Title: Diablita II
Author: Mariann
Author Email: musingscsm@aol.com
Rating: PG-13
Archive at Gossamer: Yes to Gossamer/Ephemeral
Category: X-File
Keywords Pre-XF
Spoilers: "Closure"

Summary: The summer of 1979 marks the destruction of the Spender family.

"We were sure we'd never see an end to it all...." - Smashing
Pumpkins, "1979"

"Hey, look at this!"

Jeffery Spender motioned to his sisters, Samantha and Katherine, to
come over and see what he had found. A fresh slab of cement had been
laid near the outer fence on April Air Force Base, where they lived
with their parents. To the eleven-year-old boy, it held endless
possiblities. He wanted to leave his mark on the base, now he just had
to decide which mark.

"It better not be another snake." Fourteen-year-old Samantha came over
to join her brother, carrying their three-year-old sister, Katherine.
"If it is, I'm telling Dad you put that dent in the car with your
bike."

"He did!" Little Katherine chirped with the honesty of a small child.

"Yeah, but Dad doesn't know that." Samantha smirked at her little
brother. "Yet."

Jeffery ignored his sister, turning back to the slab of cement. He
knelt down before it and pressed his hands in the wet cement. It was
cold and felt gritty against his palms, but there was a certain
niceness to it. A rush from the thrill of doing something that might
get you in big trouble. Pulling his hands out and sitting back on his
heels he admired his handiwork. Samantha set Katherine down next to
him and looked over his shoulder.

"You should write your name under it, doof." Samantha kneeled down
next to her brother. "How's anyone supposed to know it's yours?"

"Know it all," Jeffery mumbled, but started to draw his name in the
wet cement under the handprints anyway.

Samantha had heard the comment, but she just smirked. She laid her
hands down in the wet cement next to Jeffery's prints. Katherine
watched over her shoulder, admiring her sister's prints after Samantha
lifted her hands up. Jeff watched her, almost surprised she had done
it. She was usually the type to try to stay out of trouble, especially
the kind little brothers get into.

"What are you guys looking at?" Samantha looked up and addressed
her siblings when she finished etching her name underneath the
impressions.

"Can I?" Katherine looked at her hopefully. To her, the sun rose and
set on Samantha. She was her hero, and it was not uncommon for her to
mimic her older sister if given the chance.

"Sure, Kit." Samantha helped her little sister press her small hands
into the cement. Then she lifted Katherine's hands back up to reveal
a third set of perfectly formed handprints. The impressions left were
much smaller then her and Jeffery's and she couldn't help but smile a
little to herself as she traced Katherine's name into the cement.
There was a definite bond between the two sisters, though eleven years
seperated them in age.

"Ooooh, pretty!" Kit beamed as she looked down at the finished
product.

The Spender children stood up and looked around, making sure no one
had been watching. Relieved to find no one in view, one by one their
attention turned to their dirty hands. The cement was thick and
stained the skin grey where it wasn't clumped in oozy globs of grit.
They had nothing to wipe their hands off with except their clothes.
No matter where the cement was, if their parents saw it on them they
would be in a load of trouble. It was an interesting problem
that really didn't have any solution. Finally, Samantha voiced what
they were all thinking.

"How are we going to get this stuff off our hands?"

The Spenders were far from the average American family. Cassandra
Spender knew this and it made her try even harder to be a good mother, but she was reaching her limit. The aliens had been taking her and
her adopted daugther Samantha for four years now. Oddly enough, the
abductions weren't the worst part. The consortium which her husband, Charles, belonged to made things much worse. The work they did with
the aliens may be noble, but their treatment of the families
of the men who belonged to the group wasn't. They were merely pawns in
a bigger plan, useable and disposable.

The children had shown no signs of noticing the conspiracy in which
their lives were entangled. Everynight Cassandra prayed they wouldn't
find out. It was hard to know what Samantha went through, whether she
realized it herself or not, but to think of her own two children
treated like human guinea pigs made her sick to her stomach. She had
to do something before it happened, especially since it
seemed Charles would let his other two children be experimented on as
easily as he had given up his wife and oldest daughter. The marriage
was under alot of strain, and Cassandra often wondered what happened
to the man she married nine years ago. The consortium had changed him
so much she barely recognized her husband anymore. Her last hope to
save her marriage and her children was to try to distance the family
from the group.

Cassandra finally decided to bring it up on a warm day in June, just a
week after Samantha and Jeffery had gotten out of school for the
summer. The children were out playing, and Charles had gotten home
from work early. They sat in the kitchen together, he reading the
paper and she washing the dishes.

"You know Charles," Cassandra looked out the tiny kitchen window and
tried to sound as casual as she could. "The children really enjoy
going to my sister's place on the coastline. And I hear the school
system in her town is very good..."

"That's nice," Charles replied, not really paying attention.

"The houses in that area aren't overly expensive either. In fact, Maria told me the other day they're putting in a new neighborhood
only a couple streets over from her place."

"Cassandra..." Charles folded the newspaper and dropped it on the
table. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Don't you ever think about buying a bigger house, moving to a
different city?"

"No. There's no reason for us to move."

"We can't stay here forever, Charles." Cassandra was begining to get a
little frusterated. "There just isn't enough room!"

"We'll make it work." He exhaled a greyish blue cloud of smoke and
stubbed out his cigarette. "It's more beneficial if we stay where we
are."

"Beneficial to who? The highers up in your little group? Oh, well
that's a good excuse. Heaven forbid we inconvience them after all
they've done to our lives!" Cassandra's voice raised to a shout. She
was beyound frusterated with her lifestyle. In the last three years
the Consortium had taken much more of an intrest in their lives. They
were surveilied, studied from a far, and the experiments became much
more frequent. She had her doubts whether it had anything to do with
their complilation with the aliens or not, something in her
gut told her it didn't.

"Be reasonable, Cassandra."

"Reasonable? I'm not the one who's being unresonable! Why are we here
anyways? I mean...do you even work here?"

"You know better then to question about my work," Charles warned his
wife with an icy glare.

Cassandra returned the glare threefold and fell silent. Charles
regretted ever telling her about the project on the night she was
first abducted with the wives and daughters of the consortium members, she knew that. She also knew that she had been a different person
then, trying hard to be the perfect wife and mother. Now she had just
about given up on being even just a good wife. Her marriage was
falling apart and her last idea to save it had just been flushed
down the toliet.

She turned back to the dishes, becoming so caught up in scrubbing out
her anger that she didn't think anything of the children running into
the house and directly into the bathroom.

Two nights later the sound of a loud argument downstairs woke the
children. Jeffery was the first to come out of his room and sit at the
top of the stairs, listening to his parents yell at each other. He
couldn't make out the words, but he could hear the anger in their
voices. Whatever they were fighting about had to be important. Lately
they fought almost every night, but tonight they really sounded like
they hated each other.

"They're fighting again." Samantha came up behind Jeffery.

"Yeah," he replied.

Samantha sat down on the step beside her brother and listened it
silence. Something was very wrong in the house, they both knew that.
Sure, their parents could try not to argue in front of them and
pretend things were just fine, but they knew they weren't. Alot of
things didn't seem right lately, though Jeffery didn't know what was
wrong.

"They're fighting about the doctors." Samantha finally broke the
silence.

"Doctors?" Jeffery craned his neck around to look at his sister, wondering how she knew. "Who's sick?"

"Not those kind of doctors."

"What kind?"

"You haven't seen them, have you?" An almost disappointed look came
into Samantha's eyes. "They come at night...and do horrible
experiments on people. They're small and grey...with these huge black
eyes, almost like a bug. And sometimes there's human doctors with them
too."

Jeffery looked at his sister, almost expecting her to start laughing.
But something in her expression told him that she wasn't going to. She
was completely serious, and waiting for his reaction. He didn't know
what to say... it sounded very crazy to him and yet it also sounded
oddly familair.

"Have you seen 'em?" he managed to reply.

"They take me, Jeff. Mom too. And soon they'll take Kit." Samantha's
eyes welled with tears. "I'm scared one day they won't bring us back."

He didn't know what to say. All he could do was stare at his sister
as he tried to understand what he had just been told. How could
something like that be happening to his mother and sisters without
anyone knowing it was going on?

"You don't believe me." Samantha sniffled. "I wouldn't believe me
either..."

"No...Sam...." Jeffery put an arm around his older sister. "I believe
you."

And he did.

So did Katherine, who had been listened to the whole converstation
from the doorway of the girl's room.

July 14, 1979

Dear Diary, This is the last entry I'm going to make in this diary for a long
time. I have to go away for awhile. The doctors keep coming for me, and I think I'm going to go crazy if they take me again. I can't let
them take me again. And I can't let them take Kit either. They will
soon, if they haven't already.

Sometimes I think my memories were taken by the
doctors but not all of them. I remember faces. I think I had a
brother... with brown hair, who used to tease me. I hope someday he
reads this and knows I wish I could see his face for real.

No more. No more tests. No more questions. I'm getting out of here and
not turning back. Tonight. Tonight I'm going to run far, far away. I
can't let them catch me. They'll kill me if they do. Running for my
life, for the rest of my life.

So when my parents go a dinner party, I'm leaving. If I can find my
brother, he'll protect us. And then I'll come back for Kit. Maybe Jeff
too. We'll all be safe again and together again. The four of us. But
until that happens, I have to say goodbye.

Samantha

Samantha was almost finished packing her knapsack, pausing to look
over her shoulder to make sure Katherine was still asleep. It was
quarter past nine, and their parents would be home soon. She made one
last check on the items she had packed...a flashlight, several changes
of clothes, a little bit of food, and fifty dollars she had pfilered
from her father's wallet earlier that day.

Earlier that evening, her parents had left Samantha in charge of
watching Katherine while they went to a dinner party held by one of
her father's colleauges. Jeffery had gone over to a friend's house for
the night and there wasn't anyone left to interfer with her plans. At
eight she put her little sister to bed, hoping she would not wake up
again until their parents were home.

It was time to go. Samantha zipped up her backpack and crept out of
the bedroom. Her heart thudded in her chest as she snuck downstairs.
She hadn't been planning this for more then a day, and it had finally
sunk in just what exactly she was about to do. It was the first time
she felt fear, and for a spilt second when she opened the front door
she hestitated.

"Whatcha doing, Sam?"

She jumped, startled at the sudden voice behind her. Whirling around, she saw Katherine standing there in her pajamas, holding her beloved
stuffed dog and blinking up at her sister sleepily. "Aren't you
supposed to be asleep, Kit?"

"Where are you going?" Katherine cocked her head a little sideways.

"I'm..." Samantha couldn't bring herself to lie, for a reason she
couldn't explain. "I'm going away, I have to do something important."

"Can I come?"

"No."

"Why?" A little pout came over Katherine's face.

"I don't know how long I'm going to be gone. It may be a long time."

"How long?"

"I don't know..." Samantha shifted her weight nervously, worrying
about the time.

"Don't go...." Katherine hugged her big sister around the knees, sniffling back tears. The little girl had sensed there was something
not right going on. She was advanced for her age and seemed to pick up
on things alot quicker.

"Hey.." Samantha pried her sister off her legs and knelt so they were
eye to eye. "I'm gonna come back."

"Promise?" The unshed tears in Kit's blue eyes glimmered in the
moonlight streaming in from the window.

"Promise." Samantha hugged her sister tight, feeling the warm wetness
of tears falling on her cheeks. She had not wanted to say any
goodbyes, they were just too hard. It was so hard trying to explain to
Katherine why she had to leave.

Finally she pulled back, looking at her sister's face and wondering if
it was the last time she was going to see little Katherine. The tears
were coming down her cheeks freely now, and she had to look away for
a moment to keep from sobbing out loud. She wiped the tears from her
eyes, the silver ID braclet she wore catching the moonlight. Her
sister's attention became focused on her left wrist. Kit always had a
facsination with the braclet bearing her older sister's
name. But Samantha was protective of the piece of jewelry, which held
a sliver of a memory from her old life.

"How'd you like to keep my braclet safe for me while I'm gone?"
Samantha unclapsed the braclet.

The little girl's eyes widened with surprise. "Really?"

"Really." A small smile came on her face. "Hold out your wrist."

Katherine obediantly held out her wrist, seeming to understand just
how important the gift was. Samantha tried to put it around the girl's
tiny wrist, but found it to be two times too big. For a moment she
wasn't sure how to remedy the situation. Then she realized it was just
the right size to become a collar for Mr. Perkins, the stuffed dog Kit
always slept with.

"It's a little too big. Why don't we put it on Mr. Perkins instead?"
Samantha fastened the braclet around the stuffed dog's neck.

"Thank you." Katherine wrapped her arms around her sister's neck.

"You're welcome, Kit-Kat." Using the special nickname she had given
Katherine brought fresh tears to her eyes. She pulled back again, kissed her sister on the forehead and stood. "I promise I'll come
back."

"I love you, Sammy," Kit said softly, tears now streaming down her
little cheeks.

"I love you too." She sniffled and picked up her backpack. "Now...go
back upstairs and stay on the bed until Mom and Dad get home, okay?"

Katherine gave tiny nod, then trotted out of the room and up the
stairs. Samantha could hear the door to their room close, and it was
her signal that it was time to leave. She walked out the front door, like she had so many times in the past six years. Only this time she
stopped long enough to lock it behind her. Then she was walking out to
the road, starting her journey. But she couldn't help but stop at the
end of the driveway for one last look at her home before disappearing
into the night.

Cassandra and Charles got back from the party just before ten. She was
very glad to finally be home. These little social get togethers had
never held much interst for her. In fact, she thought the wives of
her husband's colleauges were stuck up snobs and quickly grew bored
when she made attempts to talk with them. Not too mention she despised
the members of the group. They interuppted their lives enough, why did
they have to hold social functions as well?

Her thoughts were quickly turned from the party to the present when
she stepped inside the house. All the lights were off and the house
was silent. Cassandra had expected to find Samantha in front of the
television or at least the light downstairs still on. A sense of
uneasiness filled her and a cornocopia of horrid images filled her
mind...robbers, kidnappers, the aliens, and medical emergencies to
name a few. She hurried up the stairs to the girls room.

Pratically flinging the bedroom door open, Cassandra let out a small
sigh of relief to see Katherine sitting on her bed. Then the relief
turned again to worry as she noticed the little girl was crying and
Samantha was no where to be found. She sat on the bed next to her
daughter, who quickly crawled up into her mother's arms.

"Katherine, what's wrong?" Her voice was filled with concern. "Where's
your sister?"

"She said she had to go."

"Did she say where?"

"Nuh-uh." Katherine sniffled and shook her head.

Cassandra picked her daughter up and headed back down the stairs to
find her husband. Her mind was racing with questions, the loudest one
being why a basically well behaved child like Samantha would run away.
Something was very wrong with the whole situation. And now she looked
for the way to tell Charles, who she found in the living room having
a cigarette.

"Charles..." She strained to keep her voice calm. "Samantha's run
away..."

The first light of dawn spilled over a small hospital not far from
Fresno, the same hospital little Katherine had been born at three
years earlier. Charles stood outside the front entrance and lit a
cigarette. It had been a long night, starting with the call he made
to the local police. They had indeed picked up a girl matching
Samantha's description earlier that night, and had taken her to
the local hospital to treat her for exhaustion. It seemed like the
problem was going to be solved easy enough, but he had to call up two
of his colleauges to let them know what had happened, just in case
there was more wrong with Samantha then lack of sleep. They had
insisted on coming along, and it was only a short time before the
trio made their way to the local hospital.

It was when they arrived at the hospital that things started to get
sticky. The attending nurse had directed him to the room where
Samantha was asleep, and insisted that only Charles go to see her.
With his colleauges waiting in the lobby, he went to the room where he
expecteed to find his daugther. Instead the room was empty, though
the nurse swore that she had seen her only five minutes
ago.

It was then he made the critical decision to lie to to the two
colleauges that had came with him. They had no way of knowing that
Samantha had disappeared, and it would be easy enough just to tell
them she had passed away. It would seem to be an almost morbid
decision for a father to make, but he had what he thought were good
reasons. Perhaps she would be able to find a safe refuge and
a new life from the torments that had caused her to run away. And if
she did meet death, perhaps it was better then being a guinea pig for
the rest of her life.

He had went back out to the lobby and told his colleauges of his
daugther's passing convincingly enough that they believed him.
Arrangements were made for him to dispose of the body, so there would
be no evidence of the experiments done on her left behind. With that
they left to return to their families, and let Charles deal with his
own.

After recounting the night's chaos in his mind, he decided there was
nothing more he could do at the hospital. He got into the car and head
for home. It felt like a very long drive, but it gave him time to deal
with the loss of his daugther before he arrived home. Charles was not
the kind to let his emotions show, even to his own family. Soon enough
he was parking in front of his house.

"Well?" Cassandra met him at the door, looking impatient and anxious
at once.

"Where are the children?" He took his time taking off his coat and
hanging it up.

"Upstairs. I had the Wallaces bring Jeffery home. Why?"

Charles paused for a moment. He had to come up with a reason why
Samantha had not come home with him. If he stuck to his story that she
had passed on, Cassandra would expect there to be a funeral. That
would not go over well with his colleauges at all after he promised to
take care of everything. Luckily for him, he had become quite well at
lying from his job with the Syndicate.

"She's not coming back. A deal was made behind my back and they took
Samantha permantely. I couldn't prevent it."

Cassandra's anxiety and impatience quickly turned to anger. "You
always use that excuse!"

"Because it's the truth." He was getting more then a little irritated
with his wife. "Now listen, because this is how it's going to be. You
have to tell the children she died."

"I can't tell them that!"

"You can and you will. It's for their best intrest."

"Why?" She was very angry now, it was obvious in the glare she shot at
her husband. "So they won't realize what really goes on around here?"

"Precisely."

"They'll figure it out someday." Cassandra stood up and shook her head
in disgust. "Someday, Charles, your children will realize all the lies
that have been told in this house."

"Where are you going?"

"To lie to my children."

Cassandra took her time climbing up the stairs. She couldn't believe
that this was happening, and was even more in disbelief over the lie
her husband wanted to tell the children. But there was a part of her
that didn't trust her husband anymore, and she didn't want something
else to happen because she interferred with his little plan.

She slowly opened the door to the girl's room and looked in. Jeffery
sat on the bed with Katherine, reading his younger sister a story.
The young girl looked very tired, but her red eyes gave away her
distress. Jeffery had been brought home from the sleepover shortly
after his father left. Cassandra felt it would be best for the
children to be together during this upheaval. She had noticed
how her children had grown closer over the summer, their reaction to
knowing their parent's marriage was on the rocks.

Jeffery set down the book when he noticed his mother. "Did they find
her yet?"

Cassandra came into the room and stood before her children. The lie
her husband had concieved tasted bitter in her mouth and she couldn't
bring herself to say it.

"Mom?" He looked up at his mother worriedly.

She hesitated for a moment. "Samantha isn't coming back...."

"Did the doctors take her?" Kit spoke up before her mother could say
anymore.

"What doctors?" Cassandra turned to look at her daughter with
confusion etched on her face.

"The doctors that come at night." Katherine looked up at her mother
with worry in her pale blue eyes. "Are they gonna take me now?"

Jeffery looked to his little sister in surprise. "You heard us?"

"Heard what?"

"A few nights ago Samantha was talking about these doctors taking her
away at night." He turned to his mother gulitly. "She said they were
taking you too and were gonna take Kit someday."

Cassandra blanched, realizing just why Samantha had tried to run away.
The poor girl was tormented by the same abductions her adoptive
mother went through, and she couldn't take it any longer. Nausea rose
up into her throat with the knowledge that Samantha had ended up being
taken from a second family so the abductions could continue. She felt
like she was going to throw up, but her children were watching her
closely and waitig for an explanation. Before she could knew it was
happening, she found herself telling a lie of her own.

"No, that's not going to happen. No one's being taken anywhere again, I promise."

"Then what about Samantha?" Jeffery pressed. "Where is she?"

Cassandra took a deep breath, lying was not her strong suit. "Your
sister....she was hit by a car...it was an accident...but she was
killed."

Her son's coffee brown eyes widen. "She.....died?"

"Died? Like Mr. Snuffles?" Kit referred to the family pet hamster that
had passed away that spring. It was her only experince with death.
Already her little chin was trembling. "She's not coming back?"

"No, she's not coming back," Cassandra replied as gently as she
could.

That was enough to make the little girl burst into tears. Jeffery
moved over and hugged his little sister, sniffling as tears made their
way down his cheeks as well. Cassandra could feel the tears pricking
her own eyes too. She had to leave before she broke down completely.
That was the last thing the children needed to see right now.

"I'm sorry." The words felt empty and useless. "I have to go talk to
your father now...."

Cassandra left the room and closed the door gently behind her. She had
made a vow early on that her children would never see her cry, nor
would they see their father hit their mother. There had been too many
times she and her sister had seen both during their childhood. Lord
knew she was trying to give her children a better growning up then she
had, but every day it seemed to get harder. The strain of realizing
this, coupled with the loss of her adopted daugther, drove her to
tears. She sat down on the top step and put her head in
her hands, letting her sobs come out silently.

After she calmed down, Cassandra went downstairs to find her husband.
She was going to confront him with what the children had told her. The
anger had taken pushed away the grief, and the only thing she felt now
was a hatered for her spouse. When she found him in the kitchen, reading the newspaper as if nothing had happened the rage tripled.

"You son of a bitch!"

Charles looked up from the paper, no emotion on his face. "Is there a
problem?"

"I've put up with alot Charles, but I swear to God if anything is done
to Jeffery or Katherine, it's over. We'll leave, and I'll make sure
you never see your children again!"

"Nothing else will happen." He dismissed her flippantly and went back
to reading the newspaper.

Cassandra forced down the urge to strangle her husband and left the
room. He obviously wasn't going to take her seriously, no matter what
she said. Hopefully he would never have to find out just how serious
she really was. But if anything happened to her children, he would.

New York City
Six weeks later

The members of the Syndicate gathered in their home office in New York
for a meeting on a rainy day at the end of August. The elders had
spent the past several weeks gathering information to make a decision
on the fate of one of their most important projects. Today they were
going to present the situation to the younger members, for they would
the ones doing all the work. All were present, with the exceptions of
CGB Spender and Bill Mulder. Spender was too close to the situation to
be objective, and was being distracted by Mulder until he could come
in, later when a decision had been reached.

For the past year and a half the group had been developing a computer
chip that was to be inserted into a person to give them immunity from
the alien virus. At the begining of the decade, the aliens had
started putting chips into abductees, for reasons the Syndicate did
not yet know. It was their hope, after the chip had been proven
effective in a human test subject, to replace the alien chips with the
immunity chips. Then, when the work on the first alien/human hybrid
was completed, and the aliens came to colonize the planet, the human race would stand a fighting chance. This had been their
reason behind agreeing to work with the alien colonists from the
begining...to buy time.

Strughold cleared his throat to bring the room of men to attention.
"As you already know, the chip has been finished for three months now.
The test subject we had been preparing is now deceased, but the
project must go on."

"I knew we should've lined up a second candiate right at the
begining." One of the usually silent elders piped up from the back of
the room.

"Hindsight is tweny-twenty," Ronald Hutton, a newer member brought in
to oversee the manfacutring of the chip, mused in his deep, throaty
voice.

"We've lost years of work..." Romero stated in his usual monotone.

"Perhaps not," Strughold replied, a little too confidently.

"You've already found a replacement?" Calvert, the well manicured
englisman, questioned Strughold.

"The answer is obvious. Use a subject who needs very little
preperation."

"There's no one like that in the program...." Romero countered.

"Possibly Spender's daugther." Hutton looked to Strughold for a
reaction.

He nodded his approval. "That was what we've come up with so far."

"She's just a little child!" Calvert once again played the group
humanitarian.

"But she was exposed to the alien genes before she was even born."
Hutton argued his case.

"That could work in our advantage..." This understatement came from
Romero.

"And advnatges were meant to be used." Strughold agreed.

"Your talking about this as if it's actually an option!" Calvert
exclaimed. "We can't sacrafice a child's life for..."

"Tell that to Bill Mulder." Hutton cut him off.

"The child's DNA is approxiamtely ten to thirteen percent alien," Strughold trotted out the statistics. "The chance of survival would be
much more likely for her."

"When did we learn this?" Romero asked a question, which was a rare
occasion.

"Before she was born. We've kept an eye on her the past few years. In
case something goes wrong with the hybridization project, we planned
she could be used in her mother's place."

"How nice of you to inform the rest of us!" Calvert's voice dripped
with sarcasm.

Strughold gave the englishman a truly evil look and fell silent. He
didn't appreciate his colleauge's attitude when they were trying to
deal with an important matter. Morals and ethics could be put on hold, if it was for the benefit of the project.

Hutton took the moment of silence to continue to aruge his case. "With
a younger subject we could also see if there are going to be any long
term difficulties."

"It's settled then," Strughold decided, the firmness of his tone
letting the others know this was how it was going to be.

Romero was the first to speak up. "Spender won't agree to this..."

"He will."

The well manicured man shook his head slightly. "We thought Mulder
would too."

"Spender will be given a choice. If he chooses to make Mulder's
mistake, there will be similar consquences."

Not many minutes after the group had reached their decision, Bill
Mulder led CGB Spender into the building. He had been asked to keep
Spender out of the way until the group had a chance to discuss some
matters. However, Spender was his usual suspcious self and seemed to
have a pretty good idea that something was not right.

"You're quiet tonight," Bill made a weak attempt at chit-chat.

"Since when did we start meeting this late? I have a feeling the
meeting has already started."

"They have no reason to start without us."

Charles gave a little smirk. "You're entirely too trusting, Bill."

Bill remained silent and stepped into the elevator. He might have
appeared too trusting, but he was alot smarter then his old army
friend thought. Charles always acted as if he had something over on
Bill and he would've been a little disappointed to find out that he
didn't. But it was more convineant for him to let Spender and majority
of the group think that.

The two men got off of the elevator and made their way into the
office. When they entered the room, they found rest of the group
waiting for them. Taking their respective seats, they nodded briefly
to acknowledge the others.

"Mulder. Spender." Strughold nodded back to them each. "We've been
waiting for you."

"Traffic," Mulder explained briefly. "We apologize for staling the
meeting."

Spender nodded nonchalantly, not about to act apologetic when he still
thought there was something amiss. He fished a worn pack of Morleys
out of his coat pocket and lit up a fresh cigarette.

"Quite understandable." Calvert felt bad for both of the men.

"Now then, let's get right down to business." Strughold cleared his
throat slightly, a warning to the others to go along with what he
said. "As you already know, the subject that was to recieve the chip
prototype was killed almost two months ago in a non-related incident.
It is time to choose a replacement, which is what we've been
discussing while we were waiting."

"And...?" Spender exhaled a cloud of blusih smoke.

"And we've come up with a replacment...." Romero answered, a little
annonyed with Spender's cockiness.

"Who?"

Ronald Hutton looked Spender right in the eyes. "Katherine."

The smoking man appeared completly cool and collected on the outside, but on the inside he was a little more shaken. He had known something
was going on when Bill Mulder made the thinly veiled attempt at
keeping him away from the meeting. Now he had to find a way to change
their minds without comprimising his postion in the group. Perhaps
this was his punishment of sorts for losing Samantha, but he was not
about to just swallow it.

"Katherine Spender?" Mulder's feighned shock failed miserably, making
it clear this had come as no surprise to him. "Charles' daugther?"

"She was exposed to the alien genes in the womb, the chances of her
surviving are much greater then our orginial subject." Hutton tried to
make the facts sound reassuring.

"And it will save us several years worth of work...." Romero added, much more fond of keeping right to the point.

"If her mother were to find out, she would take her and leave," Spender stated, cool and collected.

"The experiments could continue on Cassandra no matter where she
went." Mulder decided to briefly play devil's advocate. "The aliens
would be able to track her location."

"Too risky." Romero gave a slight shake of his head. "We can't take
that chance..."

"Agreed." Strughold paused a moment, deciding it was time to bring out
the part of his plan that the hadn't told any of the other members
yet. "Which is why the child must be seperated from her mother."

"We can't tear such a young child away from her parents! That's
inhumane!" Calvert objected.

"It's been done before..." Bill Mulder mumbled bitterly, thinking
about his own daugther that had been taken and never brought back.

"Not from her parents, just relocated away from her mother." Strughold
looked directly at Spender, waiting for a reaction.

"Cassandra is more strong willed then you think." A slight smirk
crossed Spender's face. "She wouldn't just let her child be taken and
give up on trying to get her back."

"How could we stop her?" Hutton questioned the group. "Or stop the
child from trying to go back to her mother when she gets older?"

"There are ways." Strughold had obviously been thinking on this for
awhile. "If Spender's wife was under the impression her child had
passed on, she would have no reason to look for her. And it could be
an understanable undoing to a marriage..."

"You're asking me to sacrafice my marriage and fake my child's death?"
This time Charles couldn't keep the the surprise completly out of his
voice. He had seen the Syndicate go to extreme measures for the
benefit of the project, but this was the most drastic by far.

"You have been given a choice, Spender." Strughold looked the smoking
man right in the eyes. "Either you can relocate and have a chance to
raise your daughter, or the Syndicate will step in and raise her for
you."

Charles went silent and thought over the situation closely. His
marriage was already on the rocks, and the only reason he had stayed
with Cassandra so long had been the children. She was probably already
thinking about leaving him, and if she did he would never see either
of his children again. It wouldn't be too much of a loss not to see
his son, Jeffery had grown more resentful of his father as he had
grown older, but he did have an attachment to Katherine.

His marriage to Cassandra had never been based on love, but he was not
a loveless man. He cared deeply for his children, even if it didn't
seem to show. It was because of them that he worked so hard with the
Syndicate, so they would have a future outside of death or
enslavement. Despite his good intentions, his children had been taken
away from him or turned against him. He couldn't have a
paternal relationship with his eldest son as long as Bill Mulder was
alive and active in the group. Samantha was quite possibly gone for
good, and even if she did reappear she would most likely resent her
father as much as Jeffery did. Katherine was the only one left, and it
would be worth all the complications if he were able to stay invovled
in her life.

Finally he spoke. "What do you have in mind?"

Labour Day Weekend - Thrusday Night
9:02 PM

Cassandra sat down on the living room couch to relax after putting
Katherine to bed. It was going to be an early morning, but she needed
a little time to unwind before bed. She was looking forward to
spending the holiday weekend at her sister's cottage on the coast.
Jeffery and Katherine loved visiting their aunt and playing on the
beach. With all that had happened that summer, they deserved to have
some fun. Not too mention their mother needed a little vacation as
well.

Before she had time to get into the police drama playing on the
television, the phone rang. She sighed and went into the kitchen to
answer it. Charles was supposed to have been home two hours ago, but
there was still no sign of him.

"Hello?"

"Cassandra, I'm calling from the office," Charles voice came over the
line. "There's been a meeting called at the last moment. I'm going to
be home late."

She sighed heavily. "How late is late?"

"Don't wait up. If worse gets to worse I'll join you and the children
at Maria's tomorrow afternoon."

"Everytime we try to do something as a family..."

"I know, but it can't be help," Charles cut her off.

"Well, I'm leaving at seven tomorrow morning, whether you're here or
not."

"That's fine. I'll meet you there as soon as I can."

"Okay. Goodbye." Cassandra ended the call without alot of feeling and
hung up the phone.

She should've been more upset then she was. But Cassandra was at a
point that she didn't care one way or another what her husband did
anymore. Her marriage was over all but legally, and Charles certainly
seemed to know that as well. He acted like he didn't care either.

What Charles didn't know, was that he was returning home alone on
Sunday night. Cassandra had already talked to her sister and made
arrangements for her and the children to stay there until she got on
her feet. She would get a job and find a place for her family to live.
It was the best option they had. If she stayed in the situation she
was in now, she was certain she would go insane. And now that it was
begining to affect the children her instincts told her it
was time to leave.

A few minutes later she went upstairs and told Jeffery to get to bed.
They had an early morning ahead of them, not too mention the last
weekend of their old life. Cassandra went to bed and tried not to
think about it. However, that was easier said then done, and she spent
a while tossing and turning. But eventually, around ten-thirty that
night, sleep came.

12:18 AM - Friday

Katherine slept peacefully in her bed, holding on tightly to Mr. Perkins. He still had the silver braclet on, an expensive collar for a
stuffed dog. In the last month, Samantha's belongings had been moved
out of the room and now it looked like she had never been there. But
little Kit remembered her sister, and the promise she had made. In
the little girl's mind, even death would not interfere with Samantha
keeping her promise.

There was a soft tapping sound on the window, and a dim light shined
into the room. Kit stired and looked up sleepily.

"Samantha?"

The light brightened and she could see the vauge shape of a human
behind it. Someone was out on the part of the roof that hung over the
small, delipated front porch but Kit was not alarmed in the least. In
fact, she was excited. Sometimes Samantha would sit outside their
window at night and watch the stars when she couldn't sleep.

"Samantha!" She jumped out of bed and ran over to the window, expecting to see her sister.

The window creaked open and Katherine climbed out of it and onto the
porch before she could see who had opened it. Instead of Samantha, Bill Mulder was standing there, looking surprised. The child and the
man blinked at each other for a moment, neither expecting to see the
other.

"Hey!" Kit frowned. "You're not Samantha!"

If there was ever any doubt in Bill Mulder's mind of Spender's
involvement in his daugther's disapperance, it was now gone. But he
didn't have time to think about that at the moment. He had not
antcipated that the child would come out and greet him.

"Well, no, I'm not. But I know where she is," Bill lied, wishing it
was the truth.

Katherine looked him up and down warily with her big blue eyes. She
had seen him before, with her father and the other men that visited
their house sometimes. At the same time, Mulder noticed she looked
alot like Samantha had at that age.

Finally the child spoke. "You're one of daddy's friends."

"Yes, I am." Bill bent down to look the little girl in the eyes. "Your
Daddy is waiting for you out in the car."

Mulder move towards her and Katherine took a step back, clutching her
stuffed dog tightly. On the second try, she allowed herself to be
picked up. He carried her over to the edge of the roof, and nodded at
the Englishman waiting on the ground.

"Be careful, Bill," Calvert warned his colleague.

Bill knelt down and carefully handed Katherine to Calvert. The little
girl made no attempts to get away. She recognized the other man, and
knew from experince that she didn't have to fear him.

Mulder jumped off the roof. "Let's go!"

The two men hurried to the car parked across the road. Mulder got
behind the wheel of the black sedan, and the well manicured englishman
went into the back, taking the little girl with him.

It wasn't until Katherine realized that the car was empty that she
spoke up, looking upset. "My daddy's not here!"

Bill threw the car into park and made a hasty retreat to the main
entrance/exit of the base. It was a quiet night and sounds carried in
the darkness, even in a car a scream could've been heard. The last
thing they needed was the child throwing a fit and drawing attention
to them.

Calvert glared at Mulder in the rear view mirror, not appreciating him
making the situation worse by telling the child lies, then turned back
to their charge. "It's okay..."

Kit sniffled. "I wanna go home!"

The drive to the trainyard was short, but they still couldn't risk
something going wrong. Calvert took a small syringe loaded with a
heavy anethestic out of his pocket. He had hoped this would not be
necessary, but there wasn't much of a choice now. Something had to be
done before the child went into a full blown fit.

The little girl looked out at the window, starting to panic. A pang of
guilt hit the Englishman, but he tried to tell himself maybe it would
be less tramutic for the child this way. He quickly stuck the needle
into Katherine's small arm and depressed the plunger.

"Ow!" Kit yelped, then almost immediatly fell unconsious.

Calvert gently laid her across the seat and covered her with his coat.
It was then he noticed the stuffed dog laying in the girl's limp arms.
It obviously meant something to the child, and when Bill Mulder wasn't
looking, he slipped it into the small leather bag he had brought with
him, to return it to her later.

4:03 am

A few hours later, Charles Spender showed up at the trainyard. A short
string of box cars sat on one of the unused track, and it was the
middle car that he entered. It looked like a normal enough boxcar on
the outside, but the inside showed it was anything but normal. The
interior was set up like a large operating bay, various medical
equipment lining the walls.

On this particular night his youngest daughter was the patient, and
little Katherine lay on a operating table amid various monitors. An IV
tube came out of her small arm, and a heart monitor beeped in a quiet
rhythm. It was a disturbing site for any father to see, and Spender's
only consolation was that this would benefit the project.

He went to his daugther's side, joining up with Mulder, Calvert and
Ron Hutton. They were silent for a few moments, watching the doctors
begin to insert a large needle into the child's neck.

Spender was the first to speak. "How are things going?"

"No problems so far," Hutton replied without taking his eyes off the
doctors. "They're putting the chip in now."

"It took you long enough to get here." Bill Mulder shot a sideways
glance at Spender.

"I had some things to take care of at the office." He gave a slight
glare at Mulder before turning his eyes back to the surgery. "Did you
get her here without being noticed?"

Calvert nodded. "Everything went as planned."

Katherine's eyelids fluttered briefly as the chip passed from the
needle into her neck. Spender felt concern rise up inside of him, though he didn't let it show. The procedure was almost certianly
painfull, and he didn't want his daughter to have to suffer.

"Is she consious?"

Hutton looked over a print out coming from one of the machines. "None
of her vital signs point to it, so I would say no."

"Even if she remembers tonight, that will be taken care of," Mulder
reminded them.

The attending doctors began to sew up the hole left by the large
needle. The head surgen joined the men, peeling his gloves off.

"Is the procedure done?" Hutton questioned him.

"Yes." The doctor looked back to his patient briefly. "We've put the
subject into a controlled coma. Her body needs to rest for several
days to adjust to the chip."

Spender looked down at his unconsious daugther, noticing how
vulnerable she looked at the moment. "I'll need several days to tie up
the loose ends here."

"I will accompany her to Washington, Spender," Calvert assured his
colleague. "You won't have a thing to worry about on this end."

"Calvert is right," Hutton agreed. "We'll make sure it all goes to
plan. All you have to do is handle your end."

6:19 am

Cassandra woke up to find Charles sleeping in her bed. There was a
touch of disappointment that he had come home in time to leave with
rest of the family, and a touch of annoyance that he hadn't even
bothered to wake her up when he did make it home. She sat up and
blinked sleepily at the clock.

She groaned a little when she saw it was almost twenty past six. The
alarm had been set for five-thirty, but Charles must've turned it off
before she heard it. It wasn't the first time he had done that to her.

Oh well, she sighed softly and got out of the bed to check on the
children. It looked like they weren't going to leave at seven after
all. She was glad she packed the car the night before, so they had a
chance of getting on the road by eight.

Cassandra woke up a cranky Jeffery, telling him to stop whining and
get dressed. Then she went into Katherine's room, expecting to the do
the same. Instead she found the bed and empty and the window open.

Katherine was gone.

A scream escaped from her and she ran down the stairs in a panic.
Horrible thoughts whirled in her mind. Katherine taken by the aliens
and never brought back. Katherine taken by a kidnapper who would leave
her small body dead in a field. Or maybe they would never find her at
all. The thoughts were too much to bear.

Charles heard Cassandra's paniced flight down the stairs and got out
of bed. It was time to slip into his role and start the carefully
orchestrated ballet of a fake investigation that he had set up the
night before.

"What's wrong?" He called as he headed down the stairs. "What is it?"

"Katherine!" A frantic Cassandra replied, picking up the phone. "She's
gone! Someone took her!"

Charles took the phone out of her hand. "Let me handle this. I know
people who have jurisdiction over the local police."

"Then call them!" she replied shrilly.

"What's going on?" Jeffery came downstairs, dressed and with his back
pack in hand.

Cassandra did not reply, instead she raced back up the stairs. Jeff
blinked in surprise, then looked to his father for the answer. For a
change, Charles did not have to lie to his son.

"Your sister is missing." That was all he was going to say, and picked
the phone before more questions could be asked.

Jeffery stood there in shock as his mother came back down the stairs.
She was dressed hurriedly in jeans and a sweatshirt. Her hair was
messy and she didn't have her makeup on. They looked to Charles for
some sort of answer from the head of the house. If there was a moment
that he felt gulit for he was about to do to his wife and son, it was
looking at them right then.

But, the gulit quickly passed, as it always did for him. He covered
the reciever of the phone and started the ball rolling.

"They're on their way." Charles lit Morley and took the first drag.
"Try to calm yourself, Cassandra."

"Calm? My child is MISSING and you want me to be CALM!?"

"Missing?" Jeff butted in, looking upset himself. "Kit's missing?"

"Oh don't worry, honey..." Cassandra grabbed her son tearfully. "We'll
find her..."

And late that night they did find Katherine, dead in a field about
three miles off the base. Or at least, that was the story C.G.B.
Spender had crafted to tell his family. He had trotted out half of the
syndicate and some local police officers for his theaterical portrayl
of an investigation. They made a show of examing the crime scene and
then went off in supposed search parties.

Now that it was over, someone had to tell Cassandra and Calvert had
been chosen for the job. In a way he was relieved to be doing it, anyone else, even Spender, might not have worried about doing it
kindly. It was the least he could do for this woman. It tore at him to
have tell her that her child was dead, but it might as well be true.
Mother and daughter would never see each other again.

Calvert entered the Spender house and climbed the stairs up to the
bedroom. It was well past eleven, but he knew Cassandra would not be
asleep. He knocked on the door lightly, then opened it slowly. She was
sitting on the bed with her head in her hands.

"Cassandra?"

She straightend herself and looked at with him tired, red, teary eyes.

"I'm so very sorry..."

"We'll find her." Cassandra brushed away a few stray tears.

He sat down beside her on the bed, not able to deliver such a severe
lie standing up. "We already did...about an hour ago. Your husband
sent me to-"

"No, it couldn't..." She cut him off quickly. "You didn't...she can't
be....is she?"

Calvert nodded slowly, he couldn't bring himself to say the words.

Cassandra covered her face with her hands and broke down into sobs.
"My sweet baby girl..."

"I'm so sorry..." The words felt so useless and empty he wasn't sure
even why he had said them.

"Where...where is she now?"

"Your husband is with her..he said he'd take care of her..."

"I want to see her..." Cassandra started to get up. "I need to see
her..."

"No.." He put a hand on her arm and gently pulled her back down onto
the bed. "Don't do this to yourself, Cassandra."

Her eyes flicked over him briefly and she began to sob again, this
time breaking down all the way. Calvert put his arms around her
carefully and held her. It was at that moment he vowed he would watch
over little Katherine in her mother's absence.

And may God have mercy on his soul for his involvement in this cruel
plan.

Tuesday

The funeral for Katherine was a small graveside service. The pastor
from the local Baptist church did the service, though the Spenders had
not been part of his congregation. They had never been part of any
congreation, for that matter. And in this dark time, there was no
religion for the family to fall back on.

Not that it would've helped anyways.

When they finally made it home, the family spilt up in three
directions. Cassandra immediatly went up to Katherine's room, in deep
mourning for her baby. Charles got in the car and went for a drive.
And Jeffery, he decided to go take a walk.

There was a coolness in the air that was unusal for the season. There
were so many questions in Jeffery's head he barely noticed it. He just
walked along, not really sure where he was going, but realizing now
just how painfully alone he was without his sisters.

It wasn't too long before he reached the fence that surrounded the
base. A few feet back from it was a slab of cement that had been fresh
just a few months ago. He sat down in front of it, sadly gazing at the
three sets of handprints etched into the hard concerete.

How could everything in his world change in just one summer? It just
didn't seem right or fair, especially to an eleven-year-old kid who
couldn't even begin to grasp the question of why bad things happen to
good people when most adults couldn't either.

Jeffery laid his hands over Samantha's prints in the cement, which
were larger then his own hands. He smiled slightly, remembering
teasing her about her big hands. He didn't remember much about her
arrival at the Spender house, just that he was jealous to no longer be
the only child. But somehow, in just a few short years she had went
from his mortal enemy to his friend and confidant.

He then traced over Katherine's tiny prints. When he had first seen
his newborn baby sister three years ago, Jeffery had asked if they
could trade her in for a puppy. Once she was able to talk and walk, he decided maybe little Kit wasn't so bad after all. He wondered what
she would've looked like when she got older, with her huge blue eyes
and dark hair. Somehow, he just knew that she would've been
beautiful.

The memories were running through his mind rapidly now, mostly of the
last summer he had shared with his sisters. Chasing lightning bugs and
sitting on the roof of the porch to watch the stars. Scaring them with
a snake he had caught, and then teaching them to hold it without being
afraid. Going downtown to see a movie and sneaking into an R rated one
instead. So many little things he had taken for granted, and would
never experince again.

Jeffery sat out by the handprints until dusk. It was hard to leave, knowing his sisters wouldn't be waiting for him at home. But he
forced himself to go back, his mother didn't need any extra worries.

When he made it back to the house, his mother was still in Katherine's
room and his father had not come home yet. He silently went into his
room and went to bed. Jeffery tossed and turned for what seemed like
hours before he finally fell asleep and dreamt of watching the stars
with two dark haired angels.

"Mom!"

It was the first thing Cassandra heard when she woke up the next
morning. For a moment she thought it was little Katherine, that she
had somehow come back and the whole thing had just been a huge
mistake. But the thought was fleeting and reality came back to her.

"Mom...there's someone here!"

Cassandra wearily climbed out of bed, still wearing the clothes she
had changed into after the funeral. She walked down the stairs, wondering who could possibly be coming to the house at this time of
morning, though she wasn't even sure what time it was.

Jeffery was standing at the open front door. She came up behind him
and looked over his shoulder at the caller. The postman on the
otherside thrust a clipboard at her unceremoniously.

"Sign here please, Ma'am."

She scrawled her name at the bottom of the document, grumbling
slightly under her breath. The postman handed her a big envelope, turned on his heel and quickly walked away without a second word. It
seemed a little odd to her, but she figured it was probably something
for Charles.

"Rude," Cassandra growled, turning the envelope over. It was addressed
to her, and she didn't waste any time opening it. The trauma of the
past few days had taken most of her usual paranoia away, at least
temporarly.

Inside the envelope was a legal document of some sort, at least ten
pages thick. Cassandra plopped down on the floor, trying to make sense
of the legal mumbo jumbo. And when she finally did, she dropped the
papers like a hot iron.

Charles had not come home the night before, and now she knew why. In
short, the document explanined that when she signed for the papers, she had agreed that her marriage had legally ended. It was an
unorthodox method of divorce, but it would hold up in a court
controlled by her husand...ex-husand's colleagues.

"That BASTARD!" she yelled, slamming her fist into the floorboards.

"Mom?" Jeffery's voice made her realize he hadn't left the room.
"What's wrong?"

Cassandra looked up at her son, holding back tears. She couldn't lie
to him, there had been too many lies told already.

"Your father, Jeffery, is not coming home."

"Never?" Jeffery didn't seem quite as upset as most children would've
been in the same situtation.

"I don't know." She took a deep breath to try and calm herself.
"According to these papers, he divorced me."

"He can't do that, can he?"

"He can do anything," Cassandra replied bitterly. "Your father and
his colleagues are above the law."

She wanted to tell her son that everything would be okay, but she
couldn't. Things would never be okay with the Spender family again.
Over the course of one summer the family had been destoryed. Now
Cassandra didn't know if she had it in her to pick the pieces and
start over. The only reason she was going to try was for Jeffery. But
for now the mixed emotions came to head and she started to cry.

"What now?" Jeffery said, sat on the floor and hugged his mother.

"I don't know..." Cassandra held her remaining child tight. "I just
don't know."

Thursday - 3:00 PM
900 West Georgia Street
Washington, DC

C.G.B. Spender knocked on the door of the apartment his colleauges had
arranged for him. The building was kind of shabby, but as long as
there was enough room for him and Katherine to live comfortably, it
would do. He had always been a bit of a minimualist anyways.

"You're right on time," Hutton greeted him when he opened the door.

"The directions were adequate."

The Smoking Man stepped into the apartment and looked around. The room
he was standing in, which he assumed to be the living room ran
parellel to a small kitchen. A tiny hallway towards the back, led to
two bedrooms and a bathroom. It was small and dunk, but at least it
was furnished.

"Is there anything I should know?" he finally asked, turning back to
Hutton as he lit a cigarette. "Complications? Revelations?"

"There were none." Ronald smiled just slightly. "Everything went to
plan, just as we told you it would."

"And Katherine?"

"She's doing quite well." Hutton paused for just a moment. "But she
doesn't answer to "Katherine" anymore."

"Oh?" The Smoking Man raised an eyebrow and exhaled a cloud of bluish
gray smoke. "What does she respond to now?"

"Kit." He handed the smoking man a folder before going on. "She is now
Kit Morgan, social security number 428-98-1013, born on February 10th, 1976 to one Carrie Morgan, deceased. Birth certificate, social
security card and some other papers are in the folder."

"And she knows all this?"

"No. That's for you to tell her, as she grows older."

Before Spender could reply, the well manicured Englishman came out
into the living room, carrying Kit. The little girl was wearing a red
dress and was clutching the stuffed dog she had been attached to in
her other life as well. She smiled brightly at her father, looking
healthy and happy.

"Look who's here." Calvert smiled as he set little Kit on the floor.

"Daddy!" She ran over and hugged her father around the knees. "I
missed you, Daddy!"

Charles was taken aback for a second. Displays of affection had not
been common in Kit before, and he hadn't know whether to expect her
to recognize him or not. Then he picked up his daugther and looked
into her big blue eyes.

"I missed you too, Kit."

Calvert nudged Hutton and motioned toward the door. The two men nodded
their respects to Spender and quietly departed. The father and
daughter needed time alone to get used to their new life. After all, their happiness in this new surrounding was important to project in a
round about way.

Spender sat down on the couch, Kit sitting in his lap. She smiled and
watched her father with pale blue eyes nearly identical to his.

"Where you a good girl?" he asked his daugther.

"Yes." She nodded. "I was good."

An awkward silence hung over the two. Perhaps parenting on his own was
going to be more difficult then he had expected it would. He didn't
know what he was supposed to do now, and just sat there staring at his
child. Hopefully he would figure things out along the way and not
make too many mistakes in the meantime.

"Where's Mommy?" Kit asked, interuppting his train of thought.

The Smoking Man looked at his daughter in silent surprise. He had not
expected her to remember her mother at all, but apparently she did.
Someone had not done a good enough job reprogramming her. Now he had
to think of a lie and hope she wouldn't question it in the years to
come. She might believe almost anything at three, but that would
change someday.

"She's gone, and she's not coming back."

"Why?" Little Kit's chin began to tremble. "'Cause of me?"

"No, of course not." Spender tried to soften the blow a little. "She
went on a trip and she's never going to come back...she's dead."

Apparently Kit did remember what death was, judging from the tears and
sobs that followed. Spender held his daugther awkwardly and let her
cry it out. For awhile it seemed like it would never end, but
eventually sobs broke down into sniffles, then silence.

"Daddy?" Kit rubbed her red, wet eyes.

"Yes?"

"You aren't going to leave me too, are you?"

"Of course not." He tried his best to sound reassuring.

"Promise?"

"I won't leave you, Kit." Spender meant those words more then any
others he had spoken before.

But he couldn't make a promise that might be broken.

The End