Summary: An eighty-eight-year-old woman remembers a time when life was a lot more complicated.

Author's Note: Well I found this story that I wrote after the finale last year when I was sifting through some notebooks, unfinished of course. So please Read and Review! Thanks!

Bethesda Nursing Home
June 9, 2052

"Hello, my name is Catherine," a young nurse says as she carefully adjusts and old woman in her chair.

The old woman turns her gaze away from the window and stares intently at the auburn haired nurse that stands in front of her.

"What's your name?" the nurse inquires, gazing intently at the old woman feeling almost sorry for her.

The older woman's blue eyes are pale - the life, the twinkle gone completely from them - taken years ago.

"Catherine is such an old fashioned name. How could a young girl like you end up with a name with that?"

"I'm actually named for my grandmother," the young nurse replies, "But you've never told me your name."

"I have gone by so many names in my life, called so many things, but at the age of eighty-eight, I can't figure out why the hell I'm in this nursing home."

Catherine ignores the woman or rather doesn't want to tell her that she's been here going on five years. She first came when her husband was brought into the nursing home after having suffered a stroke. He died over three years ago, but the old woman in front of her is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's - some days surprising Catherine with her stories.

"Can you believe that at one point in my life I was a medical doctor?" she tells Catherine.

"Were you really?"

The elderly woman grimaces as she tries to remember her life. Memories for this woman that vaguely resembles Dana Scully from fifty years ago.

"Have I ever told you about my partner dear? Did I ever tell you about when I found my son?"

Catherine shakes her head even though she's heard horribly bizarre stories from this woman. Stories about aliens, mutants, and a special man - whom she calls Mulder. It's odd, but that is her last name, so taking that into consideration Catherine doesn't ever truly believe what this senile old lady tells her.

"What do you mean - found your son?" Catherine inquires curious as to what story this woman will tell her.

"I remember those times as if it was yesterday," she starts, "but that can be a struggle."

"What year was it?" Catherine questions trying to help her move the story along.

"Umm--I think it was the turn of the century 2001," she closes her eyes and struggles with her memory trying to fight off the Alzheimer's.

"No, my son was born in 2001, but my story takes place in 2002."

"So it was fifty years ago?"

The old woman nods her head, clasping the side of her chair willing herself to remember.

"Mulder and I were on the run. I remember the desert and the endless driving. If I close my eyes long enough I can almost see the room we stayed in, smell Mulder's cologne, and feel his gentle reassuring touch on my back."

She stops and stares at Catherine, a confused look coming over her face.

"You know looking at you, I've seen those eye before - they look like A mix of mine and Mulder's. Your eyes almost look like William's."

"Who's William?" the young nurse asks brushing away a piece of stray auburn-brownish hair.

"My son," she pauses, "now let me tell my story."

"I'm listening, go right ahead."

"Well we were holed up in Roswell, New Mexico on the run from everybody..."

Roswell, New Mexico
May 20, 2002

Mulder and Scully lay on the rumpled motel bed, clinging to one another for dear life. Their bodies fit perfectly together as he lays behind her, his arms wrapped around her tiny frame.

Both of them continue to breathe in slowly, one of their rare moments of being content in sleep.

Mulder stirs. Opening his eyes slowly he looks around the room, a look of panic comes over his face, before realization finally hits him. Mulder remembers everything now. He slowly gets out of bed and heads for the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind him.

The shower starts to pound on Mulder's back. Piercing water hits his back massaging away from of the built up stress. He closes his eyes, leaning his head back and just letting the water hit his skin.

A dark figure chases Scully through a dark alley.

A piercing cry echoes through the lonely alley.

Scully approaches an infant's car seat and peers in, cautiously - a small baby with deep hazel eyes and blond hair with a tint of red stares up at her.

William.

Footsteps come closer and Scully looks away from her son.

"He's in danger and only you and Mulder can protect him," the raspy voice tells her through the shadows. "You have little time."

Scully sits up with a start, sweat pouring down her face.

"Whoa, Scully, it's just me," Mulder tells her with his hand resting on Scully's shoulder.

Mulder studies Scully's ashen face. A look of inquiry comes into his eyes, but in knowing Scully for all the years he has learned not to pry.

"We have to get to him," Scully says starting to panic.

"Get to who? Scully are you all right?"

"William - he's in danger," she whispers repeating the shadowy figure's warning.

"Are you sure?" Mulder inquires, very concerned.

"Mulder trust me."

"So its one of those motherly intuition things?" Mulder says trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"If you only knew, Mulder."

Highway 24
Somewhere in New Mexico
2:18 p.m.

Scully stares out the window watching the scenery pass them by. Nothing much in particular. A few pieces of brush, a lot of sand, but that doesn't concern her at the moment - she's lost in her own thoughts.

Mulder, too, doesn't talk. Some moments they don't need to. He looks over at Scully, concerned, but how many times have they been in this situation? How many times have they been on the run from someone or something? How many times?

"Scully," Mulder whispers.

She continues to stare out the window, lost in her own thoughts.

"I shouldn't have given him up," Scully says, her voice quivering.

Mulder places his hand over hers, trying to reassure her.

"You were trying to protect him."

"I trusted a man that I shouldn't have. I trusted a weasel--"

"--No, Scully, you needed to protect him."

"Mulder, I listened to Jeffery Spender, a scoundrel, that neither one of us trusted three years ago. What made it different?"

"The life of a child," Mulder replies softly, "Our child."

"I miss him so much," Scully tells him biting her lip to keep her from crying.

"Me too," he responds.

They both become silent again as they pass across the state line between New Mexico and Texas. Another state. Another couple hundred miles before they need to ditch the Expedition and get a new car. And then after that another few more hundred miles: zig-zagging across the country to make sure no one is following them.

"Mulder?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a plan?"

"When don't I have a plan?"

"Wonderful," Scully says sarcastically, almost reminiscent of their earlier years together.

"What? Scully you can't doubt me that much. When was the last time I was wrong?" Mulder asks innocently.

Scully shoots him one of the patent 'Scully' looks - the one between anger and humor.

"Okay, so maybe I was wrong a few times."

"A few times, Mulder? Do you remember the fluke man thing? I think that could count for at least a few wrong decisions."

"Wow, Scully I've been gone for nine months and you just don't change," Mulder says playfully as he looks over at her grinning.

"Mulder," Scully replies in a tone that wipes the grin off of his face.

"Sorry," he pauses, "being gone for all of those months made me wish for the easier times. The times when I was just known as 'Spooky Mulder' and not a threat to the alien invasion for the end of the world."

"Do you have any idea what I went through during those long months?"

"I can only imagine, but you know my life wasn't peachy either."

"Look, Mulder, just forget it. I'm tired and I don't want to have this conversation."

"Scully we need to have this conversation," Mulder insists.

"Not while you're driving. You might run into something," she says turning towards the window and trying to get comfortable.

"What am I going to run into?" Mulder asks staring into the vastness of the open Texas plains.

"Fine. So you want to have this conversation. I was so damn worried about you. I thought everyday when the phone rang that it was someone calling to say that your body turned up at a local hospital, dead. I thought that this time around I wouldn't get lucky enough to have you come home," Scully pauses for a breath. She's starting to become worked up.

"Scully--"

"--I'm not done. I was always waiting for the aliens or the mutants or the super soldiers or who ever the hell the newest threat was to come after me and to take our son away. And then there was a part of me that worried everyday when I went into work I'd end up in a case where I wouldn't make it home to William. I'd worry about him growing up, about him being a normal child. And a part of my heart was taken with you and I didn't think it would be returned because we've gotten so many chances before. I kept thinking that our luck would have to run out."

As Scully's rampage went on Mulder had guided the car over to the side of the road, placing the vehicle in park. Tears glisten in the corners of Scully's eyes and Mulder takes her into his arms. She breaks down in sobs, her head resting on his shoulder.

After what seemed like an eternity Scully's sobs slowed and she pulled her head away from his shoulder.

He gently takes her head into his hands, staring deep into her eyes.

"You and William were all I thought about. The idea of seeing you and him was what kept me going, kept me from giving in. It kept me from laying down and letting them win. Scully, you are my reason for living, my reason for coming home."

Scully smiles through her tears.

Mulder leans in and catches her lips with his. At first the kiss is gentle and soft, but passion takes over. In the middle of nowhere Texas Mulder and Scully rediscover one another. A discovery that has taken nearly a year to be complete. A discovery that could come back to remind them of what they are really living for.

Bethesda Nursing Home
June 9, 2052

Catherine gently shakes the old woman awake.

"Mulder!" the woman cries out.

"No, it's Catherine."

"Oh dear, what happened?"

"You fell asleep," Catherine pauses, "You were telling me a story."

"About what dear?"

"You don't remember?"

"I think I do, but I just want to make sure. You know how it is with the Alzheimer's."

"You were on you're way to find your son."

At first the older Dana Scully stares at Catherine, confused. She tries to recover the images of the past. She tries to let the voices from her past talk to her, talk through her. After a long moment she A small smile graces her lips.

"Do you remember when?" Catherine asks.

"Remember when what?" she asks.

"All of this happened?"

"We pulled off to the side of the road and--" she blushes slightly, even at eighty-eight the normally stone faced, Dana Scully, couldn't keep her cheeks from turning crimson. During her years as an FBI agent just thinking about Mulder in a romantic way, especially when he was still around made her embarrassed.

"It's all right," Catherine reassures her, "I'm a big girl, I can figure it out."

"That's good, dear. How old are you Katie?" Scully asks her.

Catherine looks at her taken aback.

"I'm twenty-six," Catherine swallows hard, "My mom always called me Katie."

"What happened to your mom?"

"She died when I was four."

"Oh, dear I'm sorry."

Catherine smiles at her, trying to reassure the old woman that she didn't strike a nerve, but the smile was her way of keeping the tears at bay.

"No, its all right," Catherine tells her.

Dana Scully looks away for a moment. Staring at the pictures all around her room. It's her life. The life that she can't remember. Pictures of a young man with auburn hair and dark hazel eyes smiling as he stands next to a brown-haired man and a woman with really dark hair, starting to show signs of age.

She picks up the picture, running her fingers softly over the young man's face.

"This is William."

"Who are those people with him?"

She stares at them, but like all of the other details she can't find an answer to the question. Somewhere in her memory they are there, but she can't access those memories.

"I have no idea."

Catherine nods, placing her hand reassuringly on the old woman's.

"I want to hear more of this story."

"Did you know that we helped to save the world?" Dana Scully asks absently.

"No, I didn't. What happened after the roadside stop?" Catherine inquires.

"You know after everything that I've forgotten that entire year I remember like it was yesterday. I remember the details, the specifics. How is that possible?"

"Alzheimer's is a strange disease."

"How come you're not a doctor, dear?" Dana Scully asks out of no where.

"I graduated from medical school, but chose not to practice."

"Why's that dear?"

"I thought that I could do something better with my life, I was thinking about doing investigative work, like with the FBI or something."

"The FBI's still around?"

"They had quite a scare in 2012, but it is still there running strong. It's just that my uncle doesn't want me to join the FBI," Catherine pauses, "He told me that so much in our family has been lost because of the FBI, but I can't even imagine what could be sacrificed."

Dana Scully weakly smiles, knowing exactly what can be lost.

"Everything."

The room is intensely quiet.

"After the roadside stop we drove non stop to Montana."

"Why Montana?"

"That's where William was."

"I thought that they closed adoption records."

"They did," Dana Scully says with a twinkle in her eyes, "But Mulder and I had our resources, even when we were on the run."

"So what happened when you got to Montana?"

"Life happened..."

Middle of Montana
May 23, 2002
5:15 a.m.

Red and orange start to spread across the horizon. The beginning of another day. Another day for Mulder and Scully. They could have easily made it to Montana in a day, but through Mulder's paranoia they stretched the trip out. Their car seeing the vast mountains of Colorado before heading back towards Montana.

The couple sleeps soundly in the back of their SUV having found that the night before they were too tired and in the middle of no where to have found a motel. By the time Mulder became too tired to drive it was nearly one in the morning and they were in the middle of the rolling plains of Montana. Just hours away from their son.

Their sleeping in the back of a vehicle or the knack for falling asleep has become an acquired habit that has found them both in the last nine years. Maybe this habit has come to their disadvantage.

Scully stirs against the strong grip of Mulder's arms, but she does not wake. Mulder, too, has finally found a peaceful place where even though he is as paranoid as he once was the only place that he has found where he can sleep soundly is in her arms. Or with his arms around her.

Minutes later the sun starts to peek of the horizon. It is the promise of a new day. Maybe even the promise of a new life.

The sky has now turned a subtle shade of orange mixed with a tinged reddish pink that no man could ever recreate. Much like the living beings in nature nothing can be completely duplicated as it was first put out in nature. Perhaps if this duplication could have been made then maybe Mulder and Scully would not have had to worry during her pregnancy with William. And she would never have had to give him up because of the creatures that wanted him. Because they could not recreate what nature had given them.

Mulder opens his eyes and stares at the sleeping woman in front of him. Thoughts much like that go through his minds. Thoughts of their lives could have been like had they not become involved with any of it.

Scully turns over in her sleep and after a few moments opens her eyes to the perplexed look on Mulder's face.

"Mulder, what's the matter?"

"Look at how beautiful this is," Mulder indicates the rising sun.

"It's very beautiful, but--"

"--the only kind of colors that nature can create. No man could ever recreate these. They could come close, but never be perfect."

"Are you okay?" Scully whispers concerned.

Mulder disregards her concern and continues on still staring out the window, "Scully, have you ever regretted this?"

"Regretted what?"

"Being here with me. Searching for the truth," he pauses, looking down at her, "Losing everything for my cause?"

"Mulder it was not only your cause. I chose to follow you all of those years ago and with that I have received a type of friendship, a partner that I would never want to return."

"But what about everything that you've sacrificed?"

Scully reassuringly strokes his cheek, staring at him intently. The gaze is one that doesn't need words. One that has become a patent gaze reassuring the other when no words were needed.

"I would do it all over again. I have not regretted a moment of the last nine years."

Mulder doesn't respond, only turns his gaze back towards the rising sun.

"What is the talk about man not be able to recreate what nature has given us?" Scully finally asks, curious.

"We'd still have our son if they'd have found a way to recreate nature. If they would have found a way to recreate the genes that only he has--"

"--But then Mulder, our cause would not have been a just cause. We wouldn't have anything to fight for. We wouldn't have the chance to save the world because the aliens would have already taken over."

Mulder grins at the prospect of Scully mentioning aliens.

"What?" she asks.

"I never thought I'd see the day when you actually believed in aliens," he jokes, light-heartedly.

"I have seen way too much to even try and disprove it. I guess you've made a believer out of me."

"Wow, Scully, I'm impressed."

"And I'm hungry."

"All right. We have two hours until we're there."

"Good."

Mulder climbs up into the driver's seat as Scully heads towards the passenger's side.

"Oh, and Scully, don't think that I'm going to turn skeptical on ya."

Scully grins, "Now that would be a day to see."

Quickie-Go Gas Station Middle of Montana
7:02 a.m.

Scully and Mulder skim the aisles for anything to eat. Mulder as he usually does heads right for the sun flower seeds. After everything that has ever happened to him those seeds have been his security blanket. The sun is now up and fully shining, making the day a lot better off than some of the hazy ones they had seen before it.

Scully holds an apple in one hand and a water in the other as she finds Mulder going down the junk food aisle.

"Scully, I thought you said that you were hungry."

"I am hungry," Scully replies.

"Well I can see why. You should eat more," Mulder tells her grinning.

"Shut-up, Mulder! I'm just nervous, that's all."

"Well don't be nervous. Everything will be fine."

"I sure hope so."

Mulder puts his arm around her protectively and pulls her close to his body.

"We're almost there."

"But isn't this a little weird. 'Hi, my name's Dana Scully and I gave my son up for adoption a month ago, but I'd like him back now because I've been having strange dreams that an evil man from our past is going to find him and kill him.' Mulder, people don't receive this kind of information well."

"Hey, it sounds like something I would say."

"Did you ever wonder how you got the nickname 'Spooky Mulder'?"

He gives her a puzzled look with an impish grin and continues up the junk food aisle grabbing onto bags of chips and chocolate.

"Scully, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, have you asked for directions?"

"I was going to do that when we checked out."

They reach the cash register manned by an older gentleman with a warm friendly smile.

"How are you folks doing today?" the cashier asks.

"We're good," Mulder replies.

"So are you from out of town."

Scully nods with a small smile on her face.

"What brings you out to the middle of Montana?" the man asks.

"We are actually visiting some friends of ours. The Van De Kamps."

The older man's face just falls. He looks at the two with an expression that is best left for those that are going to be dead or dying.

"Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?" Scully inquires, becoming very nervous.

"Oh it's a real shame. They were such a nice couple, but they were found murdered in their home early this morning."

The blood from Scully's face drains leaving behind a pale complexion that could easily pass for a ghost.

Mulder firmly grabs onto Scully as he tries to dig deeper into what happened.

"What about their son?" Mulder asks, praying to God that he was okay.

"The kid is missing. Police have been out there since four this morning after receiving an anonymous phone call about the murder. I'm sure you folks could talk to them."

"Can you give me directions?" Mulder inquires as he continues to steady Scully.

"Sure."

Walking out of the door of the convenience store Scully clings onto Mulder.

"They must of known."

"Who, Scully?"

"The same people that were out to get us in New Mexico. The same people that tried to kill William and you before. They must have found him."

"He's missing, Scully, not dead. They wanted to kill him. Why would they kidnap him?" Mulder inquires trying to reach for some sort of hope.

Scully bites back tears as they get into the SUV and drive the next three miles in silence. Approaching the Van De Kamp farm both of them are taken back by the site. Yellow police tape surrounding the house, bringing back memories from their not too distant days as members of the FBI.

Mulder pulls the car up on the long gravel driveway and puts it in park.

Scully turns to him, looking very much like the Scully of old and whispers, "He's safe. I can feel it."

Bethesda Nursing Home
June 9, 2052

Looking around the room it seems very empty. Nothing stirs and for a brief moment a curious onlooker walking by the door wouldn't notice the old woman huddled up in her rocking chair next to the window holding onto her crucifix. A crucifix that has been with her since her teenage years.

A piece of jewelry that has seen sixty odd years of history and has stood for everything that this woman once dispelled and then believed.

Catherine is nowhere to be seen and the older version of Dana Scully watches out the window as the rain trickles down the window. She is not asleep, merely mesmerized by the rain. In the same state that many become when looking into a fire.

Her thoughts wonder to the earlier days. Even though she can rarely remember her life she remembers those years with him. She remembers the day when she realized that she had a problem with this disease. It was raining out.

Rain always brings back the only memories that she has of the later years. She had just celebrated her seventy-fifth birthday and he had asked her where she put the mail.

"I remember getting it, Mulder. I just don't remember where I put it."

"Are you sure, Scully? If anyone should be losing it, it should be me."

An hour later he found the mail in the freezer.

Episodes like that went on for nearly two years before she finally willed herself to go to the doctor. Again it was raining out. Rain always seemed to be falling when her life was falling apart.

He held her hand as the doctor came into the room with a diagnosis.

She stops herself in the memory. Thinking to herself that she's had that happen in her life before. Maybe when she was younger. Scully remembers Mulder holding her hand another time as they waited nervously for a diagnosis from the doctor.

She closes her eyes and can see that day long before she found out that she had Alzheimer's.

Mulder sits next to her nervously. He thinks the cancer has returned. Taking her hand into his own he strokes it, trying to reassure himself as he was reassuring her.

Mulder's younger -- in his early forties.

The older Dana Scully wills herself to continue to remember. It seems important. Very important.

A bubbly young doctor walks into the room and smiles at the couple sitting in front of him. They do not return the favor.

"Well Mister and Misses Mantle I ran a few tests and it appears to me that everything is fine here with Kate, except --"

"I'm sorry that it took me so long--" Catherine interrupts Scully's thoughts.

Her eyes fly open and she looks at the young nurse.

"Damn," she mutters.

"What's the matter?" Catherine asks her.

"The way my mind wanders I was remembering when I found out I had Alzheimer's. Mulder was with me holding my hand, but that memory triggered another one in which we were in the doctor's office holding one another's hand years before. But I can't remember why we were there. But we went by assumed names."

"Does that help you remember?"

"Remember what, dear?"

"The names that you used at the time?"

"You know its like going through a bunch of pictures without any dates on them. You try and piece together what you remember from the year by the way that people looked, by context clues."

"Right, so where did your memory come from?"

"We went by the assumed names of Kate and Liam Mantle during the same year that we were trying to find William. Actually it was the first set of assumed names that we used when we were on the run."

"So this is one of the earlier memories?" Catherine asks.

"Yeah, it must be. But I can't for the life of me remember what we were doing in the doctor's office. Or why Mulder seemed to be so worried."

"Maybe it will come to you," Catherine offers trying to give the old woman some hope.

"Maybe."

All is quiet in the room as the two women look at each other. Scully looks out the window again at the falling rain. It's raining harder now.

"You know the bad things that I remember from my life it was always raining," she tells Catherine.

"Like what?"

"Most recently it was when I found out that I had Alzheimer's. It was probably one of the worst events in my life that I can remember. I'd say getting Alzheimer's was probably one of the cruelest ironies because of the life I had lived. I had witnessed so much and been through so much that it is just so cruel to forget it all anyways. I was a doctor for Christ's sake. I had to remember so much information and yet I'm the one that is struck down with the disease."

"Alzheimer's affects a lot of older people, a lot of doctors, politicians, teachers, people from all walks of life," Catherine starts trying to explain to her.

"I know dear, I know. It's just that I don't remember half of my life. There are so many areas that are shady. Areas that contained information as a firsthand witness of history. History that is locked away in my mind -- trapped there forever."

"What history is that?"

A small smile appears on Dana Scully's lips as she once again becomes very aware of her surroundings and of the thoughts going through her mind.

"You said that the FBI had a scare in 2012. I remember that. I was there."

Catherine stares at the woman dumfounded. Usually any conversation that the two share Dana Scully will forget it within twenty minutes, but apparently she has remembered.

"What?" the older version of Dana Scully asks looking at Catherine's surprised face.

"Usually you don't ever remember what we talk about. Much less what I said."

"Now dear maybe I'm making an improvement."

"How is the FBI part of this history that is forever locked in your mind?"

"Hold on just a second here. I haven't gotten to that part in my story."

"That's right. I'm sorry. You were just telling me about how you found out that your son was missing."

"Yes he was missing, but that evening we received an anonymous phone call."

"From who?"

"A couple who went by John and Jane Doe."

May 23, 2002
Cowboy Inn, Middle of Montana
9:25 p.m.

Mulder and Scully sit side by side on their bed, both lost in their own thoughts.

In Scully's mind she's rehashing the events of the day. The crime scene. Good God, that was one thing that she doesn't ever want to see again. Although as a forensic scientist she has seen nearly everything, what she saw today made her angrier. Angrier at the people who have done this to them and to their lives. The people that have taken everything from them and left them with crumbs from vague clues that eventually led them in nothing, but circles.

The Van De Kamps were people that out of the kindness of their hearts and the longing to have a child took on the duty of caring for Scully and Mulder's nine-month-old son. A child that should have been safe out in the middle of Montana, but apparently if they could find him then obviously the shadow government or the aliens or whoever the hell was after him could find them as well.

Scully stares at the white wall in front of her, trying to keep the thought out of her mind that she in some way is responsible for the Van de Kamps' deaths. But then the thoughts of William come to her. Her proclamation this morning of him being safe came out of nowhere and seems as vague as the crumbs that they've been fed for the last nine years. Maybe a mother's intuition or just the yearning and hoping that he's safe. After the decimated bodies of his adopted parents it must have been a yearning from her heart.

Mulder sits next to Scully thinking of all of the things that have lead them to this point in their lives. Nine years of searching for a truth that has left them wondering where the hell their son is and on the run from everyone and everything that they have cared about in the world.

He looks over at Scully. Damn she's staring at the wall. Mulder feels that its his fault. His fault for her abduction, her infertility, for finally getting the child she always wanted and losing him.

"Ring"

At first neither one of them move.

"Ring"

It's the phone. Mulder looks over to the white phone. What the hell? Who could possibly be calling?

"Ring"

"Answer it," Scully whispers.

Mulder picks up the phone and listens. He doesn't say anything.

"Say hello," Scully whispers coaching him.

Mulder shakes his head.

"Give me the damn phone," Scully responds ripping it out of his grasp.

"Who's there?" Scully asks angrily into the phone.

Nothing.

"Hello, I know you're there. I can hear you breathing."

"I know where your son is," a gruff voice says on the other end. It is a disguised voice.

"I need to know! Tell me!"

"He's safe," the voice replies.

"Who are you?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Yes, you can."

A small cry is heard in the background. A woman is heard trying to shush the child.

"I hear my son. Please tell me who you are," Scully pleads desperately.

"I can't. It'll put us all in danger."

"Please. I need to see my son. I need to see that he's all right. Who are you?"

"Someone."

"Tell me. Please. I need to know," Scully starts to yell.

"No you don't Agent Scully," the voice replies, breaking away from the disguised voice.

Scully recognizes his voice immediately, holding back a gasp. Mulder stares at her concerned and grabs the phone away from her.

"Who are you?"

"John Doe."

"But I hear a woman."

"Then we'll call her Jane, Agent Muldah," he replies the New York accent coming through.

Mulder, too, stares at Scully, shocked at who is on the other end of the phone.

"Where are you?"

"I can't tell you that. I'll get in contact with you later," he replies hanging up the phone.

Mulder continues to hold onto the phone, in disbelief.

"William's safe, Scully. "

"But how? How did they get to him?"

Mulder shakes his head, confused at it too, but then grins, "Come on, Scully, you've worked with me on The X-Files for seven years. There has to be an explanation to it."

"Wow, now you're starting to sound like me."

"But I still refuse to do the autopsies."

"I think you lucked out on that one. If you haven't noticed we're on the run and I'm pretty sure all of the morgues in the country won't let a fugitive perform an autopsy."

"I won't perform one."

"I was talking about me."

"Scully, you're not a fugitive."

"Mulder, I helped you escape from a federal prison. That qualifies for me being a fugitive."

"We are no longer Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, remember?"

"Yeah."

"And I let you get to pick the names this time."

"Thanks, Mulder."

"Remember we are Liam and Kate Mantle."

"How could I forget?"

Mulder puts his arm around her and pulls her into his body. He kisses her forehead and then her lips.

"Mulder, I'm don't want to lose you again."

"You won't, Scully. You're stuck with me now."

Scully smiles, but her grin drops when a huge thud echoes on the door. One solemn knock and then a piece of paper slides under the door.

"What the hell?" Mulder asks, "Mail time?"

"Must be."

Mulder picks up the piece of paper and starts to read, his eyes becoming huge.

"Mulder?" Scully asks seeing the look on his face.

"You ready for a little road trip, Scully?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"Is it them?

"I think it is."

Bethesda Nursing Home
June 9, 2052

"Who is John and Jane Doe?"

"Friends of ours."

Catherine picks up the picture that the older Dana Scully showed her with the young man with red hair next to the aging couple.

"What about in this picture? Who are these people?"

Dana Scully looks at the picture. She smiles actually remembering the day that the picture was taken.

"Dana you should be in this," the man with dark hair, slightly pointy ears, and piercing blue eyes tells her.

"Come on, Scully, you know that you want to be in the picture with William," Mulder urges her. He's aged a lot at nearly fifty-eight years of age, but he still has that look in his eyes, like he's up to something, but won't let on.

"Oh all right, but then we'll take one with John and Monica," she replies giving in.

William places his arm around her, grinning down at her. He stands nearly six feet two, just as tall as his father maybe even a little taller. He also looks just like him, except for the reddish brown hair and bluish hazel eyes.

"What's the matter Aunt Dana? Are you going to miss me?"

Scully looks up at him with tears glistening in his eyes. "You have no idea."

"Okay, Scully, William, smile," Mulder says snapping the picture.

"We lost another picture in a fire."

"What are you talking about?" Catherine inquires, confused.

"I think -- remember dear, my memory is not what it used to be, but when we took this picture, we also took another. One of William and I, but we lost it in a fire."

"A fire?"

"Yeah, just a year after William graduated."

"Then who are these people?"

"John, Monica, you two need to get in this picture, now," Scully tells them herding them towards William.

"This must be what a celebrity feels like," William quips.

"You wish, dorkweed," an auburn haired fifteen and a half year old girl teases him.

"At least I get to leave you behind," William replies.

"You two quit fighting!" the fifty-two-year-old Monica Reyes tells them.

"But Mom! He's been teasing me since day one!"

"No buts about it," John interrupts.

"Dad!"

"No, Megan, go find Marc."

"Dad, why do I always have to keep track of him? He's seven years old. He should be able to find his way by now."

She struck a chord with John, one that hasn't been struck in a long time. It brings back horrible memories from another time when he lost his seven-year-old son.

"Megan go to your room," Monica scolds her.

"I'll go find, Marc," Scully tells them.

"All right guys, let's take this picture," Mulder says.

John stands on one side of William while Monica stands on the other. Snap. A memory that will last forever.

Scully rounds the side of the house and finds Marc sitting in the sandbox, playing quietly with his toys. The child has intense blue eyes, much like those of John Doggett, but the child has raven black hair, resembling Monica more than John.

"Marc what are you doing out here? Your dad is worried about you,"

"Aunt Dana, how come you and Uncle Fox don't have any kids?"

"We--"

"William and Megan look just like you two," the seven-year-old tells her. Smart kid. Very smart kid to notice the similarities.

"Mrs. Mulder! Are you okay?" Catherine asks her shaking her awake.

"Where's Mulder?"

"In your memories, Dana," Catherine tells her.

"What happened?"

"You closed your eyes and I thought you quit breathing."

"I didn't, dear, I'm good now."

"So do you know who these people are?"

"John and --"

"But I thought you said that John Doe was a pseudonym."

"It is, it was -- I don't remember. But we'll figure it out. Telling you this story has been jarring a lot of my memories. Memories that keep coming from different parts of my life."

"And to think that they have tried to find a medication to cure Alzheimer's -- maybe all they needed is to talk."

"Now dear, you know as a doctor or a nurse or whatever you call yourself that that isn't true."

"But it might give you some hope."

"Mulder gave me hope a long time ago."

"Where did you meet him?"

"At the FBI. I was assigned to debunk his work. To reign him in, to shut him down, but I saved him and he saved me as well."

"I've been thinking more about joining the FBI."

"But I thought that you're uncle doesn't want you to."

"He doesn't, but a buddy of mine from college has found a very interesting project, outside of the FBI mainstream."

"Sounds interesting."

"It's a project that was shut down years ago."

"I'd watch out for those kind of projects. They just seem to suck you in and never let you leave."

"It's getting late. I'd better let you get some rest," Catherine replies getting up.

"But I might not remember what we talked about," Scully worries.

"I guess we'll just have to wait until tomorrow."

Catherine walks out of the door and leaves Scully to sit in her room. She closes her eyes and for the first time in a long time prays to God that she will wake up tomorrow -- that if he decides to take her into the 'great beyond' that he waits until she's done telling her story. Because deep down she feels that she has to tell this nurse her story. For some reason. Some connection.

June 10, 2052

Scully wakes up, aches and pains going through her body. She's still alive -- she didn't die in the night. After three years of praying that she would just silently pass into the night she has actually found a reason to live another day.

"Dana, how are you feeling?" Catherine asks as she comes into the room.

"Dear, do you want to hear more of the story?"

"You remember?" Catherine inquires, amazed.

"I left off where we had received a letter from a Jane and John Doe, a couple who knew about our son. Who had him -- a couple who we recognized."

"What happened?"

"We were within twenty minutes of them and of our son. Only twenty months."

"Go on."

"I'm trying dear, you've got to learn to quit interrupting!"

"Sorry."

"It's all right. Let's see. It was ten at night, the stars and the moon were absently gone from the dark sky, but we were on a mission to find our son, and to find a couple who we thought that we'd never ever see again."

May 23, 2002
10:01 p.m. Middle of Montana

Scully absently watches out the window as their car rolls along the vastness of Montana. Three miles and they'd be to the described location on the card. Three miles. It seems like a lifetime for her.

There isn't a star in the sky since the rain clouds have moved in and already started to threaten the humid May air with the growing claps of thunder. There isn't any rain. Not yet at least.

Mulder looks over at Scully. It had to be one of the quietest and longest twenty minutes of either of their lives. So many things could have been said. So many words of reassurance coming from Mulder, but after nine years of disappointment after disappointment Mulder said nothing to reassure her.

Those thoughts were going through her mind too. How many wild goose chases had they been led on in their nine year careers? Too many to count. All starting with a revealing phone call or a letter carefully slipped under the door.

"Mulder --"

Mulder looks over at her, startled that she actually broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when we had that discussion about starlight?"

"That wasn't a discussion, Scully, that was me being philosophical."

"Of course," Scully responds sarcastically -- almost returning to her pre-fugitive on the run days sort of tone.

"Scully, there aren't any stars out tonight. It looks like we're going to get a pretty nasty storm."

"Yeah. Do you remember what you said?"

"Lost souls reside in the stars. Their light travels for millions of miles to reach the Earth's surface. By the time they reach it the stars are long dead. Lost to the world."

Scully's silent for a long time. Mulder glances over at her puzzled.

"Why, Scully?"

"The night when we found you dead, I had a discussion about starlight with Skinner. I didn't want to believe that you were dead, but I had seen a vision that you were. And that scared me, Mulder, it scared me like you wouldn't believe. After eight years of being the skeptic the only thing that I could hope for was that it wasn't true."

"You're not seeing visions now are you?"

"No, I don't know what I'd do if I saw visions now -- especially of you or of William."

"I'm all right. He's all right. We're all right. Case closed," Mulder responds reaching out for her hand.

As he grabs onto her hand the rain starts to pour. Lightning illuminates the vast skyline and thunder booms across the land. It's raining again. Scully prays that it's just a coincidence and nothing more.

"I hate rain," Scully states flatly.

"Me, too."

Mulder and Scully sit in silence once again. Their car rolls into a town with an announcement that they are in their destination. A small place of just 56 residents. A town that has a gas station, a post office, and three bars along main street. It is a town with one motel and about four side streets.

The sign reads:
Now Entering Roswell, Montana City Limits
Population 56

"Well our informants have a sense of humor," Mulder deadpans.

"Something like that."

"I think I can see the sign that says you're leaving the city limits three blocks down."

"Where did they say they were going to meet us at?"

"Well take your pick Scully, you've got Joe's Tavern, Al's Bar, or Cindy Lou's Watering Hole."

"I'm serious, Mulder."

"The motel."

They pull up to a dingy looking motel with about ten rooms and apparently still sporting lead based paint from the early 1950's on the exterior.

Just looking at the place makes Scully's hopes drop.

"Are you sure that they are here?"

"That's what it said on the card."

"Are you sure that its them?"

"Scully --"

"Mulder I don't want to be disappointed. I don't want to open a motel room door and find some Cigarette Smoking Bastard sitting on the other side."

"He's dead, Scully. "

"Is he though?"

"I think this time they got him."

"Mulder--"

"What? When the entire place that he was in blew up, my guess would be that he finally found his way down to his long lost twin. He's a crafty guy, but he'd have to be some sort of mutant to survive that."

"Mulder--"

"--But if you don't want to we can just turn the--"

"No, I need to see my son. To make sure he's all right," Scully interrupts forcefully.

"Me too, Scully. Me too."

The rain starts to pour even harder as they exit the vehicle and head for the specified motel door that they were sent to by the piece of paper that had been slipped underneath their door.

They both stand staring at the slightly crooked number '3' on the door. Mulder looks over at Scully and then back at the door. He raises his knuckles to the door, but it opens before he has a chance to knock.

Mulder and Scully stare at the slightly opened door. It's dark inside the room and Mulder suspiciously opens the door further, the years of FBI training make him reach for the gun on his hip that is no longer there. Bad habits die hard. Scully, like old times, starts to reach for her gun at her back, but comes up short.

Mulder pushes the door open further and walks in cautiously. Still it is very dark. They both walk into the room still looking for any sign of movement.

Any at all.

The door slams shut behind them.

"Who's there?" Mulder asks into the dark room.

Nothing.

"We've traveled this far --" Scully starts trying to think of something sensible to say.

A lighter flicks and a tiny burst of fire burns in the corner. Scully gasps. The one thought going through both Mulder and Scully's mind is that it is the Smoking Man. Somehow survived from the fiery blast.

But when the lighter doesn't go towards the person's lips, but rather towards a candle on the table they both let out their breaths -- both unaware that they were even holding them.

The person takes the candle into their hands and moves it towards his face.

"The lights went out half an hour ago. Apparently someone cut the power because the owner forgot to pay his electric bill. But since we don't know what is lurking around the corner we had to be very careful about putting ourselves outside," the voice says coming closer to them.

Scully squints her eyes to make sure that she is really seeing the man who is in front of her. The voice is unmistakable, but just being able to confirm what she hears with what she sees makes it all the better.

He looks at them both, but notices that neither one has said a word, so he continues.

"We were under the impression and the belief that we would never contact you two again or see you for that matter because it would be dangerous for all of us. We headed north right after we left you in New Mexico. Heading for an Undisclosed Location in the Midwest. Which just happened to land us in Montana."

"My son? Is he okay?" Scully finally asks.

"He's fine. A little paranoid, but I guess he takes after you Muldah."

"I think after everything we've gone through we are all a little paranoid," Mulder responds.

"I need to see him," Scully says desperately.

"I know."

He leads them towards a small room at the back of the motel room. It has its own door which is shut at the time. He slowly opens the door and peers into it.

A crib is in the room. Along with a rocking chair. A brunette is asleep in the chair next to the crib. He walks into the room and gently shakes the woman awake.

She jumps. Everyone is a little on edge. Especially now.

"Monica, it's okay. They're here."

Monica turns to look at the couple that stands in the doorway. She smiles at the sight of them. Instantly Monica gets out of the chair and pulls Scully into a tight hug.

"Dana, I'm so happy to see you again."

"Monica, is he all right?"

"He's perfectly fine. William just fell asleep a few minutes ago."

Scully walks over to the crib and gazes down at the gentle rising and falling of the child's chest as he peacefully sleeps.

Mulder watches her from a distance -- not quite sure about how to act or approach Scully with their son. She had spent eleven months with this child. She had to give him up to protect him and he wasn't there.

John Doggett sees the look of contempt on Mulder's face and his unsure gaze at Scully and William. Scully continues to just stare down at the child -- watching him sleep. Something that she used to do in the early months of having him. When she still couldn't believe that he was right there in front of her. She'd watch him sleep some nights for the entire night, afraid that if she left his side he would have just been a figment of her imagination in the morning.

"Muldah, go on and look at your son," John simply states, maybe with A hint of jealousy that Mulder can look at his child, while John has no child to look at -- having lost Luke all of those years ago.

Monica notices that look on John's face and puts a protective arm around him. To comfort him. Their time together has proven to go beyond the realm of friendship. To go someplace that many married couples have never and probably won't ever experience.

They watch as Mulder walks slowly towards William's crib. When he gets their he gazes down at the child that he hasn't seen in over a year. The child that they had dubbed a miracle. For the first time in A long time tears shimmer in Mulder's eyes as he watches his son sleep.

William stirs and opens his big bluish hazel eyes. Staring up at his two parents. Usually the infant cries when around other people, but after a few seconds of studying the two now crying adults in front of him the child smiles up at them.

And for that moment everything seems perfect. They don't think about the running or the future that stands in front of them. The fight that they still have to fight. All they see is their perfect family.

Until the moment is shattered by the sound of smoke alarms going off.

They break out of their trancelike states and in one swift movement Mulder scoops William up out the crib.

"We need to get out now!"

June 10, 2052
Bethesda Nursing Home

Once again the room of the old Dana Scully seems deserted. But upon closer examination a frail body sits in the rocking chair looking outside at the cloudy sky. It isn't raining, just overcast. She rocks the chair slowly. Even though she is eighty-eight years old she appears to have a renewal in life. One that she hasn't had for many years.

Catherine walks into the room and watches the old woman. An odd sort of amazement comes over Catherine. She tries to place this woman --something seems significant, something beyond her just being one of Catherine's many residents that she sees.

"It isn't polite to stare," Scully speaks up turning towards Catherine.

"How'd you know I was here?"

"It's a sense that I acquired over the years. Especially during that year when we were one the run. We were always looking over our shoulders. It got worse once there were four of us and William. We had to do a lot more to look like normal ordinary people."

"You never told me who these people were."

"All I can remember is the assumed names they went by. John was John, but for the life of me I can't remember either one of their last names or her first name."

"Maybe it isn't important."

"After awhile on the run names became unimportant. We were just unknown people trying to blend in with the crowd. But --"

"-- You couldn't."

"Yeah, we couldn't. Not with what we knew. Not with what we were trying to prevent."

"What were you trying to prevent?"

A pained look comes over Scully's face as memories from what they were trying to prevent hits her full force.

It's dark. At first there seems to be no one alive in the vastness of an unknown place. But under the velvet star speckled sky lays out five sleeping bags. Although the couples under the sleeping bags have combined theirs to make a bed more capable of warmth, of the feeling that there was someone there with them.

The fifth sleeping bag is smaller. And the blond hair with tints of red peeks out from underneath it. two-year-old William is sound asleep underneath the late August sky. The two pairs of adults next to him are wide awake.

Their voices are in hushed tones.

"How much time do we have?" Monica Reyes asks her eyes wide with the revelation that Mulder had revealed to them.

"Ten years."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner? Why didn't you tell us back in May--?" Doggett inquires starting to get angry. Angry at the thought that Mulder had kept this information secret from them for three months.

"I needed to be assured that I had a solution," Mulder tells them quietly.

"And you have one now?" Doggett asks.

"It all seemed so complex, but now it is so simple."

"What is the solution, Mulder?" Doggett inquires reaching for an answer.

"A vaccine."

"I thought that you've been through this before. I thought that the only means to defeat an alien race that plans to take over the planet was found in William--" Doggett starts.

"But that's gone now," Monica pipes up, looking at both Mulder and Scully confused, "The only way that you'd be able to get this vaccine would be the combination of both your and Scully's unique genes--" Monica stops, her eyes wide with realization.

Realization as to why Dana had been trying to hide her recent trips to the bathroom, her pale face, the fatigue. It all made sense now to Monica.

"Oh my God--" Monica Reyes responds.

"Dana? What were you trying to prevent?" Catherine inquires.

"What? I'm sorry my mind seems to wander," Dana Scully tells her laughing at the discrepancies in her lack of memory.

"The end of the world."

"You're kidding right?" Catherine replies skeptically.

"No, not at all. The world was going to be taken over by a superior race of aliens in December of 2012--"

"--But that never happened."

"We prevented it."

"How?"

Dana Scully bites her lip trying to remember, trying to bring back the memory that she just had, but she can't. It's lost. Gone.

"I don't remember."

"That's okay. Maybe I've pushed you too far. I'm going to leave you alone for awhile."

"No!" Scully says with more force that she wanted.

"All right I'll stay."

It's silent for a long time. Dana Scully nervously fidgets with the crucifix around her neck.

"Are you religious?" Catherine asks acknowledging the cross around her neck.

"Yeah. For many years I questioned my religion, but I realized that it was the thing that pulled me through. Although I was a scientists I saw too many miracles in both my life and in the work that we did to not believe that there was another force at work."

"I was raised in a strong Catholic background. Ever since my mom died my uncle turned to religion and instilled it in both his kids and me."

"I'm Catholic too."

Catherine nods at this. A ton of people are Catholic, no coincidence there.

"I think the reason he wanted to raise me Catholic was because my mom thought it was very important, to carry on her own mother's beliefs."

"That's very important to stay true to your roots."

"Yeah," Catherine is silent.

"What's the matter, dear?"

"I found out this morning that I was accepted in the FBI."

"Congratulations, does your uncle know?"

"I haven't told him yet. I'm afraid to, especially since I'm taking a job in an off stream project."

"Why is he so against it?"

"His parents and friends of theirs nearly lost everything --including their lives and children."

"I remember feeling a lot of resentment from my father when I joined the FBI. He thought it was an act of rebellion. I thought it was an opportunity to help people. And then when I was assigned to the X-Files they were disappointed that I was taking on a new job instead of leaving my 'stage' behind me."

"Did you say The X-Files?" Catherine asks with amazement.

"Yeah, why?"

Catherine doesn't respond. She's shocked to be sitting in the room with the woman that she read about in the files even though many of them had been lost she and Jack had found a few. Some his grandfather John Doggett had signed off on. Both Catherine and Jack understood that their families went way back, that her mother was even raised by his grandparents, but the traces to her own grandparents was a paper trail that ended abruptly one in which no one wanted to elaborate on.

Late nights they'd talk about the hardships of growing up. Age wise they were within months of each other. He was born in September of 2026 to a seventeen-year-old mother and father. She was born in November of the same year to a single mom who to everyone's surprise had conceived a child even though she was told six years before that she would never ever have children as a result of a form of cancer that she suffered from when she was eighteen. Their lives crossed occasionally in the early years when Catherine and her mother would come to visit his grandparents. But when her mom died they lost all contact until they met up again in college.

"Katie, what's the matter?"

"This is all starting to make sense," Catherine responds.

"What is?"

"I need to hear more of your story. I need to know what happened."

Dana Scully nods her head, but looks at Catherine confused.

"Where was I?"

"The hotel where you met went up in flames."

"Ah yes. It was like a blazing inferno."

"And obviously you all made it out safely."

"We did."

"Where'd you go from there?"

"Anywhere we could find. This went on for nearly a month and a half before Mulder found his solution."

"Where'd he find his solution?"

"In a place where no one thought to look. A place that we didn't think was possible. In a miracle."

July 9, 2002
Middle of Nowhere
5:12 a.m.

Five sleeping bags are spread out on the grassy plain. Looking around at the terrain you'd have to think that they were somewhere in the Midwest or in the southern part of Canada and it is already starting to feel humid out.

Everyone else is asleep as Scully stares out at the vastness of the land. They say that right before the sun comes up is the coldest part of the night. The temperature is near sixty degrees and she is already down to a tank top and shorts -- not even cold. She silently watches as William sleeps in between her and Mulder. His blond hair is splayed over his pillow and he looks angelic.

Scully then looks at Monica and John. They are snuggled close to one another, searching for a type of warmth. This is the sixth night in a row that they've felt it was too unsafe to stay in a motel. Everything that they possess now can fit into the Ford Explorer that they traded for the car they had back in May.

In another half an hour pink and orange will start to stretch across the sky. Right now the stars are still somewhat visible, but the sky is starting to get lighter.

Scully is still extremely warm and doesn't feel well, but she doesn't want to alert the rest of the group into waking up well before they wanted or needed to.

They had another five hundred mile journey in front of the them. Scully smirks at the thought that they are actually heading out to where everything between Mulder and her started. Their first case out in Oregon. Although its hard to believe that in the last month they've crisscrossed across the country and now are sitting somewhere in Colorado after having seen the Lake Superior in Minnesota, going across the Dakotas and then down to Nebraska and over towards Ohio before cutting down and going back west. A trip that would have taken two days took them some sixty odd days.

A wave of nausea sweeps over Scully and she stumbles to get up --trying to get away from the group. She succeeds in making over to where a small bunch of trees is before she throws up whatever she had eaten from the night before.

Mulder wakes with a start and looks over to Scully's sleeping bag. She's not there. He starts to panic and looks around. Then he sees her hunched over next to a few trees.

He gets up silently and heads over to her side.

"Scully, what's the matter?" he whispers.

"I don't know, Mulder," she replies, grimacing. It is much unlike her normal self to show any kind of emotion or pain.

"Scully?" Mulder inquires concerned.

"I'm fine," she tells him trying to walk past him, but the dizziness returns and she nearly falls over. Mulder catches her.

"You don't seem fine."

"I just really dizzy all of the sudden, especially with this headache. I can't even see straight."

"There's some Tylenol in the Explorer."

Scully nods, but doesn't move. She sinks down next to the tree. Mulder nods his head, "All right then I guess I'll go get it," he tells her trying to lighten her up a bit.

She just nods and puts her head into her hands. Scully hasn't felt this awful in a long time and it just all came on at once. But then she starts to think back to the last week or two -- last week she felt dizzy when she and Monica were walking through the aisles in Wal-Mart stocking up on their weekly supplies and just a few days ago she remembered having a horrible headache.

Mulder returns with the Tylenol and a bottle of water.

"Here, Scully. "

She takes the pills and the water, gulps them down. He sits down next to her putting his arm around her.

"I feel horrible."

"You look pale."

Scully rubs her temples trying to tame the pounding in her head. It is starting to get duller, but she can still feel the blood pounding in her head, hear it against her ear drums."How long have you felt sick?" Mulder whispers.

"This just came on all at once," she replies trying not to mention the other two incidents that she can remember.

"Just once?" Mulder eyes her skeptically.

"Maybe a few more times."

"How long?"

"A week or so --"

"You're going to a doctor."

"Mulder, I am a doctor."

"Yeah. We'll find one in town."

"Mulder, I'm fine."

"Have you been having nosebleeds?"

"I don't remember," she replies. But he knows her too well, he knows all of the Scully 'I'm fine' phrases and this 'I'm fine' along with the way she's acting doesn't convince him.

"Have you?"

"I had one a few nights ago, but its because of the high altitude," Scully tells him coming up with an explanation.

"Scully, you need to see a doctor," Mulder tells her concerned.

She shakes her head.

"You need --"

"No!"

"Scully?"

"I don't want to go to a doctor and have him tell me that I only have two months left to live. I can't go through that again. And this time we have no resources to save me. We're on our own."

"There's hope, Scully," Mulder tells her softly.

"What if there's not?"

"We found William didn't we? We are back with two people who we never thought we'd see again. I think there's a lot of hope."

"And what about the end of the world, Mulder? We've been searching for two months to find a solution and yet we have nothing. Do you know how many years it will take to vaccinate everyone against the coming apocalypse? And we have yet to figure out what that vaccination is. We only have ten years left."

"Scully you are such the optimist," Mulder says playfully.

"I've seen too many things fall apart, too many things go wrong to be optimistic about hopeless situations."

They're quiet for a long time and then Scully looks over to Mulder.

"All right," she says softly, "I'll go to the doctor."

Mercy Clinic
July 9, 2002
10:13 a.m.

Mulder sits next to her nervously. He thinks the cancer has returned. Taking her hand into his own he strokes it, trying to reassure himself as he was reassuring her.

A bubbly young doctor walks into the room and smiles at the couple sitting in front of him. They do not return the favor.

"Well Mister and Misses Mantle I ran a few tests and it appears to me that everything is fine here with Kate, except --"

"Except what?" Mulder inquires still sitting on pins and needles.

"We did find something," the doctor tells them.

The color in Scully's face drains out leaving her staring at the doctor in disbelief. They'd found something. Great. Just when their life was starting to look bearable they've found something.

Mulder glares at the doctor, "Would you like to share with us what you found?"

"It's a tumor isn't it? I'm going to die," Scully bursts.

"No, Mrs. Mantle, you don't have a tumor and you're not going to die."

"Well then what the hell did you find?" Scully asks becoming angry at this doctor who was enjoying his job now.

"Congratulations, folks," he says smiling at them.

"What?" Scully asks confused, "I don't follow."

"You're pregnant."

June 10, 2052
Bethesda Nursing Home

Dana Scully rocks back and forth in the old rocking chair, one that has been with her for years. Catherine is once again out of the room leaving the eighty-eight-year-old woman alone. Always alone. It had been years since she'd last seen her son. Or maybe just days. She couldn't remember. Who knows he could have visited her a few hours ago and she can't remember if he did or didn't.

On her lap lays a photo album with pages yellowed with age. Many of the pages are missing pictures all together, but she pages through it anyways.

On one page is a picture of her and Mulder smiling despite the obvious situation that they were once in -- it's their wedding picture. She's wearing a simple white dress and Mulder is wearing a black tux. Next to the picture is her handwriting: Mr. & Mrs. Fox Mulder married October 9, 2003. A year after she found out she was pregnant with their second child. To the right of the picture is one of John Doggett & Monica Reyes nicely dressed to accompany their friends. Monica is holding a baby girl while John is holding onto the hand of a two-year-old boy. Dana Scully's handwriting is scrawled next to it: John and Monica with William, 2 ½, and Megan, 8 months.

She stares at the picture, confused.

"Dana how does it feel to finally be Mrs. Fox Mulder?" Monica asks her as she bounces the eight month old baby in her arms."It feels right," Scully responds simply as she reaches out to smooth the baby's strawberry blond hair down.

Megan reaches out her arms towards Scully with a huge grin on her face. Even at eight months old this baby was a smart one. She wraps her pudgy arms around Scully's neck and Scully kisses the top of her head, smiling at the fact that she is holding the child's weight in her arms."Momma!" the baby says as Scully continues to hold her, directing the 'Momma' at Scully, not Monica.

Tears appear in Scully's eyes and she bites her lip to keep her emotions at bay.

"I didn't think it would be this hard," Scully says as she hands Megan back over to Monica.

"She'll be safe with us," Monica reassures her.

"I know."

"Dana, what are you looking at?" Catherine asks as she walks back into the room.

"Nothing, dear, nothing at all."

Catherine takes the photo album off of Dana's lap and places it back on the bureau which holds the framed pictures too. She looks at the ones in the frame, knowing that Dana Scully was very particular about what she'd let people see and what she wouldn't. The pictures in the frames were the ones that she wanted to display to everyone who would enter the room, but the ones locked away in her photo album were her own secrets, pictures from a painful time.

"I have something for you," Catherine says, breaking the silence.

"Oh really?"

Catherine reaches into her pocket and pulls out a picture of Catherine and her mother -- when she was three years old.

"I figured since you have let me hear your story and look at your pictures I could bring you something of mine to show."

Dana Scully took the picture into her hands and stared at it intently. She smiles at the cute little three-year-old girl with strawberry blond hair and those hazel eyes that look so much like William's.

"You were a blond," Scully says.

"Not really. You can already tell that my hair in this picture is starting to turn red. My uncle and mom both had blond hair before it turned to the auburn shade. I inherited their looks."

Scully then looks to the woman seated next to the three-year-old little girl. The twenty-six-year-old woman has a huge smile on her face accented further by her bluish hazel eyes. William's eyes. Mulder's eyes. The woman looks like her only with hazel eyes instead of the piercing blue.

Scully swallows past a lump that has formed in her throat. She recognizes this woman, but from where?

The hospital stench filters through Scully's nostrils as she walks silently next to Mulder. They are older now, Scully is fifty seven years old. She glances over at Mulder. He hadn't taken the idea of turning sixty in a few months too lightly, but he still looks good. Really good, an older version of the handsome man he was twenty years before -- his hair now speckled with gray and age lines starting to deepen around his eyes and mouth.

They walk in silence. After the numerous times they had been in the hospital you'd think they would have gotten used to it by now.

Scully stops at a door and turns to Mulder, taking his hand reassuringly.

"She knows, Mulder."

"I think they've always known -- she's a spitting image of you, Scully," Mulder tells her gently.

"Are you ready for this?"

Mulder only nods his head. He turns the doorknob and they walk into the room. She's asleep, her face pale.

John and Monica watch over her like the protective parents that they've always been towards her. William, at twenty years of age, sits in the chair at the opposite side of the bed holding onto his sister's hand, asleep next to her.

"How's she doing?" Scully whispers, longing to reach out to the eighteen-year-old child.

"She's dying," Monica replies tears immediately forming in her eyes.

Scully stares at Monica in disbelief, shaking her head, not wanting to take it in.

"There's an inoperable tumor in the frontal lobe of her brain," Monica informs them trying to keep her voice in a low whisper while biting back tears.

"No," Scully denies, "I won't accept that."

Mulder puts his arm protectively around Scully, tears forming in his eyes as well. They hold one another as Scully stares at the pale face with her auburn hair splayed over the white pillow.

"How long?" Mulder inquires.

"Two months," John answers for his wife, comforting Monica.

"There must be something, a cure, a way --" Mulder starts.

John shakes his head, grimly, "There's nothing."

"No," Mulder tells him forcefully, "There's always hope."

"Dana? Are you okay?" Catherine asks her while shaking her gently.

Tears well up in Dana Scully's eyes as she tries to search for an answer, anything to say, but she comes up with nothing.

"Do you recognize her?" Catherine inquires, questioning the expression on Dana Scully's face.

Scully swallows hard, too many emotions have been brought up, too many memories of the hardships that she can associate with the woman in the picture.

"I think I do."

"How?" Catherine asks.

"I don't know," Scully tells her putting her head down in defeat.

"All right," Catherine tells her placing a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, "Maybe it will come to you."

"I hope so."

"Do you feel up to continuing on with your story?"

"I suppose I could."

"You remember where you were at don't you?"

"Yeah," Scully says smiling, "Mulder and I found out that we were pregnant."

"The thing I don't understand is how come you were so shocked? Pregnancies happen all of the time."

Dana Scully chuckles at this and looks up to Catherine with a smirk on her face, "I was told I was barren, yet I conceived two children."

"Mistakes happen all of time."

"You said you had just opened The X-Files, you'll have to find my file and read up on why this one wasn't a mistake."

"I'll do that," Catherine tells her once again amazed that Dana Scully has actually remembered what they've talked about. It has been the first time in nearly five years where Scully was like the Dana Scully she once was -- remembering and cherishing the conversations that she held with others.

"Why is this child so important?" Catherine inquires.

"Our child had the genetic make-up that could save mankind."

"Why?"

"The genes that our children both possessed were immune to the coming plague and the vaccine could only come from their DNA."

"Dana, are you sure you're feeling all right?" Catherine questions.

"I'm not crazy," Scully says laughing, "Even though it does sound kind of bizarre."

"Yeah, so what happened after you found out you were pregnant?"

Dana Scully stares out the window, not really listening to Catherine, she's lost in her own thoughts about the woman that was in the picture.

"Dana?" Catherine questions.

Absently Scully looks over to her and asks, "What was your mother's name?"

"Megan Elizabeth Doggett."

August 25, 2002
Southeastern Minnesota

It's dark. At first there seems to be no one alive in the vastness of an unknown place. But under the velvet star speckled sky lays out five sleeping bags. Although the couples under the sleeping bags have combined theirs to make a bed more capable of warmth, of the feeling that there was someone there with them.

The fifth sleeping bag is smaller. And the blond hair with tints of red peeks out from underneath it. Fifteen month old William is sound asleep underneath the late August sky. The two pairs of adults next to him are wide awake.

Their voices are in hushed tones.

"How much time do we have?" Monica Reyes asks her eyes wide with the revelation that Mulder had revealed to them.

"Ten years."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner? Why didn't you tell us back in May--?" Doggett inquires starting to get angry. Angry at the thought that Mulder had kept this information secret from them for three months.

"I needed to be assured that I had a solution," Mulder tells them quietly.

"And you have one now?" Doggett asks.

"It all seemed so complex, but now it is so simple."

"What is the solution, Mulder?" Doggett inquires reaching for an answer.

"A vaccine."

"I thought that you've been through this before. I thought that the only means to defeat an alien race that plans to take over the planet was found in William--" Doggett starts.

"But that's gone now," Monica pipes up, looking at both Mulder and Scully confused, "The only way that you'd be able to get this vaccine would be the combination of both your and Scully's unique genes--" Monica stops, her eyes wide with realization.

Realization as to why Dana had been trying to hide her recent trips to the bathroom, her pale face, the fatigue. It all made sense now to Monica.

"Oh my God--" Monica Reyes responds.

It takes John a few more seconds to realize what the pair in front of them is saying. "But I thought you were unable to conceive--"

Scully nods with a smile on her face, one of joy, as well as disbelief, "I was, but we are once again given a miracle child."

"When did you find out?" Monica Reyes asks looking at Scully closer, trying to see if her midsection is starting to show some sign of a child within. If you weren't looking for the small bump covered by Mulder's Knicks t-shirt you wouldn't have seen it.

"Last month."

"Why didn't you tell us?" John asks her, looking at both Mulder and Scully with concern.

"We wanted to be completely certain that I'd make it out of the first trimester before we told you of how we are going to come about with this vaccine."

"When are you due, Dana?" Monica inquires.

"February 11th, I'm fourteen weeks pregnant."

"We had to make sure that we had the ability to make the vaccine," Mulder continues.

"The ability?"

"Scully and I would go into town to get supplies, but we would also check in with our contact from inside the Centers for Disease Control --"

"--Since when did you have a contact inside the CDC?" Doggett interrupts suspicious.

"Since Skinner revealed to Scully and I that he has been with the CDC for years trying to find a vaccine to stop the coming alien colonization."

"Skinner is part of the shadow government?" Doggett questions, not believing that Skinner could have been capable.

"Not the shadow government, necessarily, but rather a group of government officials who know that the invasion will come and the only way to stop it is with a vaccine -- one that they will put out into the mainstream -- one that will save the entire population of mankind," Mulder finishes.

Monica and John stare at the duo in disbelief. This is just too much for them to take in. Too much for a lot of people.

"So you're saying -- all of those years there were people that actually cared what you two were doing down in The X-Files office--"

"What I'm saying John, is maybe we were all put down there for a reason," Mulder replies.

Doggett looks to Scully skeptical, "Don't tell me that you're believing this too?"

"I've known about Skinner's involvement for close to five years -- he told me when my cancer relapsed--"

"So, everything the two of you have been through is for a secret agenda at the CDC to save all of mankind from the alien invasion," Monica pieces it together.

"Monica, John, both Mulder and I know it is a lot to take in, but we couldn't ever utter a word about it to you two, not when we were always under constant surveillance by the groups who were trying to thwart the CDC's efforts, a group who was trying save themselves, and no one else," Scully explains.

Everything is quiet. John and Monica are trying to take it all in. Information which Mulder and Scully both had some sort of grasp on years before, but never truly understood the outcome until they found out they were expecting another child -- a child with genetic material which can and will save humanity. The same genetic material that was taken away from William when Jeffery Spender gave him the antidote against it -- another attempt by the shadow government.

"If this is all true," Doggett interrupts the silence, "then what do we do next?"

"When I reach about twenty weeks an amniocentesis will be performed on me to get the genetic material out of the amniotic fluid. This way it will not harm the child or me," Scully tells him.

"That's it? We get the genetic material out of the amniotic fluid?" Monica questions.

"That's just the beginning," Mulder starts, "They will take the amniotic fluid to a facility deep underground where they will begin to duplicate the string of DNA they need -- the string of DNA which will vaccinate the world against the aliens. Once they do this they will declare some sort of emergency to get a vaccine against a new form of polio or measles or some sort of disease that would threaten anyone and everyone."

"And they'll get the entire population in ten years time?" Doggett asks skeptically.

"That's our hope --" Scully replies.

"And what if they fail?" Monica wonders.

"They won't," Scully states simply.

Again the vast silence comes over the two couples. Scully watches William sleep, his chest rising and falling, undisturbed by the rest of the world. Her hope for him is to be safe.

"Dana, they will go after William, again," Monica whispers.

"I know," Scully replies softly, her face full with the pain and realization that she may never be able to keep her son safe. She might not ever be able to keep neither one of her children safe.

"That brings us to another point," Mulder responds putting his arm around Scully protectively.

"What?" Doggett asks.

"We need you both to keep our children safe," Mulder tells them.

"But Mulder you and Scully are the best ones for the job," Doggett tells them.

"I hope that's true," Scully whispers.

"And if its not?" Monica asks.

"Then we're going to need your help," Scully tells her matter-of-factly.

Scully falls silent with the rest of the group. John and Monica realizing what Mulder and Scully are telling them. They need them to keep their children safe. Right now everything seems fine, but ten years from now it could be a different story.

"How can we help you?" Monica inquires.

"When the time comes," Scully starts painfully placing her words together, "you may have to take over the care of our children."

"Dana, you're talking nonsense," Doggett starts softly, "Both you and Mulder will be around for years."

"That's not the point, John," Scully replies.

"Then what is?"

"For their safety, after this child is born and the vaccine is made, we can not be connected to these children as their parents," Mulder tells them, "or all of us will end up dead."

"Are you sure?" Monica asks softly.

Scully nods her head, biting back tears. She will once again have to give William up, but the second time around it will be harder. The second time around she'll have two children to give up, two children who she will get to watch grow up, but will not have the opportunity to raise.

"We'll always be with them and we'll have this time with William and this child," Scully tells them rubbing the small, but prominent bump on her abdomen, "But we want them to be safe, we want them to grow old and for that to happen they need to be raised by someone else."

Monica rubs Scully's arm, as Scully finally breaks down in tears. By this time little William is up and toddling his way towards Scully with a goofy grin on his face.

"Momma!" he screams happily running into Scully's arms. Scully hugs him tightly as tears strain down her face. Mulder puts his arms around both Scully and William. It is their small family --one they only have six months with. Six months that they will cherish forever.

Far off in the distance headlights appear, riding along the dusty road. Doggett watches it for a minute, not having the heart to break up the family hug.

"John?" Monica questions as he continues to stare at the headlights that are only a few miles away.

"Did anyone call for a pizza?" Doggett asks lightly. He turns to see that everyone is now looking out at the headlights, "Didn't think so."

As if on cue the entire group jumps up from where they are and start to throw everything into their vehicles in record time. Then the jump in themselves and head in the opposite direction of the headlights as fast as they can.

Someone knows where they are.

Someone they never expected.

Bethesda Nursing Home
June 10, 2052

"Dana? Are you awake?" Catherine whispers as she stands in the entrance of the room.

Looking into the room Catherine can see that Dana Scully is very much awake, but she is deeply engrossed in looking at her photo album. Pictures from a time when she knew who she was and what she stood for and she knew that she wasn't going to forget to eat or what happened to her years earlier. Those were better days for her and she smiles at the thought.

"Maybe we should come back later," a gruff voice whispers behind Catherine.

"Jack, you've got to listen to this woman's story, its fascinating and it might help to explain why everything is so hush-hush about my grandparents."

Jack Doggett at twenty six years of age bears a striking resemblance to his grandfather -- with piercing blue eyes -- the only difference is his raven black hair -- the same hair that his own father possessed years before.

"Kate, I know that this is important to you, but how much information does this woman know?"

"She knows things that nobody else does," Catherine tells him forcefully.

"Like?"

"Why are you being so stubborn? This is Dana Scully -- thee Dana Scully from The X-Files. Her last name is Mulder. Does that ring any bells?"

"Mulder and Scully -- Agents who worked at the Bureau over fifty years ago -- both are supposed to be dead, Kate. She's a woman with Alzheimer's -- how much can she remember?" he asks her skeptically.

"Jack, why are you being so cynical?"

"I don't know, Kate, maybe I'm trying to be more like you," Jack replies sarcastically. In the last few years -- both of them had taken on particular roles -- one skeptical, the other the believer, and in taking on these roles they went against what either one was raised with.

Jack was raised by a father who was amazed by Jack's grandfather --never believing in half of the things that his mother talked about. From a very young age Jack would sit and listen to Grandma Monica's stories and they fascinated him. She would talk about working on the X-Files and from the age of six he became determined to see if these files still existed. A couple of years ago he found his 'holy grail.' "Jack," Catherine says looking up at him with her hazel eyes, "I'm taking a step -- I'm believing -- something you've wanted me to do ever since you tried to convince me to join you on The X-Files."

Catherine's mother on the other hand was a believer in miracles --having been told all of her life that she was one and that she had a miracle as well in Catherine. At the age of four, after her mother's death, Catherine decided that miracles did not happen based on fate or chance, but rather they were made by people -- doctors. Her uncle would tell her of her mysterious grandmother who was a doctor, but as Catherine got older the stories of her grandparents diminished.

"Fine."

They walk into the room side by side. There is something about their relationship that is different from many others -- they have immense chemistry -- not sexual chemistry, but the kind of chemistry that could almost resemble the early years of Mulder and Scully's relationship.

Dana Scully does not look up from the photo album. She instead stares down at a picture of a bald man with glasses sitting next to a very pretty redhead -- not Scully -- but rather someone she recognizes --someone from her days at the FBI. The couple is smiling at the photographer as she holds onto a tiny infant. Next to the picture once again in Scully's hand writing is an inscription: Walter Skinner and Amy Fitzgerald with Sergei Skinner, 2 months. December 25, 2002.

"Dana?" Catherine questions again.

Dana finally looks up at the pair and is startled to see the young man standing next to Catherine.

"Oh my God," she whispers.

"Dana, this is my friend Jack Doggett -- he's the one who I was telling you about -- the one who has the off stream project in the FBI."

"It's like seeing a ghost," Dana replies.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Mulder," Jack tells her politely.

The cool spring air filled with the scent of blooming flowers floats through the air as Scully sits outside on the porch swing. She's sixty-one years old and amazingly she still feels good.

Mulder walks out of the front door onto their porch -- on the porch of a home that they built ten years before. It is a small house with A master bedroom and two guest bedrooms -- ideally their children's rooms -- the children they never got to raise.

He sits down next to Scully, placing his arm around her.

"Megan just called," Mulder tells her as he starts to rock the swing.

"Is everything all right?" Scully inquires, becoming concerned.

"She didn't say."

"Mulder --"

"Megan said she was coming over if we didn't mind."

"I hope everything's all right."

"She's our daughter, Scully, she'll make it through anything," Mulder responds rubbing her shoulder, calmingly.

They sit in silence for a long time. Nothing needs to be said as both Mulder and Scully sit, thinking about what could be wrong with Megan, nothing positive or good coming to mind.

Thoughts of the cancer returning, thoughts that Megan might be dying, go through both of their heads. Not thoughts of weddings, or house ownership, or the idea that maybe she'll be moving back home with John and Monica who only live a mile away still raising sixteen year old Marc.

Finally, Megan's car pulls up and she gets out followed by a tall, handsome man of twenty-three.

"Dana, Fox, you remember Sergei?" Megan asks as the young couple walk up the steps of the porch.

"Of course," Mulder responds, "How's your dad doing?"

"He decided to move back to Washington. Even though he's going on seventy-five, he's still extremely involved with the Bureau."

"That doesn't surprise me," Mulder laughs, trying to break the tension.

"Why don't we sit in the house?" Scully suggests standing up and leading the way.

They head into the living room and the young couple sits down on the couch -- Sergei's arm is protectively around Megan's shoulders.

Mulder and Scully sit down to face them.

"So what's going on?" Mulder finally asks.

"I'm having a hard time believing it -- I think we both are, but umm --" Megan pauses, grabbing a hold of Serggei's hand both of them have huge smiles on their faces, "We're pregnant."

Relief washes over both Mulder and Scully -- too many times had they thought that something was wrong with their daughter, that she was dying. And then Scully looks at her shocked.

"But I thought you were barren."

"So did I, but miracles happen everyday. Maybe the doctors were wrong after the cancer went away. Maybe they tested me wrong."

"Have you told Monica and John?" Scully asks.

"Actually I wanted you and Fox to be the first to know -- since you are my parents."

"Mrs. Mulder?" Catherine asks.

"I'm sorry?" Scully replies, looking at Jack and Catherine who stand in front of her.

"I've seen this picture before," Catherine tells her, indicating the picture of Skinner, Amy, and baby Sergei.

"Where?" Scully asks.

"My mother showed me a picture of my grandparents on my father's side when I was three."

It is quiet in the room -- no one speaks.

"Your father disappeared months before you were born --" Scully says breaking the silence.

"How did you know that?" Catherine inquires, wide eyed.

"I think I remember it."

Catherine shoots Jack an 'I told you so' look.

"Is there anything else?"

Scully grimaces as she tries to remember more, but nothing comes to her -- at least nothing that can be put into words.

It is uncharacteristically cold for the end of May. Scully looks around the small cemetery -- the finality of it seeming so real. She hates cemeteries -- always has. Mulder stands next to her.

The coffin holds a mangled body -- one that was found weeks after he went missing.

Next to Mulder and Scully stands Monica and John. Monica has her arm protectively around Megan -- sobbing. A bond that has been there since Megan was an infant. It then hits Scully that Monica has something she will never have -- the experience of raising her children. Even now at twenty-three and twenty-five her children still went to Monica and John -- they knew the truth of their biological parents, but a decade and a half of parenting can not be erased at the revelation of their true parents.

Seventy-five-year-old Walter Skinner stares at the coffin, not wanting to believe who is really in there.

"Today we commit the body of Sergei James Skinner into the ground --his soul is not dead, but rather returned to live with our heavenly father," the minister starts.

Scully looks away from the coffin and stares at the rolling cemetery hill with graves speckled across the green.

"Mulder," she whispers into his ear, "Evil is still at work."

Mulder leans in and responds, "What are you talking about?"

"It's still happening."

Mulder and Scully's eyes meet -- they are both at a realization that maybe their crusade to keep Armageddon from happening is far from over. People are still dying for the cause, Sergei was taken by them. Not because of what he possesses, but rather because of who is father is.

"If that's true Scully, then neither Meg nor Will are safe," Mulder whispers back.

"They'll be safe if we disappear out of their lives."

"So where were you in your story?" Jack inquires, wanting to hear the spectacular story that Catherine has been telling him about.

"We were being followed by someone."

"Who?" Catherine asks.

"Kate, let her talk," Jack scolds.

"Thank-you," Scully replies giving Jack a small smile, "The person was someone who we never in a million years thought we'd see. Someone who was sent on the run by the man who loved her -- to protect their child."

Catherine points to the photo of Skinner and Amy, "It was her, wasn't it?"

"Skinner's assistant, Amy, was seven months pregnant with their child and in as much danger as either one of us were."

"He wanted collateral?" Catherine asks.

"I guess you could call it that, but he wanted to make sure that Amy and their child was safe and he couldn't do that while underground working on the vaccine."

"She was already seven months pregnant? Didn't it pose a threat to her before that?"

"Skinner instructed her to get as far away from Washington DC as she could months before, but her mother was very sick and she needed to come home. In doing that she became a target -- a way for the shadow government and the aliens to get to Skinner."

"So what happened?" Catherine inquires.

"We got to see a friend of ours."

August 25, 2002
Southeastern, Minnesota

Their vehicle speeds off into the valley, following the Mississippi River with Doggett at the wheel. Every once in awhile someone would sneak a peek to see if the car was still following them. And every time they looked it was.

"I know this is a bad time to say this but --" Mulder starts looking over to Doggett. The two women with William are huddled into the back of the vehicle.

Doggett looks over at him with a questioning glare, "If you have to take a piss this is going to have to wait."

"No -- actually I think I recognize that vehicle," Mulder tells them.

"Mulder, how could you possible recognize that vehicle?" Scully asks skeptically.

"We need to pull over."

"We can't pull over -- what if it's the super soldiers or the aliens or whoever the hell is after us," Doggett tells him forcefully.

"Its Skinner's vehicle."

Doggett continues driving, glancing back in the rear view mirror.

"Did you not hear me, John?" Mulder inquires.

"I heard you, Mulder."

A rest area off to the side of the road comes into view. It's right along Lake Pepin -- which is actually just a wider part of the Mississippi. A large building that is home to a lousy office and a set of dingy bathrooms greets the pair.

Skinner's so called car pulls up beside them. Everyone is on pins and needles. No one gets out.

Everything is silent.

"Stay here," Mulder instructs as he proceeds to open the door.

Doggett turns off the engine.

"No, John, leave the engine running. I could be wrong."

"Mulder?" Scully asks concerned.

"I'll be fine, Scully. "

"Mulder --"

He leaves the car, once again ditching everyone who is in it. Although this 'ditch' is different than the ones that proceeded it years before. He's doing this to protect them. He's doing this because if it is indeed someone besides Skinner then it was his fault that they found them -- he wouldn't have been careful enough.

Mulder walks over to the dark, tinted glass of the driver's side. The window rolls down slightly.

"It's good to see that you're taking all of the precautions, Agent Mulder," Skinner voice comes from behind the window, "I could have easily shot you as you walked in front of my car."

"I knew it was you, sir."

"Exactly," Skinner replies with a smirk on his face.

"Have you been followed?"

"I've taking every precaution."

"Then why are you here?"

"I need a favor."

Before he can reply a woman says, "Walter, what if we were followed?"

Mulder stares at Skinner, questioning. Skinner turns to the red headed woman next to him. It's his former assistant Amy Fitzgerald who is now seven months pregnant and ready to pop.

"We weren't."

"Skinner, what's going on?"

Skinner rolls down the window further so Mulder can see into the vehicle.

"This is my favor."

Mulder stares at the woman, recognizing her immediately and then a huge grin appears on Mulder's face.

"I can see, sir, that you have been busy."

"Shut up, Mulder, before you get your ass kicked."

"Of course, sir."

"In order for the vaccination to continue I need to be assured that Amy is safe. I need that from you."

"But sir, why would she be in danger?"

"Mulder, you're the paranoid one. I think you would have figured this all out by now. We are all in danger. Anyone who has connection with us -- specifically you and Scully are in danger."

Mulder nods, "You know that doesn't surprise me. But will it always be that way?"

"There's no way to tell, but right now it doesn't look hopeful."

Mulder's face falls immediately, "Has the process for the vaccine failed?"

"No, actually it is right on schedule. All we need now is the DNA in six weeks and we'll be able to start the vaccinations around the first of the year."

"Mulder?" Scully whispers, coming up behind them.

Mulder turns around, still a little jumpy from all of the secrecy.

"Scully, I told you to stay in the Explorer."

"No, Mulder you told Doggett to stay in the Explorer with the engine running --"

"That is so you, Scully, the technicalities."

Scully rolls her eyes at Mulder, while they share one of their secret smiles -- ones that showed their happiness, annoyance, whatever emotion they felt at the moment. A way that they have learned to talk without words in the past nine years.

"Sir, what are you doing here?" Scully asks finally acknowledging her former boss.

"I'm here about a favor."

"Would you quit it, Walter, you make it sound like I'm some object," Amy retorts.

Skinner turns to Amy, "To the syndicate and everyone who's out to kill us you are."

"Thanks for the assurance," Amy replies sarcastically and glares at him.

Scully sees past Walter Skinner and looks at Amy just as shocked as Mulder was.

"Agent Scully, nice to see you again. I wish it was under different circumstances," Amy replies politely.

"I didn't even know that you two were involved," Scully says, still slightly confused at what is going on.

"Agent Scully, you two weren't the only ones in the Bureau who had a secret," Amy replies, smirking.

Scully indicates towards the very pregnant woman's stomach, "Apparently not."

"Mulder, Scully are you two still alive?" Monica asks rounding the corner of the car.

"What is this? Is Doggett the only one who listens to instructions."

"Actually we figured that you were still alive because we didn't hear any gun shots," Monica jokes.

"You know any other time that would be funny, but not in this circumstance," Mulder tells her.

"Assistant Director, what are you doing here?" Monica asks.

"As I was telling Mulder and Scully --"

" -- Walter wants you all to keep me safe because the mutants or whatever is trying to thwart your efforts to make a vaccine are coming after me because I'm connected to Walter," Amy explains.

"When are you due?" Monica asks.

"Two months, but the way it looks I'll probably deliver earlier. And if I'm on the run with you guys that could be interesting."

"What the hell is going on?" John inquires gruffly rounding the corner with a sleeping William in his arms."So the Explorer is still running and no one is in there?" Mulder asks annoyed.

"Yeah. I'll go shut it off now that I know everyone is still accounted for."

Doggett hands William over to Scully and heads back to the Explorer.

"So much for having a quick get away," Mulder replies sarcastically.

"Look, Agents, I have hardly any time. I'm sure that my home and office are both under surveillance and they're going to notice if I'm missing for more than a day. Amy and I need this from you."

"Sir, we would be happy to help," Scully tells him.

"Good."

Skinner gets out of the car and heads over to the other door, helping Amy out of the passenger side. She grabs a bag out of the back of the car and grins at them reluctantly.

"Should I be worried?" Amy whispers to Walter.

"Not as worried as I am," Skinner replies kissing her firmly on the lips and then leading her towards the rest of the group.

"We've got everything under control, sir," Mulder tells his former boss.

Skinner smiles, "I know, Mulder," he heads back for his car, taking Amy into his arms, kissing her good-bye.

"I want you to be there when the baby's born," Amy whispers into his ear.

"I'll try," Skinner responds.

He gets into the car and starts it up. The five adults watch as Walter Skinner leaves them -- alone in the parking lot of a rest stop. Amy tearfully watches the car disappear from view.

Scully puts her arm around Amy.

"He's helping to make it possible for your child -- for our children -- to live in a world where they are not afraid of the coming future."

"I know."

Amy wipes away a tear trickling down the side of her cheek, "It's just these damn hormones."

"Now that is something that I know plenty about," Scully tells her laughing.

Doggett and Reyes head back for the Explorer. Scully hands William over to Mulder as they, too head back for the vehicle. Another long night of driving ahead of them. Maybe they'll be able to stay at a real place today.

Mulder stares up at the sky, looking at the stars. Amy walks ahead of Scully.

"Mulder?"

"You know Scully it all looks so beautiful --"

"Yeah it does."

"And yet something out there is trying to take this planet away from us."

"But they won't Mulder."

Mulder looks down at Scully, his eyes full of doubt.

"What if we fail, Scully?" Mulder whispers.

"We can't fail, Mulder."

Mulder weakly smiles at her, "I guess this is the real thing --everything we ever sought after will be accumulated into this. One wrong move and we will not exist."

Scully grabs Mulder's hand, reassuringly, "We'll fight the future, Mulder. And we will win."

Bethesda Nursing Home
June 10, 2052

Scully leans over the coffin -- at eighty-five years of age her red hair is just a thought of decades gone by. It is now a snowy white. Looking at the man that she loved for over half of her life she can't help but start to cry.

There are other mourners around her. Many who she doesn't know or remember. John and Monica are still alive -- Skinner died nearly twenty years before.

Other than that they are distant relatives or people who want to pay their last respect to a man who helped to save the world. Nearly 500 people tried to fill the Catholic church -- 500 people.

Scully looks at Mulder's face -- now cold with death. Gone are the twinkling hazel eyes, the dry sarcasm, the years of banter. He was her protector -- and her equal.

She places her lips to his skin for the last time as she kisses his forehead, a gesture that was so often done to her.

Tears stream down her cheeks and after years of trying to stay emotionless in any situation -- this one is too great. How many times had she thought he was dead? But there is a guarantee that he won't come bounding through the doors this time. He died of a stroke.

After everything they had ever fought for and believed in and the many ways he could have and should have died -- he didn't wake up from his nap.

"Mulder," Scully whispers trying to fight back the tears, "We won --"

Scully is waiting for him to open his eyes -- to smile up at her, but he doesn't. He never will again. Only in her memories.

But then her memories are what they used to be.

A tall man, looking very much like Mulder, but with red peppered hair walks up to her, kissing her on the cheek.

"Come on Aunt Dana, let's go sit down."

The fifty-eight-year-old man leads her to the front pew next to his wife and two children who are in their early twenties.

Scully leans over to the man and whispers, "Why do you still call me Aunt Dana?"

William grins at her with the same smile that Mulder possessed, "Because I think you have a beautiful name. And besides it would take far too long for me to correct myself."

"You're a good man, William, you know that don't you?"

"I'm only trying to be as good of a man as you and dad would have wanted me to be."

"I'm proud of you and your family."

"Thanks mom."

William gives her a reassuring hug, placing his arm protectively around Scully's shoulder.

"He's really dead isn't he?"

William only hugs her tighter.

"Mulder's dead isn't he?" the elderly Dana Scully asks the red-headed woman sitting next to her.

Catherine doesn't respond. She doesn't have to. The look on her face tells it all -- for the last three years Dana Scully would ask out of the blue where Mulder was -- sometimes referring to him as dead, but never truly believing.

Jack shifts uncomfortably in his chair.

"He's been gone for awhile, hasn't he?" Scully questions -- the thought registering on her face. The idea actually making sense to her. For nearly three years she has asked the question and received the same answer. And every time she would have to live through the pain of losing him all over again.

Catherine has seen it before with her.

"Three years," Catherine tells her softly.

"Well then dear, I'd have to say that my mind has left me -- at least for a little while."

"I was reading through the old X-Files -- what's left of it at least and I read that Mulder was assumed dead three times --" Jack starts.

"Two of the times I knew he was alive -- the other we buried his body six feet under --"

"How is that possible?" Catherine inquires.

"His body became host to the alien virus. A virus that made his body appear to be dead -- slowing down all of the systems, but not shutting them off completely."

"That can't be right."

"But it happened," Scully tells her.

Mulder and Scully sit outside on their newly furnished house -- brand new white paint glistens on the outside with the smell still permeating through the air. They are fifty and fifty-three years of age -- just starting to show signs of gray in their hair.

The phone rings.

Mulder doesn't get up to answer it.

They just let it ring.

"Mulder?"

"Let it ring, Scully. "

"But it could be important --"

"Scully, we've waited twelve years to sit in front of our own home. No more landlords, no more noisy neighbors, no more living out of the back of a SUV."

The machine picks up.

"Mulder, Scully, pick up!" Doggett's voice floats through the house, "It's Megan -- she's been kidnapped!"

Scully gasps -- her eyes fluttering. She looks around the room and sees that nothing has changed. She isn't sitting in front of a new house. She's not hearing about something happening to their daughter.

All is silent in the room. Jack once again shifts in his chair -- he doesn't feel comfortable here -- but Catherine dragged him here.

"What happened after Skinner's assistant became part of the run-away-gang?" Catherine asks.

"We continued to move around the country -- waiting until I reached the twentieth week of pregnancy."

"Then where'd you go?"

"We had to find our way back to Washington DC -- as carefully as we could. The facility was underground."

"Underground?" Jack questions -- confused.

"In a bunker," Scully grins, "Actually it was right next to the Presidential bunker that was built during the Cold War."

"So you went to the bunker?"

"Yeah, but on the way there we got quite a surprise."

"A surprise?"

"Amy went into labor."

October 11, 2002
Somewhere in Northern Virginia
10:06 a.m.

The Ford Explorer flies across a state highway, winding through small towns. The kind of towns where you know that you shouldn't stop at because of the massive amounts of gift shops and tourist traps --ones that you know you can live without, but buy anyways. October's foliage is already very apparent on the trees making an arrangement of dark red and orange a picture perfect drive.

Mulder is driving the SUV, always looking in his rear view mirror at anything or anyone that might be following them. As always there is nothing. Scully is asleep next to him in the passenger seat with her hand placed protectively over the small, but prominent bulging abdomen. She's nearly nineteen weeks pregnant.

Behind them sits Monica and Amy, both of whom are still asleep. It was a long night the night before. No one slept -- so Mulder volunteered to drive. Doggett is in the back with William, keeping an open eye at what is going on around him.

The ride is silent. A little too silent for the likes of this crew. Mulder glances over at Scully and smiles at the form of her sleeping figure. He reaches over and places his hand over hers -- she opens her eyes and looks over at him, groggily smiling.

"Sorry I woke you," Mulder whispers.

"I wasn't really sleeping. I was just trying to rest my eyes, take a breather."

"How are you feeling?"

Scully looks back at the two women sitting behind her -- especially the very pregnant Amy Fitzgerald.

"I'm not the one who's ready to pop."

"Was she having contractions?" Mulder inquires still whispering.

"I think that she's been having them, but really hasn't said anything."

They're quiet for a long while. Scully looks out at the colorful landscape.

"Hey, Scully what are you going to get me for my birthday?" Mulder asks playfully. He grins at her.

"Mulder, when was the last time you ever remembered my birthday?" Scully replies sarcastically.

"But Scully, this is different."

"How is this different?"

"Well, for one thing it's the big four-one --"

"Usually you only celebrate the fortieth birthday --"

"Scully, I was now here last year --"

"I know," she replies softly, her mood changing drastically as she remembers the nights that she spent alone. The long nights that would then turn into equally long days. Everyday thoughts of what might be happening to Mulder went through her head -- thoughts of him coming home this time really dead, instead of infected with some alien virus.

Mulder reaches out for her hand and takes it -- holding onto it reassuringly.

"I'm sorry, Scully. "

"You were only trying to keep William and I safe."

"And I failed," Mulder responds softly.

"We're together, aren't we?" Scully makes the point, "You didn't fail."

He looks straight ahead at the road, but with a small smile on his face. Smiling at the fact that even after nine years of working with her and being her partner, her friend, her confidant, and finally her lover -- she was still able to make him feel important. Even if that importance was only felt between just the two of them. Feeling that importance made the work easier, made the days worth trying to get through.

"Ouch!!!" Amy wakes up with a start, immediately placing her hand onto her very large stomach.

Everyone in the car is now awake. Monica looks over at her confused for a brief moment and then it registers.

"Did you just have a contraction?" Monica inquires.

"Yeah -- I think I just did."

"Damn-it!" Mulder replies under his breath.

"Look, Agent Mulder, I don't have a choice when I want to go into labor or not -- so just back off!" Amy screeches.

Mulder rolls his eyes and continues on driving.

"Aren't you going to stop?" Doggett inquires, sitting in the back of the vehicle -- not particularly in favor of delivering a baby in the car.

"Where, John? Do you see a good place to stop?" Mulder sarcastically asks.

"A hospital would be good unless of course you want to deliver Amy's baby in the backseat of the Explorer."

"Would you all just quit fighting?" Scully interrupts, "We'll get her to a hospital and everything will be just fine."

Mulder smirks.

"What?" Scully asks starting to get irritable and just as angry as everyone else in the vehicle. Combing a lot of stress with hardly any sleep is not a smart thing to do and this is exactly what is going on the Explorer: too many emotions and not enough rationality to deal with it.

"Always the one to take charge, Scully. "

"Oh shut-up, Mulder!"

Amy grimaces again, grabbing onto her abdomen as another pain burns throughout her entire midsection. She rocks back and forth trying to ease the pain.

"How far apart was that?" Scully asks.

Monica looks over at the clock in the front of the Explorer with its green digits reflecting the time.

"Four minutes."

"Why don't we find that hospital now, Mulder."

"I want Walter!" Amy says through clenched teeth.

"Let's try and get you to a hospital first."

"I need him now!"

"Amy, you've got to listen to me. We have to get to a hospital and make sure that your baby will make it safely into the world."

"Its easy for you to say, Dana," Amy snaps.

"I delivered William in the middle of nowhere without Mulder -- with hardly any support."

"Hospital next exit," Mulder says.

Mercy Hospital
October 11, 2002
5:09 p.m.

Mulder and Doggett sit in the bland waiting room with William who has just fallen asleep on the brown upholstered chair. The two are very quiet -- and almost asleep themselves having been in the waiting room for nearly seven hours. Doggett leans his head back on the couch and sighs, clearly bored out of his mind.

"I hate waiting rooms," Mulder says breaking the stillness of the dull room.

"Yeah."

"You think that at least they'd offer you a different wall color instead of off white -- its kind of depressing."

"Most hospitals usually are."

They are silent again. All that can be heard in the room is William's rhythmic breathing as he falls deeper into sleep dreaming of a safe world -- a dream place where only children retreat to. The clock on the wall ticks simultaneously with every breath the child takes.

"I hope Scully's labor doesn't take this long."

"Usually with the first child it takes a lot longer."

"Yeah," Mulder pauses looking over at his sleeping son, "Were you there when Luke was born?"

Doggett doesn't respond right away and Mulder thinks that he's pried too far -- dug too deep into John Doggett's soul.

"I nearly missed it."

"You did?"

John smiles remembering the day when his son was born all of those years ago -- great memories, "I was on a stakeout in the Bronx when Barb went into labor and they couldn't get a hold of me for the longest time because I had been inside when the police dispatch was trying to contact me. By the time they got me the message that Barb was in labor I had just enough time to get to the hospital and hold her hand as Luke made his entrance into the world," Doggett pauses tears starting to form in the corner of his eyes, "It was the happiest day of my life when I got to see my son -- a screaming, red, bundle -- the creation of my wife and I come into the world. It was amazing."

"I missed out," Mulder replies softly.

"You've got another chance."

Loud, booming, footsteps echo down the hallway as the door to the waiting room opens and in walks a frazzled and very nervous Walter Skinner.

"Where is she?"

"Room 524," Doggett tells him.

"Did I miss it?" Skinner panics.

"No, sir --"

"I don't know what to do."

"Just go and hold her hand -- watch your child come into the world."

"Thanks, Mulder."

Skinner starts to head out the door.

"Oh and sir, don't worry, she's still in one piece."

Skinner turns around and grins at them.

"That's good to know."

5:45 p.m.

Mulder and Doggett are both passed out -- the long day of waiting, coupled with the late night driving has finally taken its toll on the two men.

Monica opens the door a crack and peeks through it. She turns back to Scully who stands behind her in the hallway -- looking exhausted as well.

"They're asleep," Monica whispers.

"Well if I haven't been able to sleep in the last seven hours --they're not going to sleep now," Dana replies with an edgy tone.

Scully pushes her way past Monica and heads into the waiting room. She stops where her son is sleeping and sweeps away a piece of his strawberry blond hair as she leans down and kisses him on the forehead. Scully stares at her son a moment longer, taking in the perfect ness of him -- taking in the innocence that is only found in sleeping children. Forgotten are the days when the child runs around the house screaming or telling his mother 'No,' forgotten are the long hours of labor to bare the child -- and the pain that went along with it.

She moves over to Mulder and gently shakes him awake as she places a kiss on his lips.

"Scully," he says groggily.

"Come on, Mulder, time to wake up."

"But I don't want to," he whines like a two-year-old.

Monica does the same to John placing kiss after kiss on his lips until he finally opens his eyes, laughing.

"What do you think I am?" he retorts, "Sleeping beauty?"

"I suppose," Monica replies placing another kiss on his lips before she pulls him out of the chair.

"You guys are no fun. You've got to come and meet Amy and Skinner's baby."

"What is it?"

"A boy. Seven pounds, five ounces, perfect in everyway," Scully tells them.

Mulder scoops up William and the couples walk down the hallway to the recovery room where a new family has been created.

Walking through the door it would seem that Walter Skinner was a different man -- he no longer wore the burdens of the world so much on his sleeve -- he seemed more at ease as he cradles his son in the crook of his arm.

Amy is sitting up in the hospital bed, also beaming at the interaction already between father and son.

"Sir, I don't mean to sound insensitive, but I never in my life thought I'd see a baby have that kind of affect on you," Mulder tells him as he shifts William from one arm to the other.

"Well, Agent Mulder every man has to have an incentive to fight for the future. You have your family and now I have mine," Skinner tells him as he proudly beams down at his son.

"Does he have a name yet?" Monica questions.

"Sergei James Skinner."

For once the world seems to be a little bit better -- well for now at least. The thoughts of what they must do in the coming months, the sacrifices that they will still have to make are out of their minds for now as they realize that there is a new life in this room, a new life that renews the fight. Renews what the powerful men of Mulder, Doggett, and Skinner's generation are fighting for. They have incentive now -- they have a reason to fight -- for their children and for the future.

Bethesda Nursing Home
June 10, 2052

Jack Doggett watches as the elderly Dana Scully sleeps peacefully in her rocking chair after hearing more of her story. Catherine is out of the room -- no where to be seen as he continues to watch the rise and fall of Dana's chest.

In her hands is one of her many photo albums with decades of pictures. The book slips out of her hand with a gentle thump on the ground. Some of the pictures scatter across the floor. Jack curiously looks over at the photos splayed on the ground.

Dana Scully shifts in her sleep, but she doesn't wake, muttering something about Mulder.

Jack walks quietly across the room and picks up the scattered pictures and the album, moving to put it back in her lap, but a picture catches his eye and he walks back to his chair holding onto the treasured photo album.

The smiling face of a twenty something year old, Marc Doggett and his small family looks back up at him. In the picture is the piercing blue eyes of himself. Jack flips over the picture and stares at the familiar handwriting.

Mulder, Scully: Our pride and joy -- Marc and Jamie Doggett with Johnny, 6, and Julia, 2. We miss you -- Monica & John.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Catherine whispers, sharply.

He holds up the picture to her as she walks over to him, offering no explanation.

"Jack?"

"My grandparents kept in touch with Mulder and Scully. "

"These are her own personal properties --"

"Kate, look at the back of this picture. Look what my grandmother writes to them. They had to disappear --"

"Jack, it could be a coincidence."

"But its not, Kate. Doesn't this make sense to you? Haven't you ever asked yourself why your uncle gives monthly donations to this facility? --"

"Jack --"

"No, Kate, look at these pictures. Look closely at her son -- doesn't he look familiar to you?"

Jack flips open the book to a page with a picture of William on it when he was in his teens smiling at the photographer with Mulder's mischievous smile.

"I don't know --"

He flips to another page. This one has a picture of a redheaded woman next to William again. They are both smiling at the photographer, she looking like a younger version of Scully, but with piercing hazel eyes.

"Recognize her?"

"Yeah," she swallows.

"It's your mom. Why would Dana Scully have a picture of your mom and your uncle?"

"I don't know --"

"Yes you do."

"Help!" Dana Scully yelps waking up with a start.

Jack and Catherine look over at Dana Scully like two children who were caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Guiltily they walk over and sit next to her.

"You were looking at my photo album --" Dana Scully accuses softly.

"Yeah," Jack replies biting his lip.

"And what have you learned?" Scully inquires, looking into the eyes of the future.

"We, ah --" Jack starts.

Looking into the piercing blue eyes of the man that stands before her, Scully smiles. "I've seen that guilty look before -- from your grandfather."

"You did?"

"I worked with him for two years on The X-Files. There were many cases, especially during that first year were he'd guiltily stare at me with those same eyes -- always sorry for not being able to find Mulder."

"I was named for him."

"I know --"

**

Sitting in the bland hospital waiting room Scully rests her head on Mulder's shoulder -- trying to stay awake. Next to them sits an anxious John and Monica Doggett.

"How long has it been?" Monica whispers.

Across the room sits George and Karen Mccaleb, looking just as anxious.

"Too long," Karen replies getting up to start pacing the room.

"Scully, why are we here?" Mulder whispers into her ear.

"To support John and Monica."

"Do you know how many times I've sat in a hospital waiting room, waiting for someone else's child to be born?"

"In two months you'll be waiting again --" Scully replies matter of factly.

"Yeah, but that'll be my grandchild --"

"And this is John and Monica's."

Minutes later Megan, at nearly seven months pregnant waddles through the waiting room door followed closely by a beaming seventeen-year-olre Marc Doggett.

"I'm a father!" Marc tells them excitedly.

"It's about time," Mulder says under his breath.

"Mulder!"

"I've got a son -- a little boy."

"Does he have a name?" Scully questions.

"John George Doggett -- named for both of his grandfather's." Marc beams.

"Well let's go see my namesake," John replies taking Monica's hand as the happy grandparents follow Marc out the door.

Megan sits down next to Mulder and Scully, letting out a huge sigh.

"Are you all right, Meg?"

"I don't know if I can go through that alone --"

"You won't be alone -- we'll be there with you."

Megan smiles at the couple, weakly.

"But then you're leaving."

"It's the only thing we can think of that'll keep you and your brother safe. In the long run it'll keep everyone safe."

"I wish you would have been able to raise us -- to know what it was like to have children," Megan responds.

"Me too, Meg, me too," Scully replies softly as she pats her daughter's hand.

**

"Mrs. Mulder?" Jack inquires breaking her train of concentration.

"I'm sorry?"

"I was just saying that its amazing how much you can remember -- yet still forget."

"An oxymoron in its best," Scully laughs.

"You ended up moving away from your children, didn't you?" Catherine questions.

"Yeah."

Scully stares at the pictures, tracing over the images from long ago. She closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath.

**

Mulder bolts for the machine -- picking it up instantly.

"John! What's going on?"

Scully runs in beside Mulder -- listening in on the conversation, nervously wondering what was going on.

"Megan -- she's missing."

"What do you mean missing?"

"Will came running into the house shouting that someone pulled Megan into their car."

"Did he notice anything else?" Scully inquires frantically.

"I don't know -- here, I'll put him on."

"Aunt Dana?" the voice of a concerned sixteen-year-old echoes into the phone. Megan is only thirteen -- far too young to be bothered by the world of uncertainty that has surrounded their family.

"Will -- what happened?"

"It was -- a -- I don't know. I can't believe that she's gone," the young man replies, swallowing.

"She's not gone, Will," Mulder tells him forcefully, remembering the impact his own sister's abduction had on him.

"Do you remember anything odd about the car?"

"No, but --"

"But what, William?" Scully prods.

"I think I've seen the man before, maybe at school."

"What'd he look like?"

"He -- he -- well its not important."

"What?"

"He looked different."

"What do you mean different?"

"His face was disfigured."

**

"What else can you remember?" Catherine inquires -- looking at the woman's closed eyes.

Dana Scully opens her eyes slowly, looking up at the pair.

"My memories -- they come to me in instances, yet I forget them before I can tell you both. Things that are important."

"They'll come."

"Where was I?"

"Amy and Skinner had their son, Sergei --"

"And we were on our way to the bunker to give them the DNA for the vaccine."

"Right."

"So what happened?" Jack questions.

"We came to a dangerous cross road -- where one path would lead to the end of the world --"

"And the other?"

"The redemption of humanity."

October 12, 2002
1:07 a.m.
Somewhere in Virginia

Looking at the wooded area off a gravel road in a the middle of Virginia no one would have ever expected humanity might begin and end in this very area. No government buildings in sight, only a simple four walled shack bearing the entrance to an underground facility.

The SUV creeps slowly along the under-paved road with the headlights off. Mulder, Scully, John, and Monica all hold their breathes, waiting. At first nothing is visible in the dark night. No stars. No moon. No light.

"It's too quiet," Mulder whispers looking over at Scully and taking her hand into his.

She smiles at him weakly.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," Scully whispers rubbing his hand gently and giving him a bigger smile.

Mulder nods and looks ahead, apprehensively out at the darkness. Nothing.

"What are we waiting for?" Doggett questions from the back seat.

"A sign."

"A sign?"

Mulder smirks, "Doggett do you really think that I'd let everything rely on a sign?"

Doggett shakes his head with a smile on his face, "Didn't think you'd stoop that low."

"At least not yet," Scully finishes smirking at Mulder.

"Actually we have two ways to go."

"But Mulder, we didn't come to a fork in the road," Scully replies.

"Figuratively we didn't, but literally we have. If we go to that bunker and it's the wrong one or the wrong place then they are going to know what we're up to and they'll stop it."

Everyone is quiet in the SUV. Just the four adults. Four people who are going to change the course of history and of humankind. William is in the protective care of Skinner and Amy, far away from the confrontation that they are about to face. Far away from the sacrifice they might have to make.

"Mulder, I don't think that we have a choice," Scully replies softly.

"I don't want to put your life in danger, Scully. I don't want to lose you."

"You won't."

"Everything is at stake," Monica pipes up.

"Its either this or the end of humanity."

At that moment the clouds in the starless sky moved aside for a brief second showing the twinkling stars at the beauty of the night.

"Mulder, I know you're paranoid, we all are, but this feels right and we have to do this."

"Are you sure, Scully?"

"I want our children to be able to grow up, to see the world, and to live a long happy life. I want us to grow old together and to die of old age and not from some mutant virus from aliens trying to take over the world."

"Scully, have I told you how much I love you?" Mulder asks laughing at what she just said.

"I'm serious, Mulder."

"I know, so am I."

"All right then let's go."

A silent agreement is made between the two couples and they all get out of the car, walking towards the shack in the middle of the field. Walking towards a destination where life will be saved or everything will be lost.

Mulder takes Scully's hand, holding on tight and not letting go. So many emotions could be felt between these two. The tension between all four is immeasurable as they know its either now or never.

Doggett reaches the door first and slowly puts his hand on the old brass knob, looking back at the other three for any eager signs to leave. There are none. He opens the door and they find themselves in A small entryway with a stairwell leading into a dark basement.

"Ready?" Doggett asks.

They nod and he heads down the stairs with the three following him. At the bottom of the dark stairwell a red light is anchored to the wall next to a large iron door.

"Nobody home?" Mulder quips.

Doggett tries the door. It opens, creaking at the hinges. They all take a deep breath in -- not wanting their appearance to be known --not yet at least.

They hurry inside and close the door behind them. A low lit hallway is in front of them with two tunnels going opposite directions.

"Well here's your fork in the road, Scully," Mulder whispers, trying to remain calm.

"Which way do we go?" Monica inquires.

"Right.""Left."

Mulder and Scully say in unison -- laughing at the prospect.

"I say we go right," Mulder tells her.

"I think we should go left," Scully counters.

"How many times have I been wrong, Scully?" Mulder inquires.

She arcs her eyebrow and gives him the 'Scully look' which she has been giving him for nine years. Instinctively, she places her hand on her expanded stomach, "This one time I think I'm right."

"All right we go left then."

They head down the corridor. Everything is quiet. The only sound is the steady dripping from water in the pipes above their heads. It is nothing what they thought it would be. No posh living quarters, and still no military guard or any kind of personal.

Lights are hooked onto the walls -- giving off a minimum amount of light. Ahead of them it seems to get brighter and there is another door with words "Restricted Area, Turn Back now."

Mulder tries the doorknob.

"Locked," he mutters.

"Now what do we do?"

Doggett pulls out a lock-picker and hands it over to Mulder.

"John, how'd you know?" Mulder asks playfully.

"Just thought it'd be your thing to do."

Mulder starts to pick the lock -- nothing. It's not working.

"Damn," he mutters again.

Loud footsteps echo on the other side of the door. Everyone scatters behind the door and out of sight as the door opens abruptly.

It's dark in the hallway, but looking closely the large black man opening the door is very familiar to them all.

"Who's out there?" he whispers.

Nothing.

He opens the door further and looks around. His gaze stops on the corner where all four of the adults are huddled up -- trying to hide.

"Agent Mulder? Is that you?" Kirsch asks fiercely.

Mulder moves into the light, giving Kirsch a huge grin. "I bet you didn't expect to see us again."

"You must come inside now," Kirsch tells them, "or you may never get in here."

"What are you talking about?"

"The alarm's been activated. They know there are intruders."

"Where are they?" Mulder asks.

"We'll discuss it later. You need to get in here now!"

The couples obey following Kirsch into another darkened hallway. The hallway winds in front of them and then it comes to another door. Opening the door the couples are met with light and a huge medical facility in front of them.

"Welcome to the CDC's underground medical facility."

"You were involved with all of this too?" Mulder inquires, looking at him skeptically.

"Why do you think that both Skinner and I had so much interest in the X-Files -- your work is what this division has been trying to find for years."

"So our work actually mattered?" Mulder questions.

"Believe it or not, Agent Mulder, a lot of people kept an eye on your work."

All is silent as they head deeper into the facility.

"Question for you, sir," Doggett starts.

"What?"

"The enemy is right next door aren't they?"

"Yes," Kirsch says.

"Why, sir?"

"Because you need to keep you friends close and your enemies even closer."

"Is everything set to make the vaccine?" Scully asks.

"It is. All we need is the DNA from the amniotic fluid. We have the best doctors on hand to do the procedure. Let me show you where you will be sleeping, the first thing in the morning we'll do the procedure."

2:16 a.m.

Scully lays in Mulder's arms, having a hard time falling asleep. She shifts, turning to look at his apparent sleeping form. He shifts, too, laying his hand protectively over her abdomen.

Mulder opens his eyes with a small smile on his face, "Hey."

"Hey," Scully whispers.

"Can't sleep?"

"I'm worried."

"I know."

There is silence for a long time. Mulder caresses her cheek, tracing the lines of her lips and then leaning in to kiss her.

"Are we doing the right thing, Mulder?"

"The vaccine?"

"No, giving our children up," Scully whispers biting back tears.

"I hope so," Mulder replies pulling her closer to him.

"I've already given William up once before, I don't know if I have the strength to do it again."

"It's for their safety."

Scully's quiet for a long time, "I don't want to look back at my life and regret not having the chance to raise our children."

Mulder pulls her closer to him, both starting to cry openly at the prospect of their lives in front of them.

"John and Monica are good people and they'll keep Will and the baby safe. We don't have that guarantee."

"I know."

"I'm sorry, Scully. Sorry that I put you in this situation after nine years. Some days I wonder what it would be like to just be any other normal sap who thinks that 2012 is just another year on the calendar, and not the prospective end of mankind."

"But you're not, we're not," Scully pauses placing her hands onto his face, "I don't regret anything we've done. I'd rather know and have the opportunity to change the future and be with you."

"I love you, Scully. "

"I love you too."

Mulder kisses her again, pulling her into his body and holding on tight. They are in their own perfect world for now. Nothing can touch them or harm them. Not now. They are safe in one another's arms. And for once in a long time they drift off to sleep dreaming of the future and the hope.

Bethesda Nursing Home
June 10, 2052

"What happened next?" Jack Doggett questions, becoming more and more interested in the story.

"You need to be patient, Mr. Doggett," Scully scolds picking up her photo album and running her hands over the front cover. Many memories are stored in the book. Many memories that she can't remember.

"Jack, maybe we should leave Mrs. Mulder," Kate suggests quietly.

"No! I'm okay," the elder Dana Scully forcefully says, "I need to get this story out."

"But its simple from this point on, isn't it? The vaccine gets made, mankind is saved and you and Mulder got to ride off into the sunset as the ones who saved it," Jack says.

"Jack, I can't believe that they've given you The X-Files. You have such a closed mind."

"My grandfather had them didn't he?"

"He didn't want them."

"And Jack does."

"Why didn't he want them?" Jack inquires.

"He was a man who if he wouldn't have been saddled with The X-Files would have been the Director one day. But when anyone gave John Doggett a job he would see it through. The vortex of The X-Files sucked him in."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Weren't you on the fast track to becoming one of the most powerful women at the Bureau?" Kate asks.

"I was, but I met a man who was on a quest to save the world. I just happened to get too involved. His quest became our quest," Scully shrugs.

"Do you regret it?" Kate questions sincerely.

Dana Scully absently stares out the window watching two robins jump from branch to branch. She smiles at the prospect that these two birds are in love.

"Mrs. Mulder?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you regret becoming a part of Mulder's quest?"

"I don't regret anything. Sure it was hard at times, but love got us through. I got to have children with a man that I loved. That was worth all of the pain and sacrifice."

"It was about sacrifice wasn't it?"

"A lot of the time, but we saved the world. None of us would be here if it wasn't for our sacrifices."

"Your children."

"They had good lives. We were involved with them for most of their lives."

"One more push and you'll have your baby," the young resident at the end of the bed tells Megan. Her face is beat red as she clutches onto to her mother's hand. Dana Scully is on one side of Meg, Mulder is on the other.

She bares down and pushes.

A cry goes through the silent hospital room.

"It's a girl!"

"Oh my God," Meg says in shock.

"You did it sweetheart. You've got your little girl," Scully whispers.

The doctor places the screaming baby on Meg's stomach, still slimy and red from her hard trip. Meg pulls the child close.

"Is she real?"

"Of course she is," Mulder says unable to stop smiling.

They had a grandchild.

"They said I wouldn't be able to have a child."

"But she's here, Meg. She's all yours."

"All she needs is a name," Mulder tells her kissing Meg's forehead.

Megan looks from her mother to her father with a huge smile on her face.

"Catherine," she whispers stroking the child's head.

"That's such an old fashioned name," Scully protests.

"She's your namesake, Mom."

Scully takes her daughter and granddaughter into an embrace.

"Can I hold her?"

Megan reluctantly hands her daughter over to her mother. Scully stares down at the tiny face. Glints of auburn are already evident on her small head. The child looking back up at her is a spitting image of Meg.

"My God, Meg, she looks just like you," Scully whispers.

"Mrs. Mulder?" Catherine says franticly trying to shake the woman awake.

Nothing.

"Oh my God. Jack, she's not breathing. Go get a doctor."

"Kate?"

"Now, Jack!"

Catherine leans Scully back and starts to do CPR, "Come on Mrs. Mulder, your story was getting good. You can't die on us. You need to finish!"

"Mulder please tell me its not true," Scully whispers. They are sitting in a large Catholic church dressed completely in black. Awooden coffin sits in front of the church.

Mulder takes her hand and squeezes it gently. In the front row William sits with his wife and a little girl with auburn ringlets. She continues to stand looking around the church.

"Uncle Will, where's Mommy?" the little girl asks.

"Katie, Mommy went away," William tells her swallowing back tears.

"When's she coming back? I miss her."

"Remember we talked about this," William whispers, his voice cracking, "Mommy went to Heaven to be with God."

"God can send her back now."

"No, sweetheart, he can't. Mommy is going to live with him for a very long time."

The four-year-old Catherine looks up at her uncle with those deep hazel eyes, "Forever?"

William swallows, tears glistening in his eyes, "Yes."

"Mulder, I can't take this," Scully whispers watching the exchange between William and Meg's now orphaned daughter.

"I know, Scully, I know."

"I thought that I'd die long before she did. Meg is too young. She has her daughter to raise," Scully says her voice cracking as the tears start to take over.

Mulder protectively puts his arm around Scully, holding her tight as they watch the priest process to the front of the church. Just one of many funerals they have attended. Meg died because of their quest. They gave her cancer and now she has died.

"Mrs. Mulder, can you hear me?" Catherine's voice breaks through the hazy memory.

Scully opens her eyes and looks around, surprised to be in a hospital room hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor.

"What the hell am I doing here?" Scully asks looking around weakly.

"You stopped breathing. The doctor's think you had a stroke."

"Lucky me," Scully replies sarcastically.

Footsteps echo down the hallway, getting closer to Scully's room. Seconds later a knock echoes on the wooden door.

"Come in," Catherine yells.

The door opens slowly and sixty-one-year-old William Mulder walks through the door.

"Hey Aunt Dana," he says sheepishly grinning at her with the impish grin Mulder used to always give her.

"William," Scully whispers, amazed to see him standing in front of her.

"Since this is Uncle Will's history as well I thought he should hear some of it," Catherine explains.

"You've already missed most of the story," Scully starts.

William holds up his hand, "Don't worry, Kate's filled me in on just about everything. I'm sorry that I haven't visited you--"

"Don't," Scully forcefully says, "You're here now. That's all that matters."

"You ready to tell more of the story?" Jack inquires from the far corner in the room.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"You were in the facility--"

"I know where I was," she bites, "We were in the underground CDC facility ready to save the world."

October 12, 2002
6:13 a.m.
Somewhere in Virginia

"My name is Dr. Joe West," a forty-something year old obstetrician extends his hand to Scully who is laying on an examining table wearing a hospital gown.

"Kate Mantle," Scully replies coolly as she holds onto Mulder's hand. Even when they were among others on the same quest they could never be too careful about who was listening and who wasn't.

"Well, Ms. Mantle we are just going to do a simple procedure with the amniocentesis, but you'll have to take it easy for at least the next twenty-four hours."

"I had one with my previous pregnancy," she tells him.

"And there were no complications?"

"None."

"All right. I'm just going to go and get everything prepped and I'll be back with you in a few moments."

Dr. West leaves the room. Scully closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in -- scared, nervous. Mulder protectively puts his hand over the bump on Scully's abdomen feeling the baby move around underneath.

"Scully --"

"Mulder, I know, but I'm still worried. This is everything right here -- everything on the quest."

Mulder smirks, "If I would have known that this was the quest I would have gotten you in the sack a lot sooner."

She playfully slaps him on the shoulder as he continues to laugh --she smiles at this, "That's not the point!"

"Who would have thought when we started out on The X-Files all those years ago that everything we were looking for was within ourselves?"

"I don't think anyone would have even given it a second thought."

Mulder leans in and catches Scully's lips with his. They share a deep kiss for a long moment before the door opens and Dr. West walks back through the door followed by an assistant.

"All right -- everything's set."

They break apart -- embarrassed like two teenagers caught by their parents.

Dr. West turns on the ultrasound machine and squirts some gel onto Scully's exposed abdomen before placing the mechanical roller in the same spot. Seconds later a grainy image appears on the screen the perfect child in profile. The little arms and legs continue to kick and wave.

"Your baby looks great," Dr. West responds.

Mulder and Scully continue to stare at the grainy image -- amazed that that is their child on the screen. Everything they've been through and fought for is worth that tiny image waving back at them.

"Everything's fine?"

"For twenty weeks the baby is growing nicely."

"Good." Scully smiles with tears glistening in her eyes. Mulder squeezes her hand gently and continues to stare.

Dr. West pulls a large needle from the tray of instruments and has his assistant hold the roller in place so he can determine where to draw the amniotic fluid from.

Mulder catches sight of the needle and swallows, "You're going to put that in her abdomen?"

"I'll be okay," Scully replies trying to reassure Mulder who is starting to turn white next to her.

"Maybe you'd like to wait outside until this is over?" Dr. West suggests.

Mulder just nods his head and limply walks out of the room, sinking down against the wall and taking deep breaths in. A nurse walks through the room that Scully is in.

"Nurse, want to go and check on Mr. Mantle?" Dr. West asks.

The nurse nods and heads out into the hall leaving Scully alone in the examine room with the doctor and the large needle.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get this over with," Scully tells him looking away as he puts the needle into her abdomen. She focuses her attention on the baby that is still furiously waving its arms and legs on the screen. A small smile comes to her face.

"I can't believe I'm seeing this baby."

"How long did it take you to get pregnant?"

"Too long."

"Infertility drugs?"

"You wouldn't even believe it," Scully says.

The man pulls a amber-like liquid out in the needle and takes the needle out of her abdomen, cleaning up a small drop of blood. This amber liquid had the DNA to save the world. Amazing.

"All done."

"That's it?"

"Yep. But you need to stay put for awhile. I'll send your husband back in here."

"I've never seen him get queasy."

"It's different when they see that big of a needle going into someone they love."

"Thanks."

Dr. West leaves the room with amniotic fluid accompanied by a few other officials -- who are going to make sure that liquid makes it to the destination it is intended to go to.

Mulder weakly walks back into the room with a small grin on his face.

"You okay?" Scully asks.

"I should be asking you the same thing after they took that needle to you."

"It wasn't that bad, Mulder. You're just a baby," Scully replies sarcastically.

"I suppose," he responds kissing her on the lips and taking a seat next to her. The events of the past day start to catch up with them. Lack of sleep makes them both tired as they drift off into their own worlds -- ready for a change. Any change.

October 13, 2002
1:19 a.m.

A dull ache in the back of Mulder's neck causes him to sit up, quickly, looking around the room. They are still in the examining room -- or as Mulder dubbed it the 'room with the huge needle that Scully was insane to let them stick in her.' Scully is holding on tightly to his hand -- it's dark -- morning. He looks at the clock and grins.

"So this is what I get for my birthday," he whispers into the darkness staring down at Scully who is peacefully sleeping with her hand protectively over her abdomen.

He smiles at the prospect. He'd take this any day over an impersonal card with feigned condolences on another year gone by. Forty-one. He's amazed he's made it this far. And the first birthday he'd actually been with someone he loved in two years. The last birthday he celebrated with her was in 1999 when he turned thirty-eight. Ever since he had given her a key chain for her birthday -- she'd do the same for his. Birthday '99 was an alien key chain.

His thirty-ninth birthday he didn't remember -- he was being tortured by aliens. What a way to celebrate. When he was returned to her she had given him a key chain with two hearts with their initials engraved on the back. Always something simple, yet he still had that one hidden in his wallet.

On his fortieth birthday last year all he had wanted was to be with Scully and William -- but he didn't get that. He was in the desert with Gibson Praise running for his life. She didn't give a key chain last year -- he didn't want one. He wanted her.

Forty-one. He's gotten everything he's wanted. Scully, William and now another baby on the way. The cure to save the world was already in production -- the world was starting to make sense -- everything they'd ever been through and sacrificed has meant something.

"Mulder," Scully whispers looking up at him.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"You looked lost in thought."

"I was."

"Is it morning?"

"Yeah."

"Happy birthday, Mulder," she says as she draws his head down to hers and kisses his lips.

"Thanks."

"What do you want for your birthday?"

"I've got everything I've ever wanted. I've got you."

"Are you saying you didn't like the key chains?"

"I loved those, but this is all I ever wanted."

They kiss again.

Footsteps echo outside the room and Monica Reyes walks through the door.

"Are you guys ready for something unbelievable?"

Mulder and Scully give her a blank stare as she rolls up her sleeve to show them a bandaged spot. She gives them a huge grin.

"The vaccine."

"It's done?"

"All they were waiting for was the DNA. Everyone in the building has been vaccinated. The vaccine will be out by Christmas."

"Oh my God," Scully whispers.

"It can't be--"

"How's it feel?" Monica asks.

"Feel?"

"To know that the child you both created will save everyone."

"Unbelievable," Scully responds.

"I have a confession to make," Mulder says quietly.

Scully gives him a blank stare.

"This has been the best birthday I've ever had."

They all laugh and Scully and Mulder embrace again. It's all coming together. All coming together for them and for the future. The fight has taken a different turn -- a turn in their favor.

June 10, 2052
Bethesda Hospital

"Aunt Dana, I never knew," William replies looking at his own mother. Aunt Dana was how he had known her from the time he was three and Aunt Dana she remains even though he's known the truth for a long time.

"Your father and I didn't want you and Meg to know about it all. It was too dangerous."

"What about John and Monica? What did they think about all of this?"

"They had Marc and didn't want to endanger him. They also were raising you and Meg. No one was ever truly safe. There was always someone out there trying to ruin our family."

"But why?"

"Because we ruined the plan for total dominance over the entire world which eventually would have led to the end."

"The end?" Jack asks.

"Of everything."

Everyone is quiet for a long time. All processing their own thoughts. Maybe their own thanks for the sacrifices that Dana Scully and Fox Mulder had made for them.

Absently Scully looks at them, "You know indirectly the people who have been after us all these years put this entire sequence of events into motion."

"Aunt Dana?"

"They took Mulder's sister and subjected her to tests. If they would have never taken Mulder's sister he would have never found the X-Files."

"And if he wouldn't have become interested in The X-Files you wouldn't have been assigned to him -- you would have never met him and your children wouldn't have been the answer to the entire thing," Jack summarizes.

"That's it exactly."

"Talk about the butterfly effect -- that's insane," Kate replies.

"One wrong move and none of us would be sitting here," Scully says smiling at the thought.

"But didn't you think that you were taking wrong moves every step of the way?" William inquires.

"Of course I did. I had to give up my children. I didn't get to settle down and live a normal life. The sacrifice at the time seemed so much more than taking the right move. But I'm relatively happy now," she smirks, "Aside from the occasional lapses in memory."

They all laugh at that, but the mood turns somber as the old woman on the bed shows fatigue. A tiredness that was not present the other day. Scully is worn down.

"Mrs. Mulder are you sure we aren't tiring you out?"

She shakes her head profusely, "I haven't had this much fun in years."

"Come on Scully, open it!" Mulder urges wiping away a strand of gray hair.

She looks at him suspiciously, "Mulder it's not my birthday and the holidays aren't for another few months. It's not my anniversary either."

"Just open it!"

Scully obliges him and does so, "Plane tickets? To Bellefleur, Oregon?"

"Do you know what today is?"

At first she gives him a blank stare but then looking at the calendar on the wall it hits her. March 6, 2032 -- forty years since their first case together -- forty years since they met.

"Remember Bellefleur, Oregon, Scully?" seventy-one-year-old Mulder questions.

"Of course I do. But what exactly are we going to do in Bellefleur, Oregon?"

"Dig up some old graves."

"You can't be serious?" she replies skeptically arching her eyebrow.

Mulder grins at her with the playful twinkle still in his eyes, "Forty years, Scully, -- that's a long time."

"I know it is Mulder, but I'm still not going to go and dig up graves."

"What about getting the old scrubs out and slicing and dicing away?"

"Mulder."

"Right, didn't think so."

"Well?"

"Actually, I found William."

"He lives in Oregon?"

"Strange isn't it?"

"Mulder we can't go."

"Just one week Scully, that's all he's asking."

"He contacted you?"

"Yeah."

"What did he want?"

"Closure."

"Mrs. Mulder?"

She looks at Kate startled. It takes a moment for the events to register, "I'm sorry?"

"You seem like you're in a daze."

"I was thinking of when Mulder brought me out to Oregon to see you Will."

"I remember that, Aunt Dana. It was right after Meg died."

"Yeah it was."

Kate looks at them both confused, "I don't remember that. I think I would have remembered meeting you and Mulder."

"We didn't want to endanger you or William's family. We met with him in secrecy to make sure that you were all getting on all right after Meg."

"It seems as though much of you later existence was in secrecy," Jack concludes.

"By the time we reached that stage in our lives we were used to it. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it."

"Wouldn't that mean we are all in danger now of talking to you?" Kate asks.

"No. The threat has been gone for nearly ten years. People die and their quest goes with them."

"So these people are gone?"

"More or less."

"What do you mean?" Jack inquires.

"What I mean is that they have lost their drive for their cause. The threat is gone."

"And your story? How does that end?" Will asks.

"William, even as you get older I can still see that stubborn two year old in you. It's the eyes. The Mulder eyes."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For not being there for you and dad when you needed me."

"William Fox Mulder you and your sister were the greatest things that ever happened to us."

"You missed out on so much."

"Regardless of what you thought Mulder and I kept in contact with John and Monica. We knew what was going on in your lives. We knew and we were proud. No matter what you ended up doing in life we were proud because you were are son."

"You were happy then?"

"Very happy. And proud too. You were our miracle baby. Well, miracle baby number one, but a miracle nonetheless."

"Aunt Dana--"

"Let me finish, Will. Then you can pass this story onto your grandchildren and theirs and generations after that about a pair of FBI agents who wanted nothing more than to fulfill a quest of one man."

February 20, 2003
Mulder & Scully's Apartment
Bethesda, Maryland
2:02 p.m.

Nine days overdue. A week and two days. Too many hours too count as Scully waddles over to the couch and plops down unceremoniously. Mulder is asleep in the recliner with William curled up against his chest also sleeping.

Scully's huge and ready to pop. Well she was ready to pop February 11th, but the child she is carrying seems to have other plans. Rubbing her massage stomach she lays down and tries to find a comfortable position. Comfort at this stage in the game is somewhat hard to find. She pulls a blanket over her body and grabs the book off the coffee table.

A knock echoes through the apartment.

She looks over at Mulder, hoping he'll wake up.

Nothing.

Another knock.

Still no movement or sign of life from Mulder, aside from the light snoring and the rise and fall of his chest.

Knock.

"Damn," she grumbles trying to pull herself off the couch. It is a lot more complicated than it looks.

"Scully, Mulder you in there?" Doggett yells through the door.

"Yeah, hold on a sec," Scully yells still halfway on the couch --halfway off -- or at least trying to be halfway off the couch.

Mulder opens his eyes and laughs at the sight in front of him -- Dana Scully trying to roll off the couch without ending up on her back and unable to get up.

"Scully, are ya having some problems?"

"Shut-up Mulder."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm trying to answer the door."

"You could have fooled me."

"This isn't funny, Mulder."

"If you were watching it from this angle you would think it to be rather amusing."

"Mulder!" she barks.

"All right, all right. No need to wake Will up."

Mulder gently puts Will down into the chair and pulls Scully up off the couch.

"Hello?" Doggett says from the other side of the door.

Mulder opens the door with a huge grin on his face, "Hey John, you just missed Scully trying to get off the couch."

Scully glares at Mulder and sits down on the couch rubbing her extremely large abdomen.

Mulder opens the door wider to reveal John and Monica standing on the other side, "Come on in."

They walk into the living room of the apartment and sit down as Mulder moves William into his bedroom to sleep.

"Still no baby?" Monica asks sympathetically.

"No and I don't think I can go on much more like this."

"Wasn't William born early?"

"Yeah almost two weeks early, but his little brother or sister seems to be a stubborn one."

"She must have the Irish Scully blood in her," Mulder says sitting down next to Scully and rubbing circles on her stomach.

"Is it a girl?" Monica asks.

"Mulder thinks it is."

His hand stops rubbing circles when her stomach tightens underneath his hand. Mulder looks up at Scully and notices that she's grimacing.

"What was that?"

"That Mulder was a contraction."

Mulder's face goes white, "Does that mean you're having it, right now?"

"I don't know. I've been feeling kind of crappy all day."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to get your hopes up," Scully replies sheepishly.

"Scully you're nine days late."

"See that's exactly what I'm worried about," she says before biting her lip again as another pain rocks through her body.

Monica jumps up already heading into William's room, "I'll get Will."

"You don't need to hurry. It took a long time to have Will," Scully tries to reassure them all.

Two minutes later another contraction goes through her abdomen.

"Scully?"

"Damn it what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Bethesda Hospital
3:19 p.m.

"Okay, Mrs. Mantle, one more push," the doctor says.

"Mulder!"

"I'm right here, Scully. You're fine."

"I hate you!"

"No you don't. Come on. You can do it."

Scully takes a deep breath in and pushes. Seconds seem like an eternity, but in a blur the doctor is placing the screaming baby on her abdomen as the nurse rubs the child with a towel. Time seems to slow as Scully looks down at the their child -- with reddish hair already on the top of her head -- and then back up at Mulder.

"Oh my God," Mulder whispers, tears in his eyes.

"She's ours," Scully cries. So many sleepless nights of worrying about making it to October and then to the end of her pregnancy. So many days where they wouldn't know if they'd be able to sleep that night. This baby is a testament of what they have fought for. She is proof of their love -- a child conceived on the run -- one who wasn't supposed to be born.

"Mr. Mantle would you like to cut the cord?" the doctor asks.

Mulder nods his head numbly and then proceeds to sever the bond between his daughter and Scully. Tears appear in the corners of his eyes.

A nurse tries to take the baby away from Scully, "I want to hold her."

"We are just going to clean her up and then you can hold her as long as you want."

Mulder follows the nurse as they clean off his daughter and weigh her. Eight pounds and five ounces. A big baby by the means of what Scully's body could have held.

The nurse wraps her in a pink receiving blanket and gently places her into his arms."What her name?" the nurse asks.

"Megan," Mulder replies studying the wrinkled face of his infant daughter.

He brings her over to Scully and places the infant into the waiting arms."Megan, Mulder?"

"After your mother."

"Hi, Meg, I'm your mommy," Scully says with tears in her eyes.

Mulder grins and plants a huge kiss on Scully's lips, "She was worth it."

"Yes she is."

"Scully I have a confession to make."

"And what's that?" Scully inquires not taking her eyes off of Megan.

"I think our quest is over."

"And why's that?"

"We've found the truth. It has all came down to this and them. Will and Megan."

"You know, Mulder." She smiles up at him, "I couldn't agree more."

June 10, 2052
Bethesda Hospital

"So that was it?" Jack asks.

"Were you expecting more, Mr. Doggett?" Scully inquires, arching her eyebrow.

"No, it's just amazing that you could remember all of that. Especially since --"

"It baffles me too," Scully responds looking around the hospital room.

She'd always hated hospital rooms, but this one seemed a little more friendlier -- maybe it was because it had acquired a few faces. William sat in the chair next to her bed. Kate and Jack sat at the foot of her bed, looking like they'd just hit the jackpot. They'd been able to talk to someone who they had only read about in the X-Files. Someone they had thought was long gone.

"You found your truth, then?" Will asks rubbing his mother's hand reassuringly.

"I don't think we ever needed to look further than within ourselves. It sure would have saved us a lot of trouble if we would have started there instead of looking in outer reaches of space."

"Mrs. Mulder, I appreciate everything you've told us. You have no idea how helpful this will be when we start to investigate in the department again," Jack says.

"Jack, I'd be careful if I were you. You never know what you may find and what you may lose in that office."

"I plan on being extremely careful." He smirks -- almost looking like John Doggett with the skeptical grin.

"Don't laugh at the workings of life, Mr. Doggett -- you will never know when and if you should have taken a left instead of a right. When dealing with The X-Files you need to take many things into consideration.' "Aunt Dana, don't you agree with me that Kate should leave them alone."

"Will, I can't tell her what to leave and what to take on. You know I was about her age when I started on in that department."

"But you lost so much."

"I did. But I also found myself. That is something I would have never found if I would have done what my father had wanted me to. I followed my heart and I've ended up here. I've got to tell you that the unpredictability of my life made it all worthwhile."

Pink and orange paint the sky as the sun starts to sink below the horizon. Will looks to the clock and then over at his niece, "It's been a long day. Maybe we should head out."

Kate nods her head and looks to Scully, "Thank-you for sharing this story with me. I don't think I'll ever forget it."

"Thanks for listening," Scully replies pulling the young woman in for A hug, "Go where your heart leads you," she whispers.

"I will Grandma, I will."

Jack extends his hand and grins at her, "Thanks."

Scully pulls him in for a hug, "Say hi to your grandparents for me and take good care of Kate."

"Kate?"

"She's fond of you. I can tell."

Jack sheepishly grins and joins her at the door -- ready to start the journey of a lifetime. Both so young and impressionable, but ready to fight for a future rid of evil -- much like the old woman laying in the hospital bed.

"Let's go, Kate."

"You know Jack after hearing that story you'd think that we'd be frightened for what we are about to take on."

"But You're not?"

"No, we have a truth to find."

"And what truth is that?"

"Well we will know once we find it." She turns on her heel and heads down the hallway. Jack laughs at the prospect of his skeptical partner turned a little more into a believer by the tale of an old woman. It was going to be a long road ahead for them -- but a good road to travel nonetheless.

"Aunt Dana," William whispers hugging her tightly.

"Good bye, Will," she says.

"I'll come and see you tomorrow."

"I'm sure you will."

"And you'll be here."

"I can't make any guarantees William Mulder. Take care of yourself and of Kate."

"You know that I wouldn't want to do anything else."

"Good."

He kisses her gently on the cheek and leaves her to her own thoughts. Alone. A person comes into the world alone. And a person leaves the world alone. As the twilight begins to fade into the darkest night Dana Scully closes her eyes and dreams of him. Of Mulder.

As a young field agent Dana Scully walks up to the door in the basement labeled 'Fox Mulder'.

"Sorry nobody down here, but the FBI's most unwanted," he says as she enters.

"Agent Mulder? Hi I'm Dana Scully. I've been assigned to work with you."

"So who'd you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?"

Mulder grins at her mischievously.

"Actually I've heard a lot about you. I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Really? I was under the impression you were sent to spy on me."

Five years later Scully bolts out of Mulder's apartment. Trying to run away from him. He catches up to her before she gets on the elevator.

"You're wrong," he says referring to what she said about him never needing her.

Scully turns and stares at him, "Why was I assigned to you?" she asks fiercely. "To debunk your work. To rein you in. To shut you down."

Mulder shakes his head, "No, you've saved me, Scully," he puts his hands lightly on her shoulders and gazes down into her eyes, "As difficult and frustrating as it's been sometimes, your goddamn strict rationalism and science have saved me -- a hundred times over. You've kept me honest and made me a whole person. I owe you everything and you owe me nothing."

He lowers his head, "I don't want to do this without you. I don't know if I can. And if I quit now they win--"

Scully opens her eyes briefly to the darkness, "Mulder!"

Mulder doesn't come to her. A sharp pain goes through her body. Then A bright light and nothing.

Counting on TV Ten...Nine...

Mulder looks over at Scully with a grin as the ball drops on the news millennium and the year 2000. He leans in carefully and catches Scully's lips with his own.

They share a sensual kiss and then he pulls away.

"I guess the world didn't end."

"No, Mulder it didn't."

Eight...seven...

Mulder stares into her eyes, "When the world was falling apart you were my friend -- you are my constant, my touchstone."

"And you are mine," Scully responds with tears in her eyes.

Six...five...

The darkness of the forest takes over as Mulder tries to keep from going into shock.

"I once heard that the best way to regenerate heat is to get into a sleeping bag naked with someone else."

"If it starts raining sleeping bags, maybe you'll get lucky," Scully says smirking.

Four...

Mulder gently kisses Scully on the forehead, her heart is broken at the though of not being able to conceive a child. Tears glisten in both of their eyes.

"Never give up on a miracle," Mulder whispers into her shoulder.

Three...

Sitting side by side on Scully's couch Mulder lazily puts his feet up.

"I once considered spending my whole life with this man. What I would have missed..."

"I don't think you can know. I mean, how many different lives would we be leading if we made different choices? We...We don't know."

"What if there was only one choice...and all the other ones were wrong? And there were signs along the way to pay attention to..."

"Hmmm. And all the choices would then lead to this very moment. One wrong turn, and... we wouldn't be sitting here together. Well, that says a lot. That says a lot, a lot, a lot. That's probably more than we should be getting into at this late hour..."

Two...

Scully sits on her bed gently soothing the small child in her arms."How's everybody doing?"

She stands up and walks over to Mulder with a smile on her face, "Everybody's doing just fine."

"What are you going to name him?"

"William -- after your father," Scully replies moving closer to him.

She looks down at their son.

"Mulder, when I first became pregnant, I feared the truth... about how... and why. And I know that you feared it too."

"I think what we feared were the possibilities... The truth we both know."

"Which is what?"

Mulder leans in and kisses her. Scully pulls him closer, revealing in the feeling of their small family -- and of Mulder finally here with her keeping her safe.

One...

Laying on the motel bed looking into Mulder's eyes Scully urges him, "I know you, Mulder. You can't give up. It's what I saw in you when we first met. What made me follow you. Why I'd do it all over again..."

He looks at her realizing that this is all he's ever wanted in life.

Mulder slowly crawls onto the bed with her and curls up facing her with his forehead resting on hers.

He whispers softly, "Maybe there is hope."

Darkness takes over.

She finds herself walking along a beach. The beauty is breath taking as the sun begins to set on the horizon. Her body no longer pains her with the aches of old age -- but rather the vigor of younger years has taken over her limbs.

Up ahead of her is a tall man with brown hair.

He turns, sensing her.

Scully runs to him -- embracing him with tears in her eyes.

"What took you so long?" he inquires playfully.

No words can express what she feels as she leans in to kiss him. After years of fighting, losing and sacrificing Dana Scully is finally at peace.

At peace with Mulder and her memories.

The End

Author's Note: Wow! I can't believe that this is over -- it is probably one of my favorite fics and one that has taken the most to write -- especially keeping everyone and everything straight. I hope you've enjoyed the story and please tell me what you thought. Thanks so much for being a part of the experience and my 86 page epic here -- also the longest fan fiction I've writtten.

Thanks so much for the continued support. Please read and review! And I hope to hear from you all again -- when I write my next fic (which might be awhile...lol). Well thanks again!

~Jen