From: Neoxphile@aol.com
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 16:56:14 -0400
Subject: [atxc-pi] NEW: Only Because He Needed Us part 2 (0/3)
Source: atxc
 
Title: Only Because He Needed Us part 2 of 3 
Author: Neoxphile 
Author Email: Neoxphile@aol.com 
Status: NEW - Work-In-Progress 
Size: 76k 
Rating: R 
Archive at Gossamer: Yes to Gossamer/Ephemeral 
Category: Adventure , Angst 
Pairings: Mulder/Other married; Scully/Ethan romance 
Spoilers: Vague seasons 1-9, more so season 9 than any of the others. 

Summary: It's been ten years since they've spoken, but as the invasion 
date approaches, Mulder and Scully learn that their son needs them. 
Now that they're being held captive, will they be drawn together, or 
split further apart?
 
Part 1
Please see part 0 (template) for warnings and summary.

Title: Only Because He Needed Us (1/3) 
Author: Neoxphile 
Author Email: Neoxphile@aol.com 
 
My entry in the " 2012 challenge"
http://forums.prospero.com/foxxfiles/messages?msg=120953.1
http://forums.delphiforums.com/XF3F/messages?msg=306.1

Rating: PG-13 to possibly R

Spoilers: Probably. It does take place 10 years after the series ended, so
flashbacks are probable.

Summary: It's been ten years since they've spoken, but as the invasion date
approaches, Mulder and Scully learn that their son needs them

Author's Note:  1. **Not MSR** but not quite MASHEO, though. 2. I orginally
thought this was going to be a 2-part fic, but it will be 3-parter sorry. 3.
Since this is part 2 of 3, it'll make more sense if you read part 1(if you
haven't already. 4. The third and final part of this fic should be posted on
ephemeral some time in July. 

***

Kyle and Avery whined a little when they realized they weren't being included
in their father's plans, but Cat pacified them by suggesting   thre of them
make cookies. Kyle shot his brothers' a triumphant look when he realized that
he and Avery were going to do something they couldn't.

Meanwhile, Mulder had the older boys put on their hoodies and follow him out to 
the car. They asked a lot of questions about where they were going, but he kept 
telling them it was a surprise.

When they got to their destination, they all piled out of the car. Mulder got a 
blanket out of the trunk, and led them down a sandy footpath.

" Dad, it's too cold for the beach, isn't it?" Owen said, looking at the
deserted water. They'd definitely never gone swimming in late October
before.

Mulder spread out the blanket. " We're not going to go swimming. I thought this 
would be a nice place to talk."

" Talk about what?" Benji asked as he took a seat on the blanket next to
William. Owen climbed on Mulder's lap, for once not claiming to be too big for
that.

" There are some things we need to talk about, about William, and about me. I
know that some of the things I'm going to tell you are really hard to
understand, and if you don't believe them right away, I don't blame you. I know 
a lot of grownups who have seen these things with their own eyes, and they
still don't believe the truth."

" This sounds kind of scary." William remarked, shivering slightly as the sea
breeze pulled at his sweatshirt.

" It's ok to be scared. Some of this scares me too." Mulder confessed, making
none of them feel better. " I guess I should start at the very beginning first. 
When I was twelve years old, my little sister was taken away from me."

" Aunt Samantha." Benji said promptly. 

" Right. She was taken away by aliens."

" There are no such things as aliens." William said with a grimace, reminding
Mulder of his mother.

" I wish that were true, but there are aliens. "

" Dad..." Benji protested. Part of him wanted to believe his father, but he
didn't want for his half brother to think that he was a baby or stupid.

" I believe you, Daddy." Owen said eagerly. Benji rolled his eyes.

***

" When I grew up and became a man, I worked for the FBI, with William's mother, 
and then with agent Doggett."

" What about Monica?" Benji asked.

" She didn't really work with them until after I was gone."

" So you and my mother went looking for aliens?" William asked, giving Mulder
another skeptical look. 

" Aliens and other sorts of things that no one could explain. They called it
the X-Files."

" Like X-rays?" Owen asked.

" No, like planet X!" Benji corrected.

" Something like that." Mulder told them to end the speculation.

" So you saw aliens like the ones that took your sister?" William asked with a
puzzled frown. 

" I saw all sorts of strange creatures, but yes, I did see some aliens."

" Do they really take people away, like in the movies?" Benji asked.

" Yes they do. And they took me."

" No way!" William exclaimed, looking like he was about to run off.

Mulder ignored that. " They took me away right before your mother found out
that she was going to have you, William."

" No."

" And they kept me for months. They hurt me... and when they brought me back,
everyone thought I was dead."

" They didn't bury you, did they?" Benji asked, looking horrified by the
thought.

" They did. But when one of the other people they thought was dead turned out
not to be, William's mother realized I might not be dead either, so they dug me 
back up again." Mulder said, glossing over how long they thought he was
dead.

" Eww!" Owen exclaimed.

" But you were ok." Benji said over his brother's disgusted noises.

" I was in the hospital for a long time, but I was ok after that." Mulder
agreed. " I was all better by the time William was born."

***

" Then why did you leave?" William asked, nearly shouting.

" To keep you and your mom safe." Mulder said quietly. " There were men who
worked with the aliens that hated me, so I thought maybe if I left for a while
they'd leave you and your mom alone-"

" Stop calling her my mom. She's not my mom." William looked furious, and
Mulder couldn't imagine why he always reacted so badly when they talked about
her. 

" Ok, her name is Scully, so I'll call her that instead. Anyway, I thought if I 
wasn't with William and Scully, they'd be safe. I was going to go back to them
as soon as the people who'd hurt them were gone."

William's face clouded as he remembered his dreams. " But we weren't safe. Not
at all."

" No.  Other people that I didn't even know about found out about you, and they 
thought that they could use you to help them. So they kidnapped you, and tried
to get you to open up a space ship that they'd found."

" But he couldn't, could he?" Owen gave the older boy a fascinated look.

" I don't know. Something did, anyway, and when it did, all the people died.
Except William."

" I was cold and alone." William whispered.

" Luckily Scully and Reyes found you right away. They were so scared for you.
You were just a little baby, and people wanted things from you, maybe to do
things to you..."

" Daddy, that's not fair!" Owen protested. " If he was just a little baby like
`laney, how could they be so mean to him?"

" Not everyone is good." Benji declared. " They were bad people."

***

William expected Mulder to correct Benji, but he merely nodded. " Yes, they
were. These people believed that humans weren't doing so good a job taking care 
of things here on Earth, so we'd all be better off having the aliens come and
dominate us."

" What about people changing things on their own like they teach us in social
studies?" William asked. "That's why they want peace in the middle east instead 
of wars." 

" That's a good point. These people wanted to take away humans ability to work
things out on their own. In most people's minds, that sort of thing makes
someone evil, no matter how good their intentions are by wanting something like 
that." Mulder said, keeping his thoughts about the smoking man to himself.

" But they all died, though, right Dad?" Benji asked. " So they're not a
problem any more."

Mulder looked grim. " That's what agent Scully and everyone else thought, yes.
But then my brother Jeffery convinced her that you still weren't safe, Will,
because and the aliens would know about you and want you back again. So she
gave you to the Van DeKamps, thinking you'd be safer in an anonymous
family."

" But you didn't, or you wouldn't have tried to get me back when I was little." 

" I thought you were better off with Scully and I than with anyone else. We
could protect you better than anyone, since we knew the dangers. So I tried to
get you back, but couldn't. I wanted to try again, but my lawyer told me it
wouldn't be fair to you, since you thought of those people as your mom and dad. 
And you did seem to be fine, so I decided that Scully was wrong, you were fine. 
But I don't think that any more."

" Why not?" Owen piped up. He barely understood what they were talking about,
but he realized they were talking about being safe, and he knew all about
feeling safe.

" Because people have been approaching Will, and saying things like he's `the
one' and how he's going to lead them. So we were wrong. Not all the people
died."

Benji's face looked horror stricken. " Does that mean someone is going to try
to hurt Will?"

" I hope not. But that's why I'm talking to you boys right now. I don't think
they know yet that William is here, but they might find out. So we need to talk 
about what happens then."

" What does happen, then?" Owen asked, wide-eyed. " We're just kids."

" The things that need to be done don't need grown ups to do them. If someone
you don't know comes near Will and talks to him, I want you to scream and draw
attention to yourselves."

" Scream what?" Benji asked.

" Scream ` Help! Someone's trying to take my brother!' until other grown ups
pay attention to you. And I'm going to get all three of you cell phones too-
"

" Cool!"

He gave them a stern look. " That are going to be programmed to only call Cat
or I...and a few other grown-ups I trust. Even if they run away, or a grown up
helps you, I want one of you boys to call me immediately."

" Ok." They all agreed, looking slightly frightened.

" I'm not trying to scare you, but people need to know what to do in an
emergency, like why we have a plan in case there's ever a fire. This is just
one more in-case. Telling you about this doesn't mean I expect something bad
will happen, but it could, so we need to talk about it."

" Always be prepared?" Owen asked, thinking of something his Cub Scout friends
say.

" Exactly." Mulder agreed. " Are you guys ok?"

" We're fine." Benji said, and William and Owen nodded their agreement. " We
understand this is just an if thingie."

" Good. I didn't want to upset you, but I thought you'd want to know what to do 
if something happened, so I decided to treat you like big boys instead of
helpless little kids who can't do anything." Mulder looked at them, and it was
hard to keep from crying. They were really still so little..." Does anyone want 
to help me build a sand castle before we go?"

***

Owen happily helped Mulder construct a fortress in the sand, but William and
Benji opted to take a walk instead. Or William did, and didn't seem to mind it
when Benji tagged along.

The two of them walked in silence for a while, letting the wind ruffle their
hair. Eventually Benji found a tide pool and squat down to see if anything was
in it. William joined him, also gently poking under rocks, trying to coax out
hermit crabs.

Benji paused, the short muddy stick hanging in mid-air. " Will...can I ask you
a question?"

" What?" William asked, his voice guarded.

" How come you don't like your mom? Your real mom, I mean. You get mad whenever 
Dad talks about her."

" It's all her fault." William's voice was bitter.

Benji flashed him a confused look. " All what?"

"Everything! She's the one who decided to give me way. If she didn't want me,
why couldn't she give me to your dad? Our dad." He corrected himself. " Even if 
she didn't want to stay with us, she could have helped him get me back before
going off to do whatever it is that's so important. At least he likes
kids."

" The people who adopted you didn't like kids?"

William shook his head. " They wanted to have a baby, but when they couldn't
they adopted me, I guess thinking that they'd love me as much as their real
baby. They didn't."

" I'm sorry." Benji said in a small voice.

" Me too."

" At least you never have to live with them again." 

" Yeah, at least." William agreed, but still, as hard as living with the Van
Dekamps had been, his heart ached a little when he thought about never seeing
them again. Just a little.

" You know," Benji said as they walked back towards the now elaborate
sandcastle. " I didn't know if I'd like having a big brother. If I've gotta
have one, I'm glad it's you."

" Thanks." William replied with a crocked smile. Benji didn't know it, but he'd 
just made his day.

***

" You're going to have dinner with him?" Fowley asked with a mischievous look.

Years earlier, Scully wasn't able to imagine a civil conversation with the
other woman, never mind discuss her personal life. But things had changed.

" It's not set in stone, but I think so." Scully admitted.

Fowley grinned at her.

" What?"

" It's just nice to see you excited about spending time with a man." Fowley
told her. They both knew that `besides Mulder' was the unspoken clause in that
statement.

" I wouldn't say that I'm excited-"

" You are! So what is he like? And why did you break up with him in the first
place?"

" What he's like isn't something I'm really in a position to answer. I haven't
seen him except this once since nineteen ninty-three. People change a lot in
that kind of time, as I'm sure you know-" Scully gave Fowley a pointed look,
which made her turn pink. " So I'll have to get back to you on that. 

" As to why we broke up...we just sort of drifted. I was new at the FBI, and he 
was a cub reporter. When he got a job offer in Chicago we talked it over and
realized that our relationship wasn't a good enough reason for him to stay.
There wasn't any bitterness or anything." Scully shrugged. " There wasn't
really... anything."

" Maybe this time will be different." Fowley encouraged.

" Maybe." Scully repeated with a wistful smile.

***

Monday morning...

William's brothers were very excited when he went with them to school that
first morning, but he himself was feeling confused and a little overwhelmed.
Mulder had filled out all the necessary paperwork over the weekend, and he was
supposed to be put into a sixth grade class without any placement tests, but he 
was still so nervous. What if none of the kids liked him?

The younger boys tumbled out as soon as Mulder stopped the car, and they all
remembered to wish him luck before racing off to join their classmates. William 
got out of the car slowly, and hung back shyly, not sure what to do. Mulder
ruffled his hair and told him to stick close.

He followed Mulder into office, and sat in his chair while Mulder hung up his
coat. Someone poked their head into the office. " Who you talking to, Fox?"

Feeling shy, William was glad that his father's body hid him from view. " My
oldest son. Why don't you come say hi?" Mulder invited, stepping aside.

" Oh, Benji and I are old fr-" The man stopped in mid sentence when he saw
William. " You got him back?"

" Last week." Mulder told him, sounding pleased.

The stunned looking man offered William his hand to shake. " My God, Kid, your
dad has been talking about wanting to bring you home for a long as I've known
him."

William didn't say anything in reply, but he suddenly felt pretty good. Mulder
must have really wanted him if he'd told his coworkers about him.

***

The picture arrived two weeks after Scully's request, not preceded by a phone
call. She hadn't expected William to call her, but in her heart of hearts,
she'd hoped for him to. It did little good to tell herself not to be
disappointed, because she was.

The picture was of two smiling boys. One was immediately recognizable by his
size as Mulder and Cat's oldest son- even though she'd only seen his baby
picture- because he looked just like she'd always pictured Mulder looking as a
small boy. The older boy was William. She couldn't believe how beautiful he
was. The happy expression on his face told her that the things Mulder had told
her in e-mails were true - he really was settling in, liked his new school,
usually got along well with Mulder's other kids and seemed happy enough. For
reasons she couldn't quite name, she was glad that Mulder hadn't put himself in 
the picture as well. 

He was happy, he didn't need her, and that's what she always wanted for him
since the day she gave him up. So why did seeing the evidence of it make her
feel like weeping?

***

To Scully's surprise, sitting in the slightly noisy Italian restaurant with
Ethan felt...comfortable. Thought she had eaten with Mulder in many places of
questionable taste over their years as partners, they'd rarely really "gone to
dinner." No matter what the stage of their relationship, eating was just
something they did while on a case, and as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, she and Ethan had gone to dinner a lot before they'd
out-grown each other. It had been that sort of relationship: dinner, movies,
roses, romance. Until recently she'd forgotten how much she'd liked that sort
of thing. It was nice to be reminded.

Throughout the dinner they talked about the paths their careers had taken. She
told him about how she'd gotten to teach at Quantico like she'd always
intended, back when she joined the FBI. And she told him that it wasn't nearly
as exciting as fieldwork, but she didn't miss the danger and injury that had
accompanied it. He told her about his struggle to gain a recognizable byline,
and his utter joy at finally becoming a sports columnist ten years earlier. She 
personally found sports dull, but she didn't mention that, since it brought a
sparkle to his eye when he talked about it. It made her think of coming home
from her own classes at Quantico and finding him sleeping in front of the ball
games, his notebook and pen still on his lap.

When at last the topic of work trivialities was exhausted, right in the middle
of the main course, the conversation took a turn that Scully hadn't anticipated 
or wanted.

" You said that your ex has custody of your son. Why's that?" Ethan asked.

She didn't know what to say. " He's got a big house, a wife, five other
kids...it just seemed like the best arrangement."

" To you, or to him?"

Scully shrugged helplessly.

" If he bulled you into agreeing to that-"

" Oh no. Mulder would never do anything like that." Scully surprised herself by 
leaping to his defense.

Ethan nodded, but still looked skeptical. " I'm just saying. If you ever decide 
that you'd like to try to get custody of him, I know some really good
lawyers."

" I think he's happy where he is." Scully demurred. What she didn't say was
that she highly doubted that any judge would give William to her, not after
learning that she'd given him up in the first place. 

After that Ethan seemed content to leave the subject alone, but all through the 
rest of the dinner she imagined what it would be like to at least see William.
She wouldn't dream of taking him from Mulder, but seeing him was something she
liked to play with the idea of.

***

Halloween

It was distracting to try to do math homework while a toddler danced.

" Candy, candy, candy, candy. Will get candy too?" Avery stopped dancing around 
the room long enough to give William a questioning look.

" Of course." William told him, reaching out to tickle him. " All kids go trick 
or treating."

" Me too! I's a big boy, get to go with Daddy."

" I dunno, you look pretty little to me..."

" No! Big! Big, big, big!" Avery insisted.

" Oh, you're right. You are a big boy, silly me." William thought being a big
brother was sort of fun.

" What you be?"

" Me and Benji are going to be pirates. You know what pirates say?"

" Arrrrr!" Avery growled.

William clapped. " Arrr is right."

" I bes a puppy."

" A cute one, I'll bet."

" No mean. Grrrr..."

Avery made him laugh, but thinking about costumes made him remember that the
costume mister Van Dekamp had bought was in a box, at the bottom of his closet. 
Mulder had taken them costume shopping the weekend before, which is when he and 
Benji decided they'd like to be pirates. He'd almost forgotten about the other
costume, and now that he remembered it, he was glad he wasn't going to wear it. 
Who wanted to be a little green Martian anyway?

Mulder poked his head into the room. " Mom's looking for a puppy, has anyone
seen a puppy around here?"

" It's me!"

" You don't look much like a puppy." Mulder sounded doubtful.

" Grrrrrrrrr!!"

" Well, you sound like a puppy, anyway. Why don't you go see Mom so she can get 
you looking like a puppy too?" The words were barely out of his mouth before
Avery ran past him. " We'll be leaving in about an hour. If you need help with
makeup, let me know."

" Thanks, Dad."

Mulder had already left the room before William realized that he'd called him
Dad. It felt sort of good.

***

Thanksgiving

" William, come here." Mulder called from his seat in front of the computer.
Shrugging, William took the seat next to him.

" What?"

" I want to send some pictures to your grandmother Scully. Some more actually,
I've sent some before."

" Dad..."

Mulder's voice was soft. " When you were a baby, there were four other people
besides your mother, me, and the agents we worked with who cared a whole lot
about you. Three of them were friends of mine, and they died while you were
still very little. The other person was your grandmother. Maggie loved you to
death. I think it's only right that she get to see what a big, healthy grandson 
she has."

" Okay."

" Good. It broke her heart when your mother gave you up. She came to the court
hearing when I tried to get you back, and told the judge that she thought you
should be with me."

" I didn't know that." William's voice sounded awed.

" It surprised me a little when she volunteered to, since it'd be going against 
her own daughter's wishes, but she's a good person and didn't hate me for
leaving Scully. I hope you decide you want to meet Maggie some day, and she
does too."

" I... I could maybe meet her, if you like her that much."

" I do. Maybe we'll have her come visit some time next year."

" Maybe during one of our school breaks." William agreed.

" Sounds good."

William sort of liked the idea of having a grandparent of his own. Cat's
parents had been over for dinner, and he'd liked them, but they were the other
kid's grandparents, not his. They'd been nice enough to him, but they weren't
his family. He supposed that this grandmother he'd never known about was. All
of the sudden, he found himself looking forward to February vacation.

**

Scully wandered away from Charlie and Bill, wondering where her mother was. A
voice declaring "You've got mail!" led her to Maggie. 

" Mom?" 

Maggie quickly shut down the mail program.

Scully gave her a wry look. " God, Mom, were you downloading porn?"

She'd meant it as a joke, but Maggie's guilty look made her wonder, in
horrified fascination, if her mother really had been downloading something
illicit. Looking reluctant, Maggie confessed. " I just got some pictures in my
e-mail."

" From who?"

" From Fox."

" You're kidding."

" No... he thought I should get the chance to see what William looked like.
He's lovely, Dana, such a handsome little boy..."

" Can I see the pictures?" Scully asked, thinking about how she'd only been
sent the one.

Maggie opened some pictures, dated earlier that day, and Scully saw her son.
Playing a video game with one of Mulder's older sons. Talking to Mulder.
Holding a wide-eyed baby on his lap. Sitting at the table smiling as he passed
a plate to someone they couldn't see.

Encouraged, Maggie offered more. " I have some from Halloween too. The kids are 
simply adorable."

The kids? Scully wondered. " Mom, how long have you been in touch with Mulder?"

Her mother looked guilty again. " I've never not been in touch with him, Dana."

Maggie still had the power to shock her, Scully realized. So many years had
passed since she and Mulder had had a civil conversation, yet her mother had
been in touch with him all that time. It confused her, but then, Maggie always
had liked Mulder. Maggie must know so much more about Mulder's new life than
she did. 

" That's good, Mom."

" Do you want to see the Halloween pictures?" Maggie's voice was hesitant.

" Maybe later." Scully left then, knowing that her mother would worry about
her. But she couldn't help it, she had to leave the room. She just had to, so
she could think.

***

December 12th, 2012

The first reports about alien spacecraft came in around noon. Mulder and Cat
had just loaded the minivan with kids and bags of non-immediate family
Christmas presents when Mulder turned the radio to the new station.

"...officials are saying that it's a rather macabre joke, but George
Steinbrenner's family doesn't think that the fact that someone broke into the
cemetery last night and switched his headstone for another is much of a
laughing matter. While the original stone's epithet praised the deceased, the
new stone's inscription says ` George Steinbrenner: The Man Who Ruined
Baseball.' Authorities are looking for the perpetrator, but as one officer
remarked ` the list of possible suspects is quite long.'"

" That poor man..." Cat murmured. Wisely, Mulder kept his thoughts on the
matter to himself.

The very next story was given by a terse sounding man who was explaining that
several crafts had been spotted over major cities. It reminded Mulder a lot of
the plots science fiction movies he'd watched all his life.

Sitting in the driver's seat, Mulder felt vaguely grateful that they were still 
parked. The boys were chattering in the back, so they hadn't heard a word the
newscaster had said, but Cat had.

" Fox, it's a joke isn't it? Like the War of the Worlds broadcast."

" No."

" It has to be! Someone heard about that date, and they decided to play a joke
by putting on a false news cast like Orsen Wells did..." He could tell that she 
was making a desperate attempt to convince herself that what she was saying had 
to be true, but the fear in her eyes said it wasn't working.

The boys eyed her warily when her voice rose, but they soon went back to
whatever it was that they'd been talking about.

" This is what I spent ten years worrying about. My father was right." Mulder
said in a low, bitter, voice.

" Your father?" Cat gave him a puzzled look. He'd told her everything that the
cigarette smoking man had said to him and Scully that terrible day, but he'd
left out his relationship to the evil old man. Deciding it wasn't a good time
to get into that, she gave her head a little shake, as if to clear it. " But
what do we do now?"

" Go home, watch the news. Make plans. Wait."

He knew that she wanted to tell him that wasn't good enough, but she didn't.
She probably realized that he already knew.

***

Mulder couldn't decide. Was the news more like scenes in Independence Day or
Signs? Either way, the rest of the day had a surreal movie-like quality to it.
They tried to remain as calm as possible for the kids, but the older ones
sensed that there was something going on, thought they wisely didn't ask
questions and tried to keep the little ones entertained so that the adults
could continue their TV side vigil.

So many pictures. Mulder half wished they were grainy, like the bulk of the
ones that people had shown him during his time on the X-Files, but they
weren't. In the day of digital, the photos splashed upon the screen were rich
with vivid color, full of clarity. One day he would have been thrilled with
such photos, but that was before. Now he just longed for the murder, disaster,
war of normal news days.

Reporters talked to people on the street, and they seem polarized. Half the
people were thrilled by the idea of aliens, many of them insistent that the
contact would be a good one. The rest of the people scoffed and said that
pictures didn't mean anything. You could fake photos of anything now, and it
was all just computer special effects anyway. 

After sitting for two hours in front of the TV, Cat broke the spell. " What do
we do?"

His eyes were hollow when he looked at her. " I don't know."

" Should we contact the people you used to work with?"

" What could they do?" Mulder asked, unable to think of anything that Doggett
or Reyes could think of that he couldn't. Surely their brains must be covered
in so much ice as well.

Cat frown. It wasn't like him to be so bleak and defeatist, at least in her
experience. " If not the people on the project still, then your
ex-partner."

" Scully?" He gave a short bark of laughter. " What makes you think that she'd
even talk to me?"

" Because of William."

" Oh yes, she's shown a great deal of concern about him."

" This is different." 

" I don't want you to call her!" William's shout startled them both, and they
turned to see him standing in the doorway. " You promised that you wouldn't
call her." He accused Mulder before fleeing back to where the other boys were
playing.

Mulder turned to Cat. " You see? I promised."

" You can't let a promise like that decide something this important." Cat
hissed.

" I promised." Mulder repeated.

***

When Scully picked up the phone, she didn't recognize the voice. " Dana Scully?"

" Speaking."

" This is Cat Mulder."

For a second she almost dropped the phone. She'd never heard Cat's voice
before, not once in all the years that she'd been married to Mulder. But to be
fair she'd only spoken to Mulder once in all that time too.

She couldn't imagine why the woman was calling now, though, and fear made her
rude. " Why are you calling me?"

" I'm sure you've seen the news. About the aliens."

" Yes..."

" I think that William is in danger. Fox won't talk to me about it, but I'm
afraid that the people who tried to kidnap him are going to redouble their
efforts now that `they are among us.'" 

Scully was confused. " The people to tried to kill him died when William was a
baby."

" There have been other attempts." Cat explained, shocked that this was news to 
Will's mother. " That's why he's with us. I thought Fox told you that."

Fox. " No, he didn't mention it."

" I know that he thinks we can take care of the problem ourselves, but I'm not
so sure. Two people, a house full of kids, and only one person who even knows
how to use a gun? It's wishful thinking."

" If you want me to take William, I might be able to on a short-term basis,
but-"

" Actually, I was thinking that maybe you could come here." Cat said in a rush. 
" At least until the crisis is passed. It's only ten days -" Scully realized
that Cat knew about The Date. " And we have a room that you could stay
in..."

She surprised herself. " Okay. I'll get the earliest flight that I can."

" Thank you. There's just one thing that you should know... William isn't going 
to be happy that you're coming. Hopefully he'll warm up to you." Cat added, as
a balm.

" I appreciate you being candid. I'll be there as soon as I can."

As she hung up, Scully wondered if she always knew it would be that way. Why
was it that the person you made scarifies for was the least likely to
understand or appreciate it?

**

" He can be angry at me instead of you." Cat told Mulder as she returned the
phone to its cradle. He'd come into the room halfway through her conversation,
and hadn't made any move to stop her from asking Scully to come. 

" Most wives wouldn't have wanted her to come here." He said quietly.

" I'm not most wives." 

" That you're not." He agreed, resting his chin on her head.

She looked up at him." Which do you think would be worse, telling William now,
or springing it on him when she gets here?"

" Let's not tell him." Mulder decided. " The anticipation of something
unpleasant is often worse than the surprise of it."

(Continued in part 2)

Part 2
See part 0 for header information.


" Is that what it is to you, too, an unpleasantness? I know you didn't part on
good terms..."

" That, my love, is an understatement.  I'm not looking forward to her being
here any more than William would, but I'll tell you, even at our worse, she and 
I got the job done. Even when we were barely speaking. " His brain scrolled
through the various arguments he and Scully had had over the years, from
planetary misalignment to impromptu tattoos. " We'll be able to manage things,
bad blood or no."

He sounded confident when he said it, but he wasn't so sure. They'd had ten
years to forget how to work together.

***

Scully made four phone calls. The first was to the airline to book a flight to
New Mexico as soon as possible, and to have the airline arrange for there to be 
a rental car waiting for her when she got there. The second was to request
leave for a family emergency across the country. It was readily granted.

The third was to her mother.

" Mom, it'd Dana. I'm going to be out of town for a few days..."

" Where are you going? Does it have to do with these stupid news reports?"

" Sort of." Scully admitted. " Cat Mulder asked me to come spend a few days.
They're worried about William's safety."

" You're going to get to see William!" Maggie sounded thrilled.

" I don't think it's going to be an easy visit, Mom. From what Cat said, he
doesn't want to meet me."

" It'll be fine, you'll see." Maggie assured her.

" God, to have your optimism, Mom... I'll let you know how things go." She
promised, and quickly said good-bye.

The last call was the most difficult.

" Hey Ethan..."

Much as Fowley had gleefully predicted, things between her and Ethan were
different this time around. They'd been seeing a lot of each other over the
past couple of months, and they were nearly back to the exciting yet
comfortable relationship they'd had before boredom and indifference had set in. 
She didn't think it was going to be a problem this time, because they were now
mature enough to realize that comfort was as important as excitement. Which is
why she really didn't want to tell him that she was going to be going away for
an indefinite amount of time.

"...But I'm sure that I'll be home before Christmas." Her voice, however,
didn't sound very sure.

" I understand." Ethan told her.

" You do?" That surprised her, since she'd been minimalist in offering details
about her need to be there.

" Sure. If I had a kid who needed me, I'd make that a priority too." His voice
softened a little. " I hope that the reunion goes well."

" Thank you, Ethan. My mother doesn't understand that it might not go
perfectly. It's nice to have someone not brush my worries aside."

The line was quiet for a moment. " Just come back to me, ok?"

" Of course."

After they said good-bye, her mind dwelled on that. Why would he think there
was a chance that she wouldn't? At first she thought he might be jealously
worried about Mulder, but then it hit her. Though she'd offered scant detail,
somehow he knew that there was more danger than she'd said. Thinking back, she
realized that he always had, and that it was the only thing he had in common
with Mulder at all. It made her uncomfortable to think about how they both knew 
that about her, so she started packing to take her mind off of it.

***

The next morning...

It was by merest chance that William was the one to open the door. He thought
he saw something on Cat's face, a half-formed objection, but when she didn't
say anything he turned the knob and swung the door open.

He stared at the woman standing there, a suitcase clutched in one small hand.
She wasn't a whole lot taller than him, his brain absently noted, but it was
her red hair and blue eyes that really captured his attention. " No." He said,
running off, leaving the door hanging open, and her standing there.

Cat rushed to the door, and gave her a sympathetic look. " Sorry about that."
She spoke up over the sounds of William's shoes hitting every stair hard. " I'm 
Cat."

Even though Cat had been described to her before, Scully found herself
evaluating Mulder's wife. Her replacement.  Cat was a few inches taller,
probably five seven to her own almost five three, and had a slim figure that
belied the fact that she'd had five children. Long honey blond hair and brown
eyes that reminded her of Reyes', Scully could see what appealed to Mulder
about this woman, she grudgingly admitted to herself.

" Do come in." Cat told her warmly. " I'll show you the guest room."

It intrigued Scully that Cat was so friendly. Either she was undyingly polite
all the time, or she thought of Scully as no threat whatsoever. Even if it was
the latter... She walked in, looking around for Mulder.

She followed Cat into the fairly bare room, and was just putting down her
suitcase when a little voice spoke up. " Mommy, this gonna be my room." It
declared indignantly.

Looking down, Scully had to try hard to keep her lips from twitching into a
smile. It was as if she was looking at a Mulder shrunk down to two feet tall. 

Cat swooped the little fellow up into her arms. " Yes, Avery, it is going to be 
your room. But not yet, right?"

" Right..."

" So right now, Dana is going to sleep in here, and you'll sleep in your bed in 
the room where you and Kyle always sleep."

" Only be here a little while?" He asked Scully.

" Yes, just a few days." She agreed.

" Ok." He nodded, then gave her a suspicious look, a look she knew very well,
just on an older face. " Who are you?"

Scully was at a loss, but Cat answered his question. " This is William's real
mommy."

Avery's eyes widened. " He don't like you."

All Cat could do was give her an apologetic smile. From the mouths of babes,
indeed.

***

" No!"

Mulder felt stupid as he stood in front of the closed door, mostly because he
knew that everyone downstairs was listening.

" Yes. Open this door this minute, William. You do NOT want me to have to open
it myself."

That got William moving. It wouldn't surprise him in the least if his father
simply removed the pins from the hinges, kind of like in that old pirate movie
Cat liked so much. Still, it was with great reluctance that he unlocked the
door.

Mulder didn't really look angry. " We let you have a lock on the door for
privacy, but it's not going to stay on the door if you abuse it."

" I don't want her here."

" I don't really want her here either, but we need her help."

" You don't want her here either?" William's voice is surprised.

" Not really. She and I used to be good friends, but that was a long long time
ago. Since then I feel in love with Cat, got married, and had a family. That
makes things pretty damn awkward between Scully and I, and I'm just lucky that
Cat isn't the jealous type."

" I'm not sure I understand what you mean about jealous."

" A lot of women would figure that a man might still have feelings for their
ex, and that he might go back to her."

" But you wouldn't."

" Of course not."

Feeling more confident that he and his father share like feelings, William
decided to play his hand. " Then you understand why I don't want to have
anything to do with her."

" More or less. But you are going to have to talk to her anyway."

" Why?!"

" Because you have to."

William kicked his backpack across the room. " Why do I always HAVE to do
things? I had to live with the Van DeKamps, I had to come here, I have to worry 
about people trying to make me do things! Now I have to talk to the last person 
I want to?! It's not fair! No one else has to do these things, so why me?!"

" Because life is not fair." Mulder said evenly. " Why did I have to lose my
sister when I was twelve? Why did I have to spend my whole career worrying that 
someone was really going to kill me, like they kept trying to? Why did I have
to be taken away before you were born? Why did I have to leave you, and the
woman I was then in love with, to keep you safe? Why did doing the right thing
lead to missing out on the first eleven years of your life?

" Life is not, nor has it ever been, fair. The younger you learn that, the
better off you'll be."

William wasn't sure how to respond to that. On one hand, it galled him that
life wasn't fair, but on the other, he was surprised to hear his father talk
about what he'd himself had had to do just because. If even adults were slaves
to necessity...

" You can make me talk to her, but you can't make me like her, or be nice."

" I know. I just hope you'll be mature enough to put your feelings aside enough 
to be polite."

With that, Mulder got up and left the room, leaving his confused son behind.
After grappling with his feelings for a moment, William sighed, and slowly left 
the room himself.

***

A knock on the guest room door made Scully whip her head around. She'd heard
the noisy confrontation between Mulder and William, and though she could not
make out the words, the tone was perfectly clear. Which was why she was
surprised to see William standing on the other side of the door.

" Dad said I have to talk to you." His voice was grumpy, and his eyes angry,
but it was the word "dad" that made her flinch away mentally, as if from a
blow. How had he and Mulder grown that close so quickly? 

" What did you want to talk about?"

William's hostile stare suggested that there wasn't a thing in the world he
wanted to talk to her about. Realizing that the topic of conversation would be
entirely up to her, she racked her brain, trying to think of something he might 
not hate to talk about.

" Do you like living here, with Mulder?"

" Sure I do."

" I must be a change, all these little brothers and a little sister too. Your
adopted parents didn't have any other kids, did they?"

" Nope. They're still trying to have a baby, though. I guess I hope they do,
since they wanted one more than anything on Earth." His response set off alarm
bells in Scully, but she didn't dare to ask, for fear of setting him off. " I
like having little brothers, and a baby sister too. Dad says we're lucky to
have each other, and I guess he means luckier than him `cause of what happened
with his sister, and not knowing he had a brother `til they were grown
ups."

She nodded. " I have a sister and two brothers, and I think I was pretty lucky
too. It must be lonely for only children. Or hard to have all your parents'
attention focused on you."

William shrugged. " I wouldn't know. The Van DeKamps didn't really pay me much
attention. They just felt a duty to look after me `cause they said they
would."

" I'm sorry, William."  

" Not half as sorry as I am." He said stiffly. She wanted to say something to
make things better, but nothing occurred to her, so he wandered off. At least,
she reflected in the empty room, she knew why he disliked her so much; the
loving family she gave him to wasn't. 

***

Later that night Mulder and Scully finally got to talk about things more
important than "please pass the rolls." Cat gave them some space, but her
complete lack of wariness convinced Scully that she'd been right earlier; Cat
didn't think of her as a threat in the least. She wasn't sure why, but this
depressed her a little bit. It was probably a good thing that she hadn't asked
good or bad when Cat had said " Fox told me so much about you."

The first, reluctant, grudging words out of Mulder's mouth as they sat in the
living room were " Thank you."

She thought she understood. She too resented the need to drop everything to be
there as well. Why couldn't their destiny go bother someone else? She'd been
content enough in DC and knowing that William was under Mulder's watchful eye
had eased her mind as of late. 

" I know you don't want me here-" He opened his mouth to offer a feeble
protest, but she was quicker."- and I wish I didn't have to be here either.
When I pictured seeing my son, it was because he wanted me around, not because
his life was in danger.  I owe it to him to help protect him since he never
asked for any of this. We deliberately decided to have a child, even knowing
that it could be put in danger because of our past. So I'm ready to take
responsibility for the consequences...but that's all. I'm here only because he
needed us both, or so Cat told me."

" She was right." Mulder sighed. " I wish I could handle it alone, but I
probably can't. I'm sorry."

" Don't apologize for being human." She chastised him, falling into old
discussion patterns. 

He shrugged miserably. " I can't help but think that you'd be better off if
you'd never met me. I'm happy now, God knows I'm thankful every day for Cat and 
the kids. I can't believe I get to be happy even after everything that happened 
back then, but you..."

" I'm fine." She insisted.

He gave her a measuring look. " When I've talked to people over the years who
know us both...they've made you sound so lonely."

She gave him a small smile. " For a long time I was, but now I'm not. By chance 
I met Ethan again, and we're...we're doing pretty good."

Mulder surprised her by remembering the other man." He's the man you were
dating when you first joined the FBI, right?" She nodded. " I'm glad."

" You are? Why?"

" Just because it didn't work out with us, doesn't mean that I would begrudge
you happiness with someone else." His hazel eyes looked sincere. 

She gave him a half-surprised look, but then reconsidered before speaking; what 
did he have to be jealous about? Even less than she did. " Tell me about our
son." She said instead.

Mulder's face lit up. " He's bright, and kind, and a good big brother, even
though he hasn't had much practice. He's more grounded than I am, but less
cynical, I mean skeptical, than you are. And he's usually less moody than
you've witnessed, although he was very out of sorts after the Van Dekamps
abandoned him on the front lawn."

" They didn't." She insisted, but he didn't smile to tell her it was a joke.

" I wish they hadn't. But they showed up in September and said `Here, you take
him. We can't deal with this any more' then they were gone. God, they drove off 
so fast..." Mulder shook his head at the memory. " He was devastated. I had no
idea what to do. Cat, the angel that she is, took the situation in hand and
helped us both feel better about the whole thing. I don't know what I'd do with 
out her."

The look of adoration on his face made her have to hide her smile. " Your wife
seems like a hell of a woman, Mulder."

" Oh, she is. Not too bright, though, since she seems to think that I'm a
decent guy."

" Don't let her hear you say that." Scully warned.

" Why? She doesn't hit nearly as hard as you do."

" I never hit you! Ok, well, not too often."

" She never shot me either." He pointed out.

" Ok, you got me there..."

***

December 18th, 2012

When the fallout came, it was unexpected. Things grew less tense in the Mulder
household, mostly because William acted nicer towards his mother. Realizing
that she hadn't knowingly sent him off to a stark childhood, he became less
cold. Luke warm perhaps. He still didn't act thrilled that she was there, but
he was no more distant to her than to any other grown stranger.

As for the problem that had called Scully there, the reports of aliens had
slowed to a trickle, and the adults let themselves be lulled into thinking that 
perhaps things had just been blown out of proportion. Cat ribbed Mulder about
his paranoia, and Scully gave small, knowing smiles, whenever she did. They'd
begun to plan that Scully would leave on the twenty-third, staying only that
long "just in case." Who knew that just in case was just around the corner?

**

Cat noticed that Mulder was looking around the living room with a speculative
expression on his face. " What?"

" No Christmas tree."

" Oh gosh, you're right. We really ought to get one." Cat suggested. " Or,
maybe you should. I'm afraid Delaney and Avery are coming down with colds, so I 
want to keep them in today. I bet the other kids would go with you."

" You're right." Mulder told her. Then he cupped his hands around his mouth and 
bellowed " Who wants to come with me to get a tree?"

A flurry of footsteps gave him his reply. He frowned a little, noting that Kyle 
wasn't amongst the crowd gathering coats and boots. " Where's Kyle?"

" I think he's in his room."

When Mulder when to look for him, heard the boy singing a Christmas carol to
himself. Poking his head into the bedroom, he saw Kyle surrounded by a city
made of building block. " Hey, didn't hear me ask who wanted to go get a
tree?"

" I heard, Daddy. But is it ok if I don't go? I wanna keep playing."

" Of course you don't have to go."

" Good." Kyle told him, then immediately began to pick up his song, which
Mulder finally identified as " Away in a manger." Sort of.

Mulder was getting his own coat on when he noticed Scully hovering in the
kitchen, looking out of sorts. " Scully, do you want to come too?" He asked
impulsively. " Women pick better trees. Or so Cat claims."

" Oh, would you, Dana? I'd hate to see what sort of tree a pack of males on
their own would pick out." Cat begged.

" Sure..." 

***

The Christmas tree lot smelled very strongly of pine, in the way that living
trees never do. Mulder reflected for a moment that it was sad that you have to
murder the trees before you can appreciate the smell, but trying to keep an eye 
on the three boys as they dashed back and forth amongst the trees cut the
musing short.

" How about this one?" Mulder asked, pointing at the nearest tree. 

" I don't think so. How high are your ceilings? That tree has to be almost nine 
feet high."

" Oops. Maybe not this one." 

They never bought a tree before, he and Scully. Had he not been kidnapped by
aliens in August, they might have, but their relationship as more than friends
had been so brief that they'd never shared an official Christmas together. He
supposed that this is what it might have been like, and it wasn't too bad. But
he really missed Cat's presence at his side as the all important tree was
selected.

" I think maybe that one over-"

" Dad!!" " Daddy!!!"

Mulder's heart stopped. Owen and Benji both sounded terrified. What's worse was 
that he didn't hear William.

" I think they're over there." Scully shouted to him, pointing at the far end
of the lot.

Unmindful of the mess, Mulder crashed through the trees, knocking several over. 
Fortunately they merely fell to the ground, instead of onto people. Scully was
one step behind him, groping at her waist for her gun. Seeing that, he wished
more than anything that his own gun, a non-FBI issued handgun- wasn't stored
safely, apart from bullets, in the closet of his bedroom.

When they at last reached the source of the screaming, they had to wait a few
seconds for a cloud of needles to clear before they could make heads or tails
of the sight before them. Two men were holding onto William's arms, and two
other men were holding Benji and Owen. All three boys were firmly in hand,
despite their frantic, if ineffectual, blows at their captors.

" Freeze! FBI! Let the boys go!" Scully shouted at them, training her gun on
one of the men holding William. When none of them made a move to let them go,
William began to cry silent tears.

Scully glanced at Mulder, asking if she should use force, but he could only
shrug helplessly.

The man holding Owen looked at Mulder and nodded his head." Fox Mulder. I
assumed that you and the children's mother would be here soon, thank you for
not making us wait." He looked down at the struggling boy. " Except for young
William, it seems as though the children favor you instead of dear Dana. A
pity."

Mulder tried not to let his puzzlement show. The man obviously thought that all 
three of the boys were Scully's sons, and he wasn't sure if that was an
advantage or a disadvantage. " Let my sons go." He demanded, not expecting
results.

Which he didn't get. " I don't think I will. Actually, I'm going to take you
and Dana as well, the whole happy family." This response redoubled his
certainty that the men had no idea that he and Scully were not a couple. He
shot her a brief look, begging her to play along, and her poker face said she
would. Fortunately, the boys were too distraught to understand the nuance of
the adults' conversation.

***

" Ok, you've got us." Mulder agreed calmly. " Now what?"

" Now you're going to take your sons and get back into your oh-so-stylish
minivan and drive to your house. No tricks now, we know your address. When you
get there, you're going to pack clothes for yourselves and for the children,
and you're going to meet us in front of the house. Then you'll come with us,
quietly."

" And if we don't?" Scully asked.

The man looked at Owen and Benji. " William is the only vital person. The rest
of you are expendable if you cause problems."

Fear stabbed Mulder's heart, and he prayed that neither of the younger boys
understood the connotations of the word "expendable." " We'll go with you."

" Very good." The man said, relaxing his grip on Owen. " But before you do,
we're going to need your cell phones." Mulder and Scully handed them over
without a word. " William has one too, I believe." He added, staring at William 
until his captors pulled it out of his back pocket.

The men followed Mulder and Scully closely, not letting the boys go until the
minivan's door was open. They pushed the boys in once the adults had closed
their doors.

" Do we do what they say?" Scully asked as Mulder started the engine.

" I don't think we have any choice."

Without looking back, he spoke to Benji. " Lean back so your face can't be
seen, Benji, and use your cell phone to dial mom."

" What do I tell her?" He sounded frightened.

Mulder quickly explained.

" Mommy? It's Benji. Daddy said to tell you that whatever you do, don't come
outside when we get home, and don't let Kyle or Avery come out either. Shut off 
all the lights so it looks like no one's home. He'll explain when we get there, 
but we're in big trouble."

" Was that good?" Benji asked nervously after he'd hung up on a worried Cat.

" Very good." Mulder assured him.

***

The other car pulled up behind them, and the grim faced men got out and stood
by the vehicle.

" You have twenty minutes to pack." The apparent leader told them.

" All right." Mulder quickly agreed, herding Scully and the children into the
house.

Cat was waiting for Mulder in their bedroom. He hastily explained what was
going on.

Cat didn't take the news calmly. " What do you mean they're making you go with
them? You should tell them to go to hell and call the police."

" The police would never get here in time. These men are ruthless and act
quickly when they think they're not going to get their way. Don't think for a
second I want to go. They're threatening to kill everyone but William if we
don't...Including Benji and Owen."

Cat dragged a hand over her face, still trying to make sense of the situation." 
You really have to take Benji and Owen, too? They're just little boys, they
should be with me."

Mulder shook his head. " I can't leave them behind, they were very clear that
they expect all five of us out front in-" He glanced at his watch. " -fourteen
minutes. I'm just glad that they don't know about you and the little ones. We
have to be thankful that they don't know you even exist."

" Thankful." Cat muttered bitterly. He captured her chin with one of his big
hands, forcing her to look at him. " I swear to you, I'll keep the boys safe.
All five of us will be back as soon as we can."

She threw her arms around him. " I'm going to hold you to that." Her voice was
fierce. " Don't let them do anything to hurt any of you."

" I'll do my damnest." Mulder promised. " And I know that Scully will do her
best to protect the boys too. But I'm worried about the rest of you as well.
I'm not sure you'll be safe here while we're...gone."

" So what do you expect me to do?" Frustration crept back into Cat's voice."
Hire a body guard?"

A glint of good humor momentarily lit up in Mulder's hazel eyes. " No, but that 
does give me an idea. I'll send you to Doggett and Reyes for safe-keeping. If
there's anyone else on Earth that I think is capable of looking out for danger, 
it's them."

" They'll love that." Cat smirked. " Do you suppose either of them have room
for a woman and three children to stay with them for an indefinite amount of
time?"

" Probably not. But Maggie Scully would probably actually be thrilled to meet
you. Maybe you can bunk down there, Doggett and Reyes too, since it's a big
house."

" Stay with my husband's ex's mother, with a pair of FBI bodyguards. Why is my
life stranger than fiction?" Cat grumbled.

However, with a little more coaxing, Mulder was able to convince her that it
was the best course of action. As soon as she agreed, he got on the phone and
called his friends. All three readily agreed to help protect Cat and the little 
ones. When he hung up the phone he felt more than a little relief. 

But just then, Kyle wandered in. " Daddy, Will, Benji and Owen are packing
things. Are we going somewhere?" 

They both looked at Kyle, wondering how they were going to explain. 

" I'll let Daddy tell you." Cat said, squeezing by Kyle to leave the room.

***

" Something bad happened today, Kyle." Mulder told him.

" What?" Kyle was instantly wide-eyed with fear.

" Do you have any idea what the word `hostage' means?"

" It's something bad?"

" Yeah. Some times people decide that the only way they can get what they want
is to make people go with them. People who don't want to go. So they keep the
people for a while, until they get what they want."

" Oh."

" It's no fun, but I've been a hostage before. I'm ok though, right?"

" Right." Kyle looked very confused. Mulder sighed and got to the point.

" Some people want me, and William, Benji and Owen, and Dana, to go with them
for a little while. Hopefully only a few days."

" But what about me?"

" You, Mommy and the babies are going to go stay with friends of mine, where
it's safe."

" What about you? Are you going to be safe?"

Mulder couldn't lie to him, not about something like that. " I hope so. I'm
going to do my best to keep anything bad from happening to your brothers.
That's why we've got to go, so nothing bad does happen."

" I want to stay with you, Daddy." Kyle began to cry. " I don't want you to go
away!" 

Mulder crouched down and looked Kyle in the eyes. " I need your help, kiddo."

" No..."

" I need you to look after Avery and Delaney for me. The three of you will be
with Mommy, but they need a big brother to be with them too, so they're less
scared."

Tears continued to well in Kyle's eyes. " Why can't Owen or Benji stay with
them?" His voice was choked up.

" It's not safe." Mulder reminded him gently. " They know about your brothers.
You want your mom and the babies to be safe, right?"

" Yes." He looked indignant that Mulder thought there was a chance he didn't.

" And I want you to be safe too. I know it's a big responsibility, but you're
going to be the oldest while we're gone."

" Daddy... You are coming back, aren't you?"

" Of course we are." Mulder answered with false cheer. He was glad that Kyle
was too young to see through him. " But until we do, I'm glad Mommy has you to
help her."

***

Mulder couldn't stand how grim and tense the four of them looked, though had he 
looked in a mirror, he did too. The three boys had their backpacks on, and he
could almost pretend that they were filled with schoolbooks. They bags bulged
with the weight of cloth, not sharp edges, so the illusion was imperfect. 
Scully stood a little apart from them, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of 
being thought of as their mother.

Uncomfortable or not, it was the role she was going to have to play. Mulder
gave the boys a stern look. " Remember always to call Dana `Mom'. Your safety
depends on it."

They nodded, but Benji and Owen looked angry. William still looked stunned and
confused.

" They're waiting for us." Scully told Mulder.

" Let's go out then."

" Dad, can't we say good-" 

Mulder cut Owen off. " No. We'll see everyone again soon, anyway."

Owen looked like he believed, but Mulder wasn't so sure he believed himself.
All at once he was stuck by how young and vulnerable the boys seemed, and it
gave him an idea. " Owen, take off your backpack and give it to Mom,
please."

His son looked around for Cat for a second, before seeming to catch on to
Mulder's idea. As soon as the bag was passed on to Scully, Mulder swung the boy 
up into his arms. If carrying the smallest of the children didn't nail home
their innocence, he didn't know what would. Owen didn't even question why he
was suddenly being held, and Benji instinctively took Mulder's free hand. 

That left William to Scully. Of the three kids, William understood the best why 
Mulder had done it. It was self-preservation, not instinct, that made him
reluctantly take Scully's hand as the five of them walked out the door, leaving 
the rest of the people they loved behind.

***

It only took an hour or so to get to their destination, though they knew only
by their watches; the van they'd been un-gently thrust into had no windows. It
was a certainty that this was to prevent the adults from knowing where they
were.

It worked. Even Mulder, who'd lived in the state for years, had any idea where
they were. This didn't stop him from sourly remarking, " So near my house. How
convenient for you."  He half expected their captures to pull out blindfolds to 
keep them from seeing where they went next, but it seemed that their location
was considered remote enough.

" We have locations throughout the country, Mister Mulder. This just happens to 
be the closest." The ring leader remarked. The thought made Mulder's skin
crawl. How many of these fanatics where there, he wondered. " By the way, my
name is Andrew. I am perhaps remiss for not having introduced myself earlier."
Once he'd concluded his speech he looked off into the distance, as if looking
for a sign to tell him what he ought to do with his prisoners.

Mulder nodded slightly, though Andrew didn't notice; he hadn't expected a show
of manners from a ruthless fanatic. On the other hand, he also expected the men 
to have typical religious cultists' names, like Ezekiel and Jebediah.

Once they were allowed to get out of the van, the boys huddled miserably in
front of Mulder and Scully. They cast the adults looks for instructions, but
they had none to offer, since they themselves were as clueless about how they
ought to act.

After a time Andrew stopped staring into space. Either he'd gotten his sign and 
they'd missed it, or he'd given up on it. When he remembered they were there,
they wished he hadn't.

" Follow me. I'll show you where you will be staying." His cold blue eyes
focused on the adults. " I'm sure I do not have to explain what will happen if
you make an attempt to flee."

Mulder and Scully shook their heads.

Owen held his arms out to Mulder until he picked him up. Mulder could tell that 
the mute request was not an extension of the play acting they'd done earlier,
because the boy's small body trembled all over. The older boys took Scully's
hands unbidden and holding on tightly. They were terrified. So were Mulder and
Scully.

Trees at the arrival point obscured their view of the buildings, but as Andrew
lead them down the gravel path, it came into view. Perhaps the trees were as
much as to hide the compound out of shame as for privacy. The sprawling
compound, made of cinder block structures, was a puissant sulfurous yellow,
which gave it a decided air of menace.

That seemed appropriate.

The inside of the building Andrew lead them through was less repugnant, but
only just. The walls were a sterile white, which was something of a relief
considering the possible color alternatives that might have occurred to the mad 
decorators. They were walked through a pin-neat dining room and sparsely
furnished common areas. Finally they reached a wing of the building that was
merely a corridor of  lined with plain wooden doors.

Andrew pushed one open, and Mulder noticed that there was no lock on it. He was 
half surprised that there was an actual door, given the common cultist fear
that privacy lead to rebellion. Inside the room there was a full size bed and
two sets of bunk beds. A doorless closet was flanked by tall bureaus. A small
desk and chair completed the inventory of the room.

Mulder gave the beds a dismayed look; it was obvious that the big bed was meant 
for him and Scully. The look in her eyes said that she wasn't any more pleased
by the idea than he was, but they held their tongues.

Andrew was oblivious to their discomfort. " While we have barracks for single
men and women, we decided that families would be more comfortable rooming
together."

" How thoughtful of you." Mulder muttered. Then he spoke clearly. " Do you have 
other...guests?"

Andrew shook his head. " We don't make a practice of holding people against
their will."

" Except for us." William said, breaking his long silence.

" Except you." Andrew agreed, his voice completely devoid of irony.

***

If Cat had spent any time that morning imagining how she would be spending the
afternoon and Evening, it wouldn't have come close to being accurate. The
flight had been tiring, since flying with an infant and two small boys was hard 
enough for two parents, and they were one short. She'd done her best to keep
them quiet, but they'd still earned the unhappiness of several other passengers 
on the long flight.

Doggett and Reyes were there to meet them at the airport, which was a comfort.
Cat didn't know either of the FBI agents well, but she had met them, if ever so 
briefly, on several occasions throughout the years, so they weren't complete
strangers. Unlike Maggie Scully.

She'd long considered her husband's association with his ex's mother to be one
of his harmless idiosyncrasies. She couldn't picture herself keeping in touch
with an ex-boyfriend's mother, but neither of them had ever meant as much to
her as Maggie did to Mulder.  She knew that Mulder's feelings for Maggie had
twin roots. The older, more weathered came from their shared worry about
Scully's safely and health. The newer sprung from shared concern and grief over 
William.

(Continued in part 3)

Part 3
See part 0 for header information.


" You'll like Maggie." Reyes assured her as they buckled the kids into the
rented car seats. " She's very sweet."

Cat shrugged and fished through her purse for the babies' binkies. They were
trying to wean Avery from his but it was such a stressful day that she didn't
have the heart to withhold it. She'd even have let Kyle have one, if she
thought it would make him feel better. Unfortunately, a simple pacifier would
offer him no more peace of mind than her.

" Dana and Fox will keep the boys safe." Reyes voice was quiet, reassuring.
" They'd defend them to the death."

" That's what I'm afraid of." Cat's voice sounded wooden, even to herself.

" I'm sure everything will be fine." Doggett said firmly as they got into the
car. He'd seen Reyes' face, and known she'd been at a complete loss.

***

Maggie greeted them warmly when they arrived a short while later. Being a
mother and grandmother, Maggie's first priority was getting everyone something
to eat. Which was good, since they all discovered that they were starving. As a 
bonus, eating spared them all from having to make awkward small talk until
quite a while later.

After the plates were cleared - Cat and Reyes insisted that they do it, over
Maggie's protests - Doggett took Avery to play in the living room, because the
toddler was full of energy. Doggett also wanted to get away from the somber
atmosphere that had settled in the kitchen.

Delaney was quite content to be cuddled by Maggie and Reyes, but Kyle was both
standoffish to the other women, but clingy to Cat. She didn't blame him in the
slightest, since of her three youngest children, he was the only one old enough 
to have the wherewithal to sense that the adults were worried. When he seemed
near tears again, Cat gathered him up in her arms, and kept him on her lap
while she talked to Maggie.

" This is the hardest on him," Maggie said with a knowing nod over the baby's
head. " It was always that way with Bill jr. when his father went away, back
when my kids were small."

" He's the only one who has any idea where Fox and the older kids are." Cat
agreed. 

Kyle had seemed listless, yet they knew he'd been listening when he croaked.
" I'm scared. I want daddy. I want my brothers."

Maggie smiled at Kyle. " Your daddy and brothers are going to be just fine.
They'll be home in just a few days, and so will you."

" Do you promise?" His voice was small, but his eyes were big.

Cat expected the older woman to equivocate, buy she didn't. " Yes I do. I've
known your Daddy for a long time, Kyle, and I know he'd never miss a Christmas
with his family. And you know that Will's mom, Dana, is my little girl, and
she'd never miss Christmas with me or her brothers either. Since Christmas is a 
week a way, they won't be gone longer than that. I'll help you mark the days on 
the calendar."

He nodded tiredly, but he looked less anxious. Cat wished she could believe
comforting, logical lies too.

**

Meanwhile in New Mexico...

Andrew left them alone in their room for a short while, suggesting that they
unpack, which they did. When he returned, he was accompanied by a younger man
he introduced as Steven. A calm, detached, corner of Mulder's mind thought the
lack of nicknames was interesting, but his fear was so great of the thought
barely had time to register before was gone. It was gone even before Andrew
wandered off.

Steven, who was as taciturn as Andrew, said nothing for length of time, making
them all uncomfortable. This however, allowed Mulder the chance to study the
man. He was dressed, as Andrew was, in what he privately thought of as "preppy
casual." His face was round and boyish, making Mulder wonder why he was there,
instead of on a sunny college campus. Eventually Steven announced that they
would need to go with him. They followed silently.

There were already people in the room and they didn't know where to sit. Steven 
seemed to sense their confusion and pointed out a very pew-like bench for them
to sit at. They started to do so reluctantly. " Not him." Steven said, putting
an arm to stop William from sitting with the rest of his family. His father
shot in a `it safer to corporate' look, but seemed ready to spring to his feet
if William was led out of sight. So, although pale with fear, Will followed
Steven without protest.

Steven did lead him very far, just to the front row of the assembled. This made 
will feel a tiny bit better, but not so much that he didn't crane his neck to
see if his family was still there. A rustling from the stage caught his
attention.

A man stood at a podium and opened the book glitted pages. He began to speak in 
a booming voice " today we shall read from chapter 12 of the book of
Ephram-"

Scully hissed a protest in Mulder's ear. " There is no book of Ephram in the
Bible!"

Mulder shrugged. "He didn't say in the Bible. They probably have their own
books. Written by their own crazy prophets."

The loud man continued "... sayeth a child shall be born the at the end of one
millennium and birth of another. And we shall know him by his parents, who
sideth with our enemies-" Mulder and Scully exchanged glances. "-and we shall
find him when the days of our salvation approach."

" Salvation?" Mulder mouthed in disbelief.

" They will soon return to relieve us of our heavy burden, that of our own
custodialship. Blessed art those who would ease our lives-"

Mulder didn't suspect that the boys understood the sermon until Benji jumped
off the pew and shouted, " It's wrong to keep people for making their own
decisions! That's what our moms and dads teach us to do since we're little. You 
are bad people to want us to be their slaves!"

Mulder grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back onto the pew, but he
was too late. A grim-faced man soon loomed over them. He made no introductions. 
" Interruptions are not allowed. That child-" he pointed a thick finger at
Benji, "-will need to be removed."

Fear gripped Mulder. " Remove to where?"

" Your quarters. The rest of you may stay, or you may go with him. But young
William must stay for the rest of our meeting."

He almost felt relieved, but Benji still looked frightened. Mulder was torn; he 
didn't want to leave Benji or William alone in a strange place. " Would be all
right if I took Benji back and Dana stayed?"

The man nodded, and Mulder expected Owen to follow them but he didn't. Instead, 
he slid down the pew closer to Scully. Scully didn't seem to mind when Mulder
shrugged an apology and left with the nameless man and Benji. As they left she
waved to William because he looked back to see what was going on.  He gave a
small smile when he noticed her.

She couldn't ever remember exactly how what happened next happened, but she
chalked it up to the insidious manner of small children and cats. All she knew
is that she suddenly realized that Owen was curled up against her, and had
wormed his way under one of her arms. It felt odd to be cuddling a child wasn't 
a blood relative, but it wasn't too bad.

William had been nervous during Benji's outburst, since he didn't know what the 
consequences might be. He still didn't when Mulder calmly got up and followed
the grim-faced man spoken to them, but when Scully waved to him, he decided
there couldn't be anything bad going on. His parents might not be good friends, 
but she genuinely seemed to like his little brothers, so he knew she'd really
do her best to protect them the same way she would him.

Relaxing a little, he turned his attention back to the strange sermon.  He
didn't like what he heard any more than Scully did.

" ...to this child, blessith of their gifts, shall serve as our envoy. He shall 
be our beacon of welcome. He is the key, the light, the harbinger of humanity's 
destiny..."

The man continued on for at least another half-hour. By the time William was
allowed to re-joined Scully Owen was fast asleep. She stood and was about to
pick him up but William beat her to it. Though his brother was half his age, he 
was more than half of his height, so even held against William's shoulder the
sleeping child's legs dangled past William's knees. Carrying Owen out, he
looked so much the part of a doting big brother that she felt a deep pang of
regret; he should've grown up a big brother. She saw that now.

** After they ate they were allowed to spend the rest of the night in the
quarters without being bothered by any of the cult members. This didn't, mean
that they relaxed. The kids seemed as stressed as Mulder and Scully felt, and
Owen seemed near tears when he realized that he'd forgotten his teddy bear.
Nothing Mulder said consoled him.

Scully pulled Mulder aside and whispered to him." We can't share a bed, so why
don't you take the large bed and have Owen sleep with you?  It'll probably make 
him feel better."

" If you don't mind bunk beds..."

" It'll be fine."

One crisis was averted, but another seemed to spring up immediately. She threw
her stuff on the bottom of one bunk but to her dismay William ended up with the 
other bottom bunk, and Benji claimed the top. She wouldn't have let an
eight-year-old sleep on the top bunk if it was up to her, but he was Mulder's
son, so she had no say. She did however, offer to give up the other bottom
bunk, but Benji had been aghast at the idea. Soon, everyone was sleeping. 
Except her.

**

Being awake made her feel lonely as she listened to the soft even breathing of
the males in the room. Mulder still didn't snore she noted. "Dana?" a voice out 
of the darkness made her realize that she'd been wrong; there was someone else
still awake.

" You're suppose to call me Mom." she chided. It made her little sad that he
didn't naturally call her mom the way he called Mulder dad. She never should've 
said was okay to call her Dana.

" Mom..." his voice sounded upset, and not about the correction. " When I was a 
baby and all those people died... did I really do it? Did they die because of
something I did?"

" You were just a tiny baby."

" So?" he asked, making her think of cases they'd had on the X-Files involving
child perpetrators. 

" I honestly don't know, William. You could move things with your mind, but
something like that? I don't know. I wouldn't have thought so, but you were so
scared... they say fear can allow people do things they normally couldn't. Who
knows if that extends to things done only with their minds."

" But maybe I did." His voice was heavy. " If you don't know I didn't, then
maybe I did."

That made her feel helpless, almost as helpless as the night in question when
she and Reyes had frantically searched for signs of life. For him. " Yes. But
it equally likely that the aliens, as your father calls them, killed those
people."

She could see him nod in the dark. " I hope they are afraid of me. That they
think I did it. I hope they're afraid of what I could do."

The fierceness of his voice sort of scared her- but it was assuring too; he
wasn't completely cowed by the captors.

" Even if you'd been able to do things once, your uncle gave you a shot that
took away... your powers and made you normal."

Nodding in the dark, William didn't feel all that normal, but he supposed he
was.

TO BE CONTINUED

But, if you want to see what the kids look like, you can here
http://www.geocities.com/mulderscreek/onlyb.html