terror. Tangled in the bedclothes I'd dragged down with me, I
breathed only in harsh gasps and groped blindly for my crutches.

For all my shocked anguish, my eyes were transfixed on the object
producing the noise. It was a small color TV we kept in the bedroom,
so we could watch the occasional primetime offerings we could agree
on, and the news.

Not the magician. It couldn't be. Horrified as I was, I couldn't tear
my eyes away from the screen, so I reached blindly for the remote
control on my nightstand. Jabbing repeatedly at the power button did
nothing but make me wonder if the batteries were dead.

After a few moments of disoriented bewilderment, I struggled to my
feet and inched closer to the TV. For once I was glad for my
crutches; I steadied myself on one and used the other to batter the
plug out of the wall.

The image on the TV went out, leaving a ghostly imprint on the screen
for two heartbeats, then a dark blankness. Surprised by this, I gave
the TV a mistrustful look. Any second, I was sure, it would jolt back
to life, and the shock and horror of it would knock me on my ass.

Two long minutes passed, and I decided not to allow myself to be
further terrorized by a twelve inch screen. I gathered up a quilt and
what was left of my dignity, and made for what Scully referred to as
'the library.'

Although I knew from personal experience that libraries were not
always benign sanctuaries, at least this one didn't have my corpse
below the floor boards. And more importantly there was no TV.

The chair was comfortable, and the quilt warm, but my mind wouldn't
shut off the steady stream of nervous, rambling thoughts, so I didn't
sleep or even doze.

Eventually I picked up a book about bigfoot that I'd been meaning to
read. It was comforting to concentrate on the unknown in the book,
rather than on the unknown in my house.

I was still reading when Scully and William got home. So engrossed in
the book, I startled when my son threw himself at my legs. Not nearly
as calm as I wanted to believe, my first thought upon feeling the
solid weight on me was that I was being attacked. Before recoiling in
terror, I looked down and saw a familiar thatch of red hair.

William didn't seem to notice that I'd been alarmed. "Hi Daddy."

To my credit - and amazement - my voice didn't shake. "How was
school, Big Guy?"

"Good. We painted pumpkins." As he climbed onto my lap I noticed that
there was still orange paint under his nails.

"Go put away your backpack in your room, William." Scully said as she
joined us.

William made a long face and got up from my chair reluctantly. "Okay,
Mommy."

Once he left the room, Scully gave me a quizzical look. "I was
surprised to see that you'd set up that game."

I nearly protested that I'd done no such thing, but before I did
something occurred to me: she was only surprised to see that it was
set up, not that it existed at all. "Uh, Scully, where did the game
come from?"

She gave a sheepish shrug. "Mom. I don't know what she's been
reading, but lately she keeps talking about power failures over the
winter. She bought a new set of hurricane lanterns - much nicer than
the old ones that she's had practically forever - then she began
worrying about the grandkids. If there was no power they might get
bored. So she bought us all several board games - even though I
protested that William is too young to play them. Most of them are
too old for Matt too, but if it makes her happy..."

I nodded along as she spoke.  There was no way that she'd been the
one to set up the game. She wasn't that good at playing innocent.
"Yeah, it's okay."

"Really?" Scully asked. "I was hoping you wouldn't find that
particular game..."

"Can we go shopping?" I asked, mostly to change the subject. "We need
candy for trick o' treaters still, and we promised William we'd get
his costume tonight."

"Oh, sure. You're sure you're up to it?"

"Hey, I'm getting good at using these crutches. Bet I could beat you
in a race, given you've still got those tiny little legs."

"Ha." She smirked at me, and it seemed that the game was forgotten.
Except by me.

**

Two days later

Reyes grabbed her stuff while the rest of us watched idly.  None of
us were particularly interested in what was beginning to seem a lot
like a dead-end case.

Twisting in his seat, Doggett craned his neck and spoke to his wife.
"You're sure you don't want me to go with you?"

"'Put your feet in stirrups and scooch down' is an indignantly that
doesn't need a witness." Reyes sighed. "It's going to be a long five
months."

Scully nodded sympathetically.

"John, you're going to pick up Tabby after work, right?"

"Yeah. You can go home and take it easy after your appointment."

"Or go shopping." She kissed him on the cheek. "See you in a few
hours."

Doggett smiled, but as soon as Reyes left, it dissolved. He turned to
look at his partners. "I didn't want to ask until Monica left, but
has anything strange happened to you this week?"

I said yes. Scully said no. She wouldn't meet our eyes when she said
it though.

"So it's not just me then." His voice sounded almost relived. "I've
been worrying for days that I'm losing my mind."

"Why?" Scully demanded to know. Instead of answering, Doggett stared
down at his hands. I was curious too, but half sure that I knew what
he was going to say.

"It's crazy, but if I didn't know better, I'd think I was being
haunted." When he looked up his eyes were grief-stricken. "I think
I'm being haunted by my son."

"Why?" I asked softly, afraid that a loud question would shut him
down.

He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "It sounds stupid even when I
think it, so I can't imagine how it out loud... Teeth and bicycles."

"Teeth and bicycles?" Scully repeated, sounding confused. I wasn't
much less in the dark than she was.

He nodded. "Over the past two days I've seen a bike everywhere I go.
And I mean the same bike. Blue, with a chip of paint taken out of the
frame near the pedals, a card in the spokes of the back wheel. Ace of
hearts. It's a bike I would know anywhere. Luke's bike."

Scully made a soft sound that was like "oh" but somehow wasn't.

"I've seen it six times this week. Abandoned on lawns, propped up
against walls, in a bike rack in front of an elementary school once."

To Scully's credit she didn't immediately suggest that it was a
coincidence like I was afraid she was going to. Instead she just
said, "That does sound upsetting."

"There's more," he said, and I remembered: teeth. "and it's even
weirder.  For the past few days I've been finding baby teeth."

"Strange." I agreed.

"Getting up to pee one morning, I found a little tooth on the hall
carpet. My first thought was that Tabby had somehow lost one of hers,
which upset me. Babies aren't supposed lose their teeth, so I was
expecting a crying daughter, probably a bloody mouth...But when I
caught up with her - my god is she quick on those little feet! - she
was fine. A little mad that Daddy pried her mouth open to check on
her, but her teeth were all fine." He shook his head. "Figured that
it must have been something that just looked like a tooth."

"But it wasn't." I said.

"No. Over the next couple of days I found three more. Then I began to
wonder, what if the teeth and the bicycles were connected? Luke's
bike, Luke's teeth. It seemed like a pretty cruel joke. I got so
convinced that someone had stolen Luke's teeth to hurt me, that I
called up Barb and asked her if she still had his teeth, sure that
someone had broken into her place for them. God, she probably thought
that I was insane. But she thought they were all there still.
Thought, meant she didn't know for sure. I made up some excuse for
calling, I don't even remember what, and got off the phone as soon as
I could." He looked up at us and said, "Sounds crazy, huh?"

I shook my head slowly, and said. "Actually, it doesn't." Then I told
them everything, about the game and the TV.

It surprised me a little, but I could tell from his expression that
Doggett was totally with me by the time I finished my story. But
then, he'd clearly been shaken up by his own personal haunting.

I turned to Scully, but her face was closed. It was impossible to
read what she was thinking. Prodding was definitely in order. "What
about you?" I asked her.

"What about me, what?" Now there was something on her face, a guarded
expression.

I spoke slowly, hoping it would sink in. "Doggett and I are being
haunted. Are you?"

"Mulder, that's ridiculous. There are no such thing as ghosts!"
Oddly, Doggett looked like he couldn't believe that she'd said it,
either. Before I could puzzle out why, Scully asked, "Even if there
were, why would you think I was being bothered by a ghost too?"

"You've known a lot of people who've died too." I reminded her. Then
I thought about them. Her dad. Melissa. Hell, she'd even met both my
parents...

"No!" Her eyes lost a little of their wild look. "No. I haven't
noticed anything strange."

"Okay." I agreed. I wondered if Doggett knew that she was lying too.
"Hopefully you won't."

The subject dropped right then and there. I don't know if it came up
again between Doggett and Reyes, but it didn't between him and I, and
especially between Scully and I.

**

October 31st, 2004

When Doggett pulled up in front of my house, the living room lights
were on.

"Looks like they came home early." I remarked as I struggled to get
my crutches out of the truck.

Doggett came around and yanked them out for me. I would have said
thanks, but I knew he'd done it for expediency rather than to be
nice. "I wouldn't be surprised if they came back because Tabby got
cranky."

"Just like her dad, huh?"'

He grimaced at the quip. "You know how toddlers are."

"Yeah, and just think you've got both the terrible twos and sibling
rivalry both to look forward to."

"Thanks for reminding me." Doggett smirked.

"Actually, I half envy you." I told him.

"You want a repeat of the terrible twos?"

"Nah. I just wish Will wasn't going to be any only child."

"Sorry. Doctors are no help, then?"

"The kid's a one-shot miracle."

By that point we'd gotten to the door. I patted my pockets for my
keys, then I remembered that I'd been leaving them home since I
couldn't drive. Luckily, the door wasn't locked.

We walked in, and I thought back to the movie we'd seen. There'd been
a scene with someone walking into horror too.

But what we encountered in the living room wasn't one of horror,
exactly. It was just hard to understand what exactly was going on.

William and Tabby looked upset, and were sharing what was left of
Reyes' lap. She looked upset, and the kids looked scared.  Scully, on
the other hand...

She was standing in front of three little kids. Her face was white as
a sheet and tears were running down her cheeks. And speaking of
sheets, there was a pile of them on the floor.

Eventually she realized we were there and turned in our direction.
"My necklace."

"What?" I peered behind her, trying to get a better look at the kids,
but they were standing in the shadows.

"I lied. My necklace kept showing up in weird places."

At first I couldn't figure out why she'd chosen right then to confess
that she'd been haunted too. It seemed like a non-sequitur... until
she stepped aside.

"Oh my god." Unexpectedly, I found myself sitting on the floor. I
guess my surprise made me lose my precarious balance. Emily and
Samantha looked at me. I turned away.

"Luke! Come here!" Doggett's face was all smiles, which I found odd.
Wasn't seeing his dead son in my living room a shock to him?

The little boy ran into his outspread arms. I looked at him in wonder
as he wrapped the child in an embrace. "It's a miracle." Doggett said
happily. I was beginning to worry that he'd snapped, and the look on
his wife's face made me think I wasn't alone there.

He claimed it was a miracle. It was something, anyway.

"Mulder!" He looked over the boy's blond head. "You got your wish."

I gave him a blank look. "What wish?"

"For William not to be an only child."

Oh, that wish. I turned my head, first looking at my son, then at
Emily. If this wasn't me having a stroke, it did seem like he had a
sibling. A younger sibling. If Emily was the same age she'd been when
she'd died, she was six months younger than William. That wouldn't be
easy to explain, I thought before deciding it was crazy.

How hard could it be to explain having kids six months apart be
compared to explaining how three children seemed to have come back to
life?

It hurt to look at Samantha. I'd wanted her back all my life, but I
never excepted her to be eight still. Or maybe I did, if I was honest
with myself. I don't think I ever pictured her as an adult until I
met the women masquerading as her.

Samantha was alive. Emily and Luke were alive. What the hell were we
supposed to do with them? It's easy to say "love them" but it's never
that simple. Nothing is.

The End

End notes: The next fic in this series will be called Teapot in a
Tempest. I haven't started writing it yet, so I can't give you an
estimate on when it'll be out.