TITLE: Nexus: The Length of the Light  
AUTHOR: Kasey Miller
CATEGORY: MSR, Mytharc, post-series
RATING: Everywhere from PG to NC-17
SPOILERS: Are there any at this point?
DISCLAIMER: Anything recognizable isn't mine. I will, 
however, proudly claim all original characters and 
ideas.

SUMMARY: A story about love, fate, trust, and truth. 
Or, my take on what happened after the last scene in 
"The Truth."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: At the end, please.

~*~*~

BEGIN PROLOGUE

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO 

"What are you thinking, Mulder?"

"I'm thinking...I'm a guilty man. I've failed in 
every respect. I deserve the harshest punishment for 
my crimes."

"You don't believe that."

"I believe that I sat in a motel room like this with 
you when we first met and I tried to convince you of 
the truth. And in that respect, I succeeded, but in 
every other way I've failed."

"You don't believe that, either."

"I've been chasing after monsters with a butterfly 
net. You heard the man - the date's set. I can't 
change that."

"You wouldn't tell me. Not because you were afraid or 
broken, but because you didn't want to accept 
defeat."

"Well, I was afraid of what knowing would do to you. 
I was afraid that it would crush your spirit."

"Why would I accept defeat? Why would I accept it, if 
you won't? Mulder, you say that you've failed but you 
only fail if you give up. And I know you -- you can't 
give up. It's what I saw in you when we first met. 
It's what made me follow you ... why I'd do it all 
over again."

"And look what it's gotten you."

"And what has it gotten you? Not your sister. Nothing 
that you've set out for. But you won't give up, even 
now. You've always said that you want to believe. But 
believe in what Mulder? If this is the truth that 
you've been looking for then what is left to believe 
in?"

"I want to believe that the dead are not lost to us. 
That they speak to us as part of something greater 
than us - greater than any alien force. And if you 
and I are powerless now, I want to believe that if we 
listen to what's speaking, it can give us the power 
to save ourselves."

"Then we believe the same thing."

Mulder gets off of the floor and settles himself in 
bed next to Scully. He wraps himself around her, so 
that they are now holding each other closely.

"Maybe there's hope."

~*~*~

BEGIN EPISODE I

Part I - But You're Dead

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO
5:47 a.m. 
May 20, 2002

<Mulder>

He twitched and turned over, away from the warmth of 
Scully's sleeping body. They had fallen asleep with 
the air conditioner on and the room was freezing now.

<Mulder, wake up>

This time, his hand brushed over his face, trying to 
eliminate an imaginary nuisance that was disturbing 
his rest.

<Mulder, free porn!>

Finally, he awoke. Had someone spoken to him? He 
checked Scully - nope, still snoring. Wiping the 
sleep from his eyes, he scanned the room for signs of 
an intruder. Nothing out of the ordinary on the first 
pass, then on the second pass, he saw him.

Alex Krycek. Holy shit.

When he had seen him before he had chalked it up to 
stress. Now, he wasn't so sure what to make of this 
situation.

"Yeah, Mulder, it's me." 

"But you're dead," Mulder stated the obvious.

Krycek snorted. "No shit, Sherlock. Thanks for 
reminding me."

Mulder sat up and scratched his head. "Why are you 
here? Why am I the only one who sees you?"

"Who said you're the only one? You know, Mulder, 
you've got to do something about that nasty 
narcissistic streak. It's rather unbecoming. This is 
for you," he handed a slip of paper to Mulder and 
stepped back.

Mulder looked down at the slip of paper, then back to 
the Krycek who was starting to fade away. "Wait! Will 
I see you again?"

"I'll be in touch," Krycek called, vanishing into the 
pre-dawn.

Mulder studied the paper in his hand for another 
moment, then turned to wake Scully. The first day of 
the rest of their lives had officially begun.

Part II - I Killed You Myself

SOMEWHERE IN WEST VIRGINIA
10:27 a.m.
May 20, 2002

Skinner was hauling ass.

Eighty in a fifty-five and the only thing between him 
and a potential speeding ticket would be the badge.

As he drove through the mountains he thought back 
over the events that brought him here right now, on 
the run like all his friends surely were.

Thirty-six hours ago, he was assisting on Mulder's 
prison break and his and Scully's escape to God only 
knew where. Then the meeting in Kersh's office, the 
empty threat of an OPR investigation, the usual song 
and dance. He took the rest of the day off to go home 
and start compiling his information.

His information - files, names, facilities, security 
codes, passwords - all entrusted to him by that 
black-lunged bastard. Information that could ruin a 
person's career if it became public knowledge.

Skinner had looked down at his files and thumbed 
through them. How much of this information was real 
and how much of it was fabricated just to fuel his 
paranoia and fear? To fuel Mulder's?

Suddenly nervous laughter had burst from him and he 
dropped into a chair, slapping a hand to his head in 
disbelief. A crazy notion had crossed his mind.

What if everything had been a lie all these years? 
What if - he chuckled again - what if the world was 
more like "Men in Black" instead of how this 
information portrayed it? Because, honestly, the 
covertness and conspiracy and cover-up had been 
utterly ridiculous sometimes. What if it had just 
been for show?

Skinner shuddered to think that he had been a pawn in 
this whole game for ten years, that he had 
compromised his own set of values and morals just to 
keep a stupid job. But if everything was not as it 
seemed, there was a possibility that the real truth 
was much more terrifying.

Or much more desirable.

He felt like he was trapped inside a live version of 
Foucault's Pendulum. But then again, just because 
you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get 
you.

He had finished packing and poured a strong drink, 
sipping it lazily as he lounged in his chair and 
flipped through the channels. He wondered what Mulder 
and Scully were doing now, if they were finally able 
to have the reunion they deserved.

He thought about Doggett and Reyes, how they had 
gracefully carried on the work of the x-files. How 
they were now the guardians of a very special boy 
with the power to turn the world on its ass. How they 
were probably on the run just like Mulder and Scully.

As the hours went by, the bottle got low and Skinner 
got sleepy. He cat napped, falling asleep during 
Friends and waking up in the middle of Will and 
Grace. When he realized he had missed most of the 
eleven o clock news, he called it a night and headed 
for bed.

Returning to the bed from an early morning bathroom 
trip, he stopped dead in his tracks. Alex Krycek was 
sitting on his bed, plain as day. Skinner cleared the 
sleep from his eyes and looked again.

"What's wrong, Walter? You act as if you've never 
seen a ghost before." Krycek said, amused.

"You're dead. I killed you myself," Skinner growled.

Krycek flapped his arms like wings. "Ding, ding, 
Walter. You know what they say."

"So you're my guardian angel? I find that hard to 
believe," he scoffed.

Krycek stood and walked over to him, close enough to 
almost touch noses. "You're gonna thank me for this 
later." He held out a piece of paper to Skinner, who 
scanned it and then looked back to Krycek for 
clarification.

"What..." his question was halted when he saw that 
Krycek was no longer in the room.

By mid-morning he was still driving like a bat out of 
hell toward his destination. He contacted Doggett and 
Reyes with directions on where to meet him, not even 
wanting to know where they were at the time. All 
Skinner knew was that he had to be at the Dayton 
International Airport, terminal C, by 5:30 p.m. where 
he would receive further instructions.

Racing toward Ohio on nothing more than a tip from a 
dead man, Skinner couldn't help but wonder if Mulder 
would have been proud.

Part III - A Very Special Boy

St. Louis, Missouri
11:23 a.m.
May 20, 2002

For the first time in a very long while, Gibson felt 
something resembling peace. Even in the hectic 
aftermath of Mulder's trial and the frantic ride 
across the country to the Anasazi ruins, he was able 
to find a small patch of comfort knowing that he was 
being taken care of by people who understood him.

Well, Agent Doggett didn't really understand him, but 
he sure tried. Gibson was confused by the images in 
Doggett's head: a boy named Luke, a baby he called 
Will, and another child with dark hair and eyes, yet 
to be named. Oh well, he shrugged, and went back to 
his laptop.

After fleeing the ruins, Doggett and Reyes snatched 
Gibson from the motel and headed northeast without a 
look back. They had been in Cape Girardeau when 
Skinner called, stopping for a break by the banks of 
the mighty Mississippi. Three hours later they were 
finally hitting St. Louis to pick up Interstate 70 
which would take them straight into Dayton.

"Hey, Gibson, can you check for road construction on 
the outerbelt here? I wanna pick the best route to 
go." Doggett called from the driver's seat.

Gibson grumbled but switched sites to do as asked. He 
had been in the middle of an online IQ test and now 
he would have to start all over again, but if he 
could be of any help, he supposed it was worth it.

He had been worried at first that they would all turn 
to him for the answers, for what was to come, and he 
was afraid of not being able to oblige. He was no 
fortune teller - all he could do was read people's 
minds. And with such a limited number of brains to 
pick, he had grown bored quickly and moved on to 
other things.

Agent Doggett's thoughts were all jumbled up, mainly 
concerned about how to keep everybody safe. Agent 
Reyes - Monica, as she had asked him to call her - 
was surprisingly calm, wondering about trivial 
matters like who would water her plants while she was 
gone.

Gibson thought that maybe Monica wouldn't be back to 
her apartment anytime soon.

"Hey Gibson," Doggett called again. "I read something 
about you in the x-files, about being shut up in a 
nuclear plant with some alien. That true?"

Gibson shuddered at Doggett's mispronunciation of 
"nuclear" - he said it "nuke-you-ler" - and put on a 
confused look. "I don't know - I don't remember."

"John, don't push him," Monica chided.

Doggett glanced at him in the rear view mirror. 
"Sorry, buddy. Don't worry about it. I was just 
curious."

"It's ok, Agent Doggett," he replied automatically. 
"How long until we stop again?" 

"Let's clear St. Louis and we'll stop for food. Can 
you wait that long?"

Gibson nodded and mmmm-hmmmmed, once again engrossed 
in his IQ test. He clicked the "submit" button and 
waited for his results.

~*~*~

BEGIN EPISODE II

Part IV - Uncertainties

Kansas City, MO airport
2:57 p.m.

"I can't believe we're still doing this."

Her softly spoken words shattered the silence that 
had been brooding between them since the moment he 
told her where they were headed.

Mulder sighed and shifted on the plastic chair. 
"Scully, I've explained this to you as best as I 
could. You've read the instructions yourself. This is 
our chance to finally set things right, to make sure 
that December 22, 2012 is just another day of the 
year."

"I thought we had agreed to find William." Ah, there 
it was - the one thing he'd been waiting for 
throughout their day-long argument.

"We will. Maybe we'll find him quicker by doing this. 
Remember when I said that I believed that the dead 
are not lost to us? Remember how you said you agreed 
with my belief? Are you reneging now?"

She passed a shaky hand over her eyes and smoothed 
her black suit down for what had to be the hundredth 
time. "I don't know what I believe anymore. All I 
know is that I want our son back. I want us to be a 
family and I want to forget about conspiracies and 
supersoldiers and everything we've lived, eaten, 
breathed, and nearly died for in the past eight 
years. Can you understand that?"

"Yes, I can understand that. I want all that, too, 
but if we've been given an opportunity to save the 
planet from doom then I think it's our duty to do 
just that."

"But what if it's all a set-up?"

"Why would Krycek come back from the dead just to set 
us up?"

She eyed him suspiciously and crossed her legs. "Our 
*duty*, Mulder?" she said with a hint of skeptical 
humor.

"Scout's honor," he nodded solemnly.

She snorted. "You were never a Scout, you big faker."

"Oooo!" he squealed and leaned forward in his seat. 
"Scully? Please?"

She scanned the crowd for unsavory or shady 
characters, then reached over and scratched Mulder's 
back vigorously. "And this whole bogus cover. 
Foolish."

He wriggled and squirmed under the harsh treatment 
her nails were giving him. "A little to the right. 
Back a little. Down, down - OH, right there!"

"Could you please stop sounding orgasmic? You're 
going to bring unwanted attention to us," she huffed 
as her cheeks blushed a bit.

"It's not my fault that you make me feel so good. 
Besides, what's wrong with our cover? It's worked so 
far. Good to know your credentials are still valid."

"If you haven't noticed, we aren't exactly free to 
fly about the country lately."

He leaned away from her scratching and she withdrew 
her hand. "Thanks. I really do appreciate it, you 
know. Maybe sometime you'll let me scratch your 
back," he leered at her.

"Mulderrrrrr."

"Sculleeeeee. Are you hungry? I could go get you 
something to eat while we wait."

"Uh huh, sure you could."

"It was worth a shot. Besides, I'm getting antsy. 
Where are the goons?"

An armed military policeman strode up to them and 
stood at attention. "Agent Scully? Please allow me to 
escort you to the boarding gate."

Scully and Mulder got up and followed the guard to 
their gate and tried not to look too amused at other 
people's expressions. One woman openly gawked as they 
walked past, and Mulder couldn't help but smiling 
broadly and winking at her.

Scully grabbed his elbow and pinched hard. "It would 
help if you actually tried to play the part of a 
federal prisoner before our cover is blown," she 
whispered heatedly.

He shrugged and straightened up. "Sorry, but being in 
your handcuffs conjures up an entirely different set 
of memories for me." He gave her one more leer before 
the MP led them onto the plane headed for Dayton.

Part V - Waiting for Godot?

Dayton International Airport
Terminal C
4:20 p.m.

Skinner had been waiting around this goddamned 
terminal for nearly two hours without seeing hide nor 
hair of anyone he recognized. Well, there was that 
one woman who looked like Dame Judy Dench, but she 
didn't really count. He wondered what the odds were 
of actually coming across a celebrity in an airport, 
which made him wonder if he'd act like a complete 
idiot if he bumped into say, Cameron Diaz or Gwyneth 
Paltrow at the baggage claim.

He was mentally rehearsing his lines just in case 
Cameron or Gwyneth showed up, when someone he DID 
recognize showed up. John Doggett, to be precise, 
which totally killed the little fantasy going on in 
his head.

"Sir," Doggett said with a lift of his head.

"Where's Gibson?"

"Out in the car with Monica. I wanted to come in and 
make sure you were here. Lemme call her now."

Skinner snuck in one final scenario with Gwyneth 
while Doggett gave the all clear to Reyes. Soon, she 
was striding down the corridor with a gimpy Gibson 
trotting closely behind her.

"Sir, do you have any news?" she asked.

He shook his head and motioned for them all to sit. 
"No, I'm afraid I don't. This was pretty much the 
extent of my instructions. I guess we've just got to 
cool our heels for another hour and then maybe we'll 
get some answers."

Gibson immediately laid down across some seats and 
curled up with his head in Reyes' lap. Skinner lifted 
his eyebrows in curious amusement and Doggett just 
shrugged. "It's been a long night and day, sir."

He quietly filled Skinner in on what had happened at 
the Anasazi ruins, how Knowle Rohrer had succumbed to 
the magnetite locked deep in the rock and how the 
black helicopters had destroyed the pueblos.

"What about Mulder and Scully?" Skinner asked.

"They headed west. That's all I know. We got back to 
Gibson as soon as we could and started north. We were 
three hours from St. Louis when you called."

The three adults passed the time by talking while 
Gibson continued to sleep, occasionally snoring or 
whimpering. His nap was interrupted by a voice over 
the loudspeaker announcing the arrival of flight 304 
from Kansas City.

They all watched the plane land and then stood along 
with the rest of the small crowd, waiting to see who 
was coming. When it seemed like every passenger had 
disembarked, two armed MPs jogged past and went onto 
the plane.

Skinner glanced at Doggett and Reyes and saw that 
they were probably thinking the same thing he was: 
whoever those MPs were escorting was the reason they 
were summoned here. 

They heard the tromp-tromp of the soldiers' feet 
before they saw them, so when the MPs suddenly 
appeared from the tunnel it wasn't a surprise. The 
soldiers parted like the Red Sea and allowed their 
escortees to walk ahead.

When they finally saw the final passengers of flight 
304, it took everything they had to keep their jaws 
from flopping on the ground.

Part VI - The Gang's All Here

Scully looked around nervously before settling on 
four very familiar figures off to the left. Now how 
did they know to be here? Maintaining her practiced 
mask of cool, detached professionalism, she took 
Mulder's elbow and led him over to Skinner, the MPs 
following her every move.

"Sir," she said, nodding.

"Agent Scully," he answered, his eyes on Mulder's 
handcuffs.

One of the soldiers stepped forward and almost in 
between Scully and Skinner. "I'm sorry sir, I'm going 
to need to see some ID."

In an instant, three badges were produced, and then 
the MP realized they were outnumbered. "Thank you 
sir," he snapped, stepping back and waiting for a 
dismissal.

Scully began to say something, then noticed the armed 
guards still hovering. "That'll be all, gentlemen. 
Thank you for your assistance. Assistant Director 
Skinner will escort us from here on out."

"Yes ma'am!" They saluted and marched away.

When they were finally out of sight, Scully turned to 
Skinner and pushed Mulder forward a bit. "Sir, here's 
the 'prisoner.' Why are you here?" she said to 
Doggett.

Doggett thumbed at Skinner. "Ask the big guy. Someone 
contacted him and told him to show up here."

"Who?"

Skinner cleared his throat and seemed too reluctant 
to reveal his source. "Someone we know well, an ally, 
sort of."

"Marita?" Mulder asked.

"No, but that's close."

After a moment, Mulder took a sharp breath and stared 
at Skinner. "You're shitting me. You saw him too?"

"Who?" Reyes questioned.

"Alex Krycek, right?" Mulder answered.

Skinner agreed with a terse nod of his head, daring 
the others to question his confession. "I was going 
to feel awful foolish if you hadn't got off that 
plane."

"Just like we're all going to feel rather stupid if 
this phone number I was given doesn't pan out either. 
I'm not a big fan of handcuffs," Mulder jangled his 
wrists and looked pleadingly at Scully.

"Not yet. Wait until we're in a car," she said.

"Our truck is in short term. It'll hold all of us. 
Let's go." Doggett began walking toward the baggage 
claim. "You got some luggage, Dana?"

"Yes," she called, distracted by Mulder mouthing 
"Dana" at her. "Here's the tickets."

Their credentials got them around the checkpoints and 
out to the Expedition quickly. Doggett took command 
of the driver's seat while Reyes called shotgun and 
spread a map of the Dayton area out over the 
dashboard. Gibson and Skinner squeezed into the first 
row of back seats and Scully and Mulder took the last 
row where they could take the handcuffs off away from 
prying eyes.

"Give me a phone," Mulder demanded, rubbing his 
chafed wrists before digging into his jeans pocket 
for the piece of paper Krycek had given him.

Reyes handed back her cell and Mulder looked at 
everyone before dialing, toasting them with the 
phone. "Here's to wild goose chases, eh?" He punched 
in the number and waited for someone to pick up.

He was nearly ready to hang up after the seventh ring 
when a voice came across the line.

"Identify yourself."

Mulder looked at the group for direction. Scully 
gestured that he should do as the voice asked.

"This is Fox Mulder. Who is this?"

"What is the password, Mr. Mulder?"

"P-password?" Mulder stuttered.

"Password please, sir," the voice insisted.

Mulder took a deep breath and crossed his fingers 
before answering.

"Fight the future."

~*~*~

BEGIN EPISODE III

Part VII - Three Words

I-70 East
Montgomery County, Ohio

"Fight the future."

A pause. Mulder held his breath, too freaked to even 
think about batting an eyelash. He knew everyone one 
else was waiting with baited breath as well, and he 
prayed that this one phrase, these three words, would 
be the key to the gate.

"Mulder, you say?" The voice on the other end became 
friendlier.

"Yes. Who's this?"

"Someone who's been watching for a while. We've been 
waiting for you." The voice chuckled.

Mulder was astonished. "What?"

"Just follow the rest of these instructions and 
everything will be revealed to you shortly. I 
understand you've brought an entourage with you."

Mulder scanned the interior of the truck for bugs, 
but then stopped when he realized that these people 
probably knew everything that had happened in the 
past few days and were expecting them. "I want you to 
give those instructions to Agent Scully, please."

"That's fine. It'll be a pleasure to finally speak 
with her."

With an incredulous look on his face, Mulder handed 
the phone to Scully and whispered, "This is it."

She tentatively placed the phone to her ear and said 
"Hello?"

"Ah, the enigmatic Dr. Scully. I am honored to be 
getting the chance to talk to you. Are you ready for 
your next instructions?" The melodious voice wasted 
no time sweet-talking her.

"Who is this and how do you know me?" she demanded, 
taken aback at the familiarity but oddly comforted, 
like she was standing face to face with her destiny 
for the first time. Like she could finally see the 
light at the end of the tunnel.

The voice laughed again. "Forever the skeptic, my 
dear. Please don't worry about the whos and hows yet 
- I haven't even told you the next step.  I need to 
get you to a pick up place so you can meet our 
operative. Are you ready?"

Scully nodded in amazement.

"Good. You're heading in the right direction at 
least. Keep on 70 until you hit the I-675 exit and go 
south. Take the North Fairfield Road exit and turn 
left. At the second light, turn left again and pull 
into the T.G.I. Friday's on the right. There will be 
a table reserved for you under Hale, party of six. 
The meal's on us, so please eat. I know you're all 
starving and that boy with you can't live on fast 
food alone." Scully looked at Gibson, having 
forgotten about the other people in the vehicle until 
this very moment. Gibson seemed to sense her thoughts 
and turned to listen with curious ears and mind.

"All right, we're on our way. But wait - how do we 
know this isn't a set up? How do we know you just 
don't want to kill us?" she asked.

The voice sighed. "I suppose you don't know, and I 
suppose there's no real way to prove it to you. I 
understand your fear, but I can only assure you that 
killing you would completely undermine what we've all 
worked so hard for."

"Uh-uh, I need something better than that," Scully 
said, determined to get more than the thin candy 
shell of a story. "Tell me something I don't know."

"Like what?" the voice asked laughingly. "I could 
tell you why you were assigned to the X-Files. Or why 
you were abducted. Or exactly the moment your son was 
conceived."

"What do you know about my son?" she pleaded.

"I know everything about your son. I know everything 
about you. And I know everything about everybody in 
the car with you. Please, Agent Scully, give the 
directions to Agent Doggett so he doesn't miss his 
exit," the voice gently ordered.

Sensing defeat, Scully clicked off the phone and 
relayed the information to Doggett, who saw the exit 
just in time to jump on it. They spent the remainder 
of the trip to the restaurant discussing the 
telephone call and what it all meant.

Part VIII - And what?

T.G.I. Friday's
The Mall at Fairfield Commons
Beavercreek, Ohio

The restaurant was crowded, noisy and smoky for a 
weeknight. The clientele was an eclectic mix of rowdy 
college students, chic twenty- and thirty-somethings, 
and plain ol' families. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) 
there was indeed a table for Hale, party of six, 
ready and waiting for them to occupy it.

They were seated back in the corner of the non-
smoking section, away from most of the hustle and 
bustle, with only one other table close to them. They 
eyed everyone suspiciously, wondering who could be 
the operative assigned to them. When the server came, 
they were forced to give up their cloaks and daggers 
and focused on the menu.

"They said the meal was free?" Reyes asked.

Scully nodded and ordered the Jack Daniels rib 
platter along with a margarita. "Yup, they sure did."

"Who said there's no such thing as a free lunch?" 
Mulder joked, ordering several appetizers for 
everybody first, then the steak and shrimp dinner, 
then a Bloody Mary.

Skinner made a face at Mulder's drink selection and 
ordered a bottle of chardonnay for Doggett, Reyes, 
and himself.

They tried to settle into something resembling 
conversation but were constantly being distracted by 
the other table close to them. A group of six or 
seven women were talking - loudly - about subject 
matter that bordered on inappropriate for a public 
place.

Scully was able to ignore the women until one of them 
asked if anybody had ever been with a man who was 
uncircumcised. This question caused Scully to choke 
on her margarita and Reyes to shoot wine out her 
nose.

Skinner was building up to a full roar and went to 
confront the women when Gibson laid a hand on his arm 
and shook his head. "It's ok, Mr. Skinner. This is 
tame compared to what they're thinking." Skinner 
glared at the women but remained seated, realizing 
that Gibson was probably getting a better sex 
education lesson than any of them had received.

Uncut cocks gave way to a story about a drunken 
misunderstanding. "So I asked the bartender for a 
Malibu, and he kept saying 'and what?' I was like, 
what the fuck? If you don't know how to make the 
fucking drink I'll come back there and make it 
myself."

Doggett looked at Mulder and saw that he was just as 
enraptured with the unfolding of the story, hanging 
on the woman's every word waiting for the punchline. 
She didn't disappoint.

"And so he asked me what came in it and I said 'I 
don't know, something with pineapple juice' and so he 
went to make it and I made sure to watch him this 
time and I about died when he pulled out that white 
bottle of Malibu rum..."

The other table exploded in raucous laughter and 
teased the poor woman who had been too drunk to 
realize that Malibu wasn't the name of a drink. 
Mulder shook in silent laughter as Doggett dragged a 
hand over his face to hide his grin.

The server appeared with their meals and they dug 
into them like wolves tearing into a carcass. Near 
the end of their supper, the table of women got up to 
leave and the obvious disappointment registered in 
Mulder's and Doggett's faces made Scully scowl. 
Especially when one of the women walked past and gave 
Mulder the once over.

"How long are we going to have to wait around here?" 
Scully nearly screeched with jealousy and 
frustration. "We're tired from travelling and we've 
got a boy with us who needs his sleep. This is just 
plain rude."

Everyone looked expectantly at Mulder, as if this was 
all his fault. "I don't know what to tell you. I 
can't imagine they'll keep us waiting long - they're 
watching our every move, you know."

Suddenly their server swooped down out of nowhere and 
started taking plates. "How were everybody's meals? 
Anyone leave room for dessert?"

The groaning and moaning and stomach clutching 
suggested that no, no one left room for dessert.

"All righty, then, I guess not. Sir, here's a note 
for you. Thanks for coming." She turned to leave but 
Mulder grabbed her arm.

"Wait! Who's this note from?" he asked.

The server looked panicked for a moment, then jerked 
out of his grasp. "It's from one of the women at this 
other table. She just left."

"I'll bet it's a goddamned phone number," Scully 
muttered, taking the napkin note from Mulder's hand 
and unfolding it.

"Which woman?" Mulder wanted to know.

At the same time Scully read the message, the server 
looked up and pointed to the huge plate glass window. 
"That one."

Part IX - Crossing Paths

"What's the message say?" Skinner snatched the napkin 
and read: "Come with me, please. We can talk more in 
the truck."

Peering through the window at them was the woman who 
had given Mulder the eye. They joined her at the 
truck and she smiled at everyone. "Hi, I'm Dr. Emma 
McAllister, but you can just call me Emma. I'll be 
escorting you over to the base tonight and making 
sure you've got everything you need. Now, who has the 
keys?"

She moved as she talked, quickly taking off the 
license plates and replacing them with government 
plates. She slapped a Department of Defense 
identification sticker on the front left windshield 
and then held her hand out for the keys.

Before Doggett gave anything over willingly, he 
needed some answers. "Wait just a damn minute here. 
First of all, who are you and where are you taking 
us?"

"I told you, my name is Emma and I'm..."

"I got all that," he interrupted. "But I need a 
little bit more. What base are we going to?"

"Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Happy? Now hand 
over the keys, Agent Doggett," she ordered, a bit 
more forcefully.

He dropped the keys into her outstretched hand and 
clenched his jaw tightly. He was getting mighty sick 
of all this top-secret bullshit. "How do we know 
you're who you are?"

Emma leaned against the truck and looked at them 
wearily. "How does anybody know who they are anymore? 
Let's just say that if I was trying to cause you 
harm, I would have brought a lot more people and a 
lot more guns with me."

"She's right," Gibson stated after a silent millennia 
passed. "I can tell."

Emma patted his head and smiled. "What a good little 
mind reader you turned out to be. The only thing I 
can't figure out is where you got that limp. We'll 
have to fix that, won't we? Let's go - we don't want 
to be late."

As they maneuvered out of the parking lot and into 
traffic, Mulder leaned forward from his seat in the 
back. "Did you say Wright Patterson Air Force Base? 
Why do I know that name?"

Emma smiled at him in the rear view mirror. "Wright 
Patt is where they took the alien bodies after the 
Roswell crash. Quite a bit of the wreckage as well, 
for study and analysis. How do you think the Stealth 
bomber was developed?"

"So what you're telling me is that the military has 
been using alien technology to design and produce 
weapons of destruction?" Skinner asked.

"Sure. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you want to make it 
better? Granted, the motives were a little barbaric, 
but it's worked."

Doggett scoffed at this. "So why isn't our military 
flocked with flying saucers and hovercrafts?"

"Honestly, how do you think this would go over with 
the American people? Especially after the UFO rage 
started up again in the 80's - we can keep secrets, 
but not like that. Besides, we've had some problems 
with the whole cold fusion thing," Emma answered.

"What problems?" Scully said.

"The preliminary prototypes were too difficult to 
control. Plus, there was no cheap and safe way to use 
this energy source. Things have been looking up with 
the latest recovery of a downed craft in the 
Southwest. You wouldn't believe what a difference 
computers make these days."

There was a long pause while wheels churned and 
brains began to plunk the pieces down together. This 
information was well and good, but Mulder was having 
a hard time reconciling the past with the details of 
today.

"How does the Syndicate fit into all of this?" he 
wondered.

Emma laughed as she turned a corner past the Nutter 
Center. "Oh, you're kidding, right? That group of old 
farts? Well, that's not fair. They started this whole 
thing, I suppose. If it hadn't been for that deal 
they struck with the aliens, we might never have 
gotten to this point."

"That deal they struck took my sister away from me 
and my family." Mulder pointed out.

"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry about that, Mr. Mulder. 
I know it doesn't help  to say that they did what 
they thought was right at the time. But I think 
you'll see that things have changed for the better 
since the old regime was obliterated. Most of the 
people working for us now are abductees, anxious to 
turn a bad experience into something that can benefit 
the planet. We're hoping to learn a lot from both of 
your experiences," Emma glanced at Scully in the 
rearview mirror.

"Me?" Scully asked incredulously. "What can you learn 
from me?"

Emma steered the truck into a lot marked "Area B - 
Restricted" and waited patiently at the guard shack 
for entrance. "Do you realize that you are the only 
survivor from the 1994 - 1995 testing period? All the 
other women, like Betsy Hagopian and Penny Northern, 
died from the same inoperable brain cancer you were 
once diagnosed with. You're a very special lady."

"They gave me that cancer to make Mulder believe in 
the lies," Scully insisted.

"No one *gave* you that cancer. You took out the 
original implant and that's when you got it. Mulder 
found the other chip, you had it put back in, and 
that's when you went into remission."

An armed guard finally appeared in Emma's open 
window, smiling when he saw her. "Didn't recognize 
your wheels, Em. Who's with ya? Is it family day at 
the facility again?" he joked.

She chuckled as she signed in. "As family as it gets 
around here. Can you notify the Colonel that our 
guests have arrived?"

The guard took the clipboard from her and saluted. 
"Yes, ma'am. Right away."

The blockade was lifted and Emma started into the 
base, driving down an unmarked, unlighted road. "I 
hope you enjoy your rooms. We've tried to make them 
as nice as possible for your stay here. There's a 
full service restaurant, a gym, and a pool for your 
use. And hey Gibson - there's a lounge with a big 
screen TV and Playstation for you, too."

Gibson nodded his head and almost smiled. They had 
all forgotten about his presence, but thank goodness 
someone had remembered. "So what is your part in 
this?" Reyes asked Emma. "I noticed the guard 
saluted. Are you military?"

"No, I'm employed by the government, just like the 
rest of you. Right now, all you need to know is that 
I am here for you, to make sure you get everything 
you need or want. I know you have a million 
questions, and while I could answer most of them, 
it's best to wait until you meet the Colonel. He's in 
charge of this project."

She parked the truck in front of several dimly 
lighted industrial buildings, none of them with any 
identifying marks or signs. She turned in her seat to 
address them. "Before we go inside, I need to lay 
down a few basic ground rules. Please remember that 
this is a military base. All military laws and 
regulations apply. In the beginning you will only 
have access to certain parts of the complex - use it 
responsibly."

"Wait a minute," Mulder reached out and grabbed 
Emma's wrist before she exited. "What if we don't 
cooperate? What if we don't want to be tested on or 
learned from anymore?"

"Then we'll let you go back to life on the run, with 
absolutely no more answers to your questions and with 
the possibility of capture. You are all wanted by the 
FBI, for one reason or another. Besides," she smiled 
slyly, "your cooperation will be rewarded."

Mulder released her arm and looked back at the rest 
of them. Scully gave him a slight nod and opened her 
door, willing to at least give this a chance and 
daring them not to comply.

~*~*~

BEGIN EPISODE IV

Part X - Trust No One?

They followed Emma through a maze of tunnels and 
hallways until they reached a set of elevators. 
"You'll be on the third floor. That's nothing but 
staff quarters. The floor we came in on and the 
second floor is mainly administrative offices. Once 
you get settled into your rooms I'll show you around 
the rest of the place."

The elevator opened onto a lavishly decorated 
hallway, reminiscent of a fine, five star luxury 
hotel. "Wow, nice digs," Doggett commented as they 
walked.

"We certainly try. This was done mostly at the 
request of the staff who live here year-round. I 
think it was modeled after the Four Seasons. All 
right, here's your wing. We sectioned you off from 
the others so you might get some rest. Occasionally 
the other wings of the floor resemble a frat house, 
so let me know if things get too noisy." Emma 
produced six keys in her hand. "I didn't know if 
everyone wanted their own rooms - my briefing didn't 
include sleeping arrangements."

Skinner and Gibson both took their own keys and 
waited for everyone else. Mulder put his hands in his 
pockets and shuffled around, looking uncomfortable.

"Oh, for God's sake, Mulder, they all know you 
knocked me up so what's the use in pretending 
anymore?" Scully huffed and took a single key for her 
and Mulder.

This left three keys and two people. After a moment 
of uneasy silence, Reyes boldly stepped forward and 
took a key. "One key for us, thanks."

Skinner and Mulder stared at the two agents while 
Scully smirked. "What is it about that office?" 
Skinner muttered under his breath.

All Emma could do was crack up laughing at the 
situation. "Oh, you guys are priceless. No one cares 
who you sleep with around here."

The demeanor of the group softened a bit and Skinner 
even managed to smile. "Atta boy, Skinner," Emma 
chucked his arm gently with her fist. "I'll leave you 
all to freshen up and then I'll be back to take you 
down to the Colonel. My room number is 314 if you 
need anything." She backed away from them, gave a 
half-wave, then disappeared around a corner.

Mulder and Scully unlocked their door and stepped 
into the room, taking a moment to admire the 
furnishings. The wallpaper was cream with an 
inconspicuous burgundy and pink pattern, and the 
floor was covered with a rich burgundy carpet. The 
two large windows were outfitted with shades and 
drapes the same shade as the carpet. There was a 
small sitting area with a recliner and a sofa 
arranged around an entertainment center, loaded with 
a state of the art sound system and TV with DVD 
player.

Scully went to investigate the bathroom and gave a 
squeal of delight when she saw the exquisite black 
marble whirlpool tub with brass fixtures. Mulder 
rushed in to see what was the matter.

"I think I'm in heaven," she said breathlessly.

"What, you didn't like our accommodations in New 
Mexico?"

She shot him the eyebrow and he grinned. "Come check 
out the bed."

"Are you propositioning me?"

"Not yet."

They walked out to the bed, a huge mahogany 
monstrosity complete with four posters and a canopy. 
"Please don't tell me there's a mirror on the 
ceiling," Scully said.

"Unfortunately they left out that little detail." 
Mulder sat on the bed and patted the mattress next to 
him. "Come, sit. We need to regroup."

She joined him and leaned against his shoulder. 
"Mulder, I'm totally overwhelmed by everything. I'm 
not sure what to think."

"Do you trust this?"

"Do you?" she asked. "Are you getting any vibes from 
this?"

"I don't know. God, I just don't know. Everything is 
so tempting. It seems truly legit."

"It does, but I can't help thinking that these people 
were in on it too. All the abductions, the cloning, 
the hybrid trials, everything the Syndicate had their 
slimy paws on. It's partly their fault."

Mulder laid back against the plump throw pillows and 
nestled Scully into his arms. "Deep Throat once told 
me that things are not always as they appear."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we have two options, Scully. Either we stay 
here and become part of the new and improved Project 
and save the world, or we leave and strike out on our 
own. We can go get William, maybe find a small, 
unassuming town and settle down."

She craned her neck to look at him, not really sure 
how to answer. "Are you saying that you don't trust 
this? You've giving me some mixed signals here. What 
do you want?"

"I want - oh, I want so many things. I want our son 
back. I want to live a normal life with the two of 
you. That's just the tip of the iceberg. But to be 
honest, there's a small part of me that is curious 
enough to stay and find out what these people know." 
He snuggled her closer and dropped a kiss on her 
head.

Scully wrapped an arm and a leg around him and held 
on tight. "I would like to know too, but not at the 
expense of William and the chance to raise him. So 
what do we do?"

"Meet this Colonel guy, get briefed, then split if 
we're still unsure. I mean, they really haven't told 
us anything we didn't either already know or couldn't 
guess. If I'm not convinced by tonight, I'm out of 
here."

"Mulder, how are we going to leave? This is a 
military base, remember? They could easily track us 
down and make us come back."

"Well, I was figuring that we would take the 
Expedition. It's got those government plates and ID 
sticker, so no one would really question it."

She snorted. "Whaddya gonna do, hot wire the thing?"

He laughed and shook his head. "I still have the 
second set of keys in one of the bags."

"If I've never said it before, let me say it now: 
you're a goddamned genius."

A knock sounded on the door and Mulder rose to answer 
it. "Hey, it's our bags."

"Thank God," she mumbled from the bed. "I want to 
change out of this damn suit. No more suits."

Part XI - The Colonel

Mulder and Scully cleaned up and changed into more 
comfortable clothes to wait for Emma. When she showed 
up, they joined the rest of the group and rode the 
elevator to the basement, where Emma unplugged a 
large golf cart and invited everyone to climb on.

"Where's Gibson?" Skinner asked.

"He's sleeping. He doesn't really need to be here for 
this, and he knows the Colonel anyway." Emma 
answered.

"Where are we going?" Reyes wondered as they drove 
the cart through drab gray tunnels.

"The research facilities are all subterranean, almost 
a mile away from the main building. Everyone uses 
golf carts for transportation, and should you decide 
to stay you'll each get your own."

"What do you know about the Colonel?" Doggett said.

Emma smiled. "Colonel Benjamin McAllister, Air Force. 
Retired after twenty years of impeccable service to 
work in the private research sector. Named head of 
Project Alpha Omega three years ago. Father of three 
year old Duncan and one year old Lauren. Intelligent, 
hard-working, and loyal to a fault."

"Seems like you know him well." Skinner commented.

"He's my husband, sir. No one knows him better," Emma 
responded.

"How did you meet?" Scully asked.

"He was my instructor at Wright State and recommended 
me to his superiors for the project. We've worked 
together for ten years and have been married five. It 
was a great honor for him to be named head of the 
project."

Mulder was trying to familiarize himself with his 
surroundings, finding it difficult since the 
labyrinth of tunnels was nearly identical to one 
another. "How did he get involved in the project?"

"During his service he was a test pilot. According to 
him he was abducted right out of his plane, taken 
aboard a craft and experimented on. When he awoke he 
was back in the cockpit of the plane, about to crash 
into the side of a mountain. He ejected just in time. 
When the Air Force found out about his experience, 
they recruited him for the project and he's been 
there ever since," Emma answered.

"'According to him'?" Mulder countered.

Emma paused a moment before continuing. "Yes, that is 
his account of his experience."

"I take it you don't believe what happened to him," 
Mulder pushed.

"I never said that. I told you that most of the 
people in the project are abductees. Well, I'm not. I 
don't share that experience with them, and I don't 
pretend to know or understand what they went 
through."

"What's your specialty?" Scully asked softly, trying 
to take the edge off the direction the conversation 
had turned.

"Biology; specifically, immunology. I work on the 
virus and the vaccine." She pulled the cart up to a 
set of double doors and plugged it back in. Then she 
swiped a keycard through the reader and opened the 
door, ushering them all inside.

They walked past lab after lab, full of medical 
equipment and computers and other apparatus used for 
analyzing test results. Personnel were scattered here 
and there, mostly hunched over computer screens and 
printouts, marking statistics with red pens.

"Here we are," Emma announced, stopping in front of 
an office marked PRIVATE. The "private" had a black 
line drawn through it and a new handwritten sign hung 
beside it saying COLONEL. Emma knocked once, then 
went on inside.

They passed through a small waiting area that looked 
barely used. "It's not like the other offices. He's 
really never in here, except when he needs some peace 
and quiet," Emma explained.

"Honey, 'zat you?" a deep voice boomed from the other 
room.

"Yes, it's me. Or should I say, us."

The man they assumed was the Colonel appeared in the 
doorway. Colonel Benjamin McAllister was all of six 
foot six, 285 pounds, and loomed over everyone in the 
room, including Skinner. His white hair was in the 
standard military crewcut, but his big grin and merry 
blue eyes detracted from his intimidating stature and 
welcomed them in. "As I live and breathe," he said, 
kissing his wife first before extending a hand to his 
guests.

Mulder immediately recognized him as the Voice from 
the bizarre phone call from earlier. "Sir," he said 
crisply.

"Fox Mulder, it's a pleasure to meet you. All of you. 
Now, sit, sit, make yourself comfortable. Anyone need 
a drink? Coffee, water, soda, beer?" he asked as he 
pumped everyone's hands in greeting.

They all found seats in the Colonel's office and 
settled in. The walls were covered in photos of UFOs 
and aliens, some amateurishly grainy and some clearly 
drawn from satellite footage. The desk, however, was 
adorned with gorgeous color photos of the Colonel's 
family, and Scully couldn't help but be drawn to the 
pictures of one year old Lauren.

"That's our daughter, Lauren," the Colonel said. 
"She's going to be walking soon, I fear. I can just 
see her toddling through this place, terrorizing the 
staff, much like our son does now."

Scully smiled stiffly. "She's adorable."

"You'll be able to see them tomorrow. I'm sorry to 
keep you up so late, but it's imperative that I brief 
you before we get started. Are you ready for the 
story of the century?" he asked.

The group nodded, anxious for the proceedings to 
begin.

Part XII - The Story of the Century

"Gosh, I'm not even sure where to begin. I guess at 
the beginning. In 1947 we recovered a downed UFO near 
Roswell, New Mexico. Our military was in possession 
of this craft and its occupants, locked away here in 
a storage area until the mid 1960's, when members of 
the Department of Defense and the State Department 
became interested in its implications. Once we pulled 
it out of storage and began testing on it, the group 
you've come to know as the Syndicate was formed to 
oversee the research. This group included your 
father, Mr. Mulder, as you know by now.

"Unbeknownst to us, the tests performed on the craft 
sent a distress signal to the aliens who contacted us 
with their plans of colonization. A deal was made, 
exchanging the Syndicate's family members for the 
technology to create alien/human hybrids who would 
survive colonization as a slave race. What the aliens 
also unwittingly provided was the means to save 
ourselves by using their genetic material to make a 
vaccine against the virus they would use to begin 
colonization."

"Our scientists began the hybridization trials and 
started on the vaccine as well. At the same time, 
aliens were also working on hybridization. It was a 
race to see who would come up with the one with the 
best chance of survival. You've seen their work - 
Knowle Rohrer was one of their hybrids, more alien 
than human. Except that their one weakness was the 
magnetite, due in part to the alien susceptibility to 
the substance. Naturally, the aliens used more of 
their DNA to create hybrids while we used more of 
ours, making human made hybrids susceptible to just 
about anything we can die from: gunshot wounds, knife 
stabs, you name it. It's just that if they survive, 
they heal faster and suffer no long term 
repercussions."

"It took so long for any real progress to be made 
that we had to keep this secret; hence the need for 
the 'conspiracy against the American people' that 
seems to be a prevalent idea among conspiracy 
theorists."

Mulder held his hand up to interrupt. "So you're 
saying that there is a conspiracy, correct?"

The Colonel laughed. "Of course I am. Tell me, Mr. 
Mulder, what do you think would happen if the general 
public learned of not only the existence of 
extraterrestrials but their plans for invading our 
planet? The secrecy involved was not to harm but to 
protect our people."

"That's not for you to decide," Mulder retorted.

"Yes, I do believe it is. You and Agent Scully only 
scratched the surface during your time on the x-
files. A damn fine job, I might add, given your lack 
of contacts and limited resources. What held you back 
was your personal vestment. You didn't stop looking 
for your sister and blaming your father long enough 
to think about why it had all happened. All you knew 
was that your sister had been taken away from you. I 
know it was a traumatic experience, one that no boy 
should ever have to go through, but I hope that 
you're starting to see the bigger picture."

Scully interrupted this time. "And what exactly *is* 
the bigger picture, sir?"

The Colonel smiled and directed his words at her. 
"Colonization of the Earth, Agent Scully, and how 
we're going to prevent that."

"And just how do you propose we stop colonization?" 
Skinner asked. "That seems like such a massive 
undertaking."

The Colonel nodded. "It is, believe me. We've got the 
technology - that was almost the easy part, once we 
found the right formula for the vaccine. We've 
modified it since the first batch was tested in '97. 
It worked then, amazingly enough, or else Mulder and 
Scully wouldn't be sitting here with us. They were 
both exposed to the virus and then cured with the 
vaccine developed by our Russian counterparts. That 
is what makes the two of you so incredibly important 
to our project," he smiled in their direction.

"Why is that?" Doggett said.

"It doesn't take a scientist to understand the basic 
workings of vaccine, Agent Doggett," Emma stated. 
"When someone is given a vaccine, say for polio or 
MMR, they're actually given some of the live virus so 
our immune system knows what to fight against. That's 
how we become immune to a particular strain of 
disease. Essentially, Mulder and Scully are immune to 
the alien virus. They are, in fact, human/alien 
hybrids."

The impact of Emma's revelation stunned them all into 
silence; nobody could find the words to question or 
refute this information. Fortunately, the Colonel 
spoke again before things got too uncomfortable.

"Do you see now why your presence here is vital to 
our research? We've all been vaccinated, of course, 
but no one has ever gone through the act of actually 
being infected with the virus and then cured with the 
vaccine. We couldn't justify losing valuable staff to 
that kind of testing. Thankfully, the Russians did in 
their Tunguskan gulags," he snorted cynically.

"So what would you want from us? It seems that you 
have it all under control," Mulder asked.

"Blood, mainly, just to see how the levels of the 
vaccine have changed over time. We'll probably want 
to revaccinate with the new serum to make sure you 
get the recommended daily allowance of magnetite," 
Emma said.

"I'm sorry, I still don't understand this," Skinner 
interrupted. "Before I commit to anything, I want to 
know the extent of your relationship with this 
Syndicate; specifically, that CGB Spender character."

The Colonel sighed and his shoulders drooped. "We 
*are* the Syndicate, at least the part of the Project 
that provided data to the Elders so they could make 
decisions. I know Spender was somewhat of a loose 
cannon and had some dubious methods of keeping the 
Project under wraps. But remember that these guys 
came from the early days of conspiracy, when 
Communism was at its peak and everyone was kept in 
line with lies and intimidation."

"Even though they made the deal with the aliens, they 
truly believed that they could thwart colonization 
with the vaccine. They sacrificed their families, 
their conscience, their lives, for the good of the 
Project," Emma added.

"THEY sacrificed?" Mulder shouted, enraged by the 
glowing admiration of the seedy Syndicate members. 
"What about us? What about what we've sacrificed at 
the hands of those motherfuckers? What about Scully, 
huh? And Skinner? And now Doggett and Reyes?" He 
gritted his teeth and looked straight at the Colonel. 
"What about us?"

"I'm sorry," the Colonel said, his eyes welling up 
with tears. "I wish I could change all of it, but I 
can't. For years I worked under these men and stood 
by and watched as women were paraded in here to be 
tested on. I participated in the cloning trials and 
watched as they destroyed the rejects, the hideously 
disfigured beings that had no chance of survival. I 
watched, hoping that things would get better, that we 
would be able to work without the fear of being 
executed hanging over our heads, but it never did 
until the Elders were gone." He covered his face with 
his hands and shook with silent sobs.

Emma immediately went to his side and drew him into 
an embrace, giving Mulder an icy glare. "We're all 
guilty of standing by and watching, but you have to 
understand we were never in control. We believed in 
the good that this Project could accomplish, but 
never in the manner in which some things were carried 
out. Fortunately, not everyone in control was 
corrupt. We were able to sneak some of the vaccine 
out with one of the Elders so Agent Scully could be 
saved. As you know, Mulder, that man was killed for 
helping you."

Mulder looked away and managed to feel a bit contrite 
in spite of his anger. "Still, you sit here and admit 
to your involvement with the Syndicate and expect us 
to side with you after everything we've been 
through?"

The Colonel fished in his pocket for a handkerchief 
and blew his nose. "No, I guess not when you put it 
that way," he smiled regretfully. "But I'd like for 
you to give us a chance. The Project is different 
now. After the Elders died, I was put in charge and 
immediately changed our m.o. There was no way we 
could save the planet and continue to employ the same 
Nazi-like methods as before. We've all sacrificed, 
Mr. Mulder, and I'm doing my damnedest to somehow 
make it worthwhile in the end."

Feeling as if there were nothing else to say, the 
Colonel bid everyone goodbye and ushered them out of 
the office. Emma drove them back to the elevators and 
they trudged back to their rooms for some badly-
needed rest.

~*~*~

BEGIN EPISODE V

Part XIII - On the Road Again

By the time breakfast was served in the dining room, 
Mulder and Scully were an hour east of Des Moines.

"Ah ha! I've got it!" Scully said triumphantly as she 
scrolled down a webpage.

"What did you hack into?" Mulder asked incredulously.

"The District of Columbia's public records database. 
We filed the adoption under false names in case 
somebody was looking for William. Skinner was right - 
he is in Wyoming with a family named Van De Kamp."

They stopped in Rapid City, South Dakota to rest and 
eat before crossing the border, choosing to move 
under cover of darkness in case someone recognized 
them. According to the FBI website, Mulder was still 
a wanted man for the death of Knowle Rohrer.

Driving down the dirt road that would lead them to 
the Van De Kamp's home, they discussed how to get 
William back.

"You never signed the adoption papers, Mulder. The 
agreement is technically null and void."

"But does the name on the papers match the name on 
the birth certificate? I mean, can we just waltz 
right in there and take him?"

"He was born and adopted under William Hale, son of 
George and Katherine Hale. Those are the names on our 
current IDs, so I don't see what the problem would 
be."

Mulder chewed his lip while he navigated the potholed 
lane. Suddenly, bright lights appeared in the 
rearview mirror, nearly blinding him. 

Scully turned around in the seat to see who was 
behind them. "Mulder, I thought you said that no one 
followed you here."

"No one did! Honest to God there wasn't anyone for 
miles when we turned off the main road."

"Well, they're gaining on us. Drive faster!"

Mulder pushed harder on the gas pedal and the 
speedometer crept up steadily. "Scully?" he said, 
beginning to panic.

"There's the house! Pull in!"

The truck slid into the gravel driveway and Mulder 
barely put it in park before they jumped out and ran 
toward the house. "William!" he called.

"William!" Scully yelled as they reached the darkened 
house. "William! Oh my God, Mulder, this isn't the 
house. It's completely abandoned!"

From their position on the porch, they could see a 
constant stream of cars coming down the lane, 
surrounding them with blazing beams of light. Scully 
turned to go through the house and out the back, but 
was stopped by a familiar face.

Billy Miles.

Part XIV - A Little Help from Our Friend

"Mulder!" she screamed, pulling out her gun and 
unloading a whole clip into Billy as he continued to 
stagger towards her.

Mulder was frozen. "Shit!" He had the enemy on both 
sides and didn't know where to start first.

"Mulder, help me! There's more of them. They're all 
in the house!" Scully was aiming bullet after 
ineffective bullet at the supersoldiers coming for 
them. Mulder was spurred into action by her command 
and turned away from the cars and starting shooting.

Just as they emptied their last clip, a voice called 
to them in the dark. "Mulder, Scully! This way!"

Mulder looked to his left and saw Frohike motioning 
them into the dense patch of woods. 

"Come on, there's not much time! Grab Scully and 
run!" Frohike pleaded. 

Mulder took Scully by the shoulder and forced her to 
go with him. She stopped short when she saw Frohike. 
"Frohike?" she said.

"Now, Agent Scully! Let's go!" 

As they dodged Billy Miles' lethal right arm, a 
bullet whizzed by their heads and sunk into Billy's 
chest. He began to vibrate and then exploded in a 
cloud of metallic dust. Soon, a multitude of bullets 
came from the direction of the cars that had followed 
Mulder and Scully. Supersoldiers were disintegrating 
all around them.

Mulder and Scully ran after Frohike, who was leading 
them away from the firefight. "Frohike? Is it really 
you?" Scully panted.

"You can't keep running," he answered, brushing aside 
low-hanging branches and hopping over tree roots. 
"You've got to go back to Ohio."

"Melvin, those people who followed us - who are 
they?" Mulder asked.

They reached a clearing and Frohike finally stopped 
to look at them. Even in the dark with only the moon 
to illuminate him, Scully could tell he wasn't of 
this earth. She dropped her gun and raised shaky 
hands to cover her mouth.

Frohike smiled. "Those people are friends, Mulder. If 
you trust anyone, trust me."

A rustle of leaves drew their attention away, and 
when they turned back, Frohike was gone. "Mulder! 
Scully! There you are!"

Emma appeared where Frohike had just been standing. 
"I thought you had been hit. I'm so glad you're all 
right. Come on - we've got a car waiting."

"Wait!" Scully cried out. "Where are we going?"

Emma walked closer to them, cautiously, as if she 
were a hostage negotiator. "Back to the base - it's 
the safest place."

"Why should we go with you?" Mulder asked warily.

"Because we have your son."

Part XV - A Ray of Hope

They returned to Wright Patt that night by private 
jet. The briefing, or rather, the chewing out they 
received from the Colonel made Mulder feel like he 
was a kid again. 

"What on earth made you think that you could fight 
those supersoldiers with just your Bureau-issue guns? 
Of all the crazy-assed..." He shut up when Emma 
entered the room and shooed him out.

"I'm sorry," she apologized as she sat down at the 
table with them. "He's just upset. We all were when 
we found out you had left."

Scully held her hand up. "Don't try to make us feel 
guilty about this, because we're not. You said you 
have William - where is he?"

"He's safe and probably asleep by now. Before I tell 
you anything, I need to explain something. This was 
your first and last chance. We are not going to force 
you to do anything, but there will be benefits to 
joining us that you wouldn't receive otherwise. If 
you decide to leave again, you will be completely on 
your own. There will be no more information and 
certainly no more rescues. I could tell you where 
William is but you would face the risk of running 
into supersoldiers regardless of where you went. 
Please understand that we're not blackmailing you 
with your son. We are as committed to protecting him 
as you are."

Mulder grimaced. "And if we choose to join your 
Project?"

"We'll send for William right away - he could be here 
as early as tomorrow evening. There's more but I'm 
sure that's the only perk you're really interested in 
anyway. I wouldn't want you to make this decision 
lightly. We'll be having a staff meeting tomorrow 
morning where you'll learn a little more about what 
we do. I can take you on a better tour of the 
facilities so you can see for yourself what we've 
accomplished. As much as you don't want to believe 
me, or you're afraid to believe me, we're on your 
side."

"What kind of experiments would you want to run on 
us?" Scully asked.

"Like I said before, we just want to take some blood 
to check the level of the vaccine."

"Is that all?" 

"Unless you agreed to more, then yes, that would be 
all. The only other procedure we would want to 
perform would be an intrauterine dye test, just to 
see what's going on inside you, Agent Scully." Emma 
answered.

Before Mulder could stage a protest, Scully nodded 
her head. "If it gets William back safe and sound, 
I'll do it. I'd like to see your research and what 
you've been able to do with the vaccine."

"Are you sure, Scully? You're willing to do this?" 
Mulder questioned.

She turned and looked at him, raising her fingertips 
to his lips and smiled. "For William and for you, I'm 
willing to do anything."

"Stay right there," Emma ordered as she rose from her 
chair. "I've got a little something for you." She 
left the room and returned a few moments later with a 
laptop.

"What's this?" Mulder wondered.

"You'll see." She opened the lid and moved the cursor 
until the monitor flashed on. Against the vivid 
background of the DoD seal, they could see a small 
window with a night vision image on it. "There's your 
boy."

Scully struggled to make out the outline of William 
under his blanket. "Is that really him?" she 
whispered. The baby moved and the camera caught his 
profile perfectly, revealing the tiny rosebud mouth 
and the distinctive nose.

"Oh my god," Mulder breathed. "It's our baby." He 
reached out and gently, reverently touched the 
screen.

"Hold on," Emma punched a few keys and the image was 
enlarged. A few more keystrokes to focus, and 
suddenly it was like having him in the room.

"Where is he?"

"Newfoundland, with some friends of the Project. He 
was moved there shortly after being sent to the Van 
De Kamps. Jack Van De Kamp is an old pilot buddy of 
Ben's and was happy to watch William for a while. We 
deliberately abandoned their house in Wyoming to 
throw the supersoldiers off his scent and it worked 
for the most part. What we can't figure out is why 
they waited around for the two of you."

"How did you kill them?"

Emma smirked. "Magnetite bullets. Beautiful, huh? OK, 
sorry to cut this short, but we all need to get some 
sleep. Say nighty night to Sleeping Beauty."

Mulder and Scully kissed the screen and murmured 
sweet dreams to William before Emma cut the 
connection and closed the laptop.

~*~*~

BEGIN EPISODE VI

Part XVI - Bad Company  (NC-17)

After being shown back to their room, Scully soaked 
in a hot bubble bath, relaxing and enjoying herself 
in the luxurious amenities. Mulder was out in the 
bedroom, a towel wrapped around his waist, examining 
his body in the mirror.

"Wanna listen to some music, Scully?" he called, 
flexing his arms to check out his muscle tone. Scully 
would die if she saw him preening.

"Sure - what's on tap?"

He headed over to the entertainment system and turned 
on the stereo receiver. "Emma suggested a good 
classic rock station. You interested?"

"Sounds good."

Turning the radio to the appropriate station, he went 
back to checking his body for any major flaws. His 
nose was still big and that damn mole was still 
there. Aside from that and all the scars, he didn't 
think he looked too bad for a forty-year-old guy.

A familiar guitar riff rippled through the speakers 
and Scully hollered at him to turn it up. He chuckled 
but raised the volume a tick. "I would have never 
pegged you for a Hendrix fan, Scully."

"I'm not, per se, but I like 'All Along the 
Watchtower.'"

Mulder struck a bodybuilding pose in the mirror and 
growled. "Speak to me, Jimi!"

Scully merely giggled a reply, oblivious to the macho 
posturing going on outside the bathroom.

Now he was going through his hair, like a monkey's 
grooming, to see if he found any stray grey hairs. He 
ran his fingers through, making the hair stand 
straight up, then smoothing it down again, wondering 
if he should let it grow longer. Scully had seemed to 
like it but he had gotten too many 90210 cracks from 
everyone else.

Jimi stopped speaking and the song morphed into 
another classic song, this time with a heavier, more 
pronounced beat, making Mulder stop his priming.

"Well, what do you know?" he asked his reflection, 
puffing his chest out and beating on it like Tarzan. 
Adopting his sultriest look, he sauntered into the 
bathroom to the rhythm of the song and kneeled down 
next to the bathtub where Scully lay with closed 
eyes.

"Scully," he sang, "when I think about you, I think 
about love."

Scully's eyes flew open and a look of distress 
crossed her features. Mulder's singing voice was 
something of a cross between the most nasal country 
vocalist and a parrot's squawk, so whenever he 
attempted to sing to her, she tended to recoil in 
fear of a window shattering.

Unfortunately, he continued. "Darlin', gonna live 
without you and your love/If I had those golden 
dreams of my yesterday/I would wrap you in the 
heavens/And feel it dying (dying, dying) all the 
way."

He stood up and grabbed a bottle of shampoo for a 
microphone, preparing for his big moment. The guitars 
rang out and the drums boomed, setting him up for the 
chorus.

"Feel like makin' love!" With every crash of the 
cymbals, he thrust his hips toward her, and her 
distress melted away in a fit of snorts and belly 
laughs. He yelled his way through the chorus, very 
much off-key, and then knelt down beside her once 
again to clinch the deal. "Feel like makin' love to 
you," he spoke this time, low and throaty, the timbre 
of his voice going straight to her veins and warming 
her body.

Mulder wrapped her in a towel as she exited the tub, 
then in a rush of romantic excitement, swept her off 
her feet into his arms and walked them over to the 
bed. He flopped her on top of the covers and yanked 
the towel out from under her to admire her.

"Mulder! Give that back! I'm wet," she demanded.

He licked his lips. "I certainly hope so."

"Oh God," she murmured, seeing the savage look in his 
eyes as he drunk in the sight of her naked body. He 
discarded his own towel and crawled on the bed so 
that their heads were even.

"I've missed you so much," he said, leaving barely-
there kisses all over her face and neck.

A firestorm of desire and emotion flooded her body, 
her usual initial reaction to his touches and kisses, 
only this time it was almost unbearable. She wondered 
if she would survive the foreplay.

She opened her legs, cradling him as he continued to 
leave kisses down her chest and over her breasts. 
"You missed me enough to seduce me with Bad Company? 
I'm touched," she teased breathlessly as his mouth 
discovered a long-neglected nipple.

"Would the lady rather have poetry?" he mumbled 
around his busy tongue.

"Oh, I don't care," she moaned as he sunk lower down 
her body.

"I think that I shall never see," a kiss to her 
bellybutton, "a woman as lovely as my Scully," a kiss 
to her pubic hair before diving in to taste her.

"Mulder!" she cried, rising up from the mattress to 
tangle her fingers in his hair. "Not too much, I'm 
sensitive," she pleaded with him.

He licked and nibbled a while, avoiding her clit, but 
when she emitted a particularly tortured moan, he 
swiped his tongue from her hole up to her clit and 
sucked heartily. Her legs immediately closed around 
him and squeezed his head, making him grunt and pull 
away.

"Jesus, are you trying to kill me here?" he accused, 
rubbing his nose where it had ground into her pubic 
bone.

"I could ask the same of you," she retorted. "Lay 
beside me."

He laid down and she honed in on his swollen penis, 
cupping his balls in one hand while the other hand 
slid up and down his shaft.

"Hello, old friend. Did you miss me?" she asked it, 
leaning in to lick away the drops of fluid leaking 
from the head.

"Scully," he said through gritted teeth, "I am 
perilously close to the point of no return here. What 
say we get on with the show, huh? I've been dying to 
be inside you."

She understood his urgency, feeling it surge within 
her as well, and resumed her supine position. 
Suddenly he was on his knees, between her thighs, 
looming ominously above her, and in one swift move he 
was inside her.

Her breath left her in a rush and she instinctively 
wrapped her legs around him, holding him close. "Oh 
God, I've missed you too, Mulder," she gasped.

"Christ, my god you feel so good. This is 
incredible," he replied, taking long, deep strokes, 
touching her very core.

The song on the radio changed and an angelic choir 
began to sing, making Scully chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Mulder grunted, quickening the 
pace in response to her internal muscles squeezing 
him.

"Promise you'll play this at my funeral, OK?" she 
said.

He didn't get it at first, then when the song broke 
into the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You 
Want", he laughed along with her. "You're 
delightfully morbid, Agent Scully," he declared, 
kissing her passionately.

"Besides," he persisted, rising up on his knees and 
drawing her closer, "you're never going to die, 
remember? We're gonna be heroes, the saviors of the 
world, immortalized forever through words and 
pictures and songs, carried down to every 
generation."

"You're so full of yourself," she panted, slamming 
her hips against his, meeting him thrust for thrust.

"No, you're full of myself," he leered at her, 
increasing the speed and the velocity of his 
penetration.

Scully groaned, unable to keep up the witty repartee 
as her body was propelled toward a magnificent 
orgasm. Through the haze and the ringing in her ears, 
she heard Mulder shout and then empty himself into 
her, completing the circle of love.

Drowsy and definitely ready for some post-nookie 
snuggling, Mulder rolled to the side and pulled the 
bedspread back, nudging Scully into climbing under 
the covers. He gathered her in his arms and held her 
as they both let the tears of joy and release fall 
unfettered.

Part XVII - Willfully Participating in a Campaign of 
Information 

The next morning they reunited with Reyes and Doggett 
at breakfast and shared a golf cart over to the 
briefing room. The noise in the room was like that of 
a rowdy high school classroom. As they walked in, an 
intricately folded paper airplane grazed Mulder's 
head and crashed into the wall behind him. He looked 
around at the group of scientists and wondered when 
he had gotten so old.

But once the group noticed them, they immediately 
shut up and straightened ties and lab coats and ran 
fingers through unruly hair. The Colonel walked in 
almost on their heels and was surprised to see his 
staff already quieted down. He was used to beginning 
every briefing by telling them to shut the hell up or 
he was requesting liver and onions for supper that 
night in the cafeteria.

"What'd you do to them?" he asked Emma.

She shrugged. "Just threatened them with your western 
tour video."

The group snickered, then fell silent as the Colonel 
turned his death glare on them before chuckling as 
well.

"As long as it worked. Now, are we all here? Where's 
Waldo?"

Scully thought the Colonel was merely being silly, 
talking about an inside joke. But the more furious he 
grew, the more confused Scully became.

"Goddammit, why can't that boy make it here on time?" 
the Colonel fumed. "Anyone see him at breakfast this 
morning?"

Everyone shook their heads, and as the Colonel turned 
to the wall-mounted intercom, a young man with dark 
hair skidded into the room and slunk into a chair.

Strangely enough, he was wearing a red and white 
striped shirt.

"What's wrong, Waldo? You get lost again?" the 
Colonel asked. "Dr. Walden Kent, our newest member. 
He's still having a bit of trouble finding his way 
around the facility," he explained to Scully and the 
rest. "Now why don't you find seats and get 
comfortable because we need to hear some status 
reports. It'll be painless, I promise."

"All right, who's first?" he addressed the group. 
"Intelligence, we haven't heard anything from you for 
a while. Oh, and when you give your reports, please 
introduce yourselves for our guests. Then we'll 
return the favor."

A middle-aged, blonde haired man walked to the front 
of the room and laid some papers on the podium. "I'm 
Dr. Sheldon Winters. There's not much to report, sir. 
Only one blip in the Middle East but our people say 
it was just some night maneuvers by the Navy. All 
known ships are still in position with no activity 
recorded. The recovery team in Nepal is still 
snowbound, but we were able to airlift them enough 
supplies to last until the storm is expected to stop. 
That's all."

A young woman was next. "Dr. Maureen O'Meara, 
Domestic Command Front. Vials of the vaccine have 
been distributed to all known abductee detaining 
locations for the returned. We've dispatched medical 
personnel to each site for documenting the effects. 
Only three sites have sent back information, sir. The 
vaccine seems to be working."

"How many cases, Mo?" the Colonel asked.

"Seventeen as of last week. The abductees are 
returned almost dead, but the vaccine seems to 
revitalize them within twenty-four hours. There's no 
sign of the virus within seventy-two hours."

The group breathed a sigh of relief. "Amazing, Mo. 
That's fantastic. Make sure you do some follow up 
calls to the other sites that haven't checked in yet. 
I want to know what's going on," the Colonel 
instructed. "Who's next? Oh, how 'bout R & D - my 
favorite division," he winked dramatically at Emma, 
who rolled her eyes and made her way to the front.

"If you don't know me by now then we've got a 
problem. I just received word this morning that all 
our government labs have finally signed on to produce 
the vaccine in mass quantities. The European and 
Asian labs have been in production for a little over 
a month now and look to be finished sometime in late 
August. Just last week we signed on South America, 
Australia, and Canada. We're still working on getting 
Africa to comply, but we're in talks with an Egyptian 
lab who seems to be interested in helping."

Scully raised her hand. "What has been the problem 
getting labs to produce the vaccine?"

"Mainly it's been lack of adequate facilities. We've 
had to update several labs in other countries with 
our state-of-the-art equipment. Of course, getting 
our own country to help out was the biggest obstacle 
to overcome. Democracies really suck sometimes," Emma 
commented.

"Are you saying that the President didn't see the 
benefit in all of this?" Doggett asked.

Emma snorted and the Colonel just laughed. "Are you 
shittin' me, Agent Doggett?" he said. "The President 
has no idea about this. He doesn't know about aliens 
or colonization or anything like that. Hell, he 
thinks Area 51 is a goddamn video game!" The room 
roared with laughter.

"The problem with our country is finding ways around 
the democracy. All we need is for one nosy little 
freshman senator and boom! Everything's out in the 
open. Thank God the Intelligence committee has been 
busy with the Middle East lately so they don't have 
time to waste on us," Emma added.

A few more division heads spoke, and then the Colonel 
introduced Mulder, Scully, Doggett, and Reyes. The 
group gave them a huge round of applause before 
dispersing and heading back to their duties, leaving 
everyone else back in the briefing room.

"I'm impressed, Colonel. This is, well, it's totally 
not what I expected," Mulder said.

"Is it better or worse?"

"Anything's better than fighting supersoldiers and 
being a wanted fugitive."

Mulder and Doggett begged off touring the labs after 
finding Skinner and Gibson shooting hoops in the gym, 
so Emma was left with showing Scully and Reyes 
around.

On the way back from the tour, Emma glanced at 
Scully. "Dana, we're going to want to do some tests 
this afternoon. We'd like to know as soon as possible 
how much of the viral antibodies you've still got in 
your blood."

"That's no problem. I'll make sure to let Mulder know 
too."

"We'd still like to perform the intrauterine test. Is 
that all right with you?" Emma asked cautiously.

Scully smiled ruefully. "I think I'd like to know 
what's going on in there as well. Will you be 
performing the procedure?"

"No, we've got our own medical staff that will handle 
all of that. Do you prefer a man or a woman?"

"Woman, please. I've had it with male gynecologists."

The men were still playing basketball when they 
returned, and to Scully's amazement Gibson was 
running and jumping with no sign of the limp that had 
been a hindrance most of his life.

"How did you do it?" she asked Emma.

"Manipulation of the chip in his neck."

Reyes couldn't help but smile as she watched Doggett 
dribble the ball, playfully keeping it just out of 
Gibson's reach. "What's his history? He just sort of 
appears in the x-files, and I know the search on his 
family came up blank."

"He is a hybrid. He was created from human sperm and 
alien DNA." Emma grew silent, gazing at Gibson as he 
laughed at Mulder trying to dunk the ball.

"What is it?" Scully prodded.

Emma took a deep breath. "We believe he was created 
from the Colonel's sperm. They share too many genetic 
markers not to be related in some way. He didn't come 
to us until he was six or seven, and we think that 
perhaps he was sent to spy on the project. We 
replaced his chip with one of ours and did the usual 
battery of tests on him before sending him to live 
with some friends. That's when he started playing 
chess."

"Oh my," Reyes said, stunned. "Does your husband 
know?"

"No," Emma shook her head. "He doesn't. I didn't tell 
him because I wanted Gibson to have a better life, 
something more than being a perpetual lab rat. But as 
I watch him, I see so much of Ben. I see Duncan in 
about ten years. It's very disconcerting. But if 
Gibson wants to stay here where he feels safe, then I 
will probably tell them."

"What's so important about these implants?" Scully 
asked, unconsciously touching the back of her neck.

"It's the best technology we have to control the 
branched DNA in hybrids. That's why you got cancer 
when you took yours out. The aliens used them as 
tracking and mind control devices, but when we 
finally figured out how to produce them, we were able 
to use them for more good than evil. The one you have 
now, Dana, is man-made and easily manipulated. We can 
make your body do almost anything you want - need to 
lose a few pounds? Sure: we'll just use it to 
stimulate your metabolism."

Reyes gaped at Emma. "Wow, can I have one of those?"

Emma just laughed. "I'm afraid not. Now, if you'll 
excuse me, I need to feed my kids some lunch and put 
them down for a nap. Gibson can get you back to the 
cafeteria and then when you're done eating tell him 
to take you to Dr. Morse. She'll run all the tests 
and I'll see you tonight at dinner with the results."

The women said their goodbyes and parted company. The 
men were able to convince them to join their pick-up 
game, and they played and enjoyed themselves until 
Gibson's stomach growled loudly, making everyone 
chuckle and head for the cafeteria.

Part XVIII - The Good Doctor

After lunch, Gibson directed Mulder and Scully to a 
waiting room where he said Dr. Morse would come for 
them shortly. His smile and awkward wave warmed 
Scully's heart and she told Mulder the story of 
Gibson's parentage and how they manipulated the 
implant to get rid of his limp.

"Do you think they've manipulated your implant to 
make you stay here and be a part of this project?" 
Mulder wondered.

"No, I don't think so. I don't think it's a remote 
sort of thing. They said that the man made chips 
weren't engineered for transmission purposes. I think 
you have to be in the room in order to make it work. 
Why? Are you still having doubts about being here?"

"Mmmm, not really. It's just too good to be true. I 
can't believe that after all these years, it ends 
like this. I mean, I'm really pissed off here," he 
huffed.

Scully laid her hand on his knee and squeezed gently. 
"I know. But I'm slowly coming to accept this new 
turn of events. Especially if it's for the good of 
humankind."

At that moment, a woman wearing a lab coat stepped 
into the room and announced herself. "Hey, you ready? 
Come on back."

They followed her into a room that looked 
suspiciously like every other doctor's examining room 
in America. "Whew - deja vu," Mulder joked.

The woman picked up a file folder from the counter 
and skimmed through it. "Mr. Mulder, Ms. Scully? I'm 
Dr. Rebecca Morse and I'll be drawing some blood 
today. I'm sure you've already been told why. 
And...it looks like we've got an intrauterine dye 
test on tap as well."

Mulder snapped his head in Scully's direction, the 
alarm obvious on his face. "Scully? Are you sure 
about that?"

"I want to see what's going on in there. It's 
harmless," she hastily added.

"All right," he agreed doubtfully. "But I want to be 
here for you."

"That's fine, Mr. Mulder, as long as you don't mind 
another woman between your girlfriend's legs," 
Rebecca deadpanned as she gathered all her blood-
drawing equipment.

Mulder sputtered as Scully burst out giggling. 
Rebecca didn't help matters much more by waggling her 
eyebrows at Mulder and winking at Scully. 

Mulder sulked while Rebecca drew vial after vial of 
blood. "Gonna leave me with any, Dracula?"

"Never know when you'll be so cooperative again so I 
better take what I can. Just don't sit up real quick 
or I'll leave you on the floor."

"Remind me to speak to the Colonel about his hired 
help," he muttered.

"Remind yourself who has the needle, eh?" Rebecca 
countered, cracking Scully up again.

Rebecca finished with Mulder and labelled the vials 
of blood before motioning Scully into the chair. "So, 
Ms. Scully, are you enjoying your stay here?"

"Yes, I am. The people are friendly and the amenities 
are very nice. The laboratory and research facilities 
are out of this world."

"Literally," Rebecca said.

Scully smiled at the unintentional funny. "So what 
aspect of the project are you involved in?"

"I administer the vaccine and run titre tests every 
so often just to make sure we still have an 
acceptable level of immunity. I suppose I'm a branch 
of R&D since I report to Emma. I have a very 
ambiguous job description, you could say."

"How long have you been here?" Mulder asked.

"Nine years. I was recruited right out of medical 
school. I would have come the same time as Emma but I 
had one more year of residency to complete. I'm one 
of the few M.D.s on staff that's had experience 
treating real people. All right, Agent Scully, you're 
done. Let me get these labelled and then we'll go 
right on to the dye test."

When she was done with the labelling, Rebecca handed 
Scully a gown and left the room to give her some 
privacy. Mulder had his panic face on as he watched 
Scully change.

"Is this procedure really necessary?" Mulder asked 
worriedly.

"Oh, Mulder, it'll be just fine. I want it done, too. 
I don't know what's going on in my body and I need to 
understand what's happening," she tried to soothe his 
fears.

He thrust his chin in the direction of the door. "Do 
you think this Dr. Morse is qualified? Shouldn't we 
let Emma do it instead?"

Scully laughed. "Mulder, you're just pissed off that 
you've met your match. Emma isn't even an M.D. and 
Rebecca is. Therefore, it is my informed decision as 
an M.D. myself that Rebecca should perform this 
procedure. Now, if you're going to be uncomfortable 
about this, I'd rather you wait outside."

"No, I'm fine with it if you are," he answered 
quickly.

"Good. Go tell Rebecca I'm ready."

Rebecca came back in the room before Mulder had to 
move a muscle. "OK, Agent Scully. Assume the 
position."

Scully laid down on the table and Rebecca helped 
maneuver her legs into the stirrups. Mulder sat down 
next to the table, gripping Scully's hand tightly and 
watching the proceedings nervously.

"Is this going to hurt her?" he asked.

Rebecca held up a long thin silver instrument. "Nope. 
This is another one of those 'out of this world' 
things. Too bad they haven't evolved far enough to 
use one of those Star Trek scanners." And with that, 
she peered between Scully's knees and slid the 
instrument in, past the cervix and into the uterus, 
where the force of the injection would propel the dye 
up into the fallopian tubes and ovaries.

The injection was over before Scully realized it had 
started. She truly hadn't felt a thing. Then Rebecca 
positioned a large x-ray type machine over Scully's 
abdomen and took several pictures before lifting her 
gown and slathering ultrasound gel all over her.

"That's nasty," Mulder commented.

"You remember this, Mulder. I was still getting 
ultrasounds right up until William was born."

Rebecca turned on the monitor and tilted it so they 
could see. "Here's your uterus - looks healthy. No 
endometriosis or build-up. Now look closely - you can 
see two tiny strands of dye extending up. Those are 
your fallopian tubes, and the round dots at the end 
are your ovaries."

"How do they look?" Scully asked nervously.

"Can't tell from just ultrasound. Normal so far. But 
that's why we took some pictures, which will give us 
more detail on the state of your ovaries. From what I 
see, thought, everything looks great. You can't even 
tell that you've given birth. Usually the uterus has 
a hard time retaining its shape after pregnancy, but 
yours is like textbook. All right, here's a washrag 
you can use to clean up. I'm going to get started on 
running your blood and reading your tests. I'll give 
Emma the results when I'm done and she can fill you 
in at supper."

Rebecca cleaned up the ultrasound wand and put it 
back in its place while Mulder wiped up the goo from 
Scully's belly. "Thanks for your cooperation. It 
means a lot to the project." Rebecca said as she 
started out the door.

"Wait!" Mulder called. "Are you an abductee? Emma 
said that there were some that worked here."

Rebecca turned toward Mulder and Scully with a sad 
smile on her face. "Unfortunately, yes, I am. I 
thought my experiences were all a part of a series of 
recurring dreams until I started working here. I 
never knew that I had an implant until I passed 
through the security gate. Thankfully I got it 
switched out and now anything is possible." She 
leaned closer to them and pulled her long brown 
ponytail over her shoulder. "See this? When I started 
working here it was barely down to the tops of my 
shoulders. But when I complained about my hair not 
growing as fast as I wanted it to, all Emma had to do 
was punch in a few numbers, wave the manipulator over 
my neck, and voila - I had my long hair. Anything is 
possible," she repeated and walked out the door.

~*~*~

BEGIN EPISODE VII

Part XIX - Reunion

Supper was a semi-formal affair where the dining 
staff actually served the food to the tables. Mulder, 
Scully, and the rest of the group were waved over to 
the Colonel's table by the Colonel himself as they 
walked into the dining room.

"I feel like I'm on the Love Boat," Mulder joked, 
still uncomfortable with all the looks and stares 
they got from the facility staff.

Scully sighed. "I loved that show. I had the biggest 
crush on Doc, you know."

"Scully!" Mulder crowed with surprise. "I bet you had 
a crush on the Professor from Gilligan's Island too, 
huh?"

"Maybe," she huffed, trying to act insulted. "So I'm 
attracted to intelligence, what's wrong with that? 
You said yourself that smart is sexy."

"It is, believe me. But those men were way older than 
you - oh, I forgot. You've got a thing for older 
guys. Gosh, I'm only three years older than you, is 
that gonna...OOF!"

His teasing remark was cut short by Scully's fist in 
his gut. "Shut up, Mulder, or I'll ask Emma for 
another room key."

They straightened up just in time to greet the 
Colonel. "Hey, welcome. Have a seat. We've already 
ordered but I'll get someone over here right away to 
at least get some drinks for you. Private!" he 
called, beckoning a server over to the table.

"Where's Emma?" Reyes asked, noting that she was 
missing from the nice little family portrait that the 
Colonel and his children made.

The Colonel simultaneously took a fork away from 
Lauren and scootched Duncan back into his booster 
seat before he fell. "She and Rebecca are still in 
the lab."

Mulder went immediately on guard. "Is something 
wrong? Why are they taking so long?"

"Mr. Mulder, it takes a while for blood tests to be 
run. Isn't that right, Agent Scully?" the Colonel 
prompted her.

Scully nodded, mainly to reassure Mulder but she 
couldn't help but have the same fears.

Midway through the salad course, Emma came busting 
through the door with several file folders in her 
hands and hustled to the table, plopping down in the 
remaining empty seat.

"Sorry we took so long," Emma said, dropping a kiss 
on the Colonel's forehead and taking a knife away 
from Lauren. Duncan wiggled out of his seat in order 
to receive a hug from Mommy. "We wanted to run a few 
tests twice, just to make sure," she explained.

"Make sure of what?" Scully asked.

Emma just smiled and tapped the folders. "Let me 
catch up with dinner and then I'll catch up with 
you."

Everyone suffered through the supper, not because the 
food was bad but because the anticipation was nearly 
killing them. As the final plate was cleared away 
from the table, Mulder nodded to Emma. "All right, 
let's have it."

She opened one of the files and slid it over to 
Mulder and Scully. "First of all, your immunity 
levels are nearly the same as the rest of ours, save 
for the magnetite aspect. We'll simply have to do a 
booster shot to get you up to par. The rest of you," 
she motioned to Skinner, Doggett, and Reyes, "we'll 
have to completely vaccinate, of course. The reason 
we took so long is because we wanted to make sure of 
the results of your test, Dana."

She couldn't control her grin as she slid another 
file over to them. "You can read through this 
yourself if you don't want the rest of the table to 
know the condition of your reproductive parts."

Scully read through the results, several times, 
mouthing the numbers and words over and over again as 
if they were a mantra. As she read, her hands began 
to tremble and her eyes filled with tears.

"Speak to me, Scully. I don't understand your 
language," Mulder said softly.

She turned to him, a look of wondrous awe on her 
face. "Mulder," she whispered, "I can't believe it. 
I'm looking at it, and I still can't believe it. I'm 
no longer barren."

The entire table went silent, absorbing this new 
information. After a while, Skinner turned to Emma. 
"Are you absolutely sure about this? This is no 
joke?"

"No joke, Mr. Skinner," Emma answered. "Why would we 
joke about this?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Doggett threatened.

The Colonel stood up and shot daggers at everyone. 
"From the very beginning, we have made it abundantly 
clear that you are among friends, that the truth you 
have searched for will be found here. Now I will not 
have you sit at my table, in my presence, and 
question the morals and ethics of my scientists, one 
who also happens to be my wife and mother of my 
children. I know that you all have a vested interest 
in each others' lives, and while I admire that 
loyalty, it has no place here when it challenges the 
validity of my project. You were told that by 
cooperating, you would be rewarded. So far, you have 
been given a safe place to stay, food, and more 
answers than you ever hoped to gain on your own. Yet, 
you continue with the paranoid, trust no one act. 
Honestly, it's getting ridiculous. What else do we 
have to do to prove ourselves to you?"

He sat back down and Emma handed Lauren to him. He 
couldn't very well be too angry holding his precious 
daughter.

Mulder reached out and tickled Lauren's socked foot, 
making her laugh. "I trust you, Colonel. *We* trust 
you," he put an arm around Scully. "It's just that 
we've done the paranoid, trust no one act so well for 
so long it's hard to break out of it. But this is 
truly a reward, for Agent Scully as well as myself, 
and we thank you for it."

"Do you have any theories about how it happened?" 
Reyes asked Emma.

"More than likely her chip was manipulated, or else 
the chip restored her fertility. It's hard to tell 
without running a diagnostic on it. We can do that if 
you'd like," Emma suggested to Scully.

Scully could only nod, the results of the test still 
overwhelming her. Mulder tightened his arm around her 
and placed a kiss on her head, murmuring something 
into her ear. She finally smiled and sniffled, 
reaching up to wrap her arms around him.

The Colonel grinned and sat Lauren back in her high 
chair. "Well, that's that. I hope there's no hard 
feelings, Agents. Remember, a man who likes babies 
and saving the world can't be all bad." He winked and 
called for the server again. "Dessert, anyone?"

As they gave their dessert orders to the private, the 
dining room doors burst open and Rebecca stood there 
with a cheesy smile on her face. "Special delivery!" 
she called, beckoning to someone out in the hall. 
"Come on Waldo, while we're young, sweetheart."

Dr. Kent rounded the corner, carefully holding a 
sleeping William in his arms. When Mulder and Scully 
saw him, time seemed to stand still.

Scully rose from her seat and walked a bit towards 
them, then began to jog in the rush to get to her 
baby as soon as possible. Mulder was behind her and 
in no time at all the three of them were reunited. 
William awoke to his parents' mingled tears falling 
on his face, and smiled sleepily at them as he patted 
their cheeks, snuggled soundly in his mother's 
embrace.

Dr. Kent accepted Rebecca's offer of Kleenex and blew 
his nose loudly as he leaned against the door frame. 
There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Part XX - Wealthy the Spirit

The next day, no one saw Mulder, Scully, and William 
until suppertime, even though the entire staff was 
eager to meet the newest member of their family. When 
the three of them finally appeared in the dining 
hall, they were met with a huge standing ovation. 
Mulder and Scully stopped in their tracks, completely 
taken by surprise, while William just squealed and 
clapped along with the others.

They made their way to the Colonel's table, pausing 
every so often for a staff member to tickle Will's 
toes or gently chuck his chin. The Colonel was 
excited to see them, and quickly arranged for another 
high chair to be brought in.

"I wasn't sure if you'd come down for supper so I 
didn't have them set up another chair. Here, Private, 
right here," he called to the young man carrying the 
high chair.

They put Will next to Lauren, who kept saying "baby? 
baby?" to her mother. Duncan was too busy laughing at 
Gibson's funny faces to pay attention.

"Yes, Laurie, that's another baby, just like you. His 
name's William." Emma answered.

"Yum-Yum?"

Everyone laughed at Lauren's attempt to say "William" 
and Emma didn't bother correcting her. She'd learn it 
eventually.

"Who else is joining us?" Skinner asked, nodding to 
the one empty place setting at the table.

"Rebecca should be here anytime. She's pulling 
something off one of the government forums for us." 
The Colonel said.

With eerie timing, Rebecca came storming through the 
dining hall doors and held aloft a single piece of 
paper. "The U.N.'s agreed to smallpox vaccinations!"

The entire room burst into cheers, leaving Mulder, 
Scully, and the rest of their group totally confused. 
Everything they knew about smallpox vaccinations was 
that it had been a way to catalog everyone who had 
received one. This didn't seem right.

Scully touched Emma's arm to get her attention. "I 
don't understand - smallpox?"

"Supposedly. Obviously our U.N. inspector informants 
were able to convince the President and everyone else 
that Iraq's main biological weapon is smallpox. This 
is phase one in our plan to distribute our own 
vaccine."

"Oh," Scully said. Then she got it. "OH! That's 
wonderful!"

"Yeah, it is. Next we'll be adding it to all MMRs for 
newborns. Rebecca's tests have shown that it works 
well with the other vaccines and as soon as we get 
more labs producing it, we should be able to 
introduce it the first of the year."

"What about the people who will refuse to get 
vaccinated?" Mulder asked.

The Colonel interrupted. "Currently we're running 
tests to see if it's possible to add the vaccine to 
the filters that water treatment plants. Plus, we've 
found ways to supplement the food supply with the 
vaccine through corn, wheat, and rice hybrids."

"So humans will survive the invasion, but how do we 
keep the aliens from attacking in the first place?" 
Doggett pointed out.

Emma sighed, looking over at her husband. "Well, 
that's been a dilemma we've been facing from the 
start. We've been hoping to get the recovered crafts 
operational, but it doesn't look like it will happen 
anytime soon. In the meantime, the defense 
contractors have been building all new aircraft out 
of a magnetite alloy and all existing aircraft have 
been sprayed with a protective magnetite coating. 
Every new satellite that's been launched in the past 
two years has contained at least one magnetite 
component."

The Colonel nodded. "And the space station has been 
outfitted with several new magnetite parts. The only 
thing we can do between now and 2012 is hope to hell 
we get those craft up and running and that all our 
preventive measures will succeed in repelling them."

"So that date I found is correct?" Mulder asked.

"Yes, it's correct. Coincidentally, it's also the 
last day in the Mayan calendar. The beginning of the 
end of the sixth and final extinction. There's still 
every indication that the aliens will attack on 
December 22nd. It seems such a long way off, even 
though it may be just a tomorrow or a week for them. 
They may not think we have enough time to accomplish 
everything we've been able to do. It's almost 
unfathomable, really, once you stop to think about 
it," The Colonel said.

Emma agreed. "That's why I try not to. I would much 
rather concentrate on having a future for my family. 
That's motivation enough."

Scully looked over at William, who was happily 
spreading mashed potatoes over his face, then over at 
Mulder, who took her hand and brought it to his lips.

"That's enough for me, too."

~*~*~

BEGIN EPILOGUE

Acadia National Park, Maine
December 22, 2012

The view from the Project hideaway in Cadillac 
Mountain was incredible. The reds, the golds, the 
blues - absolutely gorgeous. The wind off the ocean 
nipped at their exposed cheeks and noses, but nothing 
would stop their celebration.

"Mom, I thought we only got fireworks on the fourth 
of July," Will mentioned, captivated by the lights in 
the southern sky.

Scully shivered and drew the blanket tighter around 
her. "Those aren't fireworks, Will, they're our 
pilots winning the battle. Are you warm enough, 
sweetie?" She tried to tuck another blanket around 
him, but he wasn't having any of it.

"I'm *fine*, Mom," he said, exasperated.

Mulder chuckled and put an arm around her. "He gets 
that honestly, eh, Scully?"

Scully huffed with mock indignance and buried herself 
under Mulder's much warmer arm. Outside, a van pulled 
up beside their parked car and people piled out, 
rushing inside to watch the display.

"Dude, that is so awesome," Duncan's newly-deepened 
voice was full of sheer amazement.

Lauren plopped into a chair next to Will. "Earthlings 
rock."

"Amen to that," the Colonel added, bringing up the 
rear. "Is it cold enough for everyone?"

Mulder laughed. "If I can still feel my toes, then 
it's definitely not cold enough. Glad you guys could 
make it."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

They sat silently, watching as every alien ship that 
came close to the magnetite-laden fleet of Earth 
fighters immediately disintegrated, giving off a 
glorious light show. Hot chocolate was passed around 
to keep everyone from freezing to death.

"I wish Emma and Rebecca could be here," Scully 
sighed, longing to see her old friends.

"I do too," the Colonel said wistfully. "But they've 
got a direct satellite link at the command center so 
they can see everything just as well as we can. Plus, 
Duncan's *supposed* to be taking pictures," he nudged 
his son.

"Oh yeah, sorry," he said sheepishly, pulling out a 
digital video camera from his coat and aiming it at 
the sky.

"Why aren't you taking any pictures, Dad?" Will 
asked.

Mulder looked down at his precious son and smiled. "I 
don't need a picture to remember this moment. All I 
have to do from now on is look at you and your mom 
and I'll know the truth."

The End
____________________________________________

Author's notes: Wow. This started out as a fun little 
challenge fic and ended up being the most serious 
story I've ever written. I had some difficulty 
thinking up a title after blowing my proverbial wad 
on the chapter titles, but found some inspiration in 
my CD holder. "Nexus" is a song on Dan Fogelberg's 
"The Innocent Age" album, which I highly recommend. 
To me, the words just felt right.

My undying gratitude to: Judy, my beta Goddess. 
Here's to our first story together, and hopefully 
many more.

Shout-outs and props to: all my fanfic idols. Because 
of your words I have been able to unlock my own. 
Thank you.

Finally, to: Aimee. For everything. I love you.

Nexus - words and music by Dan Fogelberg

Across the vein of night there cuts a path of searing 
light
Burning like a beacon on the edges of our sight
At the point of total darkness and the lights divine 
divide
A soul can let its shadow stretch and land on either 
side

And balanced on the precipice the moment must reveal
Naked in the face of time, our race within the wheel
As we hang beneath the heavens and we hover over hell
Our hearts become the instruments we learn to play so 
well

Outside the pull of gravity beyond the spectral veil
Within our careful reasoning we search to no avail
For the constant in the chaos for the fulcrum in the 
void
Following a destiny our steps cannot avoid

In a spiral never-ending are we drawn towards the 
source
Spinning at the mercy of an unrelenting force
So we stare into the emptiness and fall beneath the 
weight
Circling the Nexus in a fevered dance with fate

Wealthy the spirit that knows its own flight
Stealthy the hunter who slays his own fright
Blessed the traveler who journeys the length of the 
light