From nalvarez@delphi.com Mon Sep 30 20:05:12 1996 Ok, it's been about a week since I last wrote one of these and I'm not sure where the hell I am. Gotta run and check my outline (See, there is some organization to my writing.) :) Oh, there I was, heehee, this is gonna be fun... Regaining composure... X-Files and its characters belong to CC, 1013, and FOX. The five Mulder kids are mine. Previous stories: 1st6 - Daddy, Mommy, Nathan, Andy, Katy, Kevin. 2nd6 - The Move, The Doctor, The Picnic, The Bugs, The Case, The Visit. 3rd6 - Are We There Yet?, Why?, When Do We Go Back?, Where Do Aliens Come From?, What About Andy?, Where's Kevin?. 4th6 - Circumlocutions, Visions, Explorations, Separations, Accusations, Devotions. ********** "It Just Happened" 'Taken' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** Eisenhower Elementary School October 23 2:09PM Andy and Katy walked out of the school holding hands, skipping along the sidewalk to their bus. They stood at the open doors of the bus and watched for Nathan, who was probably doing something they weren't supposed to know about with Megan. The two of them had been getting along too well, as far as Katy was concerned. She didn't like the fact that her older brother was tying up the phone lines talking with this girl, and he was inviting her over to play games. Andy didn't care, he got to play with another older kid. He liked being able to socialize with children older than him, it made him feel older. He searched with Katy, pointing a finger when he saw his brother running from the school's entrance with a bright smile on his face. Katy pouted and told Andy, "There he is alright. He was probably talking with Megan." "You're just jealous." Andy said, running to grab an open seat for the three of them, knowing Katy would whack him for saying that. But he was right, Katy was jealous that Nathan was spending all his time with someone else. She had thought for a long time that it would just be the three kids, Nathan, Andy and her. But now she beginning to feel more and more alone. Nathan stepped into the bus and looked at her. She turned and walked to where Andy was, jumping over him to get the window seat. Nathan creased his brow and rode home staring at the seat in front of him, at the "Angela 'heart' Mark" that had been permanently marked into the seat God knows how long ago. Nathan sometimes wondered what became of them, if they were married now, or if one of them was in jail and the other was a hooker in Vegas. Shaking his head he saw that they were the next stop. He got off, waiting for his siblings. Katy ran for the door, and knocked loud. She heard Kevin's laughter and smiled herself, she could always play with him. At least until she had her baby sister. The door opened and Margaret ushered them into the kitchen where there juice and cookies waited. They quickly scarfed them down and then ran to their rooms to get their homework done as soon as possible. They knew their parents did spontaneous checks on that and they knew that if they didn't have their homework done by six PM, they were in big trouble. Of course, Nathan finished first so he could call Megan and talk to her. Katy stuck her tongue out at him as he passed her room to use the phone in his parents room. Andy entered her room and handed her a paper. Katy looked at it a moment and then up at him. "What?" She asked. He smacked his head, forgetting that she'd given up mind reading, "Sorry, What does all this mean?" "Andy, it's addition." "How do you do it?" "I thought you figured it out, I mean we've been doing it in class for a month now and you keep getting good grades on your work." He looked away, "I cheat." "How?" She stood, putting her hands at her waist. He smiled, shyly, "You sit next to me remember." ********** 7:59PM It took only a little while to teach him, she taught him the finger method, which he found easy. Their mother could teach him further later on if he still needed it, Katy knew he would, Andy wasn't exactly brilliant, but he had an excellent memory for schooling, most of the time anyway. "Mom, we're home!" Dana called. All three children rushed their parents, who had to work late and then got stuck in a little traffic. Dana went immediately to the couch, where she could put her feet up and rest. She was too tired to do anything else. Kevin immediately climbed onto the couch next to her to lay his head on her stomach. He found out it was a nice pillow now that it was swollen. Nathan let go of his father and asked, "Dad, can I go out with Megan and her parents this Sunday?" Fox gave him a wondering look, he had been spending way too much time with this girl, "Where are they going?" "They're going to a park, to watch Megan's older brother Gary play baseball. We have to leave at one in the afternoon and we should be back around five." "Are you adding leeway time?" He asked, ruffling Nathan's longer-than-usual hair. "Yes dad." He answered knowing he always had to because if he arrived late from anything he wouldn't be allowed to go out again for a few months. "It's ok with me, but ask your mother if we have anything planned on Sunday. Get it ok'd with her." He smiled as he ran into the living room and stood next to the couch. She opened her eyes and looked at him, having heard everything. "You can go, but you know you have to be home by the time you said, or you won't be able to go out..." "For months, I know, I know. I promise, I'll be home by five. If it get's any later, I'll call you. But there shouldn't be a reason for us to be back late." Kevin looked up at him and screamed, "Bye Bye." Before gently laying his head back down. ********** Eisenhower Elementary School October 24 2:01 PM Nathan grabbed Katy's shoulder and she turned, afraid of who had a hand on her, ready to swing a small fist into a leg or a stomach. She gave him a mad look and he laughed. Then he looked around, waiting for Andy, needing the two of them to be together before he left them alone. "Let me go!" Katy yelled at him. He put both hands in the air, defensively, and then adjusted his book bag on his shoulder so it wouldn't fall off. Andy came bounding out of the classroom with the book he'd forgotten and stopped short seeing Nathan. "Guys, I'm going to walk home." "But you know that... Nathan you'll get in trouble..." Andy and Katy began at the same time but he waved them off. "I'm going to walk with Megan, her house in about mid-way between the school and our house. I want you to tell grandma that, ok? I'll run the rest of the way, I'll probably get there about five minutes after the bus gets there." He heard his name being shouted and he turned to them, messing up Andy's hair with one hand and giving Katy's shoulder and reassuring squeeze with the other. "Fine, but I'm going to tell mom." Katy said crossing her arms over her chest. Nathan rolled his eyes and ran from them, to Megan who was waiting for him at the water fountain. He waved a hand at Katy and Andy so they wouldn't miss their bus and then he turned with Megan and began to walk away. Katy took Andy's hand and led him to the bus, he looked crushed, probably because Nathan didn't ask him to come with him. Katy entered the bus and slammed herself into a seat, Andy did the same. Andy turned to Katy, "Nathan's a jerk!" He said slowly. Katy rolled her eyes, and then said, pronouncing every word slowly, "No, he's just preoccupied with his penis." Andy's eyes flew up at her, "Where did you hear that?!" He screamed, catching the attention of the children to his left. "Mom said it once." He gave her a curious look, "What does it mean?" "I don't know, but she said it about someone who was all over a girl, just like Nathan is right now." Andy pouted and then asserted, "Nathan is porcupined with his pencil!" Katy broke into laughter while he sat there looking at her confused, asking, "What?" ********** 2:15PM Megan and Nathan walked hand in hand to her house. They didn't talk to much, enjoying the quiet of the seemingly abandoned street. He turned to her and asked, "So, is Gary a good baseball player?" She looked at him, "Yeah." She looked away, "Mom's always saying that he could go to the major leagues and stuff." "Wow." He said, under his breath. "So, does he hit many homeruns?" "Is that when the ball goes over the back fence?" She asked, waiting while he nodded his head, "Then, yeah, he usually makes one or two a game." "Do you play baseball?" "No, I don't really like sports all that much, but I do like ice-skating, is that a sport." "It's in the Olympics, so I guess it's a sport. We went out ice-skating once, but Andy and Katy are so small that it takes about three people to watch them." He laughed remembering, the two came out soaked from the ice that had melted on them. "Maybe you can come with us one day." "Ice skating?" She smiled, "Yeah, what, you don't know how to?" He stood straighter, "Of course I do!" She laughed and then stopped. "What?" He asked. She giggled, "This is my house." She said matter-of-factly. "Oh." He giggled some himself. He walked her to the door and rang her doorbell. She smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips right before her father opened the door. She walked in quickly and Nathan said 'Hello' quickly and began walking back. He waited at the end of the walkway to her house until the door closed. He took a few deep breaths and then pumped an arm through the arm and breathed a triumphant "Yes!" Smiling he turned to began his run to his house, but a hand clapped down on his mouth with a rag. He tried to scream but the world around him was disappearing in a dark cloud. He swung one fist and connected lightly with a rib. He heard a man's grunt before he went limp. The man smiled through the pain of the jab. This one would be different from the others, this one would be special. This would be his last and he intended to go out with a bang. ********** Heehee. And you wonder why I've been looking forward to the last six. I'm a little pissed though, you'll understand later. :) Please comment, Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From nalvarez@delphi.com Mon Sep 30 20:07:48 1996 Thank you Mel Gibson and Ron Howard for making this seem like a rip off (Their movie 'Ransom' is going to be released Nov8). Scarier still is the fact that the little boy in the movie is almost exactly how I envisioned Nathan or Andy. Well, at least I get a two month head start on releasing this last six stories in the It Just Happened series. :) And people wonder why I can never finish writing a book! Anyway, The X-Files and its characters belong to CC, 1013, and FOX. The Mulder kids and Vincent are mine (even thought I don't want him.) Previous stories in this series: 1st6 - Daddy, Mommy, Nathan, Andy, Katy, Kevin. 2nd6 - The Move, The Doctor, The Picnic, The Bugs, The Case, The Visit. 3rd6 - Are We There Yet?, Why?, When Do We Go Back?, Where Do Aliens Come From?, What About Andy?, Where's Kevin?. 4th6 - Circumlocutions, Visions, Explorations, Separations, Accusations, Devotions. 5th6 (last six): Taken. ********** "It Just Happened" 'Ransoms' by a little ticked Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** Mulder Residence October 24 2:35PM Katy and Andy had just arrived home, jumping and screaming their way into their rooms to do homework. They stopped only once, to kiss their grandma and Kevin. Margaret Scully watched them leave and then waited for the third child. Nathan was always in right after them. She stood walking to the door and looking out, maybe the boy was getting the mail or picking up a flower or a bug for Kevin to play with. But she didn't see him outside. She hurried in and went to Katy's room. The girl was already hard at work on something, presumably math, since for her it was easiest. "Katy?" She asked. She looked up at her. "Where's Nathan?" The girl rolled her eyes, "Sorry, forgot to tell you, he walked home with Megan. Said he would come right home afterwards. He'll probably be here around two fortyy-five." She turned away from her grandmother and began working again. Maggie shrugged and went back out to the living room where Kevin was trying to change the channels on the TV, but not having much luck. "Di'nee" He said. "You want Disney, honey?" "Yeah." He said, his head bouncing up and down with excitement. Maggie had to laugh, of all their children, Kevin was the funniest baby. *********** FBI Building 3:22PM Mulder walked across the right-now-extremely-cold basement he shared with his in-the-middle-of-a-hot-spell pregnant wife, reading a profile. He had his trench coat on and he was pacing, it was the only way to keep warm. She sat, with only her skirt and blouse at her desk, her glasses on, reading the computer screen. Both trying to find out something about Vincent Kylie Harrison. "Anything?" He asked her. She shook her head. "I don't get it. He kills a man, then a girl and then he disappears for a month, could he have moved on?" She took a breath, "I already checked in other states for other murders that may match the MO, but there aren't any. Maybe this guy just found another career?" "No, not this one. He's waiting for something, someone." He couldn't help but stare at her. She was always getting kidnapped, because of him, maybe Vincent was just waiting for a time when they were separated. She looked up from her computer and took of her glasses, laying them down on the table as she stood and walked past him to his desk to grab another, newer copy of the profile. "If he'd have wanted to take me, he would have." She told him flatly. "Besides, I don't think he would want me, all bloated like this, he would want someone he could have comfortably. Doesn't it say somewhere in this profile that he would be looking for an able bodied person?" He nodded, "Then why not me?" She smiled, "Maybe it's 'cause you're able to hold your gun better now?" He mocked laughter and sat down in her chair while she sat in his. The shrill sound of the phone ringing made them both jump, there weren't many calls to this basement. Scully looked at him, and raised her eyebrows seeing that it was her cell phone that was ringing, and it was on her desk and he was sitting a foot from it. He grabbed the phone, "Mulder." "Fox, where's Dana?" It was Maggie. He sat up and moved the phone to the other ear. "She's sitting across the room from me, why?" "Did either of you two go to pick up Nathan?" Scully watched his eyebrows fall in confusion, "No, why?" "He's not home yet." "What?!" He paused, "He was supposed to be on the bus with Katy and Andy, are they home?" "Yes, they got here about an hour ago and they said Nathan was going to walk Megan home, but he hasn't arrived yet. I thought maybe you'd have gone to pick him up from Megan's house, I know he's got a light case of asthma and I was wondering if he called you and got a ride to your office." "He hasn't called here." There was a long pause. Mulder looked up at Scully and saw fear in her eyes. "Maggie, call Megan's house, her number's in our phone book, under 'Nathan's Friends'. Call me back after." He hung up and looked at her. She didn't move, just sat there looking at him with wide eyes as he opened his mouth to speak, but paused, not knowing what to say. "Where's Nathan?" She suddenly asked. He didn't speak. "What happened?" "He walked Megan to her house and Maggie's worried because he hasn't arrived home yet. He's probably at Megan's house right now having a snack or something, don't worry about it." His cell phone rang now. She grabbed for it, "Mom?!" She almost screamed onto the phone. There was laughing on the other side. Her eyes went wider than Mulder had ever seen them. "It's mommy, is it?" The voice asked. Scully began to breath harder, Mulder could tell she was afraid. Had Margaret called Megan's house, he wondered. Scully knew it was a man and she knew the voice, it was Vincent's voice. She could feel a lump forming in her throat. "What do you want?" She asked, her voice coming out so low and so vicious that for a moment even Vincent was frightened. "Just want to tell you that you've got a fine looking boy." "Don't Touch Him!" She screamed standing quickly. Mulder ran across the room to her and tried to take the phone, but she remained silent, shoo-ing his hand away from her as she listened. She pressed END and threw the phone across the room and screamed. Mulder jumped back and then looked at her. "What is it? What happened?" "He didn't want you or me." She whispered right before she broke into tears. Mulder held her tightly to him, trying to calm her down, but she began to shake. "He says he wants ten thousand dollars by this October thirty first or he's going to kill Nathan." She got out between sobs. He held his breath for a long time, minutes that felt like hours, until the door opened suddenly and Skinner walked in. He saw them and looked away for a moment, then turned back as Mulder sat her down in his chair while he addressed their AD. "I just got a phone call from Vincent, I assume you got the same call?" Mulder nodded. He walked closer to Mulder and whispered, "You know the FBI's policy with kidnappers." "No negotiations or some stupid shit like that." Mulder said lowly. He was trying not to cry, Skinner knew and it was understandable. "We tried to put a trace on the call, but he hung up too fast for our men. Should we start checking on motels eight miles from the school?" Mulder looked into the man's eyes, "No, eight miles from Megan's house." He couldn't think, couldn't remember the little girls address, for the first time in his life, his mind was blank. Scully stood, writing something and handed it to Skinner, it was the address. She went to grab her purse, walking slowly, and then put on her jacket and her coat and she looked at Mulder and then at Skinner. The man nodded to them and left the room. Mulder took her arm and led her out to their car and they drove home in silence. ********** 4:45PM She laid down in her bed, not moving, just watching the sudden rain tap lightly against the window. She didn't want to speak, hushing Katy as soon as she was in the door of the house. Maggie sat the same way on the couch. Fox said it would be best if she stayed with them until they got Nathan back, they didn't want to take any chances that Vincent would want two instead of one this time. Kevin walked into the room and looked at his mother, he knew she was scared and she had been crying, but he didn't understand why. He walked around the bed to see her face, she was looking out the window, at the rain. He climbed on the bed and gave her a hug. She hugged him back weakly and he became worried. "Wus wong?" He asked, giving her a puppy face. She looked at him and pulled him close to her, hugging him tight to her chest, his head under her chin and she began to cry again. She heard the phone ring, but she ignored it. Katy picked it up in the living room. "Yeah?" She asked. "Hey sweetie, how's everything?" Vincent asked. She gave her daddy a funny look and he was standing, going to take the phone from her, but not before Vincent said something crude that made her drop it. She ran away from the phone and went to her room. "What do you want?" Fox asked. "I changed my mind." "About?" The man laughed, "The ransom, I only want five thousand, but I'm going to keep him longer, he's a good kid, strong little body." "You lay one finger on him, I'll..." "You'll what Mulder, come and get me?! You don't even know where I am. I could be in the house next to you, I could be in another city, I could be in your attic." There was more laughter and then silence. "I want to know he's alive, I want to hear him." There was a pause that could have killed Fox. "Daddy?" It was Nathan, he sounded like he was crying. "Are you Ok?" Fox asked, his tone softening. "I wanna go home." He whined. "Is he doing anything to you?!" "He's naked daddy." The boy whispered, ashamed. "What is he doing?" There was a squeal and then a small thump. "He's sleeping now, just remember, five thousand, but November 13th or I'll kill him." There was more wicked laughter and then the phone tone. Mulder slammed it down and saw Dana, standing at the doorway with the cordless in her hand. Her mouth was open slightly and there were tears running down her face. She fell to her knees and began to scream. ********** Ok. You guys having fun yet? Well, I have only one hope at the moment, that the movie Ransom comes out and it's nothing like this. I heard on the news the other day about something that mirrors something that's going to happen and I got a little pissed off. Like, I can't think about something for a story anymore with it happening! ;) Comments please, call me bad names, I don't care. Mystic - who was kidding in that last sentence there! Nalvarez@delphi.com From nalvarez@delphi.com Mon Sep 30 20:11:08 1996 Ok, now that I have your complete and utter attention, I'd like to tell you that I'm happy that you're probably freaking out. I just hope that you're telling me. ;) It's not going to change anything that's going to happen though because by the time ya'll get this, the six will be done. *Evil Laughter* Yeah, yeah, anything for comments... Welp, disclaimer, yeah, I keep forgetting there should be one... The X-Files and its characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013, and Fox, not me, though the Mulder children and Vincent are mine. This one, I think is R rated, so take caution!!! And, if you love these kids already, you are NOT allowed to flame me because ya'll have been telling me from the beginning "I keep waiting for something to come and ruin this whole sweet story..." Previous stories in this series: 1st6 - Daddy, Mommy, Nathan, Andy, Katy, Kevin. 2nd6 - The Move, The Doctor, The Picnic, The Bugs, The Case, The Visit. 3rd6 - Are We There Yet?, Why?, When Do We Go Back?, Where Do Aliens Come From?, What About Andy?, Where's Kevin?. 4th6 - Circumlocutions, Visions, Explorations, Separations, Accusations, Devotions. 5th6 (last six): Taken, Ransom. And now that this has gotten longer than usual, the story... ********** "It Just Happened" 'Notes' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** Mulder Residence October 24th 5:10PM He tried to comfort her, he tried to hold her tightly, ensure that he would find Nathan and everything would be alright, but she was smarter. She knew the chances of finding him alive were going to be slim to none, especially since Skinner had initiated the search of the hotels almost two hours ago and nothing had turned up. She also knew that if they did find him alive, it would be beaten and raped and he would probably be devastated and in need of psychological help. He was too young for this, she thought sobbing louder, knowing that this only made her mother join the huddle because Fox had begun to cry with her. "Daddy?" Andy asked, standing over the three of them. He looked up at his boy and saw he had a paper in his hand, it was folded and bright pink. "What is that?" He asked him, standing and taking it from his hand to sit on the couch and rip the tape that sealed it. "Bugs was sitting on it, I just saw it now, your name is on the outside." He only half listened to him as he read what the note said. Fox, Hey, just thought I'd let you know, if you didn't know already that I'm planning to take your kid, whichever I see first, alone, though the girl might be the one I'd have the most fun with. Like to add that I'm not as dumb as you think I am. You're not going to find me as quick as you did the last time because I'm not where I usually am. No hotels this time, at least none that you would suspect. Let the games begin huh? Lovingly Yours, Vinnie Mulder took the note and crumpled it and threw it across the room standing and walking out the door. He needed time to think, to clear his mind of all evil thoughts that were now racing through it. He also needed to get away from Dana, he couldn't stand to see her crying. He walked three blocks before he reached a park. Sitting on a bench he looked at the setting sun and then put his head in his hands. Where would Vincent be? He asked himself. He wasn't going to be in a hotel eight miles from Megan's house, he wasn't going to be in a hotel at all, he wouldn't want to be found by a hotel search, which could be easily done. He wouldn't be in an apartment, because it would be under his name, or a family member's name and he could probably be found with the showing of a picture. He wouldn't be in an abandoned warehouse because it could be too easily searched. But maybe he was giving the man too much credit, maybe he would be in one of those places, and they would overlook it because it was a common place. He grunted and stood, beginning to run, harder and faster into the park, down it's bicycle paths and through it's trees. He reached a street and continued on the sidewalk. Soon he was drenched with sweat and happy that it had begun to rain again, though he didn't like the way his suit clung to his body. He glanced at a bar that was illuminated beyond belief and thought about drowning his sorrow, but then he considered what Andy and Katy would think if they saw him drunk. They wouldn't understand. He also didn't want to be drunk when he was so angry, he would probably lash out at one of the children, at Dana, and then he would never forgive himself. Finally he whistled for a cab and headed home. The sun had gone down, it was a lot later than he thought it was, he thought entering the house. He looked at his watch and saw it was nine thirty, had he run so far, he wondered. He went into Katy's room and didn't find the girl, instead he found Margaret. She was sleeping on her side, a foot too small for the bed, her knees curled up, sleeping soundly. He went over and pulled the covers up over her shoulders and went into the boys room. Katy was in Nathan's bed, Andy and Kevin in their own, all three sleeping like logs. Mulder kissed them all lightly on their cheeks before going into his room. Dana wasn't on the bed, but he heard her sniffle in the bathroom so he went there. She was sitting on the toilet, staring at the floor. She looked up and stood. "You ok?" He asked her. "I'm better." She nodded. "Where have you been?" He shrugged and closed the door behind him, "I went for a walk, I was trying to think of where he might be. We should check out everywhere, hotels, apartments, warehouses, even the cabins in the forests of Virginia." They both stayed silent for a moment and then she removed her dress and threw it into the hamper, it was followed quickly by her underwear and his clothing. They both stepped into the shower, savoring the warm water running over their tense bodies. Not long after, they were laying in bed, ready to sleep. Dana opened a drawer next to her and pulled out a small blue book, about eight inches by five inches. Mulder watched her curiously as she opened it and smiled. When he looked into the book he saw a picture of her, at the hospital, eight years ago, holding her first born son. He was standing behind her, with the biggest smile he had ever seen on his face. Nathan had small tubes coming out of his nose, for oxygen, and a tube in his head, the only place where they could find his vein. There were four pages of them in the hospital with him, he'd been in for almost a month. She turned the page and laughed. Nathan, laying on his back, in her bed, at her, their, old apartment, making a determined face, reaching a fist up to hit his father who was tickling his belly. She flipped through the small Baby Book with Fox, looking at all the pictures for the millionth time. Nathan, sleeping in his crib. Nathan, naked, in her arms after a shower. Nathan, wearing his fathers shoes, walking around the apartment. Nathan, wearing a small hat backwards and sunglasses. Nathan trying to hold a football at a year old. Nathan's shocked face at seeing his own room in the new house for the first time. Nathan, next to two cradles holding his younger brother and sister. Nathan trying to get Andy to hold a football. Nathan going to preschool, kindergarten, first grade. Nathan hitting his first home run, making his first touchdown, winning first place in a field day running event. When she reached the end of the book she closed it and placed it back into the drawer, kissed Fox and laid down close to him and fell asleep. ********** October 27th 5:00PM Fox and Dana had been waiting, it had been three days, no other word from Vincent. Skinner had gotten a search warrant and checked all the places where everyone in VC thought Vincent might be with the boy, but nothing turned up. Fox began to think that maybe he had left the city, or the state, or the country. He sat in front of the TV and sighed, rubbing his red eyes, which had been void of tears for hours. Suddenly a stack of envelopes hit the floor in front of the door. He looked over, watching Andy pick them up and go through them one by one, trying to read where they came from and who they were for. One envelope caught his eye, it was fluorescent yellow. "Andy, bring me the yellow one!" He screamed, standing quickly. The boy jumped and turned to him. Running, he went into the living room and handed it to his father, having dropped the rest back onto the floor in front of the door. Mulder slid his hand through the fold and ripped the letter out and read it to himself while Andy ran back to his room. Hey Fox, I know how protective you are, so sorry I haven't sent you word sooner. Nat's doing great, he's actually beginning to enjoy this, I think. Though I don't think he's a ladies man, doesn't seem to like sex very much. You really should learn to feed him better though, he spits out all the veggies I keep trying to feed him, so he's not growing much anymore. Guess he's going to be like his mother after all. I thought you might want to hear from him, so I will be sending a letter, that he's composing right now, in a few days, or maybe tomorrow, who knows the mailing system in America isn't all it should be. I also included pics of him, thought his mommy might want to see that her boy isn't dead. Well, I decided that I don't want to give him back right now, you're going to have to wait a long time, or until I get sick of him. Think of it as a kind of summer camp. Lovingly Yours, Vinnie Fox let the letter fall on the floor and gripped the envelope tightly. He slowly removed the pictures from the envelope and fell over onto the floor, heaving for air, his gag reflex kicking in. Dana entered to watch him vomit, she rushed to his side and tried to lift him, but he pushed her away, not wanting her to see the photos, knowing she wouldn't be able to handle it. She didn't know what happened so quickly grabbed the note on the yellow paper and read it. She glanced at him on the floor and she cried, though no tears emerged, she cried. Fox looked over to her, on the couch, and stood, walking slowly to the back yard. He flipped through the pictures, trying to think of Nathan as not his own, as another child, he tried to think like an FBI agent, trained to handle anything and everything. But it wasn't easy. Most were without a shirt, he looked as though he hadn't bathed since the day he'd been kidnapped. His feet were bare and he was tied to a chair. There was one of him sleeping, naked, with his back to the camera on his right side, in a bed, curled into a ball with brand new blood running across his right buttock cheek. Fox knew what Vincent had just done when the picture had been taken and he crunched all the photos in his fists and screamed into the night. ********** October 29th 2:21PM They were still in their office, both watching the clock, needing to get out, to be with their other children, who still didn't understand what was happening. They only knew that Nathan wasn't home, everyone was worried and they should keep quiet of they'd probably get yelled at. They both jumped when the door slammed open. It was Skinner he held in his right hand a bright green envelope, which he handed to Mulder. Dana stood and walked over to him, wanting to see this note, wanting to know why they kept keeping these multicolored letters from her. Mulder opened it slowly as the two others looked on. He saw the scraggly handwriting, it wasn't Vincent's neat block letters, this was Nathan's writing. He silently prayed that Nathan didn't say what was being done to him, he didn't want Dana to read that, though he was sure she knew. Dear Daddy and Mommy, Vinnie wanted me to write to you to show you that I was ok, so he went to the bathroom and told me to write. I don't know where we are, but I wanna go home. He's gross and he does bad things and I don't want to play his games anymore, they hurt. He says that he's not going to let me go home, he's going to keep me for a long time, he says he likes me. Please come and get me. Please, Nathan ********** Am I tugging at any hearts?!? Oh man, then I guess I'm going to have to go into more detail. HEY, PUT DOWN THE GUN!!! Whatever, as always, please send comments. Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From nalvarez@delphi.com Mon Sep 30 20:13:55 1996 So, having fun yet? Let's see: The X-Files belongs to Chris Carter, 1013, and Fox. I'm only borrowing them, though the Mulder children are mine, as is Vincent. Previous stories in this series: 1st6 - Daddy, Mommy, Nathan, Andy, Katy, Kevin. 2nd6 - The Move, The Doctor, The Picnic, The Bugs, The Case, The Visit. 3rd6 - Are We There Yet?, Why?, When Do We Go Back?, Where Do Aliens Come From?, What About Andy?, Where's Kevin?. 4th6 - Circumlocutions, Visions, Explorations, Separations, Accusations, Devotions. 5th6 (last six): Taken, Ransom, Notes. Almost done. ********** "It Just Happened" 'Accidents' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** December 25th 7:36AM The sat around the Christmas tree with solemn faces. It just wasn't right without Nathan. They had received the occasional note from him saying that he was alright and that he wanted to come home, they also received notes from Vincent telling them that he would keep Nathan another few weeks, and another few weeks, and another few weeks... The current return date was January 20th. Dana put a hand on her stomach quickly as the baby kicked her for the first time. A smile touched her lips, fifth month, it was about time. Everyone looked up at her quickly. She stifled a laugh and then began to cry softly, wishing that Nathan was there to ask some silly question and then run to her to feel her belly. "You ok mommy?" Andy asked. He stood and went to her, to hug her. She held him tightly against her and he jumped back when he felt the second kick. He stared at her in shock, "What is that?" She gave him an odd look, but then remembered how afraid he had been to be near her when she was pregnant with Kevin. He had never felt a baby kick in the womb. Katy smiled and stood placing a hand on her mother's stomach, "It's the baby, silly." "Does that hurt?" Andy asked, his eyes widening. Dana laughed through her tears, "No." There was a small pause in conversation, "Why don't you finish opening your presents?" Andy smiled and ran back to the floor, he knew that most of it was going to be toys, more toys and even more toys. But his heart skipped a beat every time he opened something and turned to show Nathan, or thought that Nathan would want to play with him with this new toy. Katy felt the same way. One of her presents was a life-like baby girl and she wanted to show him so badly, because he would probably be impressed. They watched Kevin, who still didn't understand what happened with Nathan, rip open his baby toys while laughing and throwing around wrapping and bows. After an hour Fox and Dana sent the kids to their room to get dressed while they cleaned up the mess, and finished assembling two new two wheeled bicycles. As they threw things into bags they couldn't help but notice the pile of presents that were Nathan's. Dana let a hand full of wrapping fall to the floor as she began to cry, knowing that Nathan would have loved the new computer games she had found, the giant box of Legos Fox had bought, and the two jean shirts Andy and Katy had worked hard cleaning the house weekly to get the money for. Then there was the brand new ten speed bicycle that would now sit in the garage waiting for him to come back. "He will come back, Dana." Fox said, falling next to her. "But I want him here now." "I know." He hugged her while she cried. He'd been wondering where all the tears had come from, she had cried at least once every day since the day he was taken. But he understood, though he held it in until there was a moment where he was alone, when the children couldn't see, when Dana couldn't see. He needed to remain strong for them. "Why him?" She wailed, beating him on the chest. "He's just a little boy, he didn't do anything." She stopped speaking and just cried while he ran his hand through her hair and rubbed her back, trying to calm her. Andy and Katy sat in 'their' room and listened to their mother cry, they had never heard her cry so hard since the day they were born, and now she was doing it almost every day. Katy glanced up at Andy and he could see that she was going to start crying too. "It will be ok." He tried to assure her. "Where Na'an?" Kevin asked trying to kick his shoe off. Katy went and tied the bow tighter and then sat next to him on Andy's bed. "How can you be so sure?" She asked him. "This is Nathan we're talking about, he's going to be ok." "Yeah, he's a real tough guy." She said sardonically. Andy lowered his head, "He will be ok." She suddenly wondered whether he was saying this for her, or for himself. He was missing Nathan too, probably more than her since they were play-mates at all times. "Right?" He looked up at her and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. She closed her eyes and focused on Nathan. She could see him, sitting in a bed, with only his pants on, hugging himself, looking about him wildly. He was scared. She could see his eye was swollen and his body had small bruises and scratches on it. Andy watched as a tear rolled down her cheek. He knew what she was doing, but he didn't dare tell his parents that they occasionally did this. He knew they were upset as is and the last time his mother found out about Katy using her gift, she had left. He closed his eyes and held her hands and saw what she saw. *Nathan* She said. She saw him smile. He closed his eyes and thought, so she could read his mind. 'I miss you' *I miss you too* 'How was Christmas?' *It was ok, but I broke your hair brush* 'It was an accident, don't worry about it. How are mom and dad?' His mind was full on worry, she could feel it. Andy could feel it. Andy thought, so Katy could transfer it to Nathan, 'Mom's crying, she misses you like crazy.' *She does, so does dad, he goes out on the porch late at night to cry* Nathan thought, 'He's trying to be strong so you won't be afraid.' *But we are* Katy jerked her hands away and opened her eyes as she felt the stinging slap that Nathan had just received. She knew communication was cut and she wouldn't be able to reconnect it until that man was gone and he usually didn't go away. ********** January 20th 3:00PM D-Day. Everyone was silent in the house. They sat, waiting for the mail, waiting to see when the next D-Day was going to be because they knew that Vincent wasn't going to return Nathan. The slit opened slightly and a heap of letters fell through and no one moved. Margaret looked around at her 'children' and got up, walking to the mail, ignoring everything except the one bright orange envelope. She opened it and read it and sighed, tired of playing this man's games, wanting to kill him with her own hands. She looked at them and shook her head. "February 14th, Valentines Day." Dana stood, huffing all the air out of herself in frustration, "What's he going to do now, send us a bright red envelope with 'St. Patrick's Day' written in Nathan's blood!" She screamed. Andy and Katy jumped away from her and stood to go to their room. But Dana beat them to it. She slammed the kids door and locked it behind her. The two children sat in the living room looking at their father who was in shock. How could she say that in front of them, he thought. Dana sat on Andy's bed and let her hands fall onto her stomach and tried to breath. She didn't want to cry anymore, so now she took to going by herself and just breathing. Kevin looked at her from the bars of his crib. He had climbed into it when he saw everyone tense in the living room. He remained silent, watching her breath in and out, patiently though it was easy for him to see that she wasn't happy. "Why b'eath?" He asked, startling her. He slammed himself into a sitting position, trying to hide, thinking he might be in trouble now. She got up and went to him, lifting him from his crib and carrying him out into the living room. She tried to smile for Andy and Katy, knowing she had scared them before. Fox gave her a nervous glance. "I'm taking Kevin to go grocery shopping, anyone else want to join me?" She asked as cheerfully as she could. Margaret came out from the kitchen where she was doing dishes, "I was going to go in another hour, you don't have to go." She gritted her teeth, "I need to get out of this house for a little while." Then she restated again, "I'm going shopping with Kevin, I'll be back in a few hours." She went to get her purse and then walked outside, to the car and took the car seat out of the back and placed it into the front passenger seat. She sat him in it and he giggled looking at her. She turned on the car and Fox tapped on the window. She rolled it down quickly and he kissed her mouth lightly. "Be back soon, ok? And bring home some take out." He smiled. She smiled back, rolled up the window and pulled out of the driveway. She drove quickly to the grocery store and went aisle for aisle and got everything they needed at the house. Kevin giggled all the way through, helping to lighten her mood, actually making her laugh when he pulled a straw hat off a shelf and put it on his head. But when she got everything she knew that she had to go home and she had to put diner on the table and she had to look at the empty space. She knew she would cry and they would try to comfort her and she would try to turn them away, but she knew she hadn't the strength anymore for it. Climbing into the car, she glanced at Kevin, who was trying to untie his shoe in the baby seat. "Kevin, leave your shoe on." She told him. He let his foot fall and looked up at her, "'K" He said smiling. She went to a fast food place and rattled off a list of food items she was already used to ordering, though she had to leave off one hamburger this time. She quickly paid and left, driving quickly out of the parking lot. She looked about her, out the windows and came across the field where Nathan played softball two years ago. She pulled into it's parking lot and let her head fall onto the steering wheel as she began to cry again. He had decided that year that he never wanted to play softball again after being hit in the ankle at the last game. She remembered that he had cried for only a short amount of time, not wanting his younger brother and sister to be afraid. He had whispered in her ear how much it hurt as she had put ice on it and he had whispered it again when she put on the wrapping. But not once did he voice it aloud. "Mommy?" Kevin asked. She looked at him and tried to smile, but it was hard. "Home." He said, giving her a worried look. She nodded and turned the car back on, peeling out of the parking lot. He laughed as she speeded through the streets, knowing the Fox would be worried about her. But she never saw the other car as it smashed into her from the side. Everything went dark a moment. She didn't have the time to scream before the accident, only gasped as she heard the sound of metal bending and glass breaking. The air bag inflated, but her head hit the glass window at her left before the bag. Her eyes closed and she let her head fall against the steering wheel again. She couldn't feel her body, but she did feel slight heat. She could also feel blood running down the side of her face, down her nose, her forehead, her knees, between her legs. She was certain she was going to die here, covered in her own blood. She listened, hearing a sound unfamiliar to her ears. It was a child screaming, but screaming as she had never heard before. She opened her eyes and saw Kevin next to her. She tried to move but was frozen, with fear or from paralysis she didn't know, but she couldn't move. She looked his body over but didn't see any blood on him, he didn't look like he'd been touched. She began to cry with him, not knowing what else to do. She heard sirens and could feel a hand on her shoulder. She felt cool air hit her as the door was pried off and she heard Kevin's cries grow faint as he was taken out of the car. A man stood next to her, he was asking her something, she diverted her attention from her son to this man. "Can you move?" He was asking. "Don't know." She mumbled. The man seemed to heave a sigh of relief, "We're going to have to cut you out of there. We can see that your left leg is stuck, is your right leg stuck also?" "No..." "Can you tell me your name?" "Dana Mulder." "Your husband?" "Fox..." She trailed off feeling the world spin around her. She felt pain rip through her body and she screamed. A jolt went from her belly to her feet and she clenched her teeth together. The man's grip on her shoulder tightened. "Five minutes." He told her. She waited, but she couldn't bare the pain, "My baby..." She trailed again. The man smiled, "He's in an ambulance, he's scared, but he's not hurt. We're going to try and contact your husband as soon as we can." "No." She realized she had been slumped on the steering wheel the entire time. She leaned back and lifted her arms to her belly, glad to have feeling in them again, "My other baby..." She screamed once before she went unconscious. ********** I almost cried writing this one! That's amazing, that didn't even happen for my story where all of you cried. ;) So, how am I doing? Are ya'll getting the least bit excited (Yeah, an understatement, right?) Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From nalvarez@delphi.com Mon Sep 30 20:16:04 1996 AUTHOR NOTE: It hit me the other night, watching a commercial for Ransom, that in trying to be different from the movie, I'm not making Mulder & Scully seem like they're doing anything themselves to find Nathan. Is this bothering anyone? (I really hope not!) AUTHOR WARNING: In writing this I may have committed the biggest medical implausibility ever, but who cares, I did it for my own life - ya'll probably would have killed me if I hadn't done it. ;) AUTHOR BEING SILLY DOING DISCLAIMER: Well, The X-Files and its characters belong to Chris "I can handle two shows, really!" Carter, 10 "I'm just doing my job ma'am" 13, and FOX "Do we really know what we're doing" Productions. The Mulder kids and Vincent belong to Mys"I really don't know what I'm doing!"tic. AUTHOR REMINDER: Previous stories in this series: 1st6 - Daddy, Mommy, Nathan, Andy, Katy, Kevin. 2nd6 - The Move, The Doctor, The Picnic, The Bugs, The Case, The Visit. 3rd6 - Are We There Yet?, Why?, When Do We Go Back?, Where Do Aliens Come From?, What About Andy?, Where's Kevin?. 4th6 - Circumlocutions, Visions, Explorations, Separations, Accusations, Devotions. 5th6 (last six): Taken, Ransom, Notes, Accidents. ********** "It Just Happened" 'Rooms' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** Mulder Residence Katy stepped into the kitchen for a glass of juice and screamed. Fox jumped and looked over to her. She froze, her back to him, and then slumped down to the floor. He stood quickly, running to her, she was shaking on the floor, her arms around herself in a fetal position. "It hurts!" She screamed. Andy came running out of his room with Margaret, both wondering why Katy was screaming. Fox only cradled her in his arms, asking over and over, "What hurts, you're ok." "No, it hurts." She tried to calm herself, she tried not to feel the psuedo-pain she was feeling, but it didn't stop. Katy knew this wasn't her pain, this was her mothers. "Mommy." She wailed. "She's not here." Fox answered, tightening his grip on her, hoping that she would stop shaking. "It's mommy." She regained her self-control and remained still, but she cried, knowing her mother was hurting. Fox shook his head and looked at Margaret. The phone rang. Andy looked at both adults and then went to answer it, not knowing if anyone else was going to. He listened for a moment and then he pointed the phone at his father. Fox shook his head and mouthed, "Not now." Andy put a hand over the phone and almost screamed, with tears in his eyes, "It's the hospital, they say mommy and Kevin are there and they need to talk to you." ********** Georgetown Hospital 7:02PM Mulder ran ahead of Margaret and the children to a desk in the emergency room. His body pounded with the his heart. He tried to catch his breath to ask for his wife, but when he got his breath back it became difficult for him to talk through the lump in his throat. "My wife, Dana Katherine Mulder, she was brought here about half an hour ago, with our son, Kevin Alexander Mulder." The woman looked on a chart she had with her, but didn't get to give an answer before a doctor placed his hand on Mulder's shoulder. It was Dr. Nogham. Mulder tried to read his expression, but it was difficult, doctors were trained to mask expression, at least that's what he thought. Either that or they just had none. "Dana's in the OR, she's lost a lot of blood and..." "Where's Kevin?" He asked, knowing deep inside that Dana would be, had to be, alright. The man smiled slightly, "He's in pediatrics getting a lollipop after a thorough check up. That's where I came from, right now, he's doing ok, he's scared but he's going to be fine." "Can I see Dana?" "Not for a while, but I'll take you to your son." The man walked the family to the elevator, then to the fourth floor, Pediatrics, and to a room where Kevin sat on the floor throwing blocks around. "Where Mommy?!" He screamed with each block. "Kevin?" Fox asked. The boy turned quickly and smiled, revealing the few teeth he had, and the ran to his father. Fox picked him up and held him tightly to his chest and then handed him to Margaret, telling her to take the children home, that he would call when he got to see Dana. The older woman kissed his cheek and then left. "Fox, we need to talk." Dr. Nogham told him abruptly. "What about?" Fox said, still watching the door through which his children had left. "Your daughter." "Katy?" He turned and looked at Nogham and saw the man's head fall, this was something bad, he knew. Nogham shook his head, "No, the one Dana was pregnant..." "'Was'! Did she loose the baby?!" He screamed, taking two steps closer to Nogham, his eyes filling with tears, his stomach turning over. "No, Dana delivered the baby by C-section five minutes after she got here. But since Dana was only six months pregnant we have the child on liquid oxygen right now because her lungs aren't fully developed." Fox shook his head, "Liquid oxygen, isn't that experimental?" "Yes." He said honestly, "But there was another baby who was put on it when she was born and it helped to allow her lungs to grow naturally and she was pulled off it in a matter of weeks. She's doing fine right now and we have no doubts that your daughter will do the same." "Then what do we have to talk about?" "A name." ********** Room 258A January 22 2:03AM Fox held her hand as he watched her, waiting for her to wake up, knowing the trauma she had just been through might have put her into a coma. She was just resting, he assured himself. She had a cast on her left leg and another on her left arm and she had the left side of her head bandaged. She also had a kind of splint on her broken nose, damned airbags he thought before considering that it was either a broken nose or a smashed forehead, a dead wife. He saw her blink. She opened her eyes slowly and looked at him and tried to smile, but cried when it hurt her. "Is Kevin ok?" She asked, her voice raspy. He poured her a cup of water and helped her drink it, "He's at home, with Maggie." Dana looked down and gasped, placing her right hand on her deflated belly, "Where..." "ICU. Room 301B, with another new born that has lung problems. I asked Nogham, she's doing ok. I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of naming her." He smiled. Dana cocked her head and squinted her eyes at him, "Fox, what did you name her?" "Julia Marie Mulder." He waited for a response. She stared at the ceiling and seemed to be thinking about it. He thought for a moment that she might swing over one of her casts and kill him. But she smiled. "It's perfect." He then pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. "I made Maggie drive back here to bring me the camera and then I made her develop this last night because I knew when you woke up you would want to see Julia and I knew, with all those casts, that you wouldn't be able to move. I asked Nogham if she could be brought in here, but he told me no." She cried when she saw the picture. The girl had a tube in her mouth and plugs in her nose and wiring all over her body. Fox worried that this was upsetting her, but she smiled, "She's beautiful," she whispered. ********** ICU Room 301B 3:33AM In a box. Sleeping. Perfect. He watched her as she breathed the liquid that was invented in a movie, but now saved little lives in real life. She took a deep 'breath' and murmured, then surprised herself awake. She didn't open her eyes, only turned her head to him and murmured some more. She reached an arm out to him and he smiled. "Hi Julia." He knocked softly on the side of the plexi- glass box and she knocked her fist even softer on her bedding. The door opened and he turned quickly to see Dana, in a wheel chair, accompanied by Nogham. Fox gave her a shocked look and she only smiled. "You can't be here!" Fox said. "I NEEDED to see her." She pleaded. Fox looked up at Nogham and he shrugged his shoulders, "It was either bring her here, or watch her kill herself trying to do it on her own." Fox laughed as she was wheeled closer to the box. She could barely see over the edge of the table on which Julia's box sat but she strained herself to stretch her aching body up. She smiled when she caught site of the child's face. All puffy and red, like every baby. The child opened her balled fist and slapped it on the side of the box. Nogham gapped at this, Julia wasn't supposed to be able to do this, she was supposed to be a weak undeveloped child. He hoped that this was a sign of the future, that the girl would be strong, like her siblings, like her parents. Of course she would be, he thought to himself smiling. Dana slowly reached her own hand up to the side of the box, putting it 'on' her baby's hand and smiled, closing her eyes. Fox knew she was going to 'talk' to her daughter, he suddenly wondered if that's what she had been doing for the past six months when she sat outside on the porch with her eyes closed. The door opened again and a nurse came in and handed Fox a small paper and then she exited. Fox looked down at the note and then almost screamed. He leapt for the door and Dana asked, with her eyes still closed, "Where are you going?" He turned quickly and answered, "It's Katy, she says she knows where Nathan is!" ********** Yeah, right there, I'll leave it. My God, this is the longest six I've written. This one was supposed to be longer, but I changed the title and now it's short. Oh and, when you get to the end, I have a surprise for ya'll! You know, comments & questions are always welcome and if you're a nurse, you could tell just how off I am. :) Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From nalvarez@delphi.com Mon Sep 30 20:18:11 1996 Last one. Are ya'll going to miss this? I sure am. I got too used to writing about kids and now it's as if I've forgotten how to write a normal X-File. :) I'm kidding. Oh, I have a surprise for you at the end! The X-Files and its characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 and FOX. I own the Mulder kids and Vincent. Previous stories in this series: 1st6 - Daddy, Mommy, Nathan, Andy, Katy, Kevin. 2nd6 - The Move, The Doctor, The Picnic, The Bugs, The Case, The Visit. 3rd6 - Are We There Yet?, Why?, When Do We Go Back?, Where Do Aliens Come From?, What About Andy?, Where's Kevin?. 4th6 - Circumlocutions, Visions, Explorations, Separations, Accusations, Devotions. 5th6 (last six): Taken, Ransom, Notes, Accidents, Rooms. ********** "It Just Happened" 'Hostages' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** Mulder Residence 4:06AM The car made a screeching sound as it came to a stop in the driveway. He almost fell when he got out because he was trying to run before he had his feet on the ground. He slammed the door and saw that the light was on in Nathan and Andy's room, she was awake, they were all probably awake. He opened the door and locked it behind him and then ran to her. She was sitting, in her pajamas, on her grandmother's lap, being rocked back and forth. Margaret looked up at him and smiled while Andy hugged his leg. Fox took Katy and she held his neck tightly. "What's wrong?" He asked her. She let go and looked at him. Her eyes were red, she had been crying. "I saw Nathan, he was crying while this man..." She trailed and began to cry again. Fox looked at Margaret and then at Andy and motioned for her to put him back to bed and then he took Katy into his room. He sat slowly on the bed and pulled her off his neck and wiped the tears from under her eyes with his thumb. "What did you see this man do?" "He, he put... thingy... Nathan." She took great gasps of air and tried to speak, to tell him what she saw, but she couldn't say it. "He was hurting Nathan." Fox could feel tears in his own eyes, and he felt fire in his heart. A fire that consumed all logic and told him to find Vincent and rip his head off. He got up and pulled her to a standing position on the bed. "You told grandma you knew where Nathan was." It wasn't a question, it was a demand. She gave him a promising look, "Yeah. I know what it looks like. I can find Nathan like I found Bugs." Fox rolled his head, why hadn't he thought of that before. He picked her up and opened the door to Andy's room and smiled at Margaret. "I'm going with Katy to find Nathan. I'm going to call back here when I have him and I don't want you to leave the house until then." He ordered. The woman nodded her head and looked back to Andy as he closed the door behind him. ********** 4:39AM It had been half an hour, but it seemed like an eternity. Katy had insisted on taking Bugs, because she wanted something to hold, to pet, to relieve her stress. She was afraid, afraid that she wouldn't be able to find Nathan, or if they found him he would be dead. She glanced at her father and saw his knuckles were white on the steering wheel. He looked at a four way crossing ahead and looked over to her. "Keep going." She said, looking back out the window, her hand stroking Bugs over and over, relentlessly. Her heart thudded in her chest, she knew everything that would happen from this moment on and it scared her more than anything. But she wouldn't tell her father, no way, he would turn back and they would never find Nathan. "Right?" He asked when they hit a dead end. She nodded, only murmuring, "Uh-huh." He turned and she felt as if she were going to die if she didn't get out of the car and take a few deep breaths. It was close, it was an old factory, where they used to make cars, she knew it. She had somehow known without knowing all along. She suddenly wondered why it took her this long to figure it out, to get into Vincent's head when he left the place. Because she was afraid to, she was scared of what she might see when she got into the dirty man's mind. And she HAD seen what he thought. He thought things that she hoped she would never think. Things that made her pulse race and made her taste vomit in her mouth. Things that should never be thought about, things that she wished she never saw again. "Stop!" She yelled. He slammed the brakes and looked out of his window and saw rows of factories. Old breweries, a very small chemical plant, an old druggie hideout, a car factory, a boat house. There were many and they were varied. Fox looked at Katy and then at the places. She pointed slowly to the car factory and shivered. He nodded and pulled the car into the front parking lot and turned the car off. He looked at her and smiled. Such a small girl with such an amazing gift. He put a hand on hers and she looked up at him. "Nathan is here. So is Vincent." She told him. "I'm going to go in and when I come out I'm going to have Nathan. You STAY here. Don't go anywhere and don't do anything. If Vincent comes out here, hide somewhere in the car." She frowned, "Can't fight what's gonna happen." He stared at her a moment, wondering what that meant and then he reached over to open the car door. He stepped out and pressed the AUTOLOCK button and looked at her as she unbuckled her seat belt and sunk into the floor with Bugs. "Stay here." He repeated. Then he took off, into the factory. It was quiet, the only sounds he heard were the cooing of the pigeons who made their nests in the ceiling. He pulled his gun out of his back and walked to the back, hearing a small whimper. Katy watched her father go in and decided that he was going to wrong way. She knew he was, she should have told him. If he went through the back door Nathan would be right there, waiting for him. She cursed and then covered her mouth, but knew her mother and father weren't around so she cursed herself a little louder and opened the door. She rolled down the window and told Bugs the same thing her father had told her and then she made her way around the back. Vincent heard the door open and glance in the direction, but only saw the faint moonlight come through the open door. He watched as the door closed quietly and smiled, must be another stupid cat, he thought. But he put his belt back on and pulled Nathan up out of the bed and made him stand. He took the gag out of his mouth and ripped the ropes off his hands. "We're going to play a little cat and mouse game. You go run and bring me my gun, okidoke kidders?" Nathan nodded obediently and then ran to a back room and brought back the man's gun and handed it to him. "Good boy, later I'm going to reward you for that." Vincent ran a hand over Nathan's bear chest and licked his lips. Nathan pouted, knowing if he began to cry he would receive another beating. Then a box fell over and Vincent caught site of the small red head trying to escape the sound. He began to run after it and turned to see Nathan already out the door. But the man smiled, he only needed one. Fox walked slowly to the whimper and then he heard the sweetest sound he'd ever heard, his son's breath as he ran from Vincent. Fox caught him on the way to the door and hugged him. Nathan screamed loudly and pummeled him with weak fists. "Nathan, it's me!" Fox screamed. The boy looked up at him with wide eyes and then hugged his father tightly. "I knew you'd come." Was all he said. Fox smiled and ran a hand through his child's dirty hair and across the smooth skin of his back. He was so cold, so filthy. "Where's mom?" He asked looking up again. Fox frowned, "Hospital." "Is she ok?!" He asked. "She's fine, she's been waiting for you." "Where's Katy?" "She's in the car." "Wrong again!" The voice frightened them both. Fox threw Nathan behind himself and turned to see Vincent holding Katy in front of him. The little girl looked calm enough. She smiled at Nathan and he tried to smile back, but just knowing what that man would do to her made him sick. "Let her go." Fox pointed his gun at Vincent. Vincent pulled his gun from Katy's back and placed it at her temple, "You shoot me, I shoot her. Wanna chance it?" "Look, you can go away, I just want my children." Vincent twirled the gun around and then screamed, "NO! You can't have her. I want to play with her first, like I played with little Nat there. Come on Nat, tell your little sis how fun our games were." Nathan's face was filled with rage. "Go to hell!" The youngster screamed, surprising even his father. Katy's eyebrows shot up and she blinked several times in amazement, she'd never heard her brother talk like that. Then again, stressful situations can change a person, she knew that first hand. "You're not being a good boy." Vincent said, taking his hand and placing across Katy's chest, holding her tightly to him. She squirmed, wanting to get away from his body, from him, but he just held her tighter, his hand beginning to make circles. "In a few years, she'll be a big girl, and big girls are more fun to play with then little boys." Then he screamed, his gun flying into the air, his hands whipping about him in shock. Katy ran to her father, to Nathan and held him tightly. Vincent then turned and they saw Bugs, hanging off his back end, biting as hard as he could. The small dog let go and ran to Nathan, licking his knees. Vincent turned to them and screamed, then he bent down to grab his gun and Fox shot him in the shoulder. He fell back in pain and Fox pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Katy, "Dial 911, we're at the old car factory near the docks." She turned away and began to do as told. Fox turned back to Vincent, who was on the floor holding his shoulder, kicked his gun far from grasp and then he kicked Vincent in the ribs. The man let out a yelp and looked up at him. "Hey man, I'm sorry, ok? You can have your kids." Nathan walked to his father's side and looked at Vincent. He pursed his lips and squinted his eyes. "You know, your kids looks just like you when he's pissed." With that Nathan brought his heel up high and brought it down on Vincent's groin making the man howl. Then he turned and walked back to Katy who had just pressed END on the phone. They waited for the police to arrive and take Vincent to a hospital. They took a statement from Nathan and wanted to talk more but Fox put a hand up in front of the officer. "Later. Right now, I want to take my son home." ********** Three months Later 2:10PM Andy tugged on the collar of his small suit in protest and looked up at his mother and pouted. She smiled at him and poked his belly with her pointer finger, trying to evoke a laugh out of him, but he continued to pout. "I don't see why I have to do this with a suit on." He said in his usually grumpy manner. "Because it makes you look more grown up." Katy said smiling beside him. "Yeah, and it's the only thing making you look attractive." Nathan chirped from behind him. "Andy not ugly." Kevin said slapping Nathan's hand through Andy and Katy. "Kids!" Fox yelled placing Julia in her mother's arms again before taking his place beside her. They all looked at the baby for a moment and they all smiled. She giggled, slobbering slightly on her little dress. Dana pulled out the rag she'd been sitting on and wiped at the child's chin. She giggled more and tried to grab the rag. Fox laughed and kissed his wife on the forehead. "One more. Everyone, look this way." They all looked at the fat photographer and smiled as he clicked away twice, for the last picture of the day. Family portraits were always a challenge for the Mulder's, though this year they were just glad that they could have their whole family there. The photographer looked over to Margaret as four of his subjects began to run around the studio again. She was smiling at them, happy for them, with them. "They're a beautiful family." He commented. She looked at him sideways and responded, "Yeah, but you'd be amazed at everything they've been through in the last year." "Rough time?" "Yeah." "So, how are they so happy now?" She smiled and began to walk to Dana to help her with Julia and said, with her back turned, "It just happened." ********** Wish I had music for ending credits. Thank you for joining me on this odd journey and I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did. Comments on the series as a whole are welcome. Ok. I said I had a kind of surprise... I know you're all going to ask for more, so I want to give more to you, but I'm going to make things a bit more interesting. I've done these in sets of six. Each set of six has a pattern in name. Now, if you'd like more here's what you do: Send me a set of six titles (a note on subject matter can be included if you want me to do something specific, if you don't tell me something then I'm going to just go with whatever the title brings to mind) and I'll try my best to make you happy. Good enough for ya'll? Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From flukie@connexus.apana.org.au Fri Jan 24 20:26:43 1997 I'm just posting this for Mystic because she's really busy at the moment. Enjoy, and don't forget to send her lots of comments! Vanessa ----------------------------- Hey everybody! Miss me? ;) Well, I know it's been a little bit but I've attained the time and quiet from my sister (ignore that pounding on the closet!) and I'm gonna try and get six to twelve of these done in the next week or so. :) I hope this isn't too judicially incorrect, but oh well. The X-Files and its characters belong to CC, 1013 and FOX. The Mulder kids are mine, so is Vincent and anyone else I make up in here. :) DEDICATION: These six are for Juliettt - who sent me the titles and some ideas, and Randi - who also sent a LOT of ideas :) Thanks guys! And the offer still stands, if you have six titles and a few ideas, I'll write more stories for ya'll. But you have to tell me. It's kind of like interactive writing. :) Have fun! ********** "It Just Happened(31)" 'Justice' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** April 23 2:00PM Saturday He stood in a room, alone, afraid. As normal as he had tried to act in the last three months, he was still afraid that somehow Vincent would come to get him again. He looked out the window overlooking most of Washington DC and put his hand on the cool glass partially amazed that it was still cold. <> The thoughts raced through his head as they always did and he shuddered. He wanted nothing more than for this al to be over. He didn't care what happened to Vincent, he just never wanted to see him again. Nathan removed his hand and jumped as the door opened slowly to reveal Katy, who had snuck away from her parents, claiming to have to use the bathroom. She looked at her brother and smiled, he looked cute in his little suit and tie. "What are you doing here?" He asked. She walked to him and took his hand, "I... I just wanted to some here to see you." He smiled and hugged her, "How are things going inside?" "It's confusing, mom says we'll have to leave later when you go in to talk to the judge." Nathan bowed his head, it had been his decision to do this in open court, in front of Vincent, "Right now they're probably talking about the case, not about specifics, just the profile, establishing motive... no pictures, not yet." Katy hated it when Nathan talked like their father and he was doing it now more than ever. She sighed and let go and the door swung open and they looked up to see their mother standing there, out of breath. Her eyes widened at her daughter, "Katherine Judith Mulder," Katy knew she was in trouble when she heard her full name, "If you ever lie to me like that..." She didn't finish, only took her by the hand and took her into the hall where she was handed over to her grandmother. The children were leaving, Fox didn't want them to hear what had happened, he wanted them to stay innocent for as long as they could. Dana walked back into the room where Nathan was sitting in his chair across from the judges chair. He was pouting, twiddling his thumbs and rocking his feet. "Nathan, are you ok?" It was a dumb question, she knew it. He looked up at her as she sat in the chair next to him and tried to smile for her, "I'm nervous." He said. "Will I have to see Vincent again?" Her heart broke for her child. She held him to her, "Yes, but you have to be brave." She held him at arms distance and he nodded to her. The door opened again and a uniformed officer stood there, he looked at the two, "Ma'am, I have to escort the boy into the courtroom in a few moments. I'm going to have to ask you to return there." She nodded and kissed Nathan's forehead. He held her hand a moment and then he let her go. Taking a deep breath of her perfume, he looked up at her and smiled, "I'll be brave, mommy." She smiled and walked out of the room and when the door closed she began to cry again. 'Mommy', did he have to use that word following 'I'll be brave'? It made him sound like he was afraid, she knew he was, but she didn't want to have that reaffirmed by him. At that moment all her anger, her fury towards Vincent came to the surface in the form of a loud cry. She could feel her face heat up and she leaned against the cool way and remained there, breathing slowly, deeply, trying to calm herself. Fox opened the door to the courtroom and went to her, "You ok, Dana?" He asked. She looked up at him. "He's trying, I'm trying, but it's hard." He held her hand and led her back into the courtroom where AD Skinner had just left the stand. The judge looked to them and then to the door knowing the youngster would soon be walking through them. He waited for him to be called in and the doors opened. It was as if an angel had been summoned. The doors opened almost on their own and he walked in, the light from a courtroom window illuminating his already brilliant eyes. The light made a halo around his head of brown hair and it made his face seem to glow radiantly as he walked slowly up the aisle. He stood next to the judge and the Bible was shown to him and he placed his left hand on it and his right in the air. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God." A man asked him. "I do." He said, his voice confident. The judge looked to him. A child. As small and as fragile as boys come, he looked pale without the sun's light, like his mother sitting in the front row of the courtroom. The child looked to his mother for strength and she mouthed the words "I Love You." and he sat higher. He looked directly into the eyes of the man who stood in front of him. The man asked, in a calm yet determined voice, "Can you describe to the courtroom the day you were abducted?" Nathan nodded and took a deep breath, "I was walking home with a friend of mine, Megan, and as I left her at her door a hand covered my mouth with a cloth. I couldn't see who it was, but whatever he had on that cloth made me fall asleep. I don't remember what else happened that day." "What DO you remember, after you woke up?" Nathan looked to Vincent, "I remember the beatings. I remember being stripped of my clothing and beaten when I wouldn't do what he asked. I remember being forced to have sex and I remember being forced to watch dirty tapes and made to eat with my hands. I remember being yelled at and being made to write letters to my parents and I remember him telling me that he wouldn't let me go home, that he had many plans for me..." He stopped talking and sucked in a deep breath through his nose, then he dropped his head, "I remember missing my family." He got out before he sobbed. But he stopped himself and took deep breaths and looked to his mother again as she mouthed, "Be Brave." The man backed away and asked, "Nathan, can you please identify the man who did this to you." Nathan looked directly at Vincent and the man's eyes told him not to tell, but he raised a small finger and pointed it at him and he pursed his mouth and his face contorted with anger. ********** April 25 2:00PM They knew the verdict would come in today, they knew what it would be, but they wanted to know the sentence. They knew they had been able to tie Vincent to the deaths of over forty other people and it wouldn't be light, but Mulder just wanted to hear that he wouldn't be able to get out of jail any time in the near future where he could do this again to his children, or his grandchildren, or anyone else's children and grandchildren. Mulder wanted to watch this man rot in prison for a lifetime, he wanted to see him be raped by inmates and he knew it would happen, he knew people in jail, no matter how heinous their crime was, they couldn't stand a child molester. He cringed at the thought and closed his eyes and when he opened them he turned away from the crowd and looked into his baby daughter's eyes. He sat with his family in the first row of the courtroom. Julia in the arms of her mother, being bottle fed while the woman attempted to hold a conversation with her sons, who both wanted to know how to use the guns that the officers carried with them. As Dana spoke to her children she could read the pain in her husband's eyes. And the rage. She felt it with him, but, as always, she hid it well, not wanting her children exposed to it. One man near a door called for everyone to rise, he introduced the judge, who gave Nathan a supportive glance as he entered the courtroom, and the judge called for everyone to sit. They did. There was a moment of complete silence as the jury handed their verdict to one middle-aged man in a brown suit who looked like he could work for NASA. He began a long testament as to who the jury was and what the charges were and on and on and on and finally he ended, "The jury, finds the defendant Vincent Kylie Harrison, Guilty." Nathan turned away as Vincent gave him an evil stare and grabbed for his father who held him. Fox couldn't imagine how they would let a man like that, under suspicion of all the crimes, in a courtroom without any chains. He whispered in his son's ear, "It'll be ok," before he looked back up at the judge. The judge read the paper once and began a speech about how children are God's miracles, sent to humans as a gift and on and on and on and finally gave the sentence, "Death by lethal injection." They stood to take Vincent away, but he quickly yanked away and pulled a gun and shot at the Mulder family. The children screamed as everyone in the courtroom hit the floor. After a moment the screaming stopped and five more bullets had been fired. It was silent. And people stood. One guard screamed in pain, he'd been shot in the stomach; another cursed, he'd been grazed in the leg; but Vincent made no murmur, he was dead. Fox looked at the body as people frantically left the courtroom, mostly reporters, pre-law students, other FBI agents who had come to be supportive of 'agents Mulder and Scully,' then he looked down the floor where Katy was still laying, in a ball. "Katy?" He bent down and moved to turn her over, to pick her up, but his hand hit moisture and he quickly removed it. Covered in red blood he screamed, "Katy!" The girl only whimpered. Dana gave Julia to Nathan and bent down and quickly pulled Katy onto one of the benches and stretched her out. Fox saw that she stopped being a mother and became a doctor when she checked the child's pulse and found the bullet's entrance, in her shoulder, and the exit, her back. "It's gone right through, give me your jacket!" Fox quickly removed it and gave it to her and she pressed it on her daughter, not even flinching when the girl screamed. "Did somebody call an ambulance?!" She shouted at the men who were taking care of the men on the floor on the front. "ETA, Five minutes!" One of the officers yelled to her. Dana looked to her child, to all the blood and whispered as she ran a hand through her hair, "She may not have five minutes." ********** Oh sue me, I'm going through a Glen Morgan/James Wong Space:AaB Season Finale phase! (And if you get that, good for you!) I don't think I'll kill her, but hey, you never know, I'm feeling evil right now. :) Next up "IJH(32): Anger" Comments and criticisms are appreciated! Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From flukie@connexus.apana.org.au Fri Jan 24 20:28:05 1997 This is the second in the 6th set of six for Juliettt and Randi. I hope ya'll aren't too mad at me for shooting Katy, sorry, I shouldn't write while in funky moods. ;) I promise not to do any more bad things (Hey! Stop looking behind my back, my fingers aren't crossed!) The X-Files and its characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 and Fox, don't sue me! The Mulder kids are mine. Previous in this six: Justice. ********** "It Just Happened(32)" 'Anger' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** April 25 2:33PM Dana jumped into the back of the ambulance as Fox and her other children watched. Reporters snapped pictures of the woman and her child, as she had snapped out of the medical phase and had lapsed into one of remorse and pain at the sight of the bleeding girl who pouted in agony -- the role of a mother. Katy tried to place her hand on the wound, as children normally do, to try and cover it. Dana suddenly wondered at that, did kids think they could make a 'booboo' go away by covering it up? Is that why they believe that in the future? As the doctors shouted at one another dosages and instruments, which Dana interjected with her own, Katy looked around herself, bewildered. She'd never been in an ambulance. It evoked a fear in her that she didn't know she could had and she began to scream in terror. The man and woman in the back, the paramedics, held both her hands and asked Dana to hold her feet. One pulled out a needle and gave Katy a shot in her unharmed arm and the girl quickly went to sleep. "Has she ever been to the doctor before?" One asked Dana. "Not for a bullet wound." She said lowly, wanting to kick herself for the life her children had to live in, "For chicken pox and bad fevers." She stroked Katy's hair and just stared at her skin, which began to pale in comparison to Dana's own hands. They arrived at the door of the hospital and they took Katy away, leaving Dana in a waiting room distraught and impatient. She wanted to go in, to know what was happening, to be there when her daughter woke up and asked, "Mommy, why can't I feel my body?" so she could explain to her that it was only for a little while. She didn't want doctors, faceless people, frightening Katy. She stopped and scowled at herself, they were doctors, they knew what they were doing. She knew what she was doing when she worked on patients <> she reminded herself before sitting on a couch and rubbing her temples. A hand touched her shoulder and she looked up to see Dr. Nogham. His ER scrubs were splattered with small red droplets of blood, but he smiled at her. "Jack?" She asked worriedly, a bile taste coming to her mouth even before he spoke. <> she thought as she gripped the couch she sat on for balance as she stood. He waited until she stood, "Katy's going to be fine, we stopped the bleeding. I need to ask you to donate blood, I know you're her type and she needs..." "Sure, sure." She quickly interrupted him. Knowing the drill, she was already rolling up her sleeves. ********** 2:49PM Fox entered the room and glanced at Dana, lying in a bed, a tube in her arm and he gasped. He went to her, hurriedly examining her body, trying to see what was wrong, but he couldn't find anything. He then saw her open her eyes. "Katy needs blood." Dana said simply, reading his mind, taking his hand in hers. He sighed, "She's ok then." He said quickly, his eyes closing, a smile forming on his lips as he squeezed her hand. "She'll be fine." A woman took out the tube and the needle and bandaged the spot in Dana's arm and then gave the blood to another nurse to be taken to Katy. "Where are the kids?" She asked him, taking a sip of water. "They're at your mom's." She frowned, "How's Nathan?" "He's just sitting in your old room, 'sitting, thinking' he told me. He's upset that Katy got shot, he's upset about this whole thing, but he'll be ok. When he finds out Katy's alright, he'll be ok." She smiled and Dr. Nogham entered the room and shook Fox's hand, knowing he would be coming. He looked at Dana and his face looked confused, "Katy's, uh, 'asking' for you." "I thought she wasn't awake yet." Her eyes fell in confusion and she waited. He put a finger to his forehead, "She 'asked' me to come and get you, she wanted to 'talk' to you." Dana smiled in understanding and while she was taken to Katy, Fox had a talk with Dr. Nogham about keeping what he'd experienced a secret. ********** One Week Later Eisenhower Elementary School 10:32AM Nathan sat in his chair in his classroom, his chin resting on his arms, which were folded on the wooden table. His wooden table, with all of his pencils, paper, books, comics -- his belongings. With his smell, his name, his innocence. He suddenly felt exhausted from all the work he'd had to do because he had recently missed another two days of school after not being able to sleep because of nightmares. He'd been fine for three months and then, after the trial - the conviction - he wasn't able to close his eyes and sleep without his mother, or his father, right beside him, standing by his bed holding his hand; rubbing his back; stroking his hair; just there assuring him that nothing would happen, that they were by his side to protect him. He heard his name in the distance, he knew he heard it, but he ignored it. He was back in the warehouse, with Vincent. The man was approaching, with his belt in hand, to the boy who lay in bed, handcuffed to one of the metal bars. His hand landed on Nathan's shoulder... ...and he screamed and fell out of his chair. He backed away from his teacher and buried his head in his arms, which were now encompassing his knees. The teacher tried to comfort him but that only made him cry, afraid of his memories and angry of the world he lived in that gave these memories to him. ********** 10:56AM Dana stepped into the office of the elementary school and Nathan's teacher told her what had happened. Dana apologized for her son's behavior while the other woman told her not to, that it was understandable after his recent trauma. She nodded at the older woman whose name she couldn't recall, then took a step towards the nurse's office and immediately spotted Nathan and she ran to him, enveloping him in a hug that he found comforting, that he wished he could have with him all the time. His mother. He took deep breaths and held her tightly, afraid that if he let her go he would be forced to go back into the classroom with the faces, the voices, the loud screams of glee, the giggles that pounded in his ears still. He held back his tears of anger at his classmates, they were children, like he. But they didn't understand, how could they? "Mommy, I wanna go home." He pleaded. She pulled him away and looked at him, putting both hands on his shoulders, "Nathan, you have got to stay in school. You've missed too many days already." "Mom." "Nathan, I love you, and as much as I'd love to keep you with me every day of my life, I can't. You can't. It's not good for you." He smiled, "But it is. I'll be safe." "Will you be?" She asked and he frowning to the floor, "You'll learn to trust no one but me, the immediate family. When you get older, at some point you'll want to go away but you'll find you can't... you just won't be able to. You do under..." "I understand." He said looking back up at her, "I have to face my fears, that's what everyone says. But it's hard, I can't do anything without thinking about him, what happened." She hugged him again and then stood with him, walking him back to his classroom and opening the door. She walked him to his desk and received stares from some of the students who had seen her on the cover of the Washington Post and several other newspapers in the area. She kneeled next to Nathan and smiled, holding his hands. "Sweetie, be at the bus right after school and sit with your brother and sister, be careful Katy doesn't move her arm too much, she's hurting herself. When you get home, try to take a nap, ok?" He nodded, smiling, "Ok mom." "Love you." She kissed his forehead and heard him whisper it back and then she stood and left the building, tears in her eyes, knowing she could do nothing more. She shouldn't do anything more, he HAD to learn to trust again, to be among people and not worry about being hurt again. Nathan sat with his head high and looked at the teacher who looked to him for a sign that he was alright, so he smiled and she had to smile back, he was a beautiful child. He heard giggles next to him and looked over to look Jared Miller in the eye as Jared mouthed the words, "Sissy boy." Nathan looked down at his legs and saw they were shaking, he was still afraid, but he would over come it, he had to, for his mother. He looked back at Jared and smiled, "Bed Wetter." He said calmly, knowing the rumor was true. Jared just stared at Nathan in shock as children around him began to giggle. He squinted his eyes at Nathan and then gave him a menacing look, this was war. "Nathan, why don't you sit up in the front, you can catch up with what you've missed in the last half an hour." Nathan moved, as he was told, and was glad, the look Jared gave him meant the teasing would now go beyond 'sissy' and 'mommas boy', it would now hit a level that he was afraid to see. And it made him angry. Angry at his mother for leaving him at school, at the teacher for ever having touched him, at Jared for instigating this fight that Nathan didn't want to fight. He sighed, deciding that for now, he would do as his mother said and he would go on. ********** Um, ok. 'Nother one done. I don't know if it lives up to it's title, at least not 'till the ending, but oh well, at least it has a title. :) I still want comments! :) Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From flukie@connexus.apana.org.au Fri Jan 24 20:29:27 1997 Another for Juliettt and Randi. 3rd in this lovely 6. For the 30 before this six, check local archives. :) The X-Files and its characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 and FOX. The Mulder kids are mine. Have fun. Previous in this six: Justice, Anger. ********** "It Just Happened(33)" 'Hatred' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** Eisenhower Elementary School May 3rd 2:30PM The bell rang. In a rush of screams and laughs the five hundred and sixty seven students who attended the school were out in the front yard of it, in the back, on the sides -- everywhere but inside. And they liked it like that. Nathan walked slowly, his head down, and felt a hand slip into his and he jerked away. Then he turned and saw Megan, standing behind him with an annoyed look. He smiled and took her hand again, murmuring, 'sorry' and giving her hand a squeeze. She smiled back at him, "Should we find Katy and Andy?" She asked. He stopped, "We?" She frowned, "Yeah, my dad kinda freaked after you were, um, taken away so now I ride the bus home. With you." She giggled and turned her body flirtatiously. Nathan raised his eyebrows at her and was about to respond when a hand landed on his shoulder and yanked him around. "Hey fag boy, where da'ya think you're goin'!?" It was Jared and he didn't look too happy. Nathan stood his ground and shrugged, "Well, I *think* I'm going home, but I may be mistaken, several things can happen between here and home." He looked away long enough to see Andy and Katy approaching and when he turned back Jared shoved him in the chest. *Nathan, what's going on?* He heard Katy ask. He couldn't look back to her because Jared shoved him again. "Come on sissy, fight back huh. Smart ass remark in the classroom, what about now, without mommy or the teacher." He shoved Nathan again. *Nathan! Make him stop that!* Katy shouted into his mind and he fell backwards holding his head. Andy turned to her, "Whaddya do Katy?" He asked her. She only shook her head, knowing she had sent too forcefully, and she ran to him. She saw Jared raise his foot, he was going to kick Nathan. Katy quickly stopped and swept his other foot up, making him fly into the air and land on his back. The boy heaved for air as Katy, Andy and Megan hoisted Nathan up and into the bus. ********** Mulder Residence 3:03PM Nathan ran immediately to his room and Margaret tried to chase after him, but with Kevin on her leg and Julia in her arms, it was difficult and when she reached his door, it was already slammed. Andy followed her slowly and he looked at the door, sighed and threw his hands in the air, "There goes MY play time!" He shouted. Margaret walked back out to the living room and watched Katy set her book bag down on the living room table and begin to pull out her math book to start her homework. She went into the kitchen to get some cookies for the girl and then she sat down next to her. "What's wrong with Nathan?" Margaret asked. "Nat'ans mad." Kevin said running back into the living room to play with his toys and turn on the TV. He had to watch his cartoons and he knew they began when Katy got home. Katy stared after Kevin a moment, "He got into a bit of a fight after school with this boy." She stood quickly and Julia giggled, "He isn't hurt is he!" She almost screamed. Katy smiled, "He's alright. I think he's just mad." "I'm not Mad!" Nathan shouted from the room. Margaret smiled, "As long as he's not hurt. Though I should call your parents and tell them." And she headed out to the living room, but Katy closed her eyes and told her mother. ********** 7:01PM Dana and Fox entered the Nathan's room and found him playing with some toy cars and trucks, making piles with them and then knocking them down. Fox lifted him easily off the floor and into his lap on the bed where he sat and he tried to pull away, but his father was a LOT bigger than he was and he gave up. He stared at him, his face angry. "You mad at me?" Fox asked. He turned away. "You hate me? Is that it?" Nathan turned back to him, his face pathetically afraid, "No daddy." Fox smiled, "Anything to get you talking." Dana frowned at her husband, "What's wrong then?" She asked, already knowing, just wanting her son to tell her. "There's this boy at school. He sits next to me. When you left he called me a sissy and then he came after me to beat me up after school, I hate Him. I hate everything." "That's not true." She rubbed a tear that was rolling down his cheek. "It is true, I hate everything. Everything sucks!" He jumped off his father's lap and paced the room, "If everything were' great and dandy then I wouldn't have to have nightmares every night and I wouldn't have to deal with people calling me names, like Sissy and Mommy's boy and Faggot!" He turned back to his parents and saw that his mother was staring at him in shock and his father was staring at him, waiting for him to continue, but he had nothing else to say. All he knew is that he hated to be called names and he hated to be known as something he wasn't. "So you hate me?" Fox asked. "No." "What about your mother, do you hate her?" He shook his head vigorously, "No, I love you." He stood and picked up his son, "Then you don't hate everything." He hugged him, "You know that we love you and when you have problems, don't hide them. Tell us and we'll help you." "I told mom, I don't want to go to school anymore, that's all, I want to go to work with you." Fox laughed. "It's not funny." Nathan told him beginning to cry. "I know it's not, but you have to realize that you have to keep going to school, it's the only way you're going to get back into the swing of things. If not, then you'll spend your whole life wrapped around my leg and I'm sure you don't want to spend all of your life with us." Nathan laughed, "Well, not all of it." Dana laughed and joined them, beginning to think that maybe she would let her child stay with her. It would make her the happiest woman on earth to be able to hold all five of her children forever. She felt a tug on her pant suit and she looked down to see Kevin standing there looking up at her, "Is Nat'an mad, 'wanna play wid 'im." Nathan laughed and looked down at his brother. "I'll be out in a sec." He just wanted to hug his mother and father for a few more years. ********** May 4th 1:29AM His screams echoed through the house shaking Scully up from her sleep. She jumped out of bed and ran to Nathan's room. The boy was shaking, sweating and screaming for her, over and over breaking her heart each time he called. She pulled him into her arms, never wanting to let go, thinking that maybe if he asked her again, she would let him stay with her forever. He clutched her neck whimpering softly into her shirt. "It's ok," she whispered gently, "Mommy's here, shhhh." She rocked him back and forth and back and forth until the boy was asleep. Tears for her son streamed down her face. Mulder was awake when she returned to bed, "How is he?" He asked her as she began to lift the covers back up. "How can you ask that?" She snapped. "I mea..." "I know what you meant! It was a stupid question. Our son was kidnapped, raped, beaten and then comes back to school only to be scrutinized and picked on and you want to know if he's ok?! What do YOU think Fox Mulder?!" He is NEVER going to be Ok!" She paused, walking away from him and then she turned, one hand on her waist, one running through her disheveled hair, "And do you know whose fault it is? Yours and mine! Don't try to deny that." She shook her head and laughed, "Our job is to protect our country from the evil that lurks in it, but we can't even protect our own children! We were on this case, we were supposed to catch this guy and we KNEW he might hurt one of us! But, did we do anything? Did we take ANY precautionary measures? NO! And because of us our son is going to be damaged for life. I don't know if he's going to be able to have a good night's sleep, or smile, or make love and enjoy it! I can't stand it Fox. I can't stand to see my son in pain like this and have there be nothing I can do to ease that pain. I wish I could have gone through it for him, I would give anything to take his pain upon myself. But I can't! And that hurts more than anything!" She paused again, pacing the room, her face crumpled, but she didn't cry and he was afraid to move, "I can't take it. I can not keep putting my children in danger! I can't and I'm sorry Mulder, but I've made my decision; I'm handing in my resignation tomorrow." ********** Everyone clap for Randi. :) I take that gasp of surprise to mean that you're still enjoying this?! :) PLEASE send comments. Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From flukie@connexus.apana.org.au Fri Jan 24 20:30:45 1997 4th in the 6 for Juliettt and Randi (Hope ya'll are enjoying this.) :) I sure am. The X-Files and its characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013, and FOX. I'm using them without permission, please don't sue me (sexually harass me all you want, hell bring David into that act, but don't sue me.) ;P ********** "It Just Happened(34)" 'Healing' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** May 4th 1:32AM Fox stared at her in shock, not knowing if he'd just heard what he'd hear and he took a deep breath and just watched her stand there in front of him. Suddenly the door opened slowly and Andy walked in, rubbing his little eyes with his little hands. He grabbed his mother's hand and pulled her to the bed and he pulled her into it and he cuddled into her chest and closed his eyes. "Ni'mare." He whispered licking his lips as she stroked his hair and just looked at him. Then she looked up at Fox and whispered with tears in her eyes, "I love my babies too much, Fox." He smiled and cuddled to the two of them, "I know." He told her kissing her forehead, and then he repeated softer, "I know." ********** 7:39AM She sat up slowly when she heard the first yells. Julia was hungry and she probably needed to be changed. Standing she walked out of the room and went to her mother's room and tapped her on the shoulder. When Dana opened her eyes Katy smiled at her, "Sorry to disturb this lovely picture, but I'm still tired and Jules is hollering in there." She rubbed her right eye with one finger as her mother got out of bed and pulled on her robe. Walking into Katy's room she was a little shocked to see Nathan in there, cradling Julia in his arms with Kevin by his side. He was already wearing his jean pants and had a T-shirt on, almost ready for school. "Nathan, you alright?" Dana asked, taking the small child from him and walking out to the kitchen. He climbed up on the stool and leaned his elbows on the kitchen counter and smiled as Katy did the same and Kevin just pulled his small blue chair from the living room to the kitchen where he placed it next to the fridge. "I'm fine mom. I think it's like you said, I just have to learn to live with it." She laughed, "I didn't say that." "Yeah," he giggled, "But that's what you were trying to tell me, and I agree." She turned to him and laid Julia on a blanket on the counter, "Are you... who changed her diaper... sure about that?" "Yes, and I did." Dana whipped her head up quickly, "When did you learn to change a diaper?!" "Dad showed me la..." He paused in mid sentence, remembering that his father had told him not to tell mom about that. "Well, now that I know which two men in this house CAN change diapers, I guess I can let you do it more often." She laughed when his face turned red. Fox grabbed him and pulled him off the stool and over his shoulder. "That, young man, was Supposed to be our little secret!" He tickled the boy until he cried. "I know, dad!" He shouted between laughs, "I'm sorry." "SHU'UP!" Came a scream from the living room. "WANNASEEP!" Dana picked Julia up and gave her to Katy and went to the living room and found Andy on the couch with a pillow over his head murmuring. She picked him up and he laid his head on her shoulder and just looked around him. Kevin laughed, "Andy looks silly." He states plainly, running to his room, knowing that the older boy might pounce on him. Andy sighed, "First Nathan yells in his sleep, then you yell going to sleep and now everybody's yelling and I wanna sleep." Fox smiled and took the boy from her and walked him to his room and threw him on the king sized bed. He laughed when he bounced and Dana screamed from the kitchen, "Fox! If you throw him around now he won't want to go to school, he'll claim to be sick!" Fox laughed and wrestled with the boy for ten more minutes, until he was fully awake and ready to run around for the day and then he took him to his room to put him in clothing for school. ********** May 17 3:21PM He sat in the large brown leather chair and stared out the window that was behind the other large brown chair, though the other was swivel and he would probably enjoy it a LOT more than the one he was sitting in. He folded his hands together as he heard the doors open and he watched the woman walk around the desk and sit in her chair. "Nathan William Mulder, I presume?" She said smiling. "Yup." He responded, smiling back. He watched her grey eyes fall down to the legal pad she had on the desk and he saw her write something with her thin dark hands; he watched as she tapped her pen on her black hair which was swept back into a bun; he watched as she looked to him again and he watched as she held a hand out. "Nice to meet you Nathan. My name is Dr. Johnson, though you, like most of my guests can call me Olivia." He smiled, "I thought you did this kind of thing on couches." "A lovely stereotype that I wish the entertainment field would stop pushing. I usually conduct my 'meetings' in regular chairs, unless of course it make people more comfortable in a couch. Would you like to lay in the couch Nathan?" He shook his head, "But I would like to sit in your chair." She stood and his mouth fell open. He didn't think she would actually listen to him, but she did and he went around and sat in the chair and she sat in his. She smiled, "Comfy?" "Yes, thank you." He smiled shyly. She leaned back and watched him swing his legs from side to side, "Nathan, you've never been to see a psychologist, is this right?" He frowned, "I don't know. I talked with a lot of people right after, but my mom and dad didn't want to take me to one. They thought I didn't need it just yet." "And now they feel you need it?" "Yeah." He shrugged, "Probably just to make sure that I'm not lying to them." "Lying about what?" "About the fact that I'm ok." "Are you lying?" His eyebrows dropped, "No." She wrote something down on the pad, "Have you been having nightmares lately?" He just looked at her. "Nathan?" He frowned, "Sometimes." "What are they about?" He leaned against the desk, "Him, the man that took me. I have nightmares that I'm back in that warehouse and he's standing over me with a belt and if I don't do what he says, he's gonna whip me." "How do these dreams make you feel?" "I don't know. Not good, but not bad. I wake up and I know they're not real, so I'm not upset or anything, I just try to go back to sleep and hope that the next dream is better. But I don't feel good about them, I wish they would stop. I'd like to have a straight week where I don't have any nightmares." "How would that make you feel?" He smiled and she noted that his eyes lit up, "Great!" She smiled back at him, she loved children, "Nathan, your mother told me that you were having problems in school, could you tell me about them?" He sighed, "There's a boy, named Jared. He's a bit of a bully and right now me and him are ok. I had a talk with him and we came to an agreement about not calling each other names. Bribery is good." He smiled wickedly, "Anyway, there aren't many problems now, except in my math book and that's another story for another time." He laughed. "So, you're doing alright in school?" "Yeah. At least that's what my teachers tell me. I have all A's and B's and I can probably pull those up. There was a moment of silence. "Nathan, how is your relationship with your parents?" He just looked at her with confusion written all over his face. "I mean, are you getting along?" He gave her a mischievous smile, "We get along. They love me so much, too much. Sometimes I don't think I deserve them." He paused, "Sometimes I feel like they would do anything to make sure I'm safe." "Did you feel they let you down when you were kidnapped?" "No, it wasn't their fault." ********** 4:54PM Scully sat in the brown leather chair and watched a bird hop off the limb of the tree right outside. It was learning to fly she knew and it made her smile. The babies were learning to fly. Tears formed in her eyes as she thought to the day when Nathan would decide to leave, when he went to college. It was now less than ten years away. She turned away when she heard the door open. She knew it was Olivia. The woman sat in her chair and they smiled warmly at each other as one fiddled with her fingers while the other took out the folder. "You've never been to see me, why now?" "I don't know. It just felt right." "How does it feel right to see a psychologist?" She smiled, looking away, "Chaos. All around me. First I almost get a divorce, over my stubborn stupidity. Then my first born was betrayed, he's been robbed of his innocence and it's partly my fault. My other child has been shot, my littlest spent the first week of her life living off experimental liquid oxygen, I can't feel part of my left knee because it was almost completely shattered in a car accident that my youngest son was in. It seems like everything that could go wrong did." Olivia quickly pulled a box of tissues from her drawer and handed one to Dana to wipe her eyes with, for she had begun to cry. "And your were going to quit your job, is that correct?" "I got as far as Assistant Director Skinner's office and Mulder caught me. Him and Walter, Skinner, they talked me out of it." "Do you think you did the right thing?" "What good is protecting my children at home if the world is still full of evil?" "So..." "I didn't resign. I came close though." She looked around and sniffled, "My father would be so upset at me." "Why?" "Because instead of being strong and fighting through it, I got weak and wanted to quit. I gave up, I had given up. I thought my job was pointless and that I was useless in my position, that I was only in the way, that I was only endangering my children." "Do you feel that now?" "Yes. But it's different. I know exactly where they are all the time and I know that they're safe, I'm confident in that." "You are?" "I have to be." ********** Ok, just wanted to tell you that the next two are happy happy so you don't have to worry too much about another kid (...Andy) getting an eyeball hacked out or anything. :) Just please tell me if you're still reading, that's all I want to know. Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From NALVAREZ@delphi.com Sat Jan 25 23:56:13 1997 DELAYED WARNING: There are 30-something stories before this, if you've never read them, I have no time so I can't send them to you, sorry, but they can be found on some archive. (I still don't know who has all 30, could some archivists tell me what you're missing so I don't get a million requests) ;) The X-Files and its characters belong to CC, 1013 and FOX. All the Mulder kids are mine, oh well, they kind of belong to a few of you too (or so you claim.) ;) And why does it seem like every time I sit down to write one of these "Down in the Park" starts playing on the radio??? ;) NOTE: If this seems a little odd, it's because it was actually written first. :) This is the first time I've done this so I hope it goes with the rest of the story. :) ********** It Just Happened(35) 'Fear' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** Mulder Residence May 23 2:03AM Nathan was trying to sleep, but it was difficult. Yeah, it had been four months, but when he closed his eyes all he saw where the things that Vincent did to him. He placed his hand on his eyes and grunted, wanting to sleep, knowing he had to, school tomorrow, he reminded himself. He was actually surprised the school teachers hadn't contacted his parents about his sleeping in class. He was stil doing it, but he hid it better now. He slept when it wasn't an important lecture, or when he was supposed to be playing. <> he smiled, wondering what his parents would really do. He heard the familiar cry in the night - his sister Julia. He'd fallen in love with his baby sister the moment he saw her, which was odd because the first time he saw her she was still on the liquid oxygen and almost totally covered and in something his mother referred to as 'the oven'. "Sh, baby, mommy's here." He heard his mother say. He'd missed her voice when Vincent had him. Her calming tones, her soothing words. He tried to imagine just her voice when Vincent did the things he did. He imagined her telling him, "It'll be ok, be strong, everything WILL be ok." What he didn't know is that some of the time it really was her telling him this, trying to relax him, to relax herself. "Fox, hold her, I'll go get her bottle." He saw her walk past the door and glance in before she went to the kitchen to fix Julia's milk. About ten minutes later he saw her walk back to the room and he heard the door close. He listened to the small noises that emerged from the room, glad to hear something and then, only moments later, the house was silent again. He looked around himself and saw that the closet was open. Something could be in there. Vincent could be in there! He turned away quickly and saw the window, there was something at the window! He sat up and looked out at the thing on the window, trying to make out something, a leaf, a newspaper... a face. But as he looked at it, a wind blew and he saw that it was just a bag. A bag that someone had thrown away. <> He sighed and threw himself back into the top bunk of the bed grabbing the pillow and held it over his face for a moment. Then he felt the undeniable presence of someone over him. He knew there was someone there, he could feel their body heat, he could hear their breath, almost smell their body. It wasn't Vincent, It wasn't Vincent, he repeated to himself over and over until he felt a tug on the pillow and found himself staring into Andy's face. The smaller boy was staring at him, breathing hard, his eyes wild, he gripped the pillow with both hands. When Nathan opened his eyes the younger boy gasped and jumped back in shock. "I thought you were dead!" Andy whispered. "Nathan sleeping." Kevin said from his crib. His brothers both hushed him and he fell back into their beds with grunts and they could hear him slapping the bedding, a habit he had gotten just a week ago. When he became restless he beat down on his bedding until their mother came in to see what was wrong. Nathan jumped off the bunk and went to Kevin, "Kev, stop that right now." The boy sat up, "Want mommy." "You've want sleep, you're just confused." Nathan said with a smiled, hoping this would work. "I do?" Kevin asked turning over on his back, looking up at Nathan wondering what he meant. "Yeah, you're actually sleeping right now. This is a dream, if you close your eyes long enough, you'll wake up for real and then you can have mommy. OK?" Nathan said, pulling the child's covers back over his small body. Kevin sighed again and smiled at his brother, then he closed his eyes and Nathan waited until he knew the boy was asleep. "You lied Nathan." Andy laughed from the bed. Nathan turned and climbed back up into his bed. "No, I didn't. I told him that he wanted sleep and he did. If he didn't, he wouldn't be sleeping right now." Andy began to wonder if he'd gotten hit in the head one too many times when he was with Vincent. He was making no sense to him, it was like hearing his parents talking with one another. Nathan opened his mouth to speak again and Andy laid down, "I know, you're going to tell me I need sleep now." Nathan nodded and laid back himself. He had to beat it, the fear that crept up every night when he laid into bed. He wasn't going to sleep with his parents and he sure as hell wasn't going to get a night light. He was going to close his eyes and he was going to sleep. "Night Nathan!" Andy whispered loudly. "Night Andy." Nathan whispered back smiling. Then he closed his eyes and was back in the warehouse. Vincent loomed over him half naked, with his belt in his hand. Nathan knew he was coming and he knew what he wanted and he knew it would hurt. But he didn't want to do it, just the thought made him gag. "Ok, sonny, you know the drill." Vincent said, with that drunk slur of his. Nathan whimpered and he then reminded himself again, 'This is a dream, you don't have to do it.' "No." He stood and Vincent gave him a whack in the arm with his belt. Nathan jerked away, but didn't feel pain. "Listen you little..." Nathan cut him off, "No you listen you big ass! This is MY dream and I don't want you here!" He screamed it at the top of his lungs and in the time of a snap Vincent and the old car factory went away. He no longer smelled the gas, the oil, the sweat or the metal. Now he smelled flowers and he felt the heat of the sun and the cool wind on his bare back. He smiled and looked at his ragged self and suddenly he was wearing his favorite jean shirt and little jean shorts. The tall grass that stood at his waist felt nice and he ran in it, laughing as he went. "Wooooo Hoooooo!" He hollered running to the shade of a tree that he had put there. It was his dream, and he was going to have everything he wanted. "Nathan?" It was Katy. She was sitting in a swing in the tree that he hadn't noticed was there. She gave him a slightly confused look. "This is my dream, what are you doing here?" He laughed, "No, this is my dream." Katy smiled shyly, "Nathan, I was here way before you were, it's my dream." Nathan took her hand and danced with her, "It's our dream." "And what a lovely dream it is." She sang to the sky and he picked her up and twirled her around. "But something's missing." She stopped dancing and placed her hands on her temples and soon Andy appeared, looking about him in awe. "What happened!?" He asked. "One minute I'm talking with the Power Rangers and the next I'm here. Katy, is this your idea of a joke?" "Katy no joke." Kevin said as he gripped Nathan's leg. They stood, the four of them, in a kind of circle. Katy laughed, "Nope, still not right." Suddenly their parents came out of the field looking about them wildly, their mother holding Julia. Fox looked at his girl, who had just put her hands down off her temples, "Did you do this?" She nodded and looked up at her mother, "This is ok, right?" Dana smiled at her child, "This is beautiful, Katy." Julia grabbed a leaf off the tree, which hung nearly to the ground now forming a kind of halo around the seven of them. She giggled as she threw it into the air. They all laughed. Nathan smiled and knew how he would beat the fear that had overtaken him the last few months. He would remain in the love of his family and they would help him on the road to a permanent recovery. ********** Too cutesy wootsy? Hey, give me a break I haven't written one of these in like two or three months! :) Comments wanted and I will begin on the next one ASAP. :) Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com From flukie@connexus.apana.org.au Fri Jan 24 20:33:58 1997 Last in this six! So, are you all still into it because I still have 12 more to write and my offer for titles in exchange for stories is still open to all... :) Last one for Juliettt and Randi, hope you've enjoyed the ride! I hope everyone has. The X- Files and its characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013, and FOX. The Mulder kids belong to me. ********** "It Just Happened(36)" 'Hope' by Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com ********** May 28 6:22AM Kevin opened his eyes and looked around himself. Slowly he kicked off his covers and sat up in his crib. He looked around himself again and then he looked to his two older brothers and saw they were still sleeping and with a smile on his little face he climbed over the side of the crib and he walked out of the room. He made his way down the hall and stopped at Katy's room and walked in, immediately heading to Julia's crib where she lay staring at the roof. She smiled at him as he climbed up the side of the crib and he smiled at her, whispering "Hi Jules." And she giggled. He hopped down and walked to his parent's room and watched them sleep and then he climbed up onto the bed and he put one leg over his mother and sat on her belly and he saw her face contort. He held in laughter as she moaned, but then he became worried that he might actually be hurting her. He stood over her and she took in a deep breath and then he was pulled into his father's embrace and he screamed. Dana jumped up and looked at her son who was now laughing as his father tickled him. She smiled and then began to laugh herself at the two. Fox let him go and he wiggled to his mother and he hugged her, smiling shyly at him. "Happy birthday big guy!" He told him, rustling up the boy's fine brown hair. He only giggled. Dana held him back and then went to get her camera from inside her drawer and she asked him, "How old are you Kevin?" Kevin laughed and held up two fingers and she snapped a photo of her husband with him. "How old are you daddy?" Kevin looked up at him and he smiled. "Too old to answer that question." He told him, hoisting him up and off the bed and into the kitchen. When there he began to make Julia's milk and he picked out a small container of baby food, in which he knew was liquefied peas and he knew Julia loved it. He didn't know why, but she did. Dana came into the room a moment later with the twins wrapped around her legs and the baby in her arms laughing her head off. The little girl wasn't laughing at Katy and Andy, but at her mother's face, which strained each time she moved a leg. Fox smiled at her and yelled, "Guys, get off your mother, you know her knee can pop at any moment." Andy, knowing he was on the bad knee jumped off with a squeal, actually believing that her knee would pop off. He had a gory vision of that in his head already. He watched the knee as he hopped on one of the stools and he was quickly accompanied by Katy, who watched her father feed Julia. The little girl smiled and milk dribbled down her chin and he wiped it, but soon she smacked the bottle away and spit at him. "Another one!" He looked at Dana, "Do you tell them to do this to me? Because I find it hard to believe that besides Nathan, the other four had a thing with spitting on me." Dana smiled, taking the child from him and feeding Julia herself, "And spitting *up* on you, and throwing food at you and peeing on you..." He eyed her, "I get. The point." He said pausing between the words and she smiled. Nathan walked into the room and smiled at them all. "Good morning." He got a few back and a few nods. Nathan ruffled Kevin's hair, "Happy birthday Kev." "I'm two now!" Kevin screamed back cheerfully. Nathan looked to his parents with a sparkle in his eyes, "Is he talking age, or decibels?" Fox laughed out loud while Katy and Andy sat there not understanding and Kevin laughed just to laugh. Julia just looked around her. She smiled then and she reached for her father and he smiled. "See," He began, lifting her to himself, "You can feed her, but she still loves..." And she spit up and giggled. ********** May 30 2:00PM People were at their house, the children were running around and Bugs was in a corner chasing his tail. Walter flung Kevin over his shoulders and paraded the birthday boy around the yard as he beat the 'drums' and laughed. Walter laughed, this was *his* godson, he could smack his bald head all he wanted. "Walter, he's going to give you a concussion." Margaret shouted from her comfortable seat in the shade of the roof. "He is getting stronger, I'll grant him that. Maybe he can come help our boys at VC out." Kevin only laughed. He didn't know what a "VC" was, but he knew that his 'Kinner' was saying something good. He saw his mother in her knee length flower patterned dress and he hollered, "Mommy, s'ing me." And she obediently went to her son, pulled him down and hugged him. Then she twirled around in circles until he had laughed so hard she couldn't find his eyes. She stopped and took him to her mother and sat in a chair next to her. "You shouldn't do that, you know?" Her mother told her. "And why not?" She laughed, putting Kevin down so he could try to stand in one place. Margaret smiled, "He's going to be eating soon and then he's going to want to do that again and then he's going to vomit and ruin his birthday suit." "He'll have fun." Dana told her. Suddenly a small hand was thrust into her face and she looked up to see Nathan. He was smiling radiantly in his grey shirt tucked neatly into his black jean shorts. As she looked up at him she noticed his brown hair had red highlights that shined in the sun. "Mommy, can I talk with you?" He asked. She didn't worry, he looked too happy to have it be something not good. They walked a little away and she sat in the swing in the tree in the yard. Fox looked at them a moment but saw Nathan smiling and he knew not to disturb them, this was probably one of those mother-son moments that Dana would cherish forever. "What is it?" She asked, when he leaned against the small plastic house that had been set up for himself, Andy and Kevin. "Nothing. I just wanted to be here with you." "Nathan..." "Don't worry. Nothing's wrong, I just wanted to be here. It's nice here, away from the party." There was silence, "So, you're feeling better?" He smiled, "I haven't had a nightmare in a week." "That's good!" She told him, knowing he'd had nightmares constantly for a while now. "Mom, why were you going to quit?" She looked down, "I thought it was my fault that you got taken away, that you have to live with all of that." He went to her and he hugged her. She ran a hand through his hair and she kissed his head and she closed her eyes, savoring the moment. "I love you mom." "I love you too baby." She answered, holding him tightly. "It's not your fault. It's no one's fault." He told her pulling away. "It just happened and now *we* have to move on." She then shocked herself by asking her son something she thought sounded weak coming from her, "How can we move on if it's not going to get any better?" "We just have to hope that it will." He answered and she wanted to hold him forever at that moment, HE was her hope, her inspiration. She wanted to smack herself for every letting herself think it might not be ok. She should have known that it would. They were Mulder's, they always got through hard times. Kevin walked up to them and he was pouting, "Dad's gonna cut du cake now, he towd me to get ya'." Dana pulled her son up and she hugged him tightly while she anointed him with kisses. Nathan laughed as he watched, knowing now Kevin would have lipstick all over his face and he would look funny in his pictures. But he didn't think the little boy would care, he loved his mommy. They all did. "Dana, he's covered in lipstick now!" Margaret yelled as Fox lit the candles. Kevin smiled as she put him down and his grandmother wiped it off his cheeks, "Mommy loves me, that's why." He giggled. Walter handed Dana the camera, "I'm assuming you do want pictures." He hugged her and then picked Kevin up to take him behind the cake. He stared at it and then at his family. "Do I blow du candles out now?" He asked, trying to move closer. "No hun, you make a wish first." Margaret told him. He smiled and then he thought, putting a finger to his lip and tapping it there. Then he smiled at Katy, "My wish is s'pposed to be a secret." "Are you accusing me of mind reading?!" She said, faking shock as she tried not to laugh. Kevin only laughed, "Ok, ok, got one." They all began to sing and Kevin laughed and clapped along with the singing, partly because he was anxious to blow the candles and partly because, like at most parties, the singing sucked. But he lived with it and when they ended he blew out the two candles and he was taken to the presents and then he was put to sleep, because he was exhausted. Katy and Andy sat, head in head on the couch in their pajamas. Neither wanted to give into their sleepiness, though neither wanted to go to sleep. Nathan laid in his bed and just waited. He knew that the moment he closed his eyes someone would come in and awaken him with the lights. Tonight it would be his father, bringing Andy in. He laid the boy down and then he stood tall, looking to Nathan, who looked at him and smiled. "Have fun today?" He asked Nathan. "Yeah, it was fun, though I wish Megan could have come." Fox frowned, "Why couldn't she?" "Her parents are visiting an aunt in Virginia. She won't be back until next week." He looked back at the roof and Fox went to the door and turned off the lights. "Night Nathan." Fox told him. "Night dad." "Sweet dreams." He added. And Nathan smiled as his father closed the door partly because he knew that he would. Tonight, like every night for the last week, he would have another good dream. He and Katy would journey to another place, another time and he hoped that eventually he would learn to do it himself, without her help. He pulled his covers up to his neck. He didn't hope, he knew. ********** I'm probably going to go through this last one a few times to clean it up. Maybe not, I'm pretty lazy. :) Just tell me if it's ok. Mystic Nalvarez@delphi.com