Title: Devine Intervention
Author: SkepticalScully
Category: Mythology
Rating: PG (some violence)
Spoilers: Mythology, S8 Mulder storyline

Summary: The plot line thickens for Scully and Mulder as they search for the truth and fight for their child. See "Death's Door is Standing Wide Open" for the prequel.

Chapter Fourteen

I should have known that something was wrong at that moment. But instead of my heart clenching in fear, (for I had fallen asleep when I should have been awake), I felt a calmness engulf me. However, instead of welcoming this serenity, I fought for that fear, because I knew that fear would save him.

Mulder glanced into the bassinet, and then ran for the front door to catch whoever it was. He would never catch him though. It wouldn't be that easy. That only happened in movies. It didn't happen in real life.

When I was a kid, life seemed pretty complicated. Now I look back and I long for the simplicity. However, I do not want to change what I have now. I just wish I could keep it and add the simplicity. It's like I said to Mulder a couple years ago: 'don't you ever just wanna settle down? Stop. Get out of the damn car and approach something of a normal life?' Well, as I compare then to now, that did seem like something relatively normal. It was a job, a career; something I had established for myself. I could have gotten out of it then if I had truly wanted to but Mulder, he has such a stubbornness about him-a passion that surpasses anything I could ever hope to have-that kept me rooted in that car, or one very much like it for more nights than I had cared to remember. That's why I was here now. And to be honest, even with my child now gone, and me blaming myself because it was my fault; I did let this happen or it wouldn't have just as Mulder said earlier, but now, I wasn't feeling any regret.

Just fatigue. I was just tired of it all, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant that I got what I wanted out of the package.

But first things first. I couldn't go chase after Mulder because that would be useless. Two of us wouldn't be able to accomplish what one couldn't anyway, at least not in this game. I left the bedroom and the bassinet where William had lain sleeping only moments ago. Was it really only minutes? It felt like hours I had been sitting there. I went to the phone, praying urgently that it would ring with good news as I picked it up and began dialing numbers, not even sure I knew who I was calling, but I'd find out when they picked up right, but it just rang and rang and no one answered, so I had to disconnect the call because finally that fear was settling in that maybe some one was trying to call right now, maybe Mulder from his own cell phone to tell me, 'hey, Scully, I have the baby, everything is okay now, you can stop worrying,'

so I hung up, but it didn't ring and I didn't know what to do because I didn't know where Skinner or Doggett were and I didn't' know where Mulder had gone, and I couldn't just sit down in the chair because I had to do something but I didn't know what to do so I just stood there by the phone shaking, and it wasn't until Mulder finally returned empty handed that I finally moved.

Then afterwards, I didn't remember anything.

The plane landed at Dulles International Airport from Cummings, Utah at five-thirty. That left Doggett and Skinner without much time. Skinner's car had been left at the airport, so they hurried to the parking lot.

Doggett called Scully as Skinner drove. When Doggett received the news he glanced at Skinner. Skinner nodded with understanding. He had hoped that they would arrive before it was too late. He hadn't wanted Mulder or Scully to worry unnecessarily, but they would understand (if they believed him) soon enough.

He turned right onto Scully's street, pulling to a stop behind Mulder's parked car. Doggett was out before Skinner had a chance to put the car in park and headed for the entrance to her apartment building.

Skinner caught up by the time he pushed the elevator button. They entered the elevator car alone and waited impatiently.

"Sir, Scully's already been through a lot. How are we going to explain to her that-"

"I know, Agent Doggett," Skinner said humbly. "But it'll quell her fears a little while. At least we can give her something."

The elevator arrived at their designated floor and they exited the confining box. Skinner didn't even bother knocking on the door; he opened it inward, and as soon as he entered, Mulder and Scully both stood quickly in anticipation of any bead of hope he could give them. He took a deep breath, stepped aside to let Agent Doggett enter and shut the door. He looked at the two agents he had taken in eight years ago with considerable distain. Eight years ago, he'd recruited Mulder and Scully because he had had no choice. He had wanted to make something of himself, but instead he had felt that the pressure and ridicule the X-Files was sure to smother him. Instead, he now looked at the changes that had occurred in each of their lives.

Changes that brought all of them closer together and taught them a thing or two about life at the same time it took it away from them. The news he was about to disclose was sure to create another change.

"I was rather disheartened that I would have to return here without any information to help-" he watched their faces fall, "-but if Agent Doggett hadn't had such a good eye, we never would be here now to tell you something very important. You may want to sit down for this."

"What?" Scully asked. Her features didn't seem to know how to feel.

Skinner looked at Doggett first, then at Mulder, but his eyes returned to Scully's. "It's about your mother."

She struggled for the words. "My mother? What does this have to do with anything? What does this have to do with William?"

"Your mother's alive and she's the one who took your child."

For a moment he thought that she was going to faint.

After trying to take in the words in her mind, she finally was able to speak: "what?"

Skinner moved around the couch where Scully stood, her eyes the doorway to her soul. They were deep and dark with uncertain emotions: denial, skepticicism, hope.

Hope that Skinner had faith would not be bulldozed when this thing was over.

"Sir," Scully asked shakily after she found her voice.

"I saw my mother's body placed into the ground with my own eyes. I saw her lifeless body lay in a hospital bed after doctor's tried to save-"

Mulder placed a hand on her shoulder. "Scully, stop."

Skinner saw his eyes were pleading.

Skinner took another step forward. "Dana, I hardly believe it myself, despite the things I've seen in my life. But I believe it is true."

Scully looked up at him then, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. She whispered, "my mother has my baby.

What will she do with him?"

Each took their seats on the couch. Skinner folded his hands on his knees and leaned forward. He took a minute to think over in his mind what he wanted to say a loud. He cleared his throat. "Walden-Freedman Bio-Research Facility was working on an advanced cancer research program that involved people diagnosed with terminal cancer. They developed an anecdote to cure these people, but they haven't been able to figure out how to cure every disease and they think that your son is the key."

"Who's to say this is even achievable? There's the potential that this technology exists, but maybe it's too soon."

"You may be right, Mulder." Doggett said.

"How do they know that William is the key? And why wait until now?" Mulder stood and walked to the window. He watched the light from a distant plane pass through the sky. Then he turned around. "Okay, if Scully's mother has him, where did she take him? What kind of state is she in to protect him? And what about Alex Krycek? If he doesn't know he's gone, he's still going to come looking for him." He looked at Scully and walked back to the couch. "We'll be ready for him when he comes."

Mrs. Scully had been put together not unlike the way Adam had been built. But instead of a metal hinge here, and a microchip there, Mrs. Scully had been sewn with a piece of living tissue here, and an artery there. Neurons, protons, electrons. Much more fine-tuned and stitched together than had been with Adam.

When they were finished with her, she was alive again.

Though she was essentially part of her old self, part brand new, her soul had remained intact with her body, which allowed her to be her whole self, at least in mind and spirit. With her memories intact, her mind was still a very vulnerable asset. She was like a drone: still capable of her own free well, but susceptible to the acts of others.

The Cigarette-Smoking Man had not intended for Mrs.

Scully's rebirth to be used the way things turned out, for he had not lied to Doggett and Skinner earlier.

Indeed, he had not wanted to risk his own life for the sake of others, but he did have a certain fondness for these people, being what some would argue, human himself.

He also knew what would happen to the child if he were exposed to the disk when his DNA had already been branched, preventing him from contracting such deadly diseases as Cancer, AIDS, Ebola, and other neurological diseases as Multiple Sclerosis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. This, he had learned years ago, even before Dana Scully had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain cancer only a few month's after her abduction by former FBI Agent and multiple abductee, Duane Barry. That was why, when two years ago he had gone to Agent Scully, he had meant to show her the possibilities. But at the time, he had only had hopes of coming into contact with this information, and had feared the possibilities as much as he wanted to show the world this miracle medicine.

In the end, he had changed his mind.

Through numerous tests to secretly create a vaccine that would save the world from colonization, the pact between the Syndicates and its members began to change erratically. The Cigarette-Smoking Man began to discover that if this technology were to be developed and given into the wrong hands, even to those within the Purity Control project itself, everything that they had worked on prior: the cloning operations, the tests in the Russian gulags, cataloging them by their small pox vaccinations; their work would become theoretically - obsolete.

The Cigarette-Smoking Man couldn't allow that to happen, wouldn't allow it to happen, but somewhere down the deep, dark path of deception it had. And now, if he were to let Scully's child be the first to be tested, his only hope towards the foreseeable future would be wiped away. For if this new technology became available, there would be no need to create the alien human hybrids who would be the world's Super Soldiers, saving them from the ultimate Armageddon: colonization by a master race, who's politics were radically different than their own.

He still had hope in the future; that hope lay in Scully's miraculous immunity; her conception was proof of that. When the child became of age, he would stand on the tallest mountain and preach the strongest sermon. He would tell of the days when believers lived their lives in constant fair of domination. He would be their savior and they would be his apostles. He would raise his arms to the skies and save them from a greater race.

This was his future - their future; the goal he had destined to reach for so many years. Now he was so close, yet so far away.

It didn't matter if Scully's mother had already taken her grandchild because Alex Krycek would not give up.

Like he himself, there was passion in his soul and he would give his life for what his future held. He would find Scully's baby before it was over, led to him by Scully herself, even though she would use every precaution to guard against this. He would take the child someplace he thought was safe; somewhere close by. Heightened security measures would give him a false sense of confidence.

He would take the child to an undisclosed location, one of the locations that the Cigarette-Smoking Man himself knew about, equipped with the knowledge to perform the operation. The threats were great, for if Krycek did not realize the greater risks involved in exposing the baby to the disk, the future may be even more bleak than all the crime, poverty, and terrorism it was faced with now.

The Cigarette-Smoking Man's only hope of avoiding this risk was to plant a seed in amongst the members.

Someone whom Krycek would undoubtedly trust without asking questions and who could run the operation, insuring that none of the risks would be taken.

Someone who couldn't create risks themselves-someone Mulder and Scully would be able to trust.

Someone who was already dead and therefore could be taken out of the game at any time that it deemed necessary to do so.

Before Scully had given birth, there had been a new group of alien terrorists, created as a result of the abductions of Mulder, Billy Miles, and several other occupants of Bellefeur, Oregon.

Resistance Aliens, trying to dislodge the Purity Control project and the Syndicate members. They arrived here only recently, in the bodies of several of the abductees in Oregon. Billy Miles had been one of them. In that hospital, he had shed his former self.

They were the enemy as well as the allies.

However, one of them arrived here years ago, even before the Project had been created in 1947. Arrived in a spacecraft that crashed in the desert in Roswell, New Mexico in 1946. One year before the famed discovery known as the Roswell Incident that began the search for extra-terrestrial life. This man was the last to survive. He had taken the form of one of the FBI's own.

Special Agent Gene Crane.

Now, Agent Crane was taking the form of another.

Dr. Lev. Murdered by one of his own, Billy Miles, who had since disappeared, and even the Cigarette-Smoking Man didn't know where he was.

And Dr. Lev. He was the key.

Mulder took Scully by the arm and led her into the bedroom, opening her closet to grab the duffle bag, shoving it into Scully's hand. As she stood there silently, he began pulling out clothes from the dresser. "Mulder. Mulder, what are you doing? Leaving isn't going to make everything right. Do you hear me, Mulder?" She grabbed his arm. "Mulder, stop."

"You're getting out of here, Scully. You don't need to be here."

"Stop it, Mulder." She yelled, her voice trying to convey authority but it was lost in the tremble of her voice.

He stopped, turned to her, his milky eyes; those eyes she couldn't resist; pleading for her not to argue.

She had listened to him once before when he had told her to back away. Then she lost him. She wasn't going to leave his side this time. They were together, in it together every step of the way. Her gaze unwavering, he couldn't help but turn away or be lost again. He took the bag from Scully's hand and filled it with the things he had taken out of her drawer. He swung the bag over his shoulder and took Scully by the arm, returning her to the living room. "Go with Skinner.

Doggett and I will be down in a minute."

Scully gave him one glance that made Mulder's skin crawl. Don't make me have to shoot you that look said.

She disappeared through the door with Skinner behind her. What she was really afraid of was that she would never get the chance.

After the door closed behind Scully and Skinner, Mulder retrieved William's diaper bag from the bedroom, and proceeded to fill it with whatever he thought the baby would need.

In the living room, Doggett took out his cell phone and punched in a number already in the phone's memory.

He waited as it rang and a voice picked up on the other end. Doggett went to the kitchen. "Hey, it's John." He listened. "Good. Are you busy with moving?"

He listened. "Can you take a break? We need your help." He listened for a couple minutes, relief washing over his face. "I'll pick you up." He disconnected the call.

Mulder came into the kitchen with the diaper bag over his shoulder. He motioned towards Doggett's cellphone in his hand. "Who was on the phone?"

Doggett put it back in his pocket, dancing around the question. "You're not coming with us are you, Mulder?"

Mulder just stared at him. Doggett nodded, understanding. He took the diaper bag from Mulder.

"You be careful," he said as he left the apartment to join Scully and Skinner.

As Doggett came out of the building, Skinner pulled into the street and waited for him. As soon as Doggett got in the car, Scully turned in her seat and asked, "Where's Mulder?"

Doggett couldn't lie to her pained expression for she already knew his answer. "He's not coming."

Skinner drove away before there was any chance Scully could get out of the car and return to her apartment.

But she knew that she couldn't go back; instead she turned around in her seat and stared out the window.

Doggett couldn't stand to see the pain Scully was going through, though he knew that he could never know exactly how she felt.

After a while; after the silence in the car had reached its maximum potential, Scully spoke. "What if he's not there?"

Skinner glanced at her. He reached over and gave her left hand a squeeze. "He'll be there, Dana." She could only nod.

After another half hour of driving, Skinner pulled into a gas station and exited the car. He opened the trunk and searched through his suitcase until he found what he was looking for. Scully and Doggett had gotten out of the car. Skinner closed the trunk and spread the map out across the hood. With one finger he placed on the location they were currently. With his other finger he trailed along the blue faux road until he came to their point of destination. He studied the route for a few minutes, conversing with his fellow agents. "I think we're set." He folded the map up and stuck it between the driver's seat and the console.

Doggett and Scully got back in the car.

Old Parker Road

Mt. Titus

11:46 PM

He turned onto an unpaved road full of pot holes and fallen tree branches. Skinner stopped the car before a broken limb he wouldn't chance trying to climb over with the car. "We're going to half to walk the rest of the way." He looked at the other two for agreement.

"Agent Scully, are you ready? I know this is going to be hard for you," Skinner said, placing a hand a long side his to give her some measure of comfort. She closed the passenger door. She nodded.

Together, the three of them walked the mile to the log cabin that was located among a thicket of overgrown pine trees. The scene was almost tranquil if not for the disturbing undertone of the thick black clouds that were beginning to form. They would have to get back to the car within the next half hour if they wanted to beat the rain.

Skinner and Doggett walked up the planks of wood that had been built into steps. Scully stopped before them.

Doggett noticed the missing presence and turned around. "Agent Scully?"

Scully looked up at him. "Just give me a minute. I don't know if I'm ready to see...her."

Skinner returned to her side. "She's your mother, Agent Scully. She will be as you remember her. Put aside the strange feelings you have."

Scully took a deep breath and left it out. She looked up at him trying to get the words out. "I'm afraid that....I'm afraid that it isn't really her."

Skinner placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. "When you see her, let your instincts guide you. They'll tell you the truth. Ready?"

She nodded, then let him lead her up the steps.

Doggett knocked on the door.

The sound of a baby crying softly issued forth through the doorway. Scully's heart leaped into her throat.

The clicking of the lock was their final moment of preparing themselves. Scully didn't think she could bear waiting for the door to open.

A thin, brown haired woman opened the door only a couple inches until her head could fit through.

Scully's pounding heart was caught in her throat. When she saw Scully, she opened the door wider. "Dana," she cried. She embraced Dana in her arms and held her tight, ignoring the two men who stood awkwardly by.

Scully cried. That horrible day many months ago when she had received the news of her mothers passing, she had wept for her loss. The burning, twisting feeling in her stomach had been almost more than she could stand. She had wanted the pain to go away and she had not understood why so many things always went wrong in her life when all she tried to do was good. Now, she thought how lucky she was to be in this quest for what was right with Mulder, because anyone else would not be able to get their mother back.

Mrs. Scully broke the embrace and stepped back to allow her daughter and the two men to enter the cabin.

The moment was awkward, but Mrs. Scully helped ease their tension. Mrs. Scully walked into a modern furnished living room with dark tan couches, maroon patterned rugs, and soft lighting. She picked William up from a playpen and gave him to Scully. Back in his mother's arms again, he ceased crying immediately.

Mrs. Scully turned towards the three adults, her hands clasped in front of her. "I-I don't really know what's going on. I'm not even quite sure how I got here. I just found myself doing these things, and I know for the right reasons, but I don't know what those reasons are except that I know the people are no good." She turned away towards the kitchen to the left of where they were standing. "I have coffee ready because I knew you were coming and you would be cold and tired from driving. I only arrived here a little while ago myself. I wasn't sure if you would find the place, but he said you would know where to find me and the baby."

Scully knew what had happened to her mother to resurrect her, but being a skeptical and serious person, she couldn't help but question her beliefs at this moment. She didn't know whether to believe that her mother had been resurrected, but her she wanted to believe her instincts telling her that this was really her mother, her own flesh and blood. She wanted to believe in her mother's embrace, and that her mother was capable of good no matter what.

Scully took the coffee proffered to her, not sure what to do or say now. Getting William back had been her only concern. She hadn't thought about what they had to do now. How had her priorities shifted so much that she didn't think about the future any more, only the present and what was happening? How much had a child changed her way of thinking, her way of life? That idea again, she had not given much thought to because as much as she had wanted a child of her own, the things that had been done to her and the things she had been told had soured any hope of any dreams, so any time she had given any thoughts to what her life might be like if she had chosen a different path, she had scolded herself for wallowing in her own self-pity.

"This was only part of a mast plan to deter someone else from taking Dana's baby." Doggett said, taking the cup handed to him.

"Why?" Mrs. Scully asked. "Why would they want to take him?"

"Because they believe he's a special boy, Mrs. Scully; they-"

"Please, Maggie. There are no formalities here at this time," she interrupted.

Skinner paused only a moment to regain himself. "They believe he is the key to their operation, to save their people from extinction."

"But he's only a baby. How could he be responsible for all that?"

"Because they're malicious and think that the whole world is their canvas to paint and erase, and that this child is their sole weapon in making them look like heroes when they're really nothing at all."

Skinner took his turn with the coffee mug.

"I don't think I understand." Mrs. Scully said. "Why Dana's child. Why not someone else's?"

Scully searched through the diaper bag Doggett remembered to bring in with them and began to prepare a bottle of apple juice to follow a can of baby spinach. "They want William because it is me, Mom, and everything they've done to me since I was assigned to work with Mulder. He is a result of what they've done to me, a-"

"You don't really believe that do you?"

Scully stopped and looked down at her son. She whispered, "I don't know what I believe. I want to believe that their purposes are misguided and there is no more claim on William than on any other child, but what if...what if they are right and he is different?

I don't want him to be different. I just want it all to end." She sat down in a chair.

Her mother bent down and took her daughter into her arms again. The feeling Scully relished to feel again washed away all her grief, but it seemed to rise again when she let go. She brushed away a strand of hair.

"Your son is special. He is special to those who love him and that is all that matters. There is nothing wrong with him; I can see that just by looking at him.

He is special, the kind of special he should be."

Scully took her mother's hand in her own. A tear slid down her check. "Thank you, Mom."

Mrs. Scully then stood and stared at the two men.

"This is all real strange to me, as I know something happened to me, but I'm not sure exactly what, but I know we should be leaving this place soon. I don't know where to go and I suppose nowhere is quite as safe as any other place, but I have a daughter and a grandson to protect, and I haven't done a very good job of it lately. It's time I became a mother again."

He heard the sound of a key in the lock. His arms lay loosely on the armrest, his gun on his leg. The door opened slowly with a quiet squeak of its hinges. The lights were off, so the person who entered the apartment was silhouetted against the hall light. The tips of the man's hair, sticking up slightly seemed almost to shine in the golden light. If these tips were the golden wings of an angel, then there was no hope for a brighter future.

The angel did not see Mulder right away. He entered the room and closed the door behind him softly before any notice was taken to the first occupant in the room. He had to have known that someone would be there, for if no one were at home, there would be no chance of taking the baby. But he appeared not to be worried about it.

Mulder had pulled the curtains closed, and the man's eyes had not yet adjusted to the dark, but Mulder's had. The man stopped when he heard the click of a familiar gun. "Scully didn't tell me she gave you a key too, Krycek."

Krycek turned towards the armchair. "The old man told you, didn't he? He has lost his patriotism. Same as everyone else in this damn world."

Mulder stood, keeping his finger lightly on the trigger. "It doesn't cost patriotism to take an innocent child and subject them to tests because you think you can save the world."

"Scully's son will be responsible for that, not I."

Krycek said. "You people won't stop and listen. You run away from the truth even though you say you're searching for it. Well, the truth is in that baby.

Where is he?"

"You think I am just going to tell you where he is just like that, Alex? I thought you knew me better than that." Mulder took a step towards the one-armed rat bastard. His fingers tightened on the gun until he was sure they were turning white. "The truth is, you don't care about anything but yourself, Krycek, and you don't fool anyone but maybe yourself."

Krycek laughed. "You've got it all wrong, Mulder.

Whatever he's been putting in your head are all lies."

In one swift movement, Mulder stepped forward, grabbed a fistful of Krycek's clothes, and slammed him up against the wall. "You're a sorry sonofabitch, Krycek," Mulder said, pressing the muzzle of the gun against his temple.

Spittle flew from his mouth and a vein appeared on his forehead from the strain it took to control his bubbling hostility. "It'd be so easy for you to just pull the trigger, Mulder. Go ahead and do it. What do you have to lose?" Krycek stared into Mulder's eyes with a rich intensity. Mulder's gun finger tightened on the release. He didn't know what to do.

It would be so easy just to kill the bastard. Do it for William so that he would never know hatred or pain. The hatred of what these men were capable. He could do it and save the ones he loved most this fate.

He loosened his grip on the trigger and Krycek's shirt. "I'm not like you," Mulder spat.

Krycek rearranged his rumpled shirt. "Scully's baby is the key to leading the existence of our people.

Without him, there will be no hope. If you tell me where he is, Mulder, when he is done, he will be returned to you."

Krycek knew nothing of the consequences of the disk.

Mulder didn't even know where William was. It was a help as much as it was a hindrance. "Why should I believe you, Krycek? You've done nothing to show your loyalty. I will never tell you where Scully's baby is.

The fate of the world is not the responsibility of a baby."

Krycek moved towards the door. "That choice is out of our hands. The baby will save the world, whether you tell me where he is or not because someone will find him. I'm not ready to go yet." Krycek replied, gave Mulder one final look, then opened the door and left through it.

Mulder walked to the door and shut it behind Krycek, then, with his back to the door, he slid down to the floor and wept.

Chapter Fifteen

Her parental voice screamed at her. What they were telling her she knew was the right thing to do, but this was the rational, professional Scully speaking--not the mother Scully that she had recently become and grown into in the past several months. She was torn between which person to be. Her mind and her heart were fighting with each other. She stood in front of her peers and her mother, holding her child, and knew that her mind would have to win out of forfeit.

The phone call that Skinner had received from Dr. Lev (or someone posing as him) twenty minutes ago could be just the turn of events they needed, but Scully still wasn't so sure. If they did talk to him, what would it prove? She reluctantly gave her child to her mother, and watched as Agent Doggett escorted Maggie and William out of the house.

Skinner put a consoling hand on her shoulder. "I have faith that this will work, Dana. I can't see any other way. You can't run and try to hide from them forever."

Scully sighed and looked away from the reassuring look in Skinner's eyes. "I know."

With his arm still on her shoulder, he led her towards the door. While Doggett worked with the Lone Gunmen to find a safe place for Mrs. Scully and her grandson, Scully and Skinner were going to head back towards D.C. to the laboratory where they were going to talk with Dr. Lev. After Doggett took care of finding a safe haven, he would pick Agent Reyes up from the airport and head to the lab to meet up with them.

In the car, Scully used her cell phone to call Mulder again to tell him what was happening, but she couldn't reach him. She hoped that he was okay. Krycek had always had intentions in killing both of them at one time or another, and having been the culprit, or at least the accomplice to deter him of being directly involved, he had killed Scully's sister and Mulder's father, and Scully was scared that any moment Mulder's time would come to an end.

But Mulder can handle him, she thought. He can handle him. She pushed the off button on the phone and set in the console next to her. She leaned back against the head rest and sighed. Please let this all be over soon. I don't think I can handle much more than this.

Isn't nine years long enough?

Maggie had met the three strange, but amusing friends of Fox Mulder's only a couple times-once when her daughter, Dana, had been returned from her abduction and had laid on a hospital bed, on a respirator, with only a dim hope of recovering. They had brought her flowers-now again she stood before them, not quite certain what lay ahead of her. Her hopes and fears had set in only a couple hours ago when she had opened the door to find her daughter standing before her. If she trusted these three men with her daughters life, she knew that it would turn out okay.

She stroked her grandson's head and held him close to her. He was such a precious child; watching the small life before her brought tears to her eyes. They pricked her eyelids every time she blinked them back.

What her daughter now had in her life was what she had wished her daughter could have. Happiness. She thought, perhaps her daughter did have some measure of happiness in her life. She knew she loved what she was doing, albeit the pain she had been caused. She saw it in her daughter's eyes and the way she spoke of her work and her will to make a difference in the FBI. The magnet that had kept her there all these years, building in intensity that surpassed no other that even Maggie hadn't witnessed in her years. They were polar opposites: Dana and Fox. Dana was the serious, sophisticated, scientist who had an argument for everything. Fox was a child at heart, but sensitive as well. No less intelligent as her daughter, but he had a flair that kept him going while Dana's flair was Fox himself. Maggie knew her daughter would follow him to the end of the world and back again, whether or not she would admit it aloud or to herself. This, Maggie supposed, was her daughter's happiness.

She only hopped it could continue.

"Are you sure there won't be any surveillance up there?" John Doggett asked, scratching at his hair in uncertainty. However he had heard nothing but the utmost trust in these three strange, albeit interesting characters, he still was unsure of how safe Scully's mother and child could really be. Not because the Lone Gunmen weren't tricky enough, but because he felt that They, with a capital T were trickier. He was becoming like Mulder, paranoid of the mailman and suspicious of his own shadow. He wasn't sure it was a good thing, but if his wits kept him alive, he had nothing to complain about.

The three men nodded in unison, Byers picking up an inferred sheet of the area he planned on driving through to take Mrs. Scully and the baby to a safe place.

Frohike went to the van and returned with a plastic bag filled with dark, square objects. "Phones might be tapped. Use one of these and then throw it away." He handed the bag to Doggett.

Doggett looked at the five people before him. "And you're going to stay there with her, right?"

Frohike nodded.

Doggett felt a little less wary. If they stayed with her, she would be okay. He had that Reyes intuition.

He looked down at his watch, reminded of the time. He had other places to be. He spoke with the Lone Gunmen and Mrs. Scully for several morel minutes to make sure that when he told Agent Scully her mother and son were okay, it wouldn't be a lie.

Scully stared out the window as Skinner drove along a deserted stretch of Route 393. She was worried about everyone.

Mulder, who she had had no contact with in several hours, knowing that he was with Krycek, but not knowing anything else about their encounter made her heart beat irregularly. Random thoughts and memories kept coming back to her; times that Krycek had tried to kill Mulder.

Her mother, who she had thought she would forever be without, never to meet her son and be a grandmother to her children, or see her get married, once thought to be something she would do, but had over the course of years knew she wouldn't. But the dream was still there.

William, who's life was so delicate; not knowing if he was safe or not made her dizzy to the point where she wanted Skinner to pull over, roll down her window and wake her up.

The more she thought about the people she cared about most in her life, the higher in her stomach the nausea rose, filling her lungs with an intangible fear. She rolled the window as far down as it would go and let the strong wind hit her face. She closed her eyes and imagined she was in the car with Mulder, traveling to some distant place where they were going to investigate an X-File about some monster that in no way related to anything other than a strange mutation due to the public water system. She didn't necessarily believe Mulder's theory was right, but it was much less horrifying; she could fall asleep at night knowing that the X-File was solved and that strange monsters weren't lurking in her kitchen sink.

She felt the car slowing down and opened her eyes to see why. Up ahead, there were flashing lights and several men in bright orange overalls blocking the road.

"What's going on?" Scully asked.

"Don't know." Skinner replied. He pulled to a complete stop next one of the orange suited men. He rolled down his window as the man leaned in.

"Sorry, Sir, but the road's out about a quarter mile down. You're gonna have to turn back."

Skinner's forehead creased. "The road's out?"

"That's what I said." The worker replied.

Scully leaned over so she could get a better look at the man. "We just came this way a couple hours ago.

How can the road be washed out?"

The worker looked at Scully for a few seconds before replying, "Didn't say it was washed out, ma'am, just said it was out. There's nothing I can do for you, sorry. You'll have to turn around." He straightened himself to his full height and took a few steps back from the car to give them room. Skinner looked at Scully, perplexed.

Skinner unbuckled his seat belt and began to get out of the car when the worker who had just stepped back, and two other men near by who had been watching the conversation, ran up and restrained Skinner from advancing any further. Half sitting and half standing, Skinner was not in a position to use his strength. He was forced to sit back down, but he kept his feet firmly on the ground. "What's going on?"

A worker they hadn't spoken to only repeated what the other had said to them. "The road is out; there's no way you can get past. You'll have to find another route."

"Sir, how did this come about?" Scully asked, looking past Skinner.

"We haven't had the chance to assess the situation fully yet, ma'am."

"Well, do you have any theories?"

"We're no scientists, ma'am; we were only told not to let anyone through until the problem is fixed."

"Well, do you know how long that will be?"

"Indefinitely, Sir." The worker replied. "Please turn around now. We don't want any trouble."

Skinner looked at Scully, talking with his eyes.

Scully nodded at last, then returned to her prior position in her seat. Skinner nodded to the three men, then closed the car door. He put the gear shift in reverse and backed down the road twenty feet, before shifting gears again and turning around.

As they drove away, further and further from their destination, Scully glanced out the rear window. "That was strange, Sir, the way they acted." She looked at him. "Don't you think?"

He returned her stare, "I'm not sure Agent Scully, what to think about that actually. But they can't deter us from where we want to go. They may slow us down, but they won't stop us."

"I hope so," she said, then returned to her imagination, where she and Mulder weren't here, but together, some where else, with no worries.

Dulles International Airport

Monica Reyes stood by her gate after departing from the plane to wait for Agent Doggett. Why she couldn't have driven to his home, or to FBI Headquarters she didn't understand. It seemed pointless to her for him to drive out of his way but she supposed he had his reasons.

As she glanced around for a familiar face, she wondered what was happening to this new group of people she had met in the last year. Having become closer to them, she was worried about for what reason's Doggett had called her back. Glancing to her left, she spotted the stone-faced agent, her attention perking up. She picked up her luggage and hurried towards him as he continued towards her.

Reyes gave him a quick, one armed hug and without further introductions, quickly followed him the way he had just come. He took the strap of her overnight bag and walked at a fast, but purposeful stride and didn't say anything other than hello until they had reached his car. Even then, he spoke only to tell her to put her other luggage in the trunk.

As they pulled out of the airport parking lot, Reyes couldn't contain her patience any longer. "John, you called me down here without so much as an explanation.

Out with it, please. I worried the whole flight."

Doggett glanced at her. He told her the whole story.

Doggett hadn't expected to receive a horrified reaction from her, but he wasn't expecting the reaction she did give him. Reyes had never been the kind of person who took a conflict without being optimistic.

After he finished, Reyes bit her bottom lip and thought for a moment. Then she looked at him, the full scale of their problem weighing heavily on her decision. "You need me to tell you whether or not you can trust him." She reached over and put her hand on his arm. "John, I'm touched that you trust my judgment inexplicably, but you're putting a lot of pressure on me."

"We need you for more than just your judgment, Monica.

We trust that you will help us because, if you haven't noticed, there's not a whole lot of people we can trust."

"And what if I'm wrong about him? I've been known to be wrong." She released her hold on his arm.

Doggett looked at her, her dark chocolate eyes mixed with uncertainty, her forehead creased with anxiety.

He took hold of her arm. "Monica."

She nodded and looked away. "I just don't want anything to happen to Agent Scully and her baby. Or Mulder. I've already seen the pain Dana's been through."

Doggett nodded, switching on the wipers as rain began to splat in big drops on the windshield. "I know. We won't let anything happen."

The rest of the car ride was silent, but not uncomfortable. The time to themselves allowed them to think and question their lives. They had both been lucky enough to get this far in their careers without being directly faced with anything serious happening to them. Somehow, turn of events had led them to this place in their lives where they had been given a chance to help others, and the feeling that they were succeeding, one step at a time, gave Reyes all the right reasons for why she chose the FBI.

An hour later, Doggett drove past a chain link fence that had been pulled open and chained to the rest of the gate to prevent it from closing, and continued slowly on past several stone busts atop which perched carved animals of different kinds. Doggett was disinterested in the architecture, but Reyes followed the statues down the long graveled drive. A jaguar, crow, tiger, and an eagle watched them pass. Reyes looked at them in fascination.

"It's back through the woods about three miles. We should be there soon."

Reyes was silent for a moment after Doggett spoke.

"The jaguar has an eye for sensing roads that lead to chaos. But they move silently in the darkness without fear. They're shape shifters; guarded by strength and agility. The crow is the guardian of all that existed before existence-"

Doggett cocked his head. "How is that possible?"

She ignored him but went on. "They carry the souls of the dead from darkness into light, moving freely; gracefully. Like the jaguar they shape shift into brilliant creatures; spiritual creatures."

"Monica, what does any of this have to do with-"

"I'm telling you. The tiger is the essence of power, energy, strength, and willpower in the face of adversity. However, they act without fear of the consequences.

"The eagle represents everything the tiger does, but it also possesses the ability to rise above all that is chaotic, connecting with an inner strength, an inner spiritual truth. From their place in the sky, they're able to see the overall pattern. They have respect for the spirits." Monica paused, nodding her head. Doggett looked at her in confusion. She looked at him.

"I wonder if those statues are meant for the people who go into this place, giving them false hope of ever getting out of there...or if it's meant for us, in hopes of getting them out."

Doggett thought about what she said for the rest of the drive.

"Should we wait for them?" Scully asked as Skinner parked the car.

"We'll wait for a few minutes. That road block slowed us down so they might not be far behind us."

Scully nodded. "I don't have a good feeling about this, Sir...." she trailed off, not sure how to explain her thoughts.

Skinner took a breath, then told her. "Any time you want to stop, we'll stop. We'll find some place that is safe for you and then in a year's time when they get too close, we'll find another place for you. We can give you new identities, and you can hide for the rest of your lives. If that's a risk and a life you're willing to live, we can give it to you. But if you're willing to risk the chance that this Dr. Lev can help you, or the chance that we could end this, or at least make it so your son can grow up, we're still here."

Skinner stopped. His features often hard softened.

"Scully."

She opened her door and stepped outside to feel the fresh air on her face. She leaned against the car.

Skinner got out and walked around the back of the vehicle to stand beside her. He said nothing.

"Okay," she said quietly. "I know we have to do this, but it's never been about someone else before. It's always been Mulder and I and, and-"

"And now it's not." Skinner finished.

Scully nodded. Skinner moved closer and put his arm around her shoulder. They waited for Doggett and Reyes to arrive. Safety in numbers, her mom used to say on Friday nights. It had been easy for her to say back then. An advantage on their part, but there were a whole heck of a lot more of them.

Although she didn't, Scully wanted to cry.

Chapter Sixteen

Scully and Skinner watched as a slate blue car approached them slowly. Agent Doggett parked the car next to their own black Sedan and exited the vehicle to join his fellow agents.

Reyes gave Scully a hug, catching her off guard.

Reyes gave her a sympathetic smile.

Two men met the trio plus one at the thick metal doors that would lead them into the facility. They were robotic-like with their movements, but their voices contrasted with their jobs. They sounded like college boys, soft spoken and holding the potential of the men they could have been. Scully avoided their eyes.

They followed the two men down a long hallway to a set of elevators, which took them down several levels before they exited. Then they continued along the hallway until they'd reached another metal door with a glass window in it. The younger of the two men opened the door and waited for the agents to enter.

Scully looked at the door behind her once all four of them were through but the men had not followed them.

They now appeared to be alone in the room, surrounded by telescopes, file cabinets, photographs of the human body, and a desk with a computer.

At the other end of the too large office, there was another door, also metal, but covered with a poster of the skeletal system. Before either of them was able to take a step towards the door, it opened, and in the threshold stood Dr. Lev, who Scully remembered from previous encounters. Shivers ran up each length of her vertebrae. Goosebumps rose on her arms.

Dr. Lev walked over to them, his eyes clear and lively behind thick glasses. "I'm Dr. Lev. Thank you for coming." He shook Skinner's hand first, followed by Doggett and Reyes and finally Scully's. Although he paused only briefly to meet Scully's eyes, she felt as if he were looking deep inside her, finding out all her secrets. She broke the contact, seized by anxiety.

If Lev noticed, he did not show it. He released his grip on her hand and walked over to his desk. "Please have a seat. There are enough for every one."

They four sat.

Frohike took the baby from Margaret's hold, and feeling quite pleased, knowing that the child's life now depended on the three of these men, during a time of war, the prospect of holding Scully's child in his own arms none the less had his lips defying gravity.

Of course, like any normal man, he had felt a certain attraction towards Agent Dana Scully from the beginning, and over the years had grown to find this attraction was not based just on her looks, but based on her as a whole. Beaten down time and again, he knew she considered their friendship equally as strong as he did, and realized there was no use hoping for something that was never there to begin with. Still, although he was not this child's father, the tingle that went through him warmed him nonetheless.

It was then that he realized that this beautiful little boy he held was as much his family as Mulder was, and as Scully had become. So he knew that he could not break this family apart.

"You can give him to me now, Melvin." Mrs. Scully said, as she finished spreading out the blanket on the floor to change the baby's soiled diaper. Frohike gently handed down the baby.

"Mrs. Scully, we don't want you to worry. We've taken every precaution." Byers said, standing far enough away so as not to feel as if he were intruding on this grandmotherly moment.

Mrs. Scully changed William's diaper like she was the Queen of Baby Changing. She looked up at Byers, then at the other two men. "If Fox and Dana trust you, and I trust their judgment, then I trust you. And please forget all formality. Call me Maggie."

Byers nodded. Without waiting for her question, Byers began: "We've been downloading information based on some documents Mulder brought to us several months back about recent experiments involving women who were impregnated with alien embryo's at a military hospital. With a little luck, we'll know everything about Dr. Lev that there is to know. Everything from what kind of baby formula he was given as a child to what tie pattern he's wearing at this moment. Then we will be able to take this thing to the next step without going in blind."

Maggie put the folded blanket back in the diaper bag and stood with William and the diaper. She threw the soiled contents away in the trash and returned. She kissed William's forehead several times and looked at The Lone Gunmen. What she had said moments ago hadn't been a lie. But despite their sincerity, she couldn't let herself feel relieved-or safe. Feeling relieved would leave her guard down, and no matter how much these three dear men tried to protect them, she knew they weren't God, and four were better than three.

Dr. Lev sat behind the desk with his hands folded neatly on the desk in front of him. "This room is beyond a doubt sound proof-I have no suspicions.

However, I cannot rule out that they still can't see us."

"They?" Doggett asked.

Lev looked up but said nothing. "Therefore, the only real evidence I can give you is my word. Dr. Lev-the real Dr. Lev was murdered by your abductee Billy Miles when Zeus Genetics went down." He looked over at Doggett. "You had some suspicions yourself I know, but you never really found proof that it was Dr. Lev's body."

Doggett nodded. "His remains were stolen, along with all his records."

Dr. Lev looked pleased. He ignored their perplexed expressions. "I realized then that it might be a convenient cover up. Seeing as you didn't trust the real me at all, I knew that you wouldn't give me a chance to talk. Therefore, I took the body and his records so that his death couldn't be confirmed, erasing all doubt of his existence."

"I don't understand where you're going with this."

Scully said. "If you're not Dr. Lev-who are you?"

"You thought from the moment you found out what was happening that I planned to take your baby. But that was not my purpose at all. When I was sent here at Agent Mulder's abduction, I wasn't sure where I was to fit in, but when Dr. Lev was murdered, it came to me.

By posing as one of them, I could secretly guarantee certain freedoms and certain safeties. I exhausted every other possible route. This is the only way I can guarantee your child's safety..." he looked at Scully.

"As well as yours and Mulder's. If you'll trust me."

Scully's mouth opened slightly, moving silently, but only unspoken words escaped through. She looked at Skinner for help. Her eyes were large and blue, filled with an unquenchable fear, but were still amazingly clear.

Skinner could not find the words to help her. He too was a questionable tool in this charade, knew more than he was willing to tell, not for fear of opening a deep crypt, but because he wasn't sure he understood any of it. All were lies. And always changing. Nothing seemed to match up in this moment, as if all the tables had turned. Nothing seemed to matter to these people any more. The tests, the alien virus, the abductions, the secret meetings that he had once been forced to endure-even the surveillances, the blotched attempts to distract whatever they were from colonizing....if that was in fact the sole purpose of all these lies.

So the question now became: What lie was William?

Like he had done so many times in the past, he did it again, not knowing what he might gain-or lose except time-but he didn't know what else to do. Setting down the roll of masking tape on his desk, he sat on the couch and stared at the waning light coming through the glass around the X he had taped to the window.

His elbows rested on his knees and his chin rested in the palms of his hands. He could give them a little time if that's what they wanted. He could bargain with them. He could wait. He could wait forever.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, but from the stiffness in his hands, he knew it had been a while. The room was filled with shadows. What jolted him from his trance was the ringing of his phone. At first, he wasn't going to answer it because everyone who mattered right now wouldn't think to call his home.

He reached forward towards the desk. He lifted the receiver. "Hello?"

"It's me." Said the voice.

He sighed with relief. "Scully."

"Why weren't you answering your cell phone?"

Mulder searched his pocket. "Uh, I uh-I don't know."

He must have left it at Scully's.

He could almost hear her shaking her head as if to rid the unimportant subject from her mind. "Doesn't matter now. A lot of things just happened. Learned a lot.

Maybe a way to really fight this time."

Mulder wanted to laugh-not the crazy laugh that would send him to an asylum, but the laughter that followed relief. But it wasn't over yet and there was still many a mile to go he knew. "What's happening?"

"We've figured something out that should work, but you'll need to find a more secure line."

Mulder nodded. "Okay, give me fifteen minutes."

The dark Chevy with a dented passenger side door, a rumbling muffler, and unregistered plates was parked on the curb across from the apartment building. He could see it just fine, but he was a dark silhouette in the deepening crimson sky. It was such a beautiful sunset; he would have liked to be able to relax and enjoy it tonight, but there would be plenty of those to come soon enough. He watched Fox Mulder at the window, oblivious of anyone beyond door forty-two watching his world. He watched him tape something to his window, but he wasn't sure what it was. Alex Krycek was a little confused by Mulder's actions. But then he disappeared from view and Krycek studied the X on the window, wondering what its significance meant.

He waited for Mulder to leave the building, but he never did. Krycek knew that sooner or later Mulder would have to leave, so he was prepared to wait.

"Hey, it's me."

"What did Dr. Lev tell you?"

Scully was silent on the other end as Mulder heard some shuffling sounds. She reappeared half a minute later. "Please don't say anything until you've heard me through. The man we met-Dr. Lev-isn't really Dr.

Lev. It's Agent Crane, one of the uh-Resistance Aliens you called them. He was assigned in the man hunt for your-" she broke off for a second, then came back on the line, her voice in control again. "He and several others were sent here to assist in fighting these Resistance Aliens with us. Now posing as Dr. Lev he believes he can trick who ever we're dealing with-"

"Faceless, nameless people," Mulder interrupted. There was a moment of silence as Mulder waited for her to continue but she didn't. "Scully?"

"I'm scared, Mulder...but I don't see how we can not do this. He has it all planned out. We couldn't find any flaws." Her voice was steady but Mulder could tell she was bordering on irrationality.

"Scully, I don't know. " Mulder was trying to think it through fast.

She seemed to be searching for excuses to go ahead with this. "Agent Reyes, you said yourself she had a way of understanding people. She believes he's sincere."

"Scully, these people are very smart. Don't let this cloud your judgment. There's no margin for error. I believe Agent Reyes has good intuition, but you can't take her word simply on blind faith."

"I'm not, Mulder."

"Yes, you are, Scully."

She was silent. "I can't force you to go along with this if you won't, but we need your help now."

Mulder wiped his hand down his face as if the simple act could clear his mind and erase all his fear and fatigue. "What's that?"

"You have to lead Alex Krycek to where the Lone Gunmen took my mother and William. He's waiting for one of us to make a wrong move, so you have to lead him there as if you didn't realize he was following you-even though he'll realize you'll be looking for a tail-"

"Scully, stop," Mulder said. She was babbling. He kicked himself for not being there in person. He didn't want to listen to this coming from her over the telephone. He knew how scared, out of control and manipulated she felt, but she wasn't listening to herself. The Scully he knew would not be taking this blind leap without first thinking of all the consequences. He felt the odd compulsion to just shake the sense back into her like God intended her to be.

He tried to change her mind, but in the end, there was nothing he could say because the plan was stuck firmly in her mind, and when Scully latched onto something, there was no letting go. He agreed and hung up hastily. She would do this with or without him.

Afterwards, in the car, he felt a pang of guilt at hanging up on her, knew the anger he felt wasn't really directed at her, but his own lack of control was his own defense mechanism, or hindrance of.

He would do what she wanted; regardless of the risks he was taking right now, and hoped to God that it wasn't the wrong thing. He prayed that at least once in his life something could work out right, because this baby had the same rights to live as anyone else.

Eventually Mulder came out of the building and got in his car. He watched him survey the parked cars to his right. In the dark, Krycek was hardly noticeable. His dark clothing and the dark interior of the car helped him hide in plain sight. However, he kept his eyes averted to avoid any reflection of the moonshine. Once Mulder pulled into the quiet street and turned at the stop sign, Krycek started the car and turned around, slowly following behind.

Maggie looked at the tv monitors which displayed the outside perimeters of the area in which their house was located. A car was coming up the driveway. When the car approached the last third of the driveway, censors went off in the house. Frohike shut them off.

If anyone else were to venture nearer, they would go off again to alert them.

Maggie peered at the tv monitor, her pulse quickening with each turn of the car's four wheels. The three men began typing away at a computer, doing things Maggie had no clue about. Suddenly, Byers flicked a pencil down on the table and stood. "It's Mulder."

Maggie looked up from the set and looked at the three boy's face in earnest. "Really? I mean, I've heard that they've been known to look like them when it isn't really them."

Langly who was still with his back turned to them, glanced over his shoulder. "We have digital readouts of his profile, his DNA coding-it's really him."

Maggie looked at him in surprise. "You can do that?"

"Do what?"

"Read his DNA from here?"

Langly shrugged as if it was no big deal these days.

"We got the equipment on loan."

Maggie still didn't understand, but she nodded once, her attention quickly changing to Mulder as he stopped the car beside the house. "Isn't he worried you might shoot him as an intruder or something?"

Byers and the other two followed behind as he left the room to let Mulder in. "He has a lot of faith in us."

Byers glanced back and gave Scully's mom an affectionate smile before heading towards the door.

Mulder stepped inside, let Maggie give him a hug, and then took William as she practically shoved him (lovingly) into his arms. Apparently, she was sure about William's parentage. .

Mulder turned around in the small kitchen area. He looked at each of them as they stood around, waiting to hear him out. He wasn't sure how he was going to approach this subject and he half wished they would refuse to let him go through with this. However, he was here now, and Krycek was most likely on his way-he had to hope against his better judgment that Krycek would come, or else Dr. Lev's plan would be scrap metal.

He told them what they had to do. Mulder was sure that if he hadn't been holding William, Maggie would have clutched him to her and ran away from the bad man.

Empty handed, all she could do was stare at him, her eyes wide with shock and terror. A common feeling these days.

Mulder explained to the boys. "You understand we have to do this. We have to trust that what's going on will be okay."

They understood what had to be done. In fact, they had assumed something like this would happen.

Mulder went into one of the rooms to lay William down in his playpen. He rubbed the soft hair on the top of the baby's head and kissed him. Then he laid him down.

He picked up a small baby-safe, but soft baby chick stuffed animal and made William screech with laughter.

William's small legs kicked the bottom of the playpen.

Mulder left the toy in the baby's hand, stood and turned to find them all watching him.

The alarm went off again in the other room and they followed Byers in to turn it off. They stood around and watched as a black Chevy drove slowly up the driveway. Langly's fingers went click-click on the keyboard. "Alex Krycek it is."

Mulder began to talk to them, repeating what he had rehearsed on the car. He told about Doggett, Reyes, Skinner, and Scully heading towards D.C. where they believed the facility where they were trying to take William to was, and Mulder sounded effective in applying that they all believed William was very safe here. Maggie even added her part in to sound genuinely relieved.

In a distant corner of the house, they heard a slith sound, probably a window opening, and the soft padding of shoes on the carpet. Probably unnoticeable if they hadn't been listening. But they kept up a convincing chatter of discussion to help mask the sounds.

Mulder knew he had to do this, couldn't take out his gun and stop Krycek from taking William with him, but he found his body paralyzed. He looked at Mrs. Scully.

She squeezed his hand and he knew that if she could be strong, he had to be.

After a few minutes of intense waiting after watching the Chevy turn away out of sight, they went back into the room William had been occupying, and even though Mulder knew William would no longer be there, his heart still caught in his throat when he saw the empty playpen, with the small baby chick lying in the middle, replacing the warm body that had lain there.

They had to get rid of the cars before Krycek arrived at the facility, for if he saw them, he would know he had been lied to, and he would most likely take William. It was obvious that Krycek had no real intentions of harming the child if William was supposed to 'save the world,' however, there was the possibility that Scully may not be able to get him back if Krycek took him elsewhere.

They left Doggett's car in a motel parking lot fourteen miles down the road on I30 and doubled back in Skinner's where he parked it in a hidden driveway, six miles from the graveled entrance where they had passed by the stone carvings of animals earlier.

They climbed over fallen logs, walked through creeks, and brier bushes for six miles until they came to the edge of the wood where they were met with a large chain-link fence that had electric wire coiled across the top to prevent wary be's from climbing over it.

"Now what?" Monica asked. "This fence is carrying 10,000 volts of electricity through its frame."

Skinner searched the length of the fence. Further down, the fence stopped to allow a structure to interfere. It only appeared to be a small stone square; perhaps a guard's watch building. However, behind the facility seemed an unlikely spot to find many visitors.

Skinner motioned towards the building, then began walking. "Might be some kind of underground passage way back in. Since Crane knows we're coming, we should be able to get back in easily."

The foursome, tired and feeling dirty from their trek through the woods, they followed the fence to the building. Scully looked at the shiny, metallic door with distain. She didn't want to enter that place again, but she had too. She saw Doggett watching her intently from the corner of her eye.

She wished Mulder were with her right now.

Skinner opened the door and peered down the narrow concrete steps that led to landing further down. He saw the reflection of light bouncing off a second door at the bottom.

They entered the stairwell, leaving the first door to shut behind them, engulfing them in darkness. A flashlight clicked on, illuminating the cool, damp stone. Scully looked overhead, but saw nothing waiting to jump on her. Only more stone.

She felt as if she were being buried alive.

The two larger men that had accompanied them earlier to Dr. Lev's office met them. They were led through several corridors they had not been lead through earlier, to where they met Gene Crane once again. He had not returned to his normal self, but still posed as Dr. Lev. Scully wondered how much control it took to look like someone else.

Crane looked at them with sympathy. Scully turned her gaze because she felt no sympathy for him. She didn't want his sympathy either, because he was part of the reason she was in this situation.

Crane explained to them that once Krycek arrived, he would take the child into the testing room and proceed to act as if he were actually Dr. Lev. Hopefully, with careful calculation, Krycek would not get a chance to understand what was really happening until it would be too late for him to stop it.

Then he turned and left the room, closing the steel door behind him.

Skinner turned to Scully and placed his hand on her shoulder, leading her over to an old, beaten table with five chairs around it. She sat down next to Reyes who took a seat, across from Doggett and Skinner.

They stared at their hands and studied the designs in the scratched table. A yellow light filled the room.

Again, Scully was given time to think about the things that had happened during the past year. Mulder's abduction, the discovery of her pregnancy...Mulder's death and rebirth. The threat against her and her unborn child, and now this threat again. Her mother's words came back to her almost haunting: "Your son is special. He is special to those who love him and that is all that matters. There is nothing wrong with him; I can see that just by looking at him. He is special, the kind of special he should be."

She had had no choice in becoming pregnant and had had no choice but to have the child, special or not. She couldn't have controlled any of it. It was fate that brought him here and it would be fate that would one day take him from her. But she had a choice in how he grew up because she never wanted him to fear anyone or anything. He would face things no other children would ever imagine. As long as he was her son, she would forever be wary of any man that came into his life.

She would be over protective, and he would never understand her reasons for it. She would have to be strong, never falter, never let him know how much pain she had been caused.

She could tell him how much she loved him and how much joy he brought her, but he would never understand her tears.

She had a difficult choice ahead of her, one that she knew she must make. The choice would affect not only her, but everyone around her. It would be undoubtedly the most difficult decision she would ever make, and one that she had to make on her own.

Not a choice even Mulder would be able to help her decide.

Mulder drove as fast as he could without any concern for the speed limit. He didn't stop at stop signs, passed cars on the left and squealed around curves.

He drove up the long, statue-laden driveway for five miles until he saw the fenced in, stone structure off in the distance. He had left relatively soon after Krycek, yet he did not wonder whether Krycek would be there yet or not. Because Krycek had a plan, an agenda and a schedule to keep. He would not waste time where lives and power were concerned.

Just as Mulder assumed, the Chevy was parked haphazardly in front of a locked set of gates. Mulder thought it was ironic that the part Krycek played still did not grant him the seniority to have the gates unlocked for him. He parked the car next to the Chevy and killed the ignition. He didn't exit the car right away.

First, he looked around, taking in the atmosphere. He looked along both lengths of the chain-linked fence that surrounded the perimeter of the building. He kept the keys in the car, under the floor mat. He kept all four doors unlocked, zipped up his black, leather coat, and was still not ready to venture on, although he knew it was time.

Scully heard the door opening behind her and saw Doggett and Skinner look over her shoulder. Their expressions made her jump to her feet. Mulder was being led into the room by the two guards.

Ignoring the three at the table, Mulder and Scully embraced, then returned to the table. Scully sat back down, a mixture of emotions suddenly threatening to spill out. Now Mulder was here, but her baby was not and she was as defenseless as William was.

Under the table, Mulder found Scully's hand, and squeezed it.

Krycek held William in his arms as any caring father would do, which was a stark contrast against the stealthy, dangerous persona he portrayed. William neither cried nor fussed. His small, blue eyes moved left and right as he looked at the strange room filled with doctors in white lab coats.

Krycek watched through a thick, Plexiglas window as Dr. Lev prepared for the procedure in a stark white room. No paintings or awards filled the walls, not even a Board of Health notification. The only objects in the cold room were two steel tables with an array of machinery that circled the head of the bed. They made the room appear more grotesque than welcoming.

However, the room's dcor was not the most important thing on Krycek's mind at the moment. He earnestly awaited Dr. Lev's approval to hand over the child. His stomach muscles contracted in anticipation of the procedure.

A few minutes later, Dr. Lev opened the door into the room where Krycek had been watching from the window.

He took William without saying a word. Krycek's heart jumped into his throat when Lev disappeared from the room with him, but then he realized, he must be preparing the child. His convictions were proven when the man and child returned, dressed differently. Lev put the child down on the cold steel, and William began to cry. Krycek could see his face turn red, a pronounced vein on his forehead pulse, but he could not hear him.

Two men appeared in the room Krycek was looking into it. They approached Dr. Lev and spoke with him for several minutes. Krycek watched Dr. Lev's placid expression turn to horror. Krycek watched as the one man reached for Lev as he backed away, colliding into the instrument tray behind him and knocking forceps and syringes onto the floor.

The two men's large, well-built bodies blocked Krycek's view of what happened next. When they backed away, Lev fell limply to the floor. William kicked the table harder, and his face was redder than Krycek ever saw.

As he watched, the two men approached the door to the room Krycek occupied. He stepped back from the window, searching for another exit, but there was none.

Whatever they just did to Dr. Lev, they might do to him. He backed into the table and kicked a chair out of his way. Feeling with his hands, he backed around the table until he was in the far corner of the room.

He had nowhere else to go.

The door opened, and the younger of the men filled the frame. He entered the room, the other following. They moved around the table. Krycek moved the other way, trying to make it to the door. He didn't make it. They cornered him on both sides, their strength combined easily outmatched his.

Each took him by the arm, guided him out of the first room, through the starch white room, then into another that was infinitely blacker.

William rolled off the table. The older of the guards came in and picked him up, struggling to hold the kicking and screaming child. He left the room by way of the door he had just entered through, leaving Dr.

Lev to lie on the cold, hard floor.

They waited hours it seemed. Scully worried. Skinner and Doggett left the room, whether or not it was safe to do so. Scully stood, facing the doorway. Mulder came behind and stood there. He touched her arms.

"We've come through so far, haven't we?"

Scully closed her eyes. A tear slid out from beneath her closed lid. She was glad Mulder couldn't see it.

"What if I made the wrong choice?" she whispered.

Mulder was at a lost for words. Reyes stood and came to Scully's side. "Dana, if I had had any doubts as to the validity of that man's actions, I would have told you. I honestly believe he is a man of his word. But no matter what happens, Dana." Reyes looked into Scully's eyes, her own dark circles filled with a deepness that shocked Scully. She couldn't find any lies behind them. "Your choice was not a bad one, but a necessary one. You love your child, I know you do, and you can't bare to see him grow up in a future that has no promise. But I believe that it will all be okay. I feel it here." Reyes crossed her hands over her heart.

Skinner burst through the door, stopping when he saw the emotions running through each of their expressions. "We've got to get out of here."

Immediately, Scully's ice queen faade blocked out any feeling. "What is it? Where's William?"

Skinner searched Mulder and Reye's eyes. "Agent Crane is dead. One of the guards has William. I'm not sure if they're intentions are good or not."

Scully looked up at Mulder, her face an abstract of emotions.

Doggett reappeared behind Skinner before any of them could react. "This place is on fire. We gotta get outa here."

This news sent them running down the hall. Scully tried to turn back, "William. I can't leave without him!" as Mulder and Doggett tried to keep her from running from them.

"There's no time, Agent Scully," Doggett replied, but Scully wouldn't listen. She broke free of his grasp.

"I'm not leaving here without him."

They stopped. Skinner nodded. Mulder took Scully by the arm and they split into two groups, heading in opposite directions.

The two guards had been working along side who they had thought was Dr. Lev, not Agent Crane. They thought Dr. Lev was going to hurt Scully's child, not realizing his faade. They had believed him to be a renegade soldier, intent on stepping up the process of colonization for the purpose of exposing everyone to the black oil without even the Projects knowledge.

They had been watching Lev for a long time.

However, if they had been keeping surveillance, they would have known that Dr. Lev had been murdered by Billy Miles almost a year ago, and that Agent Crane was part of the new agenda to keep William safe.

Apparently they had missed that crucial step in their plan making. But now they had William in their care, and they had to deal with a fire they had started to destroy everything so others wouldn't be able to begin as easily again. No doubt there were other facilities they could easily use, but at least this was one less than before.

They had drenched everything with gasoline after throwing bed sheets and lab coats everywhere to soak up the gas and ignite the room more efficiently.

Burning the whole place down would be tough, but destroying their paperwork and machines was their primary concern.

Their only fault was that their path of destruction had trapped them in the middle, and now ablaze, they couldn't figure their way out. They looked at each other with shame as they were still failing to save the baby's life.

Scully and Mulder ran down a corridor, when Scully heard a faint crying sound, instantly recognizable.

She skidded to a stop as she passed a door way where smoke was beginning to seep out through the bottom of the door in a thin veil. Scully pushed the door inward, feeling the heat beginning to grow hotter. In the room, past a ring of fire, she saw the two guards, one of them holding a shrieking William. Scully cried out, not thinking, rushing into the room. Mulder grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her back with so much force that she almost fell over. She looked at him.

With one glance, his intentions were made clear to her. She claimed defeat.

Mulder pulled his coat over his head and ran through the flames that had engulfed nearly eighty percent of the room. The guards, not knowing what to do, shoved William into Mulder's arms, forgetting about saving his life, only intent now on saving their own. Mulder didn't worry about them, wouldn't be able to save them and Scully, William, and himself.

He wrapped William in the coat and ran back through the flames. The red tongues licked at his clothes, his face, his hair, but burned neither. He pushed Scully through the floor.

As the ran down the hallway in the direction they had come, they yelled Doggett, Skinner, and Reye's names.

Neither answered however. As they were coming around the corner, trying to find an exit, they heard a loud popping sound. They came to halt at the sound.

Scully looked down the two hallways, her hair a messy array of red, as red as the flames in the room. "What was that?"

Mulder gave no answer, but took her arm to propel her forward. "Come on."

More popping sounds issued from far away, but grew louder. "What is that?" she asked again, but already feared the answer. How, she did not know, but she feared it true.

As they rounded another bend, they collided with their friends. Suddenly, a large gas flame shot out the windows in one of the room down the hall from which Skinner and company had just came from. The glass shattered and sprinkled to the ground. The five adults and one child ran mercilessly towards any exit they could find.

Whatever was happening inside the building, they hadn't been the only one's visiting. Something must have been planted, something meant to go off at a certain time. But for what reason's, what purpose? To kill whom? These thoughts raced through Scully's mind as she followed behind Doggett.

And who for God's sakes, was responsible?

Smoke was filling the air. They coughed and gagged on the ashy taste and cried tears as the grey poison stung their eyes. They stumbled through a door at last, cool wind hitting their faces with a refreshing sigh. Scully doubled over, wheezing until she thought she would turn inside out. Reyes led her further way from the building.

Once Scully had regained control, Mulder handed William over to her care. She pulled back the jacket so that he could be free from restraint, almost afraid of what she might find. William's eyes were red and puffy from the crying and smoke. Scully cuddled him and rocked him, trying to sooth him, but to no avail.

Another large blast issued from somewhere within the center of the structure. The agents couldn't believe what they were seeing. Before their eyes, the steel frame and everything in it was slowly disappearing behind the flames that were licking their way out towards the cool, fresh air.

Reyes and Doggett stood behind Skinner and watched as the sky grew dark overhead.

Mulder stood close to Scully. Scully held her child close to her heart, her full attention captured on the sight before her.

Nothing could have taken their attentions from this unholy sight at the moment. The sky grew darker by the moment until they were forced to back away or risk being swallowed up in the smoke themselves.

Skinner, Reyes, and Doggett took Krycek's car while Mulder led Scully to his own. She kept William in her arms in the front seat. Mulder reached under the flap and retrieved his keys where he had left them. He started the car and followed the Chevy down the gravel road, past the eagles piercing stare and the jaguars fearsome gaze. Even after they had passed the statues, Scully could still feel them watching her.

2:30am

Mulder pulled into the hospital parking lot. He helped Scully out of the car with William who had stopped crying briefly but not long enough to qualm Scully's fears that harm had been done to him despite the assurances.

Fortunately, in the early morning hours, nurses and doctors were reprieved from an overload of emergencies, and William was attended to in an acceptable amount of time.

A nurse promised to take good care of their son and make sure he was okay. After she left, Mulder guided Scully to a quiet, carpeted area with chairs to wait.

Mulder brushed aside a strand of hair that had covered her eye. He reached down and took hold of her clasped hands and gave them a squeeze. "We've been through a lot today. He's just a little guy, so naturally he's going to be upset. They'll just see that he has inhaled too much smoke, they'll treat him and he'll come home."

He watched as a tear slid down her cheek. He kissed her temple and wrapped his arm around her, brining her closer. Together in silence, they watched the doctors scramble around from one task to another. Mulder felt as if he weren't really there in that place, but one some other plane, watching these actors from near and afar.

If only that were true, he'd have been much more content.

When he saw the purple clad nurse uniform he looked up, afraid to see the expression on the nurses face.

However, the warm, large boned woman wore an expressionless mask. Mulder shifted in the chair, shaking Scully lightly to wake her. She sat up, her mind fuzzy as to her she was. But when she saw the nurse, she instantly became aware, rising to her feet and pulling Mulder along with her.

"Is-is he okay?" Scully asked, almost afraid that is she asked the question, she would get an answer she didn't want.

The nurse's expressionless mask turned more homely.

"We put him on oxygen because he had inhaled a lot of smoke, he has a nice bump on the back of his head which would explain his crying. We've got him pretty much settled down and we've put him on an IV drip and we're monitoring him to make sure this bump is nothing more than it is. Had he fallen or anything recently?"

Scully looked at Mulder. She shook her head. "I-"

The nurse gave Mulder and Scully a look and Mulder quickly addressed the issue to avoid any misunderstandings about Williams injury. The last thing they needed now was to be under suspicion for any abuse William may have been treated. Although he didn't exactly tell the woman the whole truth, he got his point across. Perhaps still wary, she nonetheless appeared to believe them, and led them into a private room where William lay sleeping in a hospital crib.

Scully ran her finger along the baby's soft cheek, then took hold of his miniature hand. She felt Mulder's hand on her shoulder as he watched over them.

Unable to contain her feelings any longer, she enfolded herself into his embrace and let him take away her wariness.

"See, Scully," he said into her hair. "What did I say?"

Scully laughed quietly into his shoulder. "I think you said never to give up hope."

"I'm responsible for that?" Mulder asked lightly.

"I think so. It also could have been that other guy I was seeing for awhile."

"Oh, right," Mulder replied. "I took care of him for you."

"Thanks. I owe you one."

"That's the understatement of the year. You can buy me dinner and a movie when this is all over."

"It's a deal." She pulled away and looked up at his face.

He placed her chin in his hands and cupped her head back. He smiled, kissed her forehead, then returned his attention to the small child waiting to go home.

Six days later

Doggett held the child in his arms as he had done only a couple times in the past. "He's growing up so fast.

Pretty soon he'll be a whole year, walking, talking, and getting into trouble."

Scully placed a warmed bottle of milk on the table.

Her lips curled up into a smile, although her eyes still held some pain. "I know. I can't believe it."

Doggett picked up the bottle and gave to William who was old enough to feed his self as long as he wasn't held straight up. He sat down in a chair, his expression growing serious. "So what are you going to do now?" He looked across the table at Mulder, and at Scully who poured a cup of coffee from the machine on the counter.

Mulder took a sip of his coffee before replying. "I don't know. There's not much for us at the bureau but we haven't really decided.

Doggett looked disheartened, but he tried not to show his feelings. He would support them in whatever decision they made, because ultimately, their safety and happiness was what mattered the most. They deserved every ounce of peace they could find. "If you need any help, you know we're here for you."

Mulder nodded. "Thanks, we appreciate it."

"We do, and you know that we'd return the same gratitude."

Doggett looked down at William. "Without a heartbeat."

Chapter Seventeen

Six weeks later

Saturday morning was clear and crisp. The pre dawn rain left the ground wet and the air feeling clean and new.

The sun had just awakened, and Scully with it, having slept well in the first night in a very long time. She got out of bed, feeling as clean as the world looked.

She felt as if she was aware of the whole world, and she could do anything because she was finally seeing the world from a new perspective.

She didn't know how long it would last, but she would take every moment of it and be happy. She heard the birds chirping outside and in the kitchen she heard the clink and clatter of silverware, then the scrapping of the kitchen chair.

Barefoot, she walked from the bedroom to the kitchen, where light was filtering in through the kitchen.

Mulder was sitting at the table, a cup of coffee and a newspaper set before him. William sat in a highchair, eating dry Cheerio's.

Scully, bent down and kissed William's fuzzy head. He picked a Cheerio between two tiny fingers and put it in his mouth. He looked up with dark, blue eyes, then kicked his feet.

Mulder turned in his chair, reaching for Scully's hand. She sat down on his lap, reaching one arm around his shoulder. She continued to watch William.

"It's a nice morning, Scully. We should go for a walk."

Scully turned her head. "I wanna do so much more than a walk."

Mulder looked into her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her abdomen.

Scully tried to explain. "There's so much we've accomplished and experienced, but for once I want to experience something fulfilling. Something safe. And I don't it to last just the length of a walk."

Mulder understood. He nodded. "Then that's what we'll do, Scully. Anything you want. No looking back." He kissed her cheek.

They watched William eat cheerios. And afterwards, they picked up soggy cereal off the floor.

Chapter Eighteen

"Please lie down, sir."

The old man laid down on the examining table. A man in a white lab coat and a face mask. He had scrubbed his hands in the other room just a few minutes ago and now he put on surgical gloves. A red headed nurse, dressed in the same garments as the man was administering an anesthesia IV into the man's arm.

"Do you feel relaxed?" she asked.

The man slowly nodded. His head felt heavy and light at the same time. He slowly floated out of consciousness.

Another, younger man was already on the table, head to head with the older man. He had already been prepped for the operation.

"Give me the go ahead when you're ready," the nurse replied.

"Ready," he said.

He shaved away part of the man's hair. "Scalpel," he said, taking the instrument in hand.

He began his work.

The nurse checked on the younger patient to make sure he was well medicated. She began to shave away part of his dark brown hair, taking care not to shave more than was necessary. As she worked, she found his looks appealing. For a man, he had quite a small nose, but it fit with his dark, foreign eyes, and purposeful lips.

"I'm finished, Doctor," she replied.

"Thank you, Betty." He motioned towards the other surgeon who had appeared only moments ago. "Suction."

The other doctor suctioned the fluids from the older man's brain. "Look at that sucker. I don't get it. Why didn't the procedure work last time?"

The first doctor shrugged his shoulders as he took a pair of forceps in his hands. "I don't know. It makes me wonder if it'll work this time. This man," the doctor replied, nodding his head in the direction of the man the nurse was currently shaving, "has also been infected and administered the vaccine. Perhaps all is needed is an extra dose."

The second doctor nodded in agreement. "Either way, he is old," he said, looking down at old man, his hair gone grey and his skin gone yellowish from the sickness. "and has served his purposes. With all that has happened, he really has nothing to lose if this doesn't work."

The first doctor agreed.

There was always the Russian to carry on.

Epilogue

For a long time, they went through the motions, day by day. Slowly, over periods of weeks, they began to realize they couldn't point their gun at every shadow.

Scully continued to work along side Agent's Doggett and Reyes on the X-Files. Although her heart wasn't in it anymore if she wasn't working cases along side Mulder, she found helping Doggett and Reyes carry the legacy a satisfying task.

Although Mulder had been fired, Kersh, for policy reasons, allowed Mulder come back to the FBI and do desk duty. He wasn't about to give in completely it appeared, but Mulder shook his head at the offer, rebuking the idea of making an endless circuit of telephone calls. He remembered those days with out fondness. He would stay home and watch William during the day instead, and bask in the idea of fatherhood.

But he wanted Scully to work, because she needed the routine. Still, they came to Mulder unofficially for advice and while Reyes sucked up his theories and stories, Doggett approached these non-skeptical views slowly.

Then one day, without telling anyone, they had packed up and left. Maybe not forever, but for a while. They couldn't hide forever and they didn't want to live that way. But they had to get out of their own heads for awhile and find the solitude that they deserved.

On a warm, sunny day when a cool ocean breeze flowed through the air, Scully and Mulder sat in the sand and watched William play. He had filled a small bucket with sand, however, when he went to flip it over and create a castle tower, the sand came out of the bucket and fell into a heap like the rest of the sand around him. William's bottom lip jutted out in a pout, but he quickly found interest in something else.

Scully leaned back against Mulder's chest and watched William play. She listened to the waves lap at each other near the shoreline and seagulls fly over head and land further out near the break line.

William crouched down, his blue swim shorts with green frogs on them covered with sand. He looked up at the sky as a sea gull flew downwards, squawking. William ran over to where Scully and Mulder were sitting. He looked up and pointed towards the creature. "Bird!" he said happily.

Scully smiled. "Yes, bird. Sea gull."

He repeated. "gea gull."

Mulder chuckled. "They're good fried."

Scully elbowed him in the ribs. "Mulder."

Mulder reached out and tousled the child's hair.

William said "bird" again and, losing interest in the creature of flight, went back to filling his bucket with sand.

Scully, leaned her head back to look up at Mulder.

"With your background in science, mine in psychology, and our combined experiences with the paranormal, what do you think he's going to grow up to be?"

"A teacher," Scully replied. "A teacher of many things."

I want to hold you now
And listen to you breathe
It's like the ocean sound
Whispering through the trees
In the hollow of your shoulder
There's a tidepool of my tears
Where the waves came crashing over
And the shoreline disappears
Baby close your eyes
Fly back there with me
Where the phosphor shines
Green flashlights on the sea
Our nets were full of soft shells
Our hearts were free from toil
And we made love on the kitchen table
Till the water reached a boil
We hold it all for a little while, don't we...
Kiss the dice, taste the rain
Like knives upon our tongue
We can do no wrong with the lights come on And the music plays
And we take the stage like we own the place As if time were cheap and the night forever young So let 'em turn my soul
Seven shades of blue
And the ocean's roll
I will wave to you
And the birds will sing my laughter
And the whales will steal my song
And I'll be okay forever after
And the world will get along

The End

WOW. I am finished with this. I've been writing this story since at least March 2001 and I'm finishing it a whole year later! This has been my baby for so long!

Besides school, which has been a requirement for at least the first 13 years of my schooling, I have never been this dedicated to a project before. As I was writing the last few pages, I grew sadder in knowing that I at the end. I was contemplating adding a few more chapters, (never mind that, I was going to make a trilogy) but all good things must come to an end.

I hope you all enjoyed it! I'm sorry for any typos and anything else structurally as I never edited it, but I'd like to soon. This is the longest piece of X-Files work I've written so far. I've invested a lot of time into this, considering I also had a summer job and Dr.

Hall classes (if you're an English major at Thiel, you understand). Happy reading! Please leave feedback!!!