Summary: Set sometime during The Truth: Part 1, this is a 'road not taken' story to undo the episode William.

She walked down the dark, and all too familiar hallway. She listened to the heels of her shoes clicking against the concrete. Click click, click click, click click. This was a walk she was glad she wouldn't have to get used to. His trial would be tomorrow but she feared the worst. The men in charge of setting up the court were all men that had been against Mulder for years and would love nothing more than to see him die.

The guard unlocked Mulder's cell door long enough for Scully to step inside, then he slammed the hunk of steel and bolted it shut. She ran into waiting arms and hugged him tightly. He kissed the top of her head and simply held her that way for as long as he dared. "How are you holding up, Mulder?" She asked, thinking she knew but needing to hear it from him.

"Couldn't be better. They finally got the Playboy channel in here." He tried to joke as he led her to the cot he had been given to sleep on. When she forced a weak, half smile, he decided to move on to another subject. "William?" It was only one word, but a question he needed answered, no matter how much he feared the truth.

"What about him?"

"Where is he?" Mulder forced himself to ask.

"At home with my mom. Why?"

He gave a sigh of relief, "then it was all a dream."

She looked at him, furrowed her brow, and studied him carefully. His facial expression, his body language, his breathing. Finally she arched an auburn brow, an expression he had missed more than he ever thought possible, and met his gaze with a look of pure concern. "Mulder, you aren't making any sense. What was all a dream?"

He studied his plain white, slip on shoes, shrugged his shoulders, and shook his head. "Nothing," he mumbled, "its nothing."

"No, Mulder, its something. What was all a dream?" Scully insisted on knowing. If it had him worried enough to ask and on the brink of tears, she had to know what was bothering him.

"I dreamed that you gave William away. Put him up for adoption. He went to live with a family in Montana, the Van de Kamps." She gasped and Mulder took her hands in his to offer some comfort. "Jeffery Spender came back, having been horribly disfigured after Cancer Man shot him in the face, and injected William with something. It was soon after that ordeal that you realized you alone couldn't offer our son the protection and care he would need and put him up for adoption. For the sake of the greater good."

"Oh God," she breathed as a rogue tear trickled down her cheek. Scully pulled her hands free of Mulder's and threw her arms around his neck.

"I told you it was nothing."

More tears began streaming down her cheeks as she pulled away and met Mulder's gaze. "He's our son, Mulder. I could never give William up for adoption."

"I . . . I didn't really believe it. Its just that in here things have a way of getting turned inside out. I had to ask, Dana." He kissed her lips tenderly. "I miss him," Mulder admitted when their lips parted.

"And you'll see him again soon."

"Ya think so?"

"I know so. Besides, who else will teach him about E.B.Es? That is a father's job, you know."

Mulder appreciated her humor and rewarded her with a smile. "Fine, but you're giving him the sex talk."

"Time's up!" A voice boomed through the bars in the door.

"See ya at the hanging," Mulder said dryly and quickly apologized when Scully shot him a look that would have killed a weaker man. "See you in my dreams?"

"Count on it." She turned to leave after risking one quick kiss.

"Dana." She stopped and turned around to face him. "Tell William I love him."

"I do." She said before the guard reached in and ushered her out of the cell.

The End