By Vickie Moseley
vickiemoseley1978@yahoo.com

Summary:  Changes come, life moves on.  But
could it all be swept away?
Category:  Post The Truth, married fic
Rating:  PG 13
Disclaimer:  I think the copyrights of 10-13
Productions and FOX are still intact so I'm still not
making any money.
Author's notes:  This is a much longer piece in the
Flight into Egypt universe and it would be best if
the readers found the first five stories on my
website http://vickiemoseley.freeservers.com to get
up to speed.  It will be posted one part every week
until all ten parts are posted.   Total number of parts
subject to change, if I get too wordy.
Feedback to vickiemoseley1978@yahoo.com
Dedicated to 'Dana', Dawn, and Ba for all your help.
I love you!

Flight into Egypt:  Remembrance (6 of 10)
by Vickie Moseley

Hale Household
9:06 am

Father and son were in the backyard, amid a
glorious summer morning.  The yard had been
transformed recently.  Although considerable
lumber and construction equipment was taking up
the front yard, the backyard now looked like a Little
League Baseball camp, complete with paced off
bases.  Mulder and William stood on the pitchers
mound.

"OK, sport, now Dad wants to teach you the fine art
of the knuckleball," Mulder said with a wink as he
knelt down beside his son.

"Chuckleball," William repeated incorrectly, but
with all the seriousness of the answer to a question
on an orals review.

"Knuckle, William.  Knuckleball.  See, see how
Daddy has his knuckles right up against the ball?
And when you throw the ball, it doesn't spin so it
flies funny.  Like this," he said, giving the ball a
pitch and the two, father and son, watched it wobble
through the air toward the net backstop Mulder had
ordered from the internet.  "See?  Did you see how
it went all wiggy?  The pitcher won't know what's
coming at him.  He'll think it's going way over out
of his strike zone so he won't swing at it."

William nodded solemnly.  "Can I try, Daddy?"

"Sure thing, son.  Here, just give me your hand."
Mulder took the small boy's hand and tried to
fashion the fingers around the Rawlings leather ball
in the traditional knuckle grip, but soon discovered
there was a growth issue involved.  William's
toddler hands were small and the fingers were still
too stubby to get around the ball.  "Well, maybe
we'll have to practice it on a tennis ball for a while.
Let's go find one of those fuzzy green balls Mommy
uses when she plays with Aunt Mary."

"Are you intending on going to class today?" Scully
called from the back door to the kitchen.

"Aw, Mom.  Can't you call me in sick?" Mulder
shot back with a wide grin.  Scully made a face at
him and retreated back into the kitchen.

"Daddy, are you sick?" William asked anxiously as
he looked up at his father.

"No, buddy, no.  I just wanted to play hooky.  Stay
home and play with you," Mulder answered
truthfully, then realized that probably wasn't the
best answer because it might lead to more
questions.

"But you have to teach class so the students can
learn," William countered, his expression just as
solemn as when he was concentrating on the
knuckleball technique.

"I know, I know.  But sometimes, when the day is
this pretty and warm and you've got a good friend to
play with -- "

"I'm the good friend, right?" Will asked hopefully.

"You're my best friend, buddy," Mulder answered,
lifting his son up into his arms.  "You and your
Mom and your sisters.  You are all my best friends.
My best friends and my family.  I love you so
much," he added, hugging the boy close.

"You're my best friend, Daddy," William agreed.

They made their way into the kitchen, which was
organized chaos at that moment.  Meg had Sammi
in the infant bathtub on the kitchen table, the baby
was cooing as she splashed in the water.  Scully was
sitting at the table, talking to Missy, who was
nursing again.  Occasionally a workman would
come through to fill his coffee thermos and head
back to the construction on the far end of the house.

"You'd been get moving or you'll be late," Scully
warned.  "It's already after 9."

"I'm always the first one there," Mulder pointed out
as he started to fill his own travel mug with coffee
but noticed the carafe only had half a cup.  "What
happened to the coffee?"

"I can't have all those men working back there and
not offer them coffee," Scully said as if it were
perfectly self-evident.  "Here, you can take the rest
of mine."

"It's decaf," Mulder whined.  "And you put milk in
it," he added with a frown.

"I made a new pitcher of tea just a few minutes ago.
It's in the fridge," Meg offered with a grin.

"You're a life saver, Meggie," Mulder told her and
went about filling his travel mug with iced tea.

William came up behind Mulder and hugged him
around the legs.  "Play hooky, Daddy," he begged.

"I would, buddy, but I really need to get to class.
You can stay and play with Meg.  How does that
sound?"

"Meggie's my friend," Will told his father.

"And you are my friend," Meg told the little boy
with a smile.

"This is just a very friendly place," Mulder
pronounced and looked around for his briefcase,
which he finally found next to the front door.
Scully was behind him, carrying Missy, who was
still nursing.

"Doesn't that hurt, doing that while you're
walking?" Mulder asked with a wince.

"Not at all.  As a matter of fact, Mulder, women
long ago used to carry their babies with them into
the fields as they worked."

He leaned in close, so that only Scully could hear.
"Bet you couldn't autopsy like that," he said with a
smirk.

"Try me," she countered with a self-satisfied grin
and gave him a kiss goodbye.

"I will, later.  I'm late.  Love you!" he called as he
bounded down the front porch steps.

It was a forty minute drive on a nice day, when
Mulder was fairly certain the Montana Highway
Patrol wasn't watching, so he made it just in time to
get to his class and set up the projector and DVD.
Soon, the classroom was filled with students,
mostly girls, he now noted after his conversation
with Scully a few mornings before.  "All right
people, wipe the sleep out of your eyes, break out
the jujubes and Mike and Ikes, we have a classic on
our hands.  I found '13 Ghosts' -- the original, not
that crummy remake, on Netflix the other night.
Remember, we're analyzing the plot -- "

"Plot?  What plot?" joked a tan young man in the
second row.

"Very funny, Mr. Andrews," Mulder retorted in a
perfect deadpan.  "If you can keep your eyes off
Ms. Halstrom halter top and up here on the screen
for the length of the movie, I think you will find that
there is indeed a plot, and a pretty complex one.
Mr. Bailey, if you would be so kind as to hit the
lights?"

An hour and a half later, there was a loud gasp as
Mulder turned off the DVD right at a particularly
suspenseful moment.  "That's all the time we have
today, kiddies.  We'll finish this up on Thursday."

"Dr. Hale, has anyone ever told you that you're a
sadist?" asked the young Mr. Andrews.

"If you're that into the movie, Jared, just rent it.  Or
better yet, show up on Thursday.  Seems like you
have a problem getting to both classes during the
week," Mulder said, folding his arms.

"I work on Wednesday nights," the young man
admitted with a blush.  "I only oversleep on
Thursdays."

"Hey, I tended bar to get through college, too.  I
know it's rough, but sometimes you just have to
drag your sorry -- butt -- out of bed and get to class,
ya know," Mulder commiserated.

A young lady with a flower tube top and cut off
jeans waited for him at the door.  "Dr. Hale, I lost
my syllabus," she said with a sorrowful expression.

"Did I just give you one last week, Lindsay?"
Mulder asked as he walked down the hall of the
academic building, with the girl trailing behind him.

"You did, but I put it in my car and I think my little
brother made it into spit ball.  I need another one,"
she said with a hopeful smile.

Mulder shook his head and opened the door to the
English Department offices.  The Department
secretary, Miss Jenkins, looked up quickly when
they entered the room.

"Lindsay needs another syllabus, Miss Jenkins,"
Mulder said as he headed toward the little office
that was assigned to him and another professor.

"Dr. Hale, when you have a minute?" Miss Jenkins
said formally.  Mulder was still getting used to Miss
Jenkins.  He suspected the woman was older than
many of the buildings on campus.  The professor he
shared his office with had jokingly said the old bat
was actually the ghost of the former Department
secretary who simply refused to leave her post.

He dropped his briefcase on his desk and grimaced.
Whenever he had to deal with Miss Jenkins he
could never shake the feeling he was being called to
the principal's office.  Or called on the carpet in
Skinner's office.

That thought caused a twinge in his chest.  He'd
never burdened Scully, but she wasn't the only one
who sometimes missed their old life.  He often
wondered how AD Skinner had fared since their last
meeting, provided the man had even survived the
backlash that had caused the disappearance of DD
Kersh from the FBI org chart he'd found on line.
He'd noticed that AD Skinner's name was not
among the phone listings.  That saddened him more
than he was willing to admit.

"Dr. Hale?" Miss Jenkins called.  He realized he'd
been woolgathering while the 'old bat' was waiting.
It was time to face the music.

"Yes, Miss Jenkins?  If it's about replacing the
carafe to the coffeemaker, I promise, I'll pick up a
new one before next week."

"Oh, yes, the carafe.  Thank you, but that's not why
I needed to talk to you," she said primly.  "There
was a gentleman here earlier today asking for you."

"A man?  Asking for me?  A student or maybe a
parent?"  For some reason, it disturbed Mulder
greatly that someone had been looking for him.  If
Scully had been around she would have accused
him of being 'Spooky' again.

"Yes.  A nice gentleman, fifties, I would say.  He
wore a nice suit but was terribly wrinkled.  Bald,
wire rimmed glasses . . ."

Mulder's heart froze in his chest.  The description
Miss Jenkins had given was Walter Skinner.  But
could it really be Walter Skinner?  He'd seen too
much to take things at face value.  But if it really
was Skinner, what was he doing here, in Montana?
"Did he leave a name?" he asked anxiously.

"No, he didn't, though I did ask.  He said he would
be by later, after class.  I directed him to the student
center for coffee, since our coffee pot is inoperable
at the moment," she said and went back to her
typing.

"Um, thanks."  Mulder turned and went back to his
office.  He sat at his desk with the lights still off.
What should he do?  Call Scully?  Leave?  Go
home, pack up the kids and the five of them head
for the hills, Canada, Mexico, anywhere they could
drive until they ran out of land?

But on the other hand, what if it really was Skinner
and he needed their help?  Could he run from their
old boss?  Could he deny anything to the man who'd
risked his career and his life to save Mulder from
certain death?

Nervously, he chewed on his bottom lip and
watched the door.  When it opened a few minutes
later, he jumped a foot and then forced himself to
relax.

"If you don't mind taking a seat, I'll see if Dr. Hale
is in," Miss Jenkins said formally.  Mulder could
hear them plainly.  Hell, anyone in the outer office
could probably hear Mulder's heart pounding in his
chest.  Miss Jenkins tapped on the doorframe, since
he'd inadvertently left the door open and smiled
thinly at him.

"Your visitor is here, Dr. Hale," she said and stood
aside.  Mulder nodded, wiped his sweating palms on
his pants legs and rose stiffly.  He walked slowly
toward the outer office and Jenkins gave him a look
that bordered on impatient disgust.  He cleared his
throat and looked at the man sitting in one of the
waiting room chairs.

Walter Skinner had been watching the door to the
hallway when Mulder entered, but he jerked his
head around and up to face the young man.  For a
moment, neither moved, neither spoke.  Then,
slowly, Skinner rose to his feet.  He seemed
nervous, almost as nervous as Mulder felt.
Carefully, he extended his hand.  Holding it so that
Miss Jenkins didn't notice, a small cut probably
made by a penknife, marred the surface of his index
finger.  A tiny drop of bright red blood hung to the
edge of the cut.  Mulder's breath caught in his throat
and his fought the urge to touch the blood.  Their
eyes met and Mulder nodded.  "If you could join
me?" he said, jerking his head toward the door to
his office.

"Certainly, Dr. Hale," Skinner replied and smiled
wanly at Miss Jenkins, who was already back at her
typing.

Mulder led the way into the office and then moved
to close the door.  As soon as the door shut, both
men let out a breath of relief.  "Sir, what are you
doing here?"

"Mulder, my god, I never thought, I didn't think I'd
ever find you," Skinner said in a rushed whisper.

"How did you find me?" Mulder asked tersely.

"You bought a house.  The information was slipped
to me."

"In DC?" Mulder prodded.

"No, in Los Angeles.  It's a long story."

Mulder crossed his arms.  "I have time."

Skinner remembered the other times he'd felt like
this, under Mulder's microscope.  He knew the
younger man trusted him, probably as much as he
trusted anyone aside from Dana Scully, but that
wasn't saying much.  Skinner looked around the
room, wondering if that was the best place for their
discussion.  Suddenly, he eyes rested on a framed
photograph on the windowsill beside Mulder's desk.

In the picture, a smiling Mulder sat beside a radiant
Scully, his arm around her waist.  William was
perched on his father's knee, mugging it up for the
camera.  Scully's lap was taken up by a bulging
maternity dress; her face was full, as it had been
when she was carrying William.

Mulder watched the reaction on his former boss's
face.  "That was taken on our anniversary," he said
with a fond smile.

"Anniversary?  You're married?" Skinner asked.

Mulder winced.  "Not exactly.  Scully has decided
that we -- well, we treat March 6 as our anniversary.
People around here think we've been married 12
years."

Skinner frowned without understanding and then he
slowly nodded.  "That was the day Scully was
assigned to the X Files, wasn't it?"

"The day after, actually.  It was the day we left for
Oregon, on our first case," Mulder corrected.

In the darkened room, Skinner wiped at his eye and
cleared his throat.   "You both -- all three of you
look very happy," he said.  "You had twins?  Twin
girls?"

Mulder looked at Skinner warily.

"The same way I found out about the house,"
Skinner explained with a shrug.

"Which means you aren't the only one who knows,"
Mulder said flatly.

"I had to do some digging to find you, Mulder.  And
it was a long shot."  Skinner was suddenly very
tired.  He sat heavily on the old battered couch
along the wall.  "I went to the Van de Kamps," he
said evenly.  "Gibson Praise was there.  He told me
William was gone and he believed he was with
you."

"The Van de Kamps were clones," Mulder said,
perching on the edge of his desk.  Skinner raised his
eyebrow and Mulder shrugged on shoulder.  "I can't
tell you how we got there, how we found him.  I just
. . . I had a little help from above.  But when we
arrived, there were two puddles of green goo on the
floor, and I found William in a crib in the basement.
It looked like they'd built the nursery down there on
purpose.  I think the rock walls of the basement had
magnetite in them.  There was a hole in the wall
near the crib."

"My god," Skinner gasped.

"We must have just missed the action, because
William was screaming but he was fine.  Not
dehydrated or anything.  He was hungry."  Mulder
smiled at the memory of their first stop and
discovering that Scully's milk had come back in.
"We didn't stick around to ask questions."

"The farm was burned to the ground, recently from
the looks of it.  For a while, I thought he was still
there, that they had been burned in the fire," Skinner
explained.  He looked back up at Mulder.  "Clones?
How could that be?  I made the contacts, I made
sure that everything was handled --"

"Sir, Walter, you can't blame yourself.  Even if they
were clones, they were taking good care of him.  I
sometimes wonder if they were just waiting for us
to come get him.  But the others, those hybrids -- "

"The supersoldiers," Skinner interrupted.

"Whatever they are, like Rohrer, they must have
gotten there first.  But they didn't touch him.  He
was perfect.  Still, we got as far away from there as
we could that first day.  We came north and settled
here."

"You've been here all this time, two years?"

Mulder nodded.  "We thought we were off their
radar," he said sadly.

"Something has been happening.  The men who
were on your jury, the ones Gibson told us weren't
human, they're systematically being killed."

"What's been turned up during the investigations?"
Mulder asked, leaning forward with interest.

"That's just it.  There haven't been any
investigations.  It's being covered up.  They just
cease to exist.  They have no families to put up any
protest.  They're names are removed -- it's like they
never existed."

"But within the Bureau -- " Mulder blurted,
confusion plain on his face.

"I don't know what to tell you, Mulder.  I'm no
longer in a position to know what goes on at the
top," Skinner said, holding his hands out in a sign of
resigned frustration.

"They didn't fire you, did they?"

"No.  Worse.  They put me in VCS as an agent.  I'm
not even allowed in the field.  Remember your old
duty on background checks?"  He waited for the
young man to grimace and nod.  "I think I have
your old chair."

"Damn it," Mulder huffed out a curse.

"Look, I came to warn you as much as to see you
again.  I knew that if you were here, had been here
long enough to settle in, that you wouldn't be
expecting anyone to come after you now."

Mulder rubbed his face with his left hand.  "I want
you to come back home with me."

Skinner shook his head.  "No, Mulder, that would
be too dangerous.  The last murder occurred in Los
Angeles.  Agent Kallenbrunner and I both witnessed
it."

At the former prosecutor's name, Mulder flinched.

"It's all right.  We're sort of on the same side.  At
first I thought he might be in danger, that the
murderer might come after everyone at the trial.
But when Galbriath was killed in LA, I chased the
killer down an alley.  He had every opportunity to
kill me.  But he didn't."

"Maybe someone scared him off," Mulder
suggested.

"No, he even spoke to me, right before he punched
my lights out.  He told me to go home, before I got
hurt."

"Not the usual greeting card of a killer," Mulder
mused.

"My thought precisely.  But he might be following
me now and I can't risk leading him to your home.
Not with Scully and the little ones there."

Mulder chewed on his lip and then reached behind
him to grab the phone.  Hastily he dialed a couple of
numbers and pursed his lips, waiting for the pick up
on the other end.

"Scully, it's me.  I've got someone in my office who
doesn't know the meaning of the words 'you're
coming home with me.'  Do you think you could
persuade him?"  He then handed the phone over to
Skinner with a shit-eating grin.

Skinner's eyes flared as he took the phone and put it
to his ear.  "Scully, it's Walter.  Walter Skinner."
He had to hold the phone out to avoid a busted
eardrum.  He tried, unsuccessfully, to get a word in
edgewise, but in the end, he was nodding, even
though the other party couldn't see him do it.

"Yes, of course.  But I don't want to be a bother --
No, that' wasn't what I was implying.  No, I'll be
there.  We'll be leaving -- " he looked up at Mulder
for a time and the man glanced at his watch and
held up three fingers.  " -- three o'clock, I guess.
Yes, I'll do that."  He glared at Mulder as he handed
him the phone.  "You set me up."

"Sure as shootin'," Mulder said with a smile.  He
took the phone and talked to his partner for a few
brief minutes and then hung up with an "I love
you."

"Well, I have a class in an hour, so let's head over to
the local McDonald's and I'll let you spring for
lunch.  Then, you're welcome to hang out here, or
sit in the class."

"What are you teaching?  Psychology?" Skinner
asked, following Mulder out of the office.

"English.  I have two sections this summer.  Intro to
novels and Horror movies: fact or fiction."

Skinner rolled his eyes and shook his head.  "Why
am I not surprised?"

end of part 6

~~~

Hale Household
4:00 pm

"Honey, I'm home," Mulder quipped as he ushered
Skinner into the house.  "And I brought the boss
home with me.  Remember, no witchcraft."

Skinner just rolled his eyes.  Mulder was enjoying
himself too much.  Suddenly, from the hallway, a
ball of blue and red streaked across the floor and
attached itself to Mulder's leg.

"Hi Daddy!" squealed William, hugging on for dear
life as Mulder tried to walk with the new appendage
on his leg.

"Hey, buddy!  Did you have fun today?" Mulder
asked.  Will nodded vigorously.  "Good.  I want you
to meet someone."

Will looked up and noticed that his father was not
alone.  His eyes grew to the size of saucers and he
sidestepped his way around Mulder's legs until he
was peeking out from behind them.  Skinner tried to
look as non-threatening as possible.

Mulder saw his son's reaction and smiled.  "He's not
used to a lot of people.  We have some friends and
Scully and I take him to church, but we're pretty
isolated out here."

"I understand," Skinner said casually.

Mulder knelt down so that he was eye-level with the
boy.  "William, remember Mommy and me telling
you stories about where we used to live and the
people there?"  The little boy was chewing on his
bottom lip, an exact replica of his father under
stress, but he nodded in acknowledgement.  "Well,
this is Walter Skinner."

At that, William's eyes lit up and he smiled a big
toothy grin.  "Uncle Walter!" he cried out and
lunched toward Skinner's legs, almost knocking the
man over in the process.

Skinner was stunned, but recovered quickly and
picked the child up into his arms.  "Hi, William.
Boy, you sure have grown since the last time I saw
you."

"I was a baby!" William confirmed.  "We used to
live far away, but now we live here by the Old
Man."

Skinner looked over at Mulder for interpretation.
"The mountain behind the house.  During certain
times of the day it sort of looks like an old man,"
Mulder explained.  Skinner nodded.

"Walter?"  At the sound of her voice, Skinner jerked
his head up and saw Scully standing in the doorway,
a smile on her face.

Scully looked years younger than he last
remembered.  Her hair was longer, pulled back in a
ponytail that made her look like a teenager.  She
was wearing denim pants cut just below her knees
and a loose shirt that looked like it could have
belonged to Mulder, the sleeves rolled to her elbows
and the shirttails knotted at her waist.  This was not
the world-weary traveler who had begged his help
to save her partner's life on that night two years ago.
This woman was whole and happy.

"Walter," she said again and this time stepped
forward to encircle his waist in a hug.  She looked
up at him and smiled.  "You're a sight for sore eyes.
C'mon, dinner's almost ready.  I made beef stew and
biscuits."

"I thought that's what I smelled," Mulder grinned
appreciatively.  "C'mon, buddy.  Let's show Uncle
Walt where he can wash up."

They had just finished dinner, Skinner couldn't
remember when he'd last tasted food, much less
enjoyed it so much, when the small radio on the
cabinet let out an ear-piercing squeal.

"Sammi's awake," William said knowingly.

When a second cry joined the first, he smiled
brightly.  "Missy's awake, too, Mommy," he told his
mother.

"How is it they always seem to know when we're
eating?" Mulder groused as Scully pushed away
from the table.

"They are your daughters, Mulder.  They probably
smell the food," she said.  "You guys finish up.
Meggie made banana cake this afternoon.  Will,
show Daddy where you helped her put the cake.  I'll
be down when I get them fed."

"Call when you want to come down.  I'll help
carry," Mulder called to her retreating back.

"The cake is in the pantie, Daddy," Will said,
pointing to the back of the kitchen.

"Pant-REE, Will.  I'll get it.  Can you get little
plates and clean forks?"

Will nodded and scurried over to the cupboard.  He
pushed a step stool into place and scrambled up it,
allowing him to reach the requested plates.
Carefully, he counted.  "One - two - three -- Daddy,
do I count Mommy?"

"You know Mommy loves banana cake, Will.
Better count her, too," Mulder answered.

Skinner watched in awe.  Mulder carried a metal
cake pan over to the table and pulled a spatula from
the crock sitting next to the stove.  By this time Will
had placed the plates and forks on the table and had
already crawled up into his booster seat,
anticipation on his chubby face.  Mulder looked
over at his former superior and raised an eyebrow.

"Something wrong, Walt?" he asked, concerned.

"I just . . . I just didn't . . . I don't know what I
expected but -- "  Skinner was having trouble
putting his feelings into words.  "I guess I thought
you'd be in hiding."

"Living in ratty motels, changing hair color each
time we moved, never staying in one place more
than a week or two?" Mulder supplied.

Skinner looked up abruptly and held Mulder's gaze.
"Yeah, I guess so."

Mulder cut the cake and placed a small piece on one
plate, placing it in front of William.  He cut three
larger pieces and placed them each on plates,
handing one to Skinner and keeping one for
himself.  He put the last piece at Scully's place for
her return.  "We did, you know," he said after he'd
sat down, his cake untouched.

Skinner kept silent, eating his cake, but looked over
at Mulder.

"That first night, after we'd had the run in with that
black lunged -- you know who and we'd escaped the
black helicopters, we ended up in a motel in
Roswell."  Skinner cracked a smile as Mulder
continued.  "We fully intended to hit the road the
next day and keep running, just as you thought we
did."

"What changed your mind?" Skinner asked.

Mulder's eyes drifted over to his son and his lips
formed a soft, fond smile.  "We'd forgotten to pack
something," he said simply.

"But how . . . how did you find . . .?"  Skinner didn't
want to say too much in front of the boy, it was
obvious this 'little pitcher' had inherited his father's
'big ears', not to mention an innate intelligence from
both his parents.

"I had a dream, a vision, I don't know what you
would call it.  My father and Scully's, they came to
me and told me where to find . . . what we were
missing most.  I drove straight there, the next day.  I
didn't even tell Scully for fear it might just have
been a stupid dream, that it wasn't real.  But he was
there, as I told you, in that basement.  God, I'd never
been so happy and so scared in my life," Mulder
admitted with a smile.  "And that was it.  That
night, the second night we were on the run, I was
told to come here.  I didn't know what I'd find,
didn't know how we were going to fit in.  It just all
worked."

Skinner pulled off his glasses on the pretense of
cleaning them, but Mulder caught him wiping his
eyes when the older man thought he wasn't looking.
"I'm glad.  I hated the thought that . . . well, let's be
honest, you two had been through more circles of
hell -- "

"'Heck,' Uncle Walter.  Mommy don't like naughty
words," William advised him in hushed tones.

Skinner bit the inside of his cheek to keep from
laughing.  "No, I seem to remember that about your
mother," he agreed.

Skinner helped Mulder and Will clean up after
dinner.  Scully called down a little while after and
Mulder ran up the stairs to help her carry the twins
down to see their 'Uncle Walter' too.  The three
adults talked quietly while Mulder rocked one baby
and Scully held the other, Will playing with Legos
at their feet.  When the clock on the mantel chimed
8 o'clock, Will started to whine.  "I wanna stay up
with Uncle Walter," he said, rubbing his eye with
one little fist.

"Uncle Walter will be here in the morning.  Maybe
you can show him how to make oatmeal," Mulder
suggested, lifting the small boy up onto his
shoulders.  "Tell Uncle Walter 'good night'."

"'Night, Uncle Walter."

"I'll be back to help with the girls in a minute,"
Mulder said as he headed for the stairs.

"Can I help?" Skinner asked, almost afraid they
might take him up on the offer.

"Sure," Scully said easily.  "Here, you take Missy
and I'll take Sammi," she told him.  Carefully, she
placed the infant in Skinner's large hands.  He was
immediately enraptured by the tiny life he held so
close to his heart.

"She's so light," he commented.

"Thank heavens," Scully said breezily.  "Believe
me, they felt like a lead balloon those last few
weeks before delivery."

Skinner ended up being pressed into service reading
William 'Dinosaur's Blanket', a story the boy knew
by heart and kept encouraging the former Assistant
Director when the man stumbled over the phrasing.
Finally, with nightlights on and kisses given, all was
quiet upstairs and the adults retreated to the living
room.

"So you think they were supersoldiers?" Scully
asked, sitting cross-legged on the sofa next to
Mulder.

"I don't know what they were, Scully.  I just know
that they've been in positions of power within the
Bureau for the last two years.  And now, they're
being systematically eliminated."

"Like the Smiths?  Like the Igor clones?" Mulder
mused aloud.

"The supersoldiers could only be killed by
magnetite and even then it takes incredible
concentrations.  Still, why would there be one man -
- "

"Maybe not a man, Scully," Mulder interrupted.

"OK," she agreed with a frown, "one 'entity' going
after all of them.  From what I gathered there were
hundreds all over the world.  Maybe even
thousands."

"I don't know," Skinner said with a frustrated growl
as he leaned against the fireplace.  "I can only report
what I know and what I saw with my own eyes."

Scully smiled at him.  "I know the feeling," she said
with a wink.  She turned serious and looked over at
her partner.  "Do you think he'll come for William?"

Mulder closed his eyes and let his head fall back
against the sofa.  "It's possible.  Maybe even
probable.  Tell me more about this Josepho
character, the one who tried to take William," he
said to Scully.

She shook her head.  "No, no, I won't accept that
they're connected," she said emphatically.

"Scully, they're killing supersoldiers.  You were
told once that William was thought to be -- "

"No!  Mulder, he's your son.  Your DNA.  He's not
an experiment!"

"Scully, the experiment claim was just a red
herring.  I know he's mine, I see me in his looks, his
attitude and I'm not talking the fact that he's around
me to mimic me.  But think about my life before
William was conceived.  I was infected with the
alien virus, not once but twice.  That could have
changed my DNA.  I was so profoundly affected by
the rubbings on that spacecraft that I almost died.  I
had a growth in my brain, Scully.  And we never
knew what they did to you, not entirely.  Yes, they
took your ova, but not all of them, as we've proven
twice already.  Maybe they weren't harvesting as we
thought.  Maybe they were pruning, so that only the
right ova remained."

Tears were streaming down her face as she glared at
Mulder.  "They are our babies, Mulder.  How can
you talk about them -- "

He softened and pulled her into an embrace,
stroking her hair.  "I know they are our babies.  I
love them.  I would die for them, just as I would die
for you.  I'm not saying they're freaks, I'm saying
they're special.  And the qualities that make them
special could also put them in danger."

"What are you saying?" she asked, pulling back to
meet his gaze.

"Maybe we should consider leaving.  Moving on."

"Running," she said flatly.

"For a while.  Just until we think it's safe," he
offered.  At that, she hugged him again and the tears
started once more.

"Jeff Spender said he cured William," Scully
sobbed into his shirt.

"But what about the dream?" Mulder whispered.
"The bad dream William had just a few nights ago."

"Daddy, Mommy?"  All three adults looked up
suddenly as William appeared, sleepy eyed, in the
doorway to the living room.

"Hey, buddy," Mulder said.  Scully sat up and
Mulder opened his arms to the boy.  "C'mere.  Did
we wake you?"

William shook his head, but crawled up on Mulder's
lap.  Scully had turned away, wiping her eyes
before turning to smile at her son and ruffle his hair.

"Too much excitement, having Uncle Walter here,
huh, Sweetheart?"

"No, Mommy.  Missy and Sam woke me."

Scully looked over at the baby monitor on the side
table and frowned.  "We didn't hear them."

"No," William said, with the same exasperated look
Mulder often affected.  "Not the babies.  The other
Missy and Sam.  The ladies!"

Mulder drew in a deep breath and licked his lips.
"What did they say this time, Will?" he asked
cautiously.

"They said to tell you to stay here.  It will all be
OK."

Scully glanced over at Mulder.  He shook his head
from side to side.  Skinner watched them and waited
for an explanation.  When one wasn't forthcoming,
he spoke up.

"Ladies?  What's he talking about?"

"It's late, buddy.  Daddy will take you up to bed and
tuck you in."

"Daddy, they said we'd be OK.  We just have to
believe," the little boy insisted as his father hefted
him in his arms and started walking toward the
stairs.  "And they said to tell Mommy not to cry."

Scully bit her lip but kept silent.  She waved a timid
good night to her son and blew him a quick kiss.

"Scully?" Skinner asked when they heard Mulder's
heavy footsteps in the upstairs hall.

"He has dreams, Walter.  We think . . . we think
maybe he has visitations."

"Visitations?  That sounds religious," Skinner said
slowly.

"Visitations from his dead aunts.  You do the math,"
Scully said wearily.

"And what he was talking about -- about staying
here?  That came from . . ."

"My sister Melissa and Mulder's sister Samantha,"
Scully said, drawing in a deep breath.

Skinner's jaw dropped open.  "You aren't suggesting
-- "

"Still can't believe, Walter?" Scully teased with a
sad smile.  "Yes, I am suggesting.  I've had a visit
myself."

Mulder rejoined them, settling back on the sofa and
drawing Scully back toward him to rest against his
shoulder.  "So, I guess that handles that problem."

"We have to believe," Scully said putting her hand
on his chest and straightening up.  "But we don't
have to wait here like sitting ducks."

"You want to get reinforcements?" Mulder asked.

"I think we should call Kallenbrunner," Skinner said
quietly.

Anger flashed in Scully's eyes.  "No, not him.  He's
a . . . a . . . that rat -- "

"Watch those naughty words, Mommy," Mulder
teased.  When she flashed a glare in his directions
he held up his hands in surrender.  "The man was
just doing his job, Scully."

"The Nuremburg Defense, Mulder?  How lame!"
she growled with a huff.  "No, I don't trust him."

"Then who?" Skinner asked impatiently.

"Do you want to call Doggett?" Mulder offered.

She shook her head.  "No, I don't think we could get
him up to speed fast enough and besides, he would
never believe half of what we know.  No."

"Well, I don't think Joe and Mary C. would be much
help," Mulder said through gritted teeth.  "They
aren't trained and I don't want to put them in
danger."

"Scully, I know you don't like Peter Kallenbrunner.
Hell, I don't like him, either.  But he did help me in
Los Angeles.  And I think he's come to understand
what his role was in that trial.  I think he regrets his
actions.  For the record, he believes what you said
on the witness stand, at least he does now."

"You trust him, Walter?" she asked.  "You trust him
with my babies lives?"  Her hard expression and
dark eyes warned him to tread carefully.

"Yes, Dana.  Yes, I do.  I think he can help us."

She nodded once and licked her lips.  "OK.  Call
him.  We need him here by tomorrow."

Mulder showed Skinner where the phone was in the
kitchen and he quickly placed the call.  In a few
minutes, he was back.  "He got a flight, he'll arrive
at Helena airport at 11 tomorrow."

"I'll pick him up," Mulder said.  "You stay here with
Scully."

"You sure?" Skinner asked.

"I know these roads better than you, Walt.  I'll get
there faster and be back faster," Mulder said with a
thin smile.

"Walter, have you talked to m-my mom?" Scully
asked, her voice cracking a bit under the stress.

Walter sat down near Scully and took her hand.  "I
have.  We talk from time to time.  We went together
to Arlington Cemetery to, um, well -- "

"When?  What day?" Scully asked.

"May 19, the anniversary, well, it's what has been
put on the stones," Skinner explained with some
embarrassment.

"The day the twins were born," Scully said with a
sigh.

"She knows, Scully," Skinner told her.  "She called
me, just a day ago.  She had a dream and you and
Mulder were holding the babies.  She knows you're
safe."

"I want to call her so badly," Scully said, tears
running down her cheeks.  "I miss her so much."

Mulder pulled his partner back against him again.
"You can, Scully.  You can call her.  Just as soon as
this is all over."

~~~
 

Hale (Mulder) Household
9:15 am

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with
you?"  Scully asked, biting her bottom lip.  She had
been hovering around Mulder all morning, when
she wasn't taking care of the kids or forcing more
food down Skinner's throat.  He saw it as a defense
mechanism, so Mulder was willing to forgive and
forget, but he knew they needed to talk.

"Take a walk with me," he said suddenly, grabbing
her hand and leading her to the front door.

"The kids," she reminded him.

"We aren't going far.  Meg is with the girls and I
think Uncle Walter has Will under control."

Scully snickered at that.  "More like the other way
around," she whispered, so as not to be overheard
by the big man in the living room, squatting on the
floor playing Legos with the small boy.

"We're just going outside for a moment, Walter.  I
won't be far," she said loud enough to be heard over
the growling sounds William was making as he
showed off his latest creation:  a bright red
dinosaur.

"We're fine, Dana," Skinner called back, not
bothering to look up as he tried to disconnect two
blocks that seemed to be permanently locked
together.

The sunshine greeted them warmly as they stepped
off the porch.  The air was full of the scent of
freshly cut wood and the off-putting aroma of paint
thinner and other construction site smells.  They
could hear the men shouting to each other from the
work going on at the back of the house.  Mulder
pulled her along until they were walking through
the trees to the right of the mowed front lawn.
There was a little wash back there that turned into a
creek in the spring rains.  It still had a trickle of
water in it.

"Mulder, I don't want to go far," she warned.

"I can still see the house," he told her.  Then he
pulled her into an embrace.  "Now, tell me all about
it."

She breathed in and sighed.  "I just don't like you
going to the airport to pick up that . . . that . . ."

"His name is Kallenbrunner," Mulder reminded her
with twinkling eyes.

"I was trying to come up with a suitable four-letter
word and none were coming to mind," she retorted.

He laughed and hugged her harder.  "If there is one
thing I'm sure of, it's my ability to handle
Kallenbrunner."

She pushed against him so she could see his face.
"It never occurred to you that this could be an
elaborate set up?"

He frowned.  "Skinner would never -- "

She put her finger to his lips to interrupt him and
allow her to explain.  "No, Walter would never do
that.  But if Walter is being manipulated . . .
Mulder, if this was some plot to find us, to find you,
wouldn't it make the most sense to use someone we
trust to carry out the deed?"

He thought about that for a moment.  "I just don't
think -- "

"Well, at least that hasn't changed," she huffed and
broke from his arms to reach down and pick up
pebbles from the edge of the stream.  There wasn't
enough water to skip stones as she wanted, but they
did make a satisfying 'plop' as she tossed them one
by one into the little pool by her feet.

"Hey, I don't think I deserved that," he said crossly.
"I have been thinking."

"Mulder, you run head long into every dangerous
situation you come across!"

He looked at her in silent frustration and finally
reached down to pick up some of the water-
smoothed stones.  His 'plops' were louder because
they carried more force than hers.  "The last two
years -- "

"The last two years _began_ because you had to
single-handedly infiltrate Mt. Weather," she
reminded him.  "And for what?  A date.  A date that
may or may not lead to the invasion of alien
colonizers."

"Oh, so now we get to the real issue," he growled.
"Scully, I thought you believed me.  Remember the
night in Roswell?"

She turned to him, her eyes shining with tears.  "I
will never forget the night we spent in Roswell.  But
Mulder, don't you see?  If they take you, if they kill
you as they most certainly will do this time, how am
I supposed to go on?"

"If William and the girls are in danger, how am I
supposed to sit by and let something happen to
them?" he asked softly, pulling her to him again.
They just stood there, holding each other for several
heartbeats.  "You need to stay here with the kids.  I
could take Walter, but I want you to have the
manpower.  I really don't think I'll be in danger.  I
think Kallenbrunner is just as scared as we are right
now.  He was an unwitting participant in the trial,
Scully.  He had no idea what was going on."

"He could have stopped it," she said, looking up to
capture his gaze.  "He was a former prosecutor.  He
knew what they were doing was wrong."

"He was a pawn," Mulder reminded her.

She nodded, silently.  He knew she wasn't
completely convinced, but was forced into a corner.
She never liked being forced anywhere.  "You have
your weapons?" she asked tersely.

"I got up early this morning and cleaned them."  He
pulled up the leg of his Dockers so she could see his
ankle holster and turned, pulling up his short-
sleeved polo to show her the holster on his belt.

"Think you remember how to use them?" she asked,
but her tone was lighter now.

"Oh, I can fire them all right.  Now, actually hitting
a target -- well, that was always a question, wasn't
it?"

She fought the smile that threatened to break out.
"You'll call me, several times along the way," she
intoned.

"Fifteen minute updates.  Sheez, not even Kersh
was this anal," he teased.  At her sour expression, he
cocked his head.  "Yes, I will call you along the
way.  And we won't stop for anything -- black
helicopters, tanks, rocket grenade launchers on the
side of the road, Celebrity Skins centerfold
hitchhikers -- "

She rolled her eyes.  "I really don't think you'll have
to worry about that last one," she said, crossing her
arms and heading back to the house.

"Hey, you have to admit, it's the prefect cover!" he
called after her.

She was waiting for him next to the car.  She ran
her hand along the roof of the black Ford Explorer.

"It's still got some speed, Scully," he reminded her.

"I know.  So do you.  Just remember that," she
reminded him.  She reached up on tiptoe to kiss him
soundly on the lips.  "Be safe, be careful.  I love
you."

"I'll call.  I love you, too," he told her, hugged her
once more and got into the car.  She went up to the
porch and stood, not waving, just standing there,
already waiting for his return.  He watched her in
the rearview mirror until he turned the corner.

Helena Regional Airport
10:45 am

Peter Kallenbrunner didn't know what to expect
when he got off the plane.   Skinner had been
cryptic on the phone, just saying that he needed
back up on the case they'd been working together.
Kallenbrunner wasn't a field agent.  He spent all of
his days in the office, looking over requests for
warrants, writing administrative orders, preparing
briefs for the Department of Justice lawyers who
normally took over prosecution of FBI cases.  In
short, he was totally unprepared to back up a field
agent and scared out of his mind when he stepped
from the hot tarmac into the cool air of the Helena
Regional Airport's one multi-functioning terminal
building.  That's when he came face to face with his
worst nightmare.

Fox Mulder.

A thousand thoughts scrambled and swirled through
Kallenbrunner's mind.  Mulder was a convicted
killer.  Mulder had escaped Death Row.  Mulder
was very possibly armed and dangerous.  So why
was Mulder standing there in Dockers and a polo, in
public, in a crowd of people, looking like he was
coming to pick up a family member for a vacation
in the clean, mountain air?

"Agent Kallenbrunner, it's been a while," Mulder
greeted him with outstretched hand.  "Do you have
checked baggage?"

Peter fought to find his bearings.  "I-I-I, uh, no.  I
just have . . ."  Meekly he lifted his briefcase up for
inspection.

"Ah, the kind of man who brings a knife to a gun
fight," Mulder joked and as he noticed the other
man pale at his words, he dropped his head and
chuckled.  "I'm kidding, Kallenbrunner.  I'm not the
enemy here."

"Where's Skinner?" Kallenbrunner finally found the
voice to ask.

"Back at our house, with Scully.  I didn't want to
leave her and the kids alone and Skinner thought it
best if I picked you up because I know the area."

"Kids?"  Kallenbrunner was still having a difficult
time getting up to speed.

"Our son, William.  I think he was mentioned in the
trial," Mulder explained casually.  "And twin girls,
six weeks old."

While they talked, they'd left the confines of the
terminal building and were now approaching a
black SUV parked in the lot.  Kallenbrunner
grabbed Mulder's arm and spun the man around to
face him.

"It was a set up, a lie!  She didn't put the boy up for
adoption.  You had the kid secreted somewhere,
waiting for your escape.  Her testimony was staged!
What else was a lie?  All of it?" he demanded.

Mulder sighed heavily and shook off
Kallenbrunner's arm.  He waited while other people
walked passed them to their cars.  "This isn't the
place to get into this."

"Where is the place?" Kallenbrunner asked
defiantly, crossing his arms.

"In the car, maybe," Mulder offered, unlocking the
driver side door.  Reluctantly, Kallenbrunner got in
on the passenger side.

Hale Household
11:00 am

Skinner looked up at Scully, watching her as she
spoke on the phone.  She looked relieved when she
hung up.

"Was that Mulder?"

"Yes," she said and let a small smile play across her
face.  "The flight was on time, they're on the way
back.  It should take them about an hour."

"Good," Skinner acknowledged.

Meg Hawthorne came into the room and smiled
shyly at Skinner before going to stand next to
Scully.  "The girls are bathed and changed and I just
put them down for a nap.  Can I help you make
lunch?"

"Meg, how does your mother get along without
you?" Scully asked affectionately as she swiped a
lock of honey blonde hair behind the girl's ear.

"Oh, she says I only work this hard for other
people," Meg said happily, going to the refrigerator
to pull out meat and cheese.  "Is it all right if I take
off in a few minutes?  A friend of mine called this
morning and said the pool is open, so we're going to
go swimming."

"That should be fine, Meg.  You've been a big
help."

"Will Mr. Hale and his friend be back for lunch?
His other friend, I mean," Meg corrected with a
quick, nervous glance back at Skinner.

"Yes, there should be four adults and then Will.
Where is he?" Scully asked, looking around.  "Oh,
darn, he better not be bothering the workmen again.
I should go find him."

"Dana, you work on lunch.  I'll find the little guy,"
Skinner offered, glad for a chance to move around.
In truth, he was as nervous as Scully and would be
until Mulder and Kallenbrunner arrived.

"Thanks, Walter," Scully said, and went back to
making sandwiches with Meg.

Skinner looked downstairs, and then upstairs,
finally finding the boy sitting in the hallway outside
his sisters' nursery, playing with cars.

"Hey, William, your mom's looking for you," he
said, gathering up the cars in his large hands and
helped William rise to his feet.  "Let's go downstairs
to the kitchen and let the babies sleep."

William frowned and looked back at the partially
closed door to the nursery.  After a tug on his hand,
he followed Skinner down the stairs.

Outside, over where the newest part of the house
was coming into place, one of the men looked up at
the window with the pink ruffled curtains fluttering
in the breeze.  "I need to run back to the shop and
get the other 'saws-all', Mike.  This one just started
smokin'."

"Shit, what else can go wrong today?  Sure, Chuck.
Just hurry.  We want to get the plywood up today so
we can put the windows in tomorrow," the foreman
answered.

Chuck nodded and started to walk around the front
of the house.  A breeze caught his long brown hair
and threatened to blow it off the back of his neck.
Carefully, he adjusted his hat, ensuring that the
three bumps between his shoulders would continue
to be hidden from view.

The Road between Helena and Mt. Airy
11:30 am

"So you're saying that these, what, these men who
are disappearing are hybrids, they aren't human?"
Kallenbrunner asked, not bothering to hide his
disbelief.

"Scully can tell you more, she's the expert in the
area.  But yes, they are hybrids, created to ensure
the alien colonization that our government is hiding
from the populace.  The date for colonization is just
8 years away."

"And with this knowledge, you're sitting quietly in
western Montana, raising kids -- that's absurd!"

"What can we do about it?" Mulder growled.  "We
were there when one of the major players was
eliminated.  Two, if you count Rohrer, who was
movin' pretty good for a dead man the last time we
saw him," he added with a sneer.  "But you're little
part in this drama guaranteed that we had no choice
but to lay low, to get out of the game."

"Look, at the trial, I was -- "

"Doing your job, yeah, that's what I told Scully.  I
have to thank you.  You did a hellava job.  Bringing
up our child like he was a tabloid headline,
hammering on her how she'd given him up for
adoption.  Ripping her to shreds on that witness
stand!  If we weren't in such desperate need of
manpower, I'd stop this car and stomp the shit out of
you, you son of a bitch," Mulder roared.

Kallenbrunner swallowed and stared out the
passenger side window.  "I'd feel the same way, if I
were in your shoes," he said quietly.  "And I know
it's a little late, and not worth much, but I am sorry.
Not just for the things I said, but for my part in this.
I thought I was doing the right thing, I believed in
my superiors."

Mulder digested that for a moment before speaking.
"And now?"

Kallenbrunner continued to stare at the incredible
mountain scenery.  "Now, I don't know what to
believe.  But my gut tells me to trust you on this."

Mulder nodded.  "For what it's worth, I accept your
apology."

"Good," Kallenbrunner said, turning to look at the
former defendant.  "Now, explain to me about that
green goo stuff."

Mulder glanced at his watch and the surrounding
landmarks.  "I better give you the TV Guide
Highlights version.  We're almost home."

Hale household
12:10 pm

Mulder pulled into the driveway, and stopped the
engine.  He frowned, looking at the house.  The
construction crew wasn't working, but it occurred to
him it was probably lunch hour.  Even so, the men
had usually taken lunch in the shade of the big trees
in the front of the house, away from the work site.

"Is everything all right?" Kallenbrunner asked as he
exited the car.

"Yeah, fine," Mulder replied absently.  Even as he
spoke, he unclipped his holster and pulled out his
gun, keeping it low by his leg.

He wanted to call out, but at the same time, he
couldn't overcome the feeling that something was
wrong.  Carefully, he opened the screen door and
entered the house, allowing Kallenbrunner in before
stopping the door and closing it just as silently.  He
heard noises coming from the kitchen.

"Where is the shop?"  It was Skinner and he
sounded pissed.

"J-j-just up the road in Mt. Airy.  Not more than ten
minutes drive," came a very nervous male voice.

"And this guy took off how long ago?"  It was
Skinner's interrogator's voice; Mulder would have
recognized it anywhere.  He broke into a trot and
skidded to a stop when he reached the kitchen door.

Scully was standing, holding William close with
tears streaming down her face.  The man Skinner
was questioning sat on a chair, white as a sheet.
Skinner was as angry as Mulder could ever
remember seeing him.  The older man's head jerked
up when he heard Mulder enter.  Mulder found
himself facing Skinner's aimed weapon until the
recognition hit and Skinner lowered the gun.  He
turned his attention back to the witness and
continued his questions.

"How long, how long has he been gone?"

"Twenty, maybe twenty-five minutes," the man
stumbled over the words.

"How long has he been on your crew?"

"He just came on a couple of days ago.  But he had
references!  We checked him out.  He was bonded,"
the man explained and turned pleading eyes toward
Scully.  "I'm sorry, ma'ma, I'm so sorry."

"What happened?" Mulder whispered in a hoarse
voice.  Scully realized he was in the room and
launched into his arms, William caught in the
middle of their embrace.

"The girls.  One of the men took the girls," she
sobbed.

"When?"

"Just a few minutes ago.  A truck is gone."

"No, we would have passed them on the road.
Scully, they're still here."

"Mulder, the trucks are four-wheel drive, he could
have taken them cross country."

"No, we would see the tracks.  He's on foot, he just
wants us to think he took the truck."

"Where would he go?" Scully demanded, her voice
raw from crying.

Mulder thought for a moment, his eyes coming to
rest on the view out the back screen door.  "The
mountain.  He could hide them there, get away
when we're all gone looking for the truck.  I bet we
find the truck up there, too, hidden."

"Then we go look.  Mulder, we have to find them,"
she said, wiping at her eyes.

"Mommy?" Will asked, patting her cheek.

"Buddy, not now," Mulder said, patting his back.

"Mommy, when can I wake up?" William asked,
ignoring his father.

Scully's face threatened to break again, but she bit
her lip and brushed the hair off her son's forehead.
"I wish we could all wake up, sweetie."

Kallenbrunner and Skinner interrogated the rest of
the crew.  None of them knew the new man or much
about him.  Finally, Skinner told the men they could
go.

Mulder was pacing the kitchen, staring out the back
door.  "He's got them up there, Scully.  I know it,"
he growled, chewing on his lip until a drop of blood
showed in the corner.

"Then we go look," she said, handing William to
Skinner.

"What?  No, wait, you have to stay here," Skinner
objected.  "I'll go with Mulder."

Scully's entire expression froze and she glanced
down at William.  "Will, pick up your cars and take
them into the living room for a moment.  Mr.
Kallenbrunner will go with you."  The three men
exchanged glances and Mulder dropped his gaze.
He knew there was a storm brewing and just hoped
to ride it out.

Kallenbrunner smiled at the boy.  "C'mon, William.
Show me your other toys."  The two left the room
quickly.  As soon as they were out of sight, Scully
turned on Skinner.

"If you for one minute think I am going to stay
behind while you two go search for my daughters,
you are in for a rude awakening," she hissed, her
eyes on fire.  "Have you lost any memory you had
of me?  Do you honestly think I've been that
domesticated?"

Skinner had the good grace to flinch at that
comment.

"Now, we are wasting precious time.  If you want to
help us, stay here with William!"

"Scully," Mulder interrupted meekly.  "I think I'd
rather have Skinner with us.  Kallenbrunner can
watch Will."

She glared at him for a moment, just for his
impertinence.  Their eyes met and she searched his.
He knew she was asking if they could trust the
former prosecutor.  He also knew that she would
trust his judgment of the man.  He nodded his head
once.

"OK.  Walter, tell Kallenbrunner he's to stay here
and protect my son."  Her eyes told him what would
happen to the man if anything were to happen to the
child.  She turned to Mulder.  "I want everyone
armed.  You know where my gun is.  Go get it.  I'll
go get the flashlights.  We'll head out the back and
take the trail up the mountain."

Peter Kallenbrunner sat on the floor, looking at the
small boy playing with his cars and trucks.  The kid
wasn't much different from his own son at that age.
Mike was 13 now and was into comic books and,
heaven forbid, girls.  But it was easy to remember
the time when he would sit on the floor and play
with toy cars for hours.

The former prosecutor-turned-agent was so intent
on the little boy that the attack was completely
unexpected.  One minute there was pain, right along
the back of his neck where his head met his spine
and then nothing, total blackness.

William looked up at the sound and his eyes grew
wide.  He started to scramble backward, looking for
anyone to run to.  But a big hand reached down and
latched onto his arm in a firm but not painful grip.

"Come with me," said the voice that William would
never forget.

~~~

Flight into Egypt:  Remembrance (9 of 10)
by Vickie Moseley

Hale Household
12:35 pm

"I want my mommy!" William cried as the large
man picked him up and cradled him in his arms.

"I'm taking you to her," came the deep voiced reply.

"Why did you hurt Mr. Peter?" William asked,
sniffing loudly and twisting to see over the man's
shoulder.  Kallenbrunner hadn't moved since he'd
been hit.  William knew his mom could make the
man better, but his mom wasn't there.

"He would have been hurt.  He's safer here."

William turned back around and looked up at the
man holding him.  "Who are you?" he asked,
wiping his nose with his tee shirt since he knew his
mom wasn't around to holler at him.

"I'm a friend."

William searched the man's eyes and recognized
something there.  The little boy smiled.

On the Trail up the Mountain

They hadn't spoken since they'd left the landscaped
area of the backyard.  Mulder was in the lead,
Scully right behind him, Skinner bringing up the
rear.  Scully was searching the right of the trail,
Mulder the left.  Scully stopped and pointed to
something about ten yards off the path.  A rusted
pick up with the construction company's name on
the side was sitting empty.  They circled the vehicle
and Mulder wordlessly pointed to a flat tire on the
driver's side rear wheel.

"So he's on foot," Skinner said with relief.

"The mountain is riddled with old mine shafts and
caves," Mulder said, his voice tense.  "It's going to
be hard to find him.

"So let's get going," Scully impatiently hissed.

Skinner looked over at her and gave her a grim
smile.  She'd fooled him the day before, looking so
much like any young mother.  He'd forgotten that
she was as battle-tested as her partner -- as Skinner
himself, for that matter.

Mulder was already a few yards up the path.

Hale Household

The man let William down on the ground and was
holding his hand gently.  "We have to hurry.  If you
get tired, I'll carry you," he told the boy.

"Did you take my baby sisters?" William asked.  It
was a long way up to see the man's face and the
small boy's neck was beginning to hurt for the
trying.

"No.  Someone very bad took them.  He thinks you
and your sisters can hurt him."

William looked up again, amazed.  "They're just
babies.  They can't hurt you.  'Less they grab your
hair.  That hurts my mom," he said confidently.
"Sometimes, when Meggie forgets to cut their nails,
they can scratch," he added, showing a healing
scratch only an inch long on his arm.

"They can hurt him, they can kill him and his kind.
As can you," the man said in the same
expressionless voice he'd been using since he'd first
spoken to the child.

"Me?" William asked, incredulous.  "My mom
would get real mad at me.  She doesn't like my dad
to even talk about hunting squirrels!"

"You are special, William.  You and your sisters.
You are the hope of your world."

William just looked at the man, not sure what he
was talking about.  "Are we gonna find my mom?"

"Soon, William.  Very soon."

The mountainside

The three stopped at a point where the trail
branched off.  Mulder glanced over at Scully and
saw the determined look on her face.  How was she
managing to continue, he wondered.  All he wanted
to do was curl into a ball and hope the end would
come soon.  He'd lost their daughters!  He never
should have left them, never should have gone to
the airport.  He should have been there.  A million
thoughts were careening through his mind.  Then,
he felt it.  A small, warm hand was slipping into his
larger one.  He looked down and saw her blue eyes
giving him a grim smile.

"We'll find them, Mulder.  We just have to hurry."

He wanted to pull her into a hug, kiss her long and
hard for understanding, for knowing what he
needed, but there wasn't time.

"Which way?"   Skinner was still there, Mulder had
almost forgotten there were three of them on the
search.

"He's in the caves," Mulder said shakily, nodding to
the trail that headed to the left.

"He could have gone up," Scully suggested, looking
toward the peak of the Old Man.

"No, he wants to hide them until dark.  Then he'll
sneak them out.  He may be waiting for others,"
Mulder reasoned.

Scully closed her eyes.  "He could call to them, I
suppose.  I have no idea how they can communicate
with one another."

"Then we better hurry," Skinner interjected and
headed off down the trail to the left.

"Mulder, you didn't do this," Scully said, although
he no longer needed to hear the words.

"I know," he admitted.

"We will find them," she said firmly.

"I just hope we're not too late," he choked out.

She tilted her chin up, squeezed his hand and pulled
him along after her.  They had to hurry to catch up
to Skinner.

Several yards behind

"Why?" William asked as the two of them hiked
steadily up the trail.  The bounty hunter looked
down at the boy and frowned.

"Why did that man take my baby sisters?" William
repeated.

"He wanted to lure your parents away."  At
William's confused look, the man realized he was
dealing with an immature intelligence.  "He wanted
to trick them, lead them to where he can try and hurt
them."

"Like the bad guys in the movies?"

"Yes, like bad guys," the hunter concluded.
"Without your parents, you won't grow up to be
who you are supposed to be."

"I'm tried," William decided.  Tired and a little
afraid.  But he knew they had to hurry.

"I'll carry you," said the hunter.  With William in
his arms, they made better time.

Inside the mountain

Skinner was having a hard time keeping up, the
ceiling of the cave was too low and both he and
Mulder had to bend over.  Scully was in the lead
and there was no slowing her down.

They'd come in this cave by chance.  There had
been no footprints, but the ground outside was
primarily crushed rock and wouldn't have revealed
any.  Skinner's heart was sinking.  He couldn't help
thinking that he'd been in the house, he'd been left
behind to protect Scully and the children.  He'd
failed in that charge once before and he was just
now beginning to live with the results.

He was studying the floor of the cave as they ran
when something caught his eye.

"Hold up!" he shouted and stooped over to pick up
the object that had glowed in the beam of his
flashlight.  His eyes lit up with he saw what he had.

"Scully, look!"  He handed the small thing over to
her and she gasped and clutched it.

"It's from Sammi," she said, turning the tiny white
sock over to Mulder.  "Meg put Sammi in her pink
sundress."

Mulder's flashlight glowed on the tiny pink bow
that was stitched to the lacy ruffle on the top of the
baby's sock.  "They came this way," he said
confidently.  He handed the sock back to Scully, but
only have brushing it against his cheek.  "We're on
the right path."

"Do you know this cave?" Skinner asked hopefully.

"Some of it.  We passed that part a long time ago.
Will and I found it hunting mushrooms.  But we
never went this far," Mulder admitted.

"So we don't know what's ahead?"  Skinner saw that
he'd only voiced what the other two had already
realized.

"We go as fast as we can, but let me lead," Mulder
said evenly.  Scully shot him a look, but upon
seeing his steady gaze she nodded and moved aside
to allow him in front.  "Keep checking out the
ground, see if we find anything else."

"This could be bait," Skinner said.  When there was
no response, he knew they'd already thought along
those lines.

"Let's get moving," Mulder said gruffly and headed
off again.

Further along the cave

The twins, for their small age, were amazingly
quiet.  The thing that had once been a man looked
down at them and scowled.  Two sets of china blue
eyes stared back at him.  It almost looked as if they
were thinking, planning.  He was fearful of them.
He wanted to destroy them, but not yet.  That would
be against orders.

He stumbled and almost dropped the twin dressed in
pink.  The twin dressed in green reached out a
chubby hand and grasped her sister's dress.  If the
thing now known as Chuck let himself believe he
could almost say they were communicating, looking
out for one another.  But in the deep recesses of his
new brain, he remembered that babies as young as
these weren't capable of higher forms of
communication and were completely centered on
self -- their own hunger and comfort.

Why were they growing so heavy?  It was taking
more and more of his strength to carry them, but
they had been so light when he'd picked them up
from their matching cribs.  He'd been assured his
strength was unending, that it was more than
enough to carry out his mission.  So why was he
stumbling with every other footstep and his arms
felt like lead as he held the tiny infants?  The babies
weren't even squirming, another oddity he would
have recalled if he'd been able to focus his attention
on the girls and not on his own sapping strength.
But he had to keep going.  He'd mapped out the
location days before even joining the construction
crew.  Just a few more minutes and they would be
in the spot -- the perfect spot for an ambush.

At the Hale Household.

"Dana, Ellery?"  Mary C. stood on the porch
looking in the screen door.  The house had a few
scattered lights on, but otherwise seemed empty.
Meg's car, or rather Joe's old beat up Civic they'd
given her, was not in the driveway, but the Hales'
car was.  The workmen were gone, but it was
nearing 3:00 and that usually meant the end of the
day for most crews starting at 7 am.  Still, where
could everyone be?

"Dana, it's me, MC.  I brought the labels for the
church picnic.  Hey, is anybody home?"  Maybe
they were all in the back, playing in Ellery's new
'Yankee Stadium-West,' as Joe had dubbed the
makeshift diamond.  "Are you out back?" she
called, starting to step off the porch.  Just then, she
heard a groan coming from the open living room
window.

Hurrying to the window, she peered in.  A man,
from what she could see, was lying on the floor and
he groaned again.  No one else seemed to be
around.

"Dana, I'm coming in!" she announced loudly and
rattled the door with enough force to jiggle the lock
and open it.  In a second she was at the man's side.

He had a huge lump on the back of his head and
small trickle of blood ran down his neck.

"Easy, easy does it," she murmured, as she looked
him over, trying to see if he had other injuries.  He
was dressed in a suit and his hair was neatly cut.  As
he became more and more aware of his
surroundings he sat up, startled.

"Where's the boy?" he demanded and reached for
his gun that was holstered on his belt.

Mary C.'s eyes flew wide and she scooted back,
holding her hands up in surrender.  "What boy?
William?  I don't know; I'm trying to find Dana and
Ellery."

Kallenbrunner looked at the woman, who appeared
harmless so he lowered his weapon.  "They're
looking for the girls, a construction worker took
them.  I was watching William.  Someone hit me
and took him."

"Oh god," Mary C moaned.  "We have to call the
sheriff."

Kallenbrunner rubbed the back of his head and
winced when he hit the sore spot.  "I think that
might be a good idea."

At the mouth of the Cave

"What's your name?"  The question came as a
surprise to the large man carrying the little boy, but
he reminded himself how exceptional the child was.
Still the question itself was not an easy one to
answer and not particularly critical to the task he
had before him.

"Just call me 'Friend'."

The boy seemed satisfied with that answer.  He'd
finally flung his little arms around Friend's neck,
making it easier to carry him.  But after they'd gone
a few yards into the darkened cave, the child
stiffened.

"What is wrong?" Friend asked.

"It's dark," William replied, as if that was all the
explanation needed.

Friend shifted the child and searched through a
pocket of his jacket, coming up with a long thin
flashlight.  He flicked it on one handed and William
smiled in its beam.

"Better?"  The boy nodded enthusiastically.  After a
few more yards, though, he started to squirm in
Friend's arms.

"William, not now."

"Put me down.  Please."  The last word was added
almost as an afterthought, a remembrance of a not
too distant reprimand.

"We have to hurry," Friend answered impatiently.

"Please.  I can run," William promised.

With a worried expression, the big man placed the
child on the floor.  Immediately, William started
picking up small rocks near the walls of the caves.

"William, we have to hurry," Friend reminded him.

"Jus' a minute," the child retorted and grabbed
another handful of pebbles before grabbing Friend's
large hand.  "OK, c'mon!" the child demanded, as if
Friend were the one causing the hold up.

In the cave

The passageway opened up to a cavern about the
size of a living room.  There were boulders and
stalagmites scattered about, perfect for hiding
behind.  The entity that had been Chuck stumbled
and dropped behind one of the boulders, almost
losing the twin in green to the floor.  He shifted and
leaned against the cold stone, panting for breath.
What was wrong with him?

The babies looked at him, almost as if they were
studying him.  Neither of the twins had made a
sound all the time they'd been on the run.  Now,
they looked at him owlishly, blinking in tandem.
He glanced down at them impatiently.  He wanted
to be done with this.  He should just crush them as
he waited for the others.  But that was against his
programming.  They were to be studied, like the
other boy.  Only after anyone who might come after
them had been killed.

Along the passageway

Mulder came to a fork in the passage and stopped.
He turned immediately to Scully.

"Left," she said confidently.

"I think right," Mulder said, pulling on his bottom
lip.

"No time to think.  You two go left, I'll go right,"
Skinner said, pulling out his flashlight and calmly
pushing past the two parents to the passage on the
right.

"Once an AD . . .," Mulder muttered and Scully
gave him a ghost of a smile.  She grabbed his hand
for a quick squeeze before they start off down the
passageway again.

They didn't hear the footsteps behind them as
William and his new Friend come to the same fork.
Without a thought, William pulled Friend into the
passageway on the right.

Skinner hadn't gone far when the passageway
opened up.  He flashed the light around the large
cavern.  The boulders seemed to dance in the path
of his beam.  He wiped sweat off his forehead, even
though the cave was a cool 62 degrees, all the
running and fear for the babies had left him
sweating.  He heard a sound, off in the cavern.  One
of the infants started to whimper and was followed
immediately by the other one.

Skinner bit his lip, traded the flashlight for his
service weapon, holding the flashlight just above
the gun so that he was sweeping his target area with
the beam.  The sound of the babies' cries was
unnerving and worse yet the curved walls of the
cavern caused an unnatural echo.  He wasn't sure
from where the sound was coming.  Slowly,
deliberating every footstep, he approached the
center of the cavern.

From his left, there was movement, sudden,
menacing.  He spun and brought up his weapon,
only to have it and his flashlight knocked from his
hands.  There were hands on his neck and he could
no longer breathe, his windpipe was being crushed .
. .

In an instant, the crushing stopped and Skinner felt
himself lifted off his feet and tossed across the room
like a rag doll.  As he blinked several times, slowly
erasing the black spots before his eyes, he could see
that his flashlight had landed upright against one of
the boulders.  The beam shot straight up and
illuminated the whole room.  Just to his right now,
two men were locked in a struggle.  Much to his
surprise, a small hand was helping him sit up.  It
was William.

After assuring that Skinner was all right, William
scurried away, behind another boulder.  Skinner
looked frantically for his weapon, finally spying it
on the ground just a few feet from where the two
were still locked in a deadly battle.  Hands were at
throats, eyes were bulging on both men.  The
flashlight wasn't powerful, it cast large shadows and
the room was more gloom than light so the battle
took on a surreal look, as if in an old black and
white movie.  The babies were crying and Skinner
rolled to his knees, trying to home in on their
voices.  He could hear bones cracking loudly and it
appeared one of the combatants had the upper hand
and would soon be victorious.  He wasn't sure he
was happy with that possible outcome.

Out from the shadows, William darted once again,
one hand stuffed in his pockets.  Skinner grabbed
for the boy, but William danced around him
gracefully, running right up to the two warriors.
Skinner called out to him, but the boy ignored him.
William pulled out a handful of pebbles, throwing
them at the man who appeared to be winning.

That was all it took to turn the battle.  As the one
fighter scrubbed at his face, writhing in pain, the
other brought his locked fists up and landed a
shuddering blow to the head.  The first combatant's
head snapped back and he fell to his knees.  A
second blow brought him to the floor where he fell
into a fit before disintegrating into steel gray dust.

Skinner swallowed, rubbing his throat.  The victor
turned to the small boy and smiled.

"Thank you," he said, bowing slightly to the boy.

"You're welcome," William said politely.

"William?" Skinner asked, trying to get to his feet.
The victor of the battle towered over him, and
Skinner looked up with apprehension.

"It's OK Uncle Walter.  This is Friend," William
said casually, helping Skinner get to his feet.

"Thank you," Skinner said with a curt nod.

"Here you are!" William cried as he looked behind
another boulder.  Skinner and Friend walked around
the pile of dust that had been the supersoldier to see
where William where had found the babies.

Friend picked up each child in one hand and
Skinner held his breath.  Then Friend carefully
handed both twins to Skinner.  "They look
unharmed."  The babies stopped crying instantly
and looked up at Skinner.

"They're fine," William replied, stroking Sammi's
bare foot.  "Sammi lost a sock.  Mom's gonna be
mad!" the little boy warned, shaking his head in
dismay.

After all the tension of the last few weeks, it was
more than Skinner could bear.  What started out as a
chuckle turned almost instantly into a knee
weakening, full body guffaw.  He almost dropped
one of the twins, but Friend snatched the baby just
in time.  That was enough to bring Skinner slowly
back to his senses.  He leaned against a rock,
cradling the infants.

Before he had a chance to speak, Mulder was at the
arch to the passageway, gun drawn on Friend.

"Step away from my children," Mulder growled,
releasing the safety with one flip of his finger.

William threw himself in front of Friend.  "No,
Daddy!  Don't hurt him!"

"William, come to Mommy!" Scully ordered when
she took his place beside Mulder.  "Please, sweetie,
come to Mommy," she pleaded.

"No!  Daddy can't hurt my Friend!" William
insisted.

"He's not your friend, Will," Mulder ground out,
never taking his eyes off his prey.  "Now go to your
mother."

William looked at his parents and then up at Friend.
He turned back to his father.  "No."

Skinner juggled each baby to a more secure
position, wondering how Scully and Mulder had
made it look so easy the night before.  He walked
slowly over and handed the girls back to their
mother.  Then he reached up and put his hand on
Mulder's outstretched arm, lowering the gun.

"Will's right, Mulder.  He saved me.  He saved all
of us."

"The bad man wanted to take us.  Just like my
dream, Daddy," William explained.  Now that his
father was no long threatening his friend, William
rushed forward and threw his arms around Mulder's
legs tightly.  "Friend helped me.  He didn't hurt us.
'Cept, Peter."

"Kallenbrunner?" Skinner spun and shot a menacing
look at Friend.

"I temporarily disabled him," Friend replied coolly.

"He hit him on the head.  Mommy, you have to go
fix him.  I'll get the band-aids!" William cried and
started out of the cavern into the passageway.
Mulder reached out and grabbed the boy by the
shirttail, stopping his progress.

"We'll all go together," Mulder intoned.  Will
looked contrite and nodded, taking his father's
outstretched hand.

When they came out into the fresh air, the sun was
setting, throwing the surrounding woods into deep
shadows.  Mulder had Missy in one arm, his other
arm around Scully who was cradling Sammi.
William was holding tight to Skinner's hand, but
occasionally would reach over and take the hand of
his new friend.  Friend stopped and William pulled
on Skinner's hand to alert him.

"It's time for me to leave you," Friend said as he
bent low to speak directly to William.

"Are you gonna come back?" Will asked.

For the first time since he'd arrived, Friend smiled
faintly.  "If you need me, I will be there."

Scully stepped over to the man, put a free hand on
his arm.  "Who are you?  Why did you help us?"

"I was sent to help you.  There are others like me.
We will always be watching."  He reached toward
her and gently pulled at the cross hanging from her
neck.  His smile returned for a moment as he looked
into her eyes.  He then reached under his collar and
pulled out a tiny silver colored chain.  On the end
was a charm of several multicolored loops,
interlocked.  "We also believe," he said.

"The colonization.  It's set for eight years.  Will it
happen?" Mulder asked.

Friend looked him in the eye.  "Not if we can help
it."

"What can we do, how can we prevent it?" Skinner
asked.

"That is not your concern.  Trust me when I tell you
that we will not allow it to happen."

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Mulder
asked.

"Love each other," Friend said quietly.  In the blink
of an eye, he was gone, right before their eyes.

~~~

Author's notes:  This is a much longer piece in the
Flight into Egypt universe and it would be best if
the readers found the first five stories on my
website http://vickiemoseley.freeservers.com to get
up to speed.  It will be posted one part every week
until all ten parts are posted.   Total number of parts
subject to change, if I get too wordy.
Feedback to vickiemoseley1978@yahoo.com
Dedicated to 'Dana', Dawn, and Ba for all your help.
I love you!
Final words:  This is the end of the road for this
story, but I've had such wonderful feedback I
promise to continue the series.  Thank you all so
much!

~~~

Flight into Egypt:  Remembrance (10 of 10)
by Vickie Moseley

No one moved for several minutes.  Skinner was
beginning to wonder if the others were even
breathing.  Suddenly, one of the twins let out a
high-pitched squeal, followed immediately by the
other.  Scully looked over at her partner.  "They're
starving.  Let's get home."

Mulder nodded.  Skinner automatically picked up
William and the three adults carried the three
children back to the house.

As they approached the structure, Scully stopped
short.  The house was in an uproar.  Several sheriffs'
deputies were searching the backyard and two
approached them, hands on holstered weapons.
"Identify yourselves, please," one of the deputies
asked with barely veiled intent to fire laced through
his calm demeanor.

"I'm Ellery Hale, this is my wife Dana and our
children.  This is Special Agent Walter Skinner with
the FBI," Mulder said calmly, his movements slow
and measured to show no sign of threat.

"It's all right, Deputy!  Those are the victims,"
called out Peter Kallenbrunner, coming down the
steps of the back porch.  He reached the group and
vigorously shook Skinner's hand.  "I was certain
we'd find you dead," he said, then dropped his gaze
in contrition when he realized he'd spoken the
words in front of William.

"My friend killed the bad guy!" William announced
proudly.  Glances were exchanged between Mulder,
Scully and Skinner and Scully spoke up.

"William, you've had a big day -- "  She was
interrupted by a squeal from the back porch.

"Oh my god, you're safe!  Oh, thank God, thank
God!"  Mary C. came rushing down the steps and
swept William in her arms, kissing his head, before
turning to kiss both the babies.  "Oh, I was so
worried!  I got here and Agent Coleman was on the
floor -- "

"_Kallenbrunner_" Peter corrected with a slight roll
of his eyes.

" -- and we called the sheriff.  They searched the
house, we couldn't find anything.  The agent said
one of the construction workers took the babies and
someone took William and I was terrified -- "

"MC, we're fine," Scully assured their friend.
"Would you mind taking Will up to the bathroom
and give him a quick bath.  He's filthy from running
through the caves.  I need to feed the girls
someplace quiet.  Ellery, Walter, I'll let you handle
the nice deputies."  Scully and Mary C. beat a fast
exit into the house.

"Should we be taking the kids to the hospital to
have them checked out?" one of the deputies asked.

"No," Kallenbrunner said, shaking his head.  "They
appear fine and they're in good hands now.  Let's
take this inside so these gentlemen can make a
statement.  But remember what I told the sheriff,
this family is in the Witness Protection Program and
there will be some questions they aren't at liberty to
answer."

Mulder shot Kallenbrunner a grateful look.  Skinner
gave him a nod in appreciation for his quick
thinking.

Later that night, after the children were tucked in, as
well as the two houseguests, Mulder lay on their
bed on his back, hands locked behind his head, deep
in thought.

"I'm exhausted," Scully said tiredly as she crawled
into bed next to her partner.  "Hey, plan on getting
under the covers?"

He looked over at her with a befuddled expression
and only acknowledged her question when she
pulled on the blankets under his back.  "Oh, yeah,"
he said, rolling over to allow her to pull the bedding
down and then helping tug it in place.  Almost
instantly, his hands were again behind his head and
he was back to staring at the ceiling.

Scully turned off the bed table lamp and plunged
the room into darkness.  It had taken Scully some
time to get used to the pitch-blackness that was
night in the mountains.  Having spent the better part
of her life in medium to large cities, the absence of
light pollution was a difficult adjustment.  Mulder
once told her he only got used to it when he was
living with Gibson Praise in a trailer in the middle
of the New Mexico desert.  Finally, after two years,
the darkness had become comforting to Scully.
When there was a full moon, the light was almost
too bright.  She remembered how the twins were
most likely conceived on a night with a full moon.

She lay there in the darkness, studying her partner
in his contemplative state.  She knew what he was
thinking about.  It had been in the back of her mind
all evening.  Through the commotion, the police
statements, she'd thought of little else.  Even while
the deputies were traipsing over her flower and
vegetable gardens looking for possible footprints to
a man that had been rendered a pile of carbonized
shavings in a cavern in the mountain, she'd asked
herself the question a thousand times.  Now she
wanted his thoughts on the matter.

"Mulder, do you think it's over?"

He lay there a moment and just when she was ready
to ask the question a second time, he rolled on his
hip and drew her toward him.  "I have no reason
and very little evidence to believe it's over, Scully."
She tensed at his words and her heart fell.  "But I
do."

She looked at him, just making out his eyes in the
gloom.

"I do believe it's over," he repeated, speaking
distinctly.

"You believe Friend was sent to help us?" she
asked.

"I believe that there is something going on out there
that we have very little knowledge of.  I don't know
if we're even ready to look beyond the veil, as it
were.  But I also think there are forces at work that
we do understand, in a rudimentary way and those
forces are working on our behalf."

She smiled at him.  "Is that an agnostic's
explanation of God?" she teased.

He smiled back at her.  "I haven't been an agnostic
for quite some time, I'll have you know.  I've seen
too many miracles to doubt the existence of a higher
power.  I don't know if the only way to find it is
weekly attendance at Mass or life as a hermit.  I just
know that you've given me what faith I have and it's
in that light that I can believe we are finally safe."

"I believe it, too," she said.  She laid her hand on his
shoulder, her leg thrown over his leg.  Their
foreheads touching, they fell into a deep and restful
sleep.

The Hale Household
the next morning

It seemed a little odd, sitting around the table eating
pancakes, but Walter Skinner welcomed the feeling
of normalcy it gave.  Kallenbrunner chatted with
William about his lego dinosaurs, Mulder dabbed
maple syrup on Missy's lips when Scully wasn't
watching and Walter sat happily cradling Samantha
in his arms.  It was all so peaceful and quiet.

"Walter, I think your cell phone is ringing," Scully
said, breaking the spell.

Skinner looked up, confused.

"Remember, you were almost out of battery.  You
put it on my charger in the living room."

He nodded and got up, placing Sammi in her
mother's arms.  As he made his way into the living
room, Skinner almost resented the intrusion of the
phone.  He wasn't ready to leave this place and go
back to the way things were.

"Skinner," he said gruffly.

"Walter?  Walter, this is Kim.  How are you?  I was
beginning to get worried again."

He relaxed at the sound of her voice.  "Kim, I'm
sorry, I've been so busy.  I'm fine.  I have a lot to
tell you.  How are things going out there?"

"That's what I'm calling about.  Walter, the Director
has been looking for you all yesterday.  Seems
there's been some sort of hearing on your demotion.
He needs to talk to you immediately."

This was it, he thought.  He was being fired.  Over
the phone, no less.  "Kim, can you put me into his
office?"

"Sure, hang on."

Back in the kitchen

"So there's no mention of the trial anywhere?"
Scully asked again as she placed Sammi in her
infant seat near Mulder.

"Nothing.  No mention of the trial, the conviction or
the sentencing," Kallenbrunner assured her.  "And I
checked the military databases as much as I could.
I have some friends in the JAG office at Miramar.
They came up with nothing, too."

"So if the trial never happened -- " Mulder started.

" -- you were never found guilty," Scully finished.
She chewed on her lip for a minute as she flipped
pancakes on the griddle.

"I'm a free man," Mulder said in a whisper.

"You were never anything but a free man.  I'm not
even sure if the trial was other than a hoax, and
excuse to -- "  Kallenbrunner stopped when he
glanced over at William, who was listening intently
to the adults' conversation.  " -- eliminate certain
problems," he said cryptically.

Mulder snorted at being labeled a 'problem', but
understood the tact Kallenbrunner was using to
spare his son.  "Then we could go back home," he
said quietly.

"Well, there is the matter of being dead.  At least
that's how your disappearance was handled.  When
you didn't surface with Agents Doggett and Reyes
and they both testified that they last saw you with
helicopters firing on your vehicle . . . All of that
could be overturned, of course, with proper
documentation."

Walter Skinner reappeared in the doorway, looking
shaken, but extremely happy.  "I've been
reinstated," he said simply.

Scully was the first to give him a congratulatory
hug.  "That's great news, Walter.  Back to being an
AD, it must feel wonderful.  But what happened?"

He shook his head as he sat down and Scully
dropped a plate of pancakes in front of him.  "The
Director didn't give me any details.  Just said that
OPR had reviewed my demotion and found some of
the testimony and evidence collected at the time
was invalid.  Then he asked me if I wanted my old
title back.  Of course, I said yes."

"I guess that means the FBI is finally rid of those
who were fighting against us," Mulder said
thoughtfully.

"Our friend was very busy," Kallenbrunner said
softly.

"Mulder, I hope you don't mind," Skinner
interrupted everyone's silence.  "I spoke briefly on
your behalf."

Mulder's eyes narrowed but before he could speak,
Skinner jumped in.  "I simply said that there might
be some evidence that you were not killed in the
desert.  I didn't give him any details.  Basically, I
was paving the way.  If you want to come back to
your old lives, you should have that option.  It's the
least I could do."  He looked over at the two young
people.  Mulder was avoiding everyone's looks,
even Scully's.

"Look, if what Will's Friend said was correct, there
is not longer a threat.  But there are still things that
go unexplained, still cases that need your expertise.
All I'm saying is that if you want to come back, I'll
do everything in my power to make that possible.
You can come back to DC; Maggie can see the kids
whenever she wants.  It will be as if the last three
years never happened."

Mulder looked down at his sleeping daughters and
back up at his former boss.  "I need to put the girls
down," he said abruptly.  Picking up both infant
seats, he hurried up the stairs.

"Dana, I'm sorry if I spoke out of turn," Skinner
apologized sadly.

"No, Walter, what you did was very thoughtful.  We
just have a lot to think about right now."

She heard his footsteps on the stairs, but didn't
follow him out the front door.  She chatted with
Skinner and Kallenbrunner and decided to give
Mulder some time.  But she vowed to herself that if
he didn't reappear in an hour, she would look for
him.

Mulder hadn't intended to go running, but found his
feet in a steady rhythm on his old path.  It helped a
little.  The sun was out, the day was warm, but this
path ran near and through the trees, so the shade
helped cool him, along with the soft summer breeze.
He was trying hard not to think, not to let himself
imagine all the doors that were suddenly popping
open after being closed to them for so long.  He ran
right past them the first time, but when they
appeared again, he had to slow down and stop.

"Hey, guys," he said, as if it were perfectly natural
to see three friends who had been dead for two
years lounging beside the side of a dirt running
path.

"Mulder, you're lookin' good," Langly said with a
smug smile.

"You took our advice," Byers said with a slight tilt
of his head.

"'Bout damn time you came to your senses,"
Frohike added.  "Oh, by the way, the girls are the
spitting image of Scully.  God does answer
prayers," he said with a wink.

Mulder bowed his head to accept the good-natured
abuse but raised his eyes to his soulful companions.
"We have the opportunity to go back," he said
quietly.

"Mulder, look at all you have right now.  You have
a family, a woman who adores you, three kids who
need you," Byers said, ticking the points off on the
ends of his fingers.  "Do you really want to screw
with that?"

"Scully wants to see her mom," Mulder interjected,
toeing at the dirt.

"I don't see where seeing Mrs. Scully and you guys
finally having a normal life are mutually exclusive,"
Frohike intoned.

"This isn't really us.  We aren't the Hales.  My name
isn't Ellery," Mulder pointed out.

"Yes it is.  As much as it was ever Fox Mulder,"
Frohike retorted.  "Mulder, you gave up everything
in that old life.  You deserve this life.  You deserve
to be happy.  Take what you deserve.  Grab hold of
it and don't let go."

"They have a point."  Mulder startled when he heard
Scully's voice so close behind him.  He spun and
she was standing there, smiling.  "Good to see you
guys again," she said to the apparitions.

"Dana, you look truly lovely," Frohike said with a
sigh.

"What he said," Langly added.

"It's good to see you again, Dana.  And the kids are
beautiful, but then how could they be otherwise?"

"Thank you, John.  We're pretty proud of them."

"Mulder, all we're saying is that you have a good
thing now.   Don't blow it.  The threat is over, the
aliens have other things to worry about -- each other
-- and you can have this life," Frohike said
emphatically.

"But what about the Truth?" Mulder asked.

"We've seen The Truth, Mulder.  We know exactly
where it is.  The Truth . . . is in here, my friend."
Frohike stepped forward, lightly touching Mulder's
chest.  "And here," he said, pointing to Scully.
"That's all the truth you need to know."

"If we don't go back, how will we see your mom?"
Mulder asked, his eyes glistening with tears.

Scully put her hand on her partner's arm.  "Maybe
there's another way."

When they made it back to the house, Mary C. was
sitting in the kitchen, eyeing the two men across
from her.  From the look in her eye, Scully figured
they were both toast if either of them moved an
inch.  Mary C. was tapping her finger on the
wooden tabletop and giving them her best 'I'm the
mother of five boys, don't mess with me' look.
Skinner and Kallenbrunner appeared suitable
nervous.

"MC, we just went out for a walk," Scully said,
noting that MC had a cup of coffee in front of her
already.

"I brought by the envelopes for the labels I left
yesterday," Mary C. said evenly.

"Oh, yeah.  In all the commotion, I almost forgot
about the church picnic."

Mary C. flashed her a look that said she had to be
out of her mind to forget such an important event,
but she said nothing.

"Walter, Peter, did you get a chance to meet Mary
C. Hawthorne?"

Kallenbrunner nodded meekly, Skinner just shook
his head.

"MC, this is our old boss, Assistant Director Walter
Skinner.  Special Agent Peter Kallenbrunner was . .
."  Scully stopped, hesitant to get into how they had
crossed path with the former prosecutor.

"We worked closely on a trial once," Kallenbrunner
supplied.

Mary C. frowned.  "So you really were FBI agents,"
she said slowly.

"What we told you when Ellery was in the hospital
is absolutely the truth, MC," Scully said, sitting
down next to her friend.  "All of it."

"Joe just figured you were telling us that because
you were in the Witness Protection Program, that
Ellery was an accountant for the Sopranos or
something," MC said with a shake of her head.  "So
if these two have shown up on your doorstep, what
does that mean?"

Scully looked over at Skinner for a moment.  "It
means we have options we didn't have before.  I'm
not sure what it means yet.  I know we've got some
decisions to make."

"Let us know if you need help moving," MC said in
a choked voice and stood up quickly, leaving the
room on almost a dead run.  Scully caught her by
the door.

"MC, wait, please," Scully called out.  "Please,
wait."

She stopped with her hand on the screen door and
turned to her friend.  "Dana, I don't mean to rain on
your parade, really.  It's just, well, we're gonna miss
you so much," MC said, tears streaking her cheeks.

Scully sniffed back tears of her own, but stepped
forward, taking MC into a hug.  "Who says we're
going anywhere?"

"But your old life, you can have it back now.  I
don't know much about it, but it meant something to
you.  And your families, they're all back east
somewhere.  You'll want to be closer to them,
especially with Will and the girls."

Scully pushed back so she could look her friend in
the eye.  "My brother lives, or at least he was living,
in San Diego.  My other brother lives in whatever
port he's assigned.  My mom is used to traveling to
see her grandkids.  As for Ellery, we're all the
family he has."

"You mean Mulder," MC said as she wiped at her
cheeks.  "You called him Ellery."

Scully chuckled.  "I think, given a chance, he'd
prefer to be called Ellery.  He never really liked his
name."

That night, after dinner, Mulder watched as Scully
dialed a number on the phone.  Skinner was playing
with Will in the living room, Kallenbrunner was on
a flight back to LA.  It was just the two of them in
the kitchen.  He knew the minute the other end of
the line picked up.

"Hello, Mom?"

Epilogue

Helena Airport
July 3, 2004
11 am

William was climbing the metal rail that cordoned
off the ticket counters.  Mulder was chewing
absently on a few stray sunflower seeds he brought
in from the car.  Scully was pushing the twins in
their stroller, back and forth, back and forth.  With
the exception of the children, the two adults looked
more like they were waiting for their turn at the
dentist than greeting a beloved family member.

Maggie Scully had been overjoyed to hear from her
daughter.  She was even more pleased to hear that
her dream was accurate, and that William was back
with his parents along with two baby sisters.  There
was little to cloud the overwhelming bliss or so it
seemed until Maggie asked when they were coming
home.

Hence the apprehension of the two partners.  After
some thought and discussion, both Mulder and
Scully decided to decline Skinner's offer to help
them return to their old life.  Instead, they asked his
assistance in making their new identities permanent.
He had agreed and had been keeping them apprised
of his progress.  By the end of the summer, Mulder
would legally be G. Ellery Hale.  All that remained,
he joked uneasily, was to make Scully legal.  And
that was another topic of dissent.

Scully argued that what they had was enough.
Mulder fought that if they were truly getting out of
the car, they needed to make it legal and permanent.
All this was debated while feeding and caring for
three children under the age of 4.  They'd been
going back and forth on the subject for almost two
weeks and it was starting to wear on both of them.

As they were lost in thought, the first passengers
started trickling into the main concourse.  Will
climbed to the top rail of the banister, anxiously
searching each face as it appeared.  He'd been
studying the one photograph Scully still had of her
mother, a snapshot taken at Will's baby shower and
cut down to fit inside her wallet.  Suddenly, the boy
let out a war whoop.

"It's Gran'ma!  I see her, it's my Gran'ma!!" he
yelled, leaping off the railing and dodging between
adults and pull behind luggage.  Mulder had to duck
to keep an eye on the child, but after a moment, the
small boy had reached his destination.  When
Maggie finally appeared, she was carrying Will in
her arms, showering him with kisses.

"Oh, sweet William, Grandma has missed you so
much!  Look at how big you are.  But you know
what, I recognized you the minute I saw you
coming toward me.  You look just like your
Mommy at your age.  And I think I see a fair
amount of your Daddy in that face, too," Maggie
cooed happily.  She looked over and saw her
daughter for the first time in over two years.  "Oh,
Dana," she said with a gasp.  "I promised myself I
wasn't going to cry!" she added, but the tears were
making a liar of her.

"Mom," Scully sobbed and threw her arms around
her mother and son.  "Oh, I've missed you so much.
There have been so many times I just wanted to call
you and hear your voice," she choked out through
her tears.

Maggie looked up and saw Mulder gazing at the
reunion with a shy, hesitant smile.  "C'mere, Fox!
Don't think you're getting out of this!" she chided
and reached out her arms to gather him in.  Mulder
came readily.  After a minute, Maggie pulled back.
"And who do we have here?" she asked, crouching
down to peer into the double stroller.

"That's Missy and that's Sammi," William explained
as he pointed to each sister in turn.  "Missy's the
quiet one.  Sammi likes to eat," he confided.

"So did your Mommy," Maggie told him in a stage
whisper that caused the boy to grin up at his mother.

"Thanks, Mom," Scully said dryly.

"They're beautiful," Maggie said, wiping away a
few stray tears.   She caressed the cheek of each
sleeping baby and then stood up to gaze at her
daughter.  "I was beginning to think I'd never see
you again," she said through fresh tears.

"Oh, Mom," Scully said, crying anew and wrapping
her mother in her arms once more.

"Daddy, why is everybody crying?" William asked,
wide eyed and concerned.

Mulder was having a bit of difficulty speaking, and
had to clear his throat before addressing his son.
"We're all just really happy, buddy.  It's been a long
time since your Mommy and Grandma saw each
other and we're just glad we're all together."

"That is absolutely right," Maggie agreed
emphatically, ruffling the small boy's hair.  "Now,
let's stop all this blubbering and show me around.  I
don't think I've ever been to Montana."

Maggie and William talked almost all the way back
to the house, only occasionally letting the other
adults in the conversation.  Will told his
grandmother about his friend and his Uncle Walter
and their other friend Agent Peter.  Maggie frowned
at some of the boy's recollections, especially the
part where they were hunting in the caves for the
twins.  Scully bit her lip and kept silent, Mulder
tried unsuccessfully to change the subject.  Finally,
he just assured Maggie that the matter was resolved
and everyone was back safe and sound.

As they pulled up the drive Scully first frowned
slightly and then broke into a big smile.  Across the
porch was a hand made sign proclaiming 'Welcome
Grandma Maggie' with tiny hand and footprints in
different colors decorating the surface.

"Meggie helped us make that, Gran'ma.  The
footprints are from the babies 'coz they like to put
their hands in their mouths," he explained seriously.

Maggie held back a chuckle and nodded at him.
"Babies will do that, yes," she said.

As Mulder put the car in park and killed the engine,
Maggie looked in wonder at the house.
Construction was still proceeding, despite a few
days delay and the new addition was finally taking
shape.  As they got out of the car, a couple and
several red headed children all came out of the
house and rushed toward the car.

"Mom said we have to carry the luggage, Mr. Hale,"
one boy explained with a slight frown.

"Thanks, Jimbo.  It's in the trunk here."

"Mom, I want you to meet the Hawthornes.  This is
Mary C. and her husband Joe.  The tall boy is their
son Josh, then Jimmy, Sean and the little guy is
Stephen and this beautiful young lady is our
mother's helper, Megan," Scully told her mother
with a bright smile.  "Everyone, this is my mother,
Margaret Scully."

Mary C. stepped forward.  "It's really a pleasure to
meet you, Mrs. Scully."

"Oh please, call me Maggie.  You have such
beautiful children!  And so many!"

"Well, I hear you raised four with a husband at sea,"
MC said with a grin.  "But then, sometimes I think
Joe's been at sea for years," she teased.

"Hale, I'm getting grief from the woman again," Joe
said with a fake pout and sigh.

"MC, stop giving Joe grief," Mulder recited,
obviously the expected result to Joe's plea.

Mary C. laughed, as did Scully and Maggie.  "Oh,
c'mon.  Dana, we brought fried chicken and potato
salad.  Oh, and Meg made up some PBJs for Will.
There's iced tea and lemonade in the fridge.  Call us
if you need anything, OK?"

"Aren't you guys staying for lunch?" Mulder asked
as they all headed for the Hawthornes' Town and
Country.

"Hell, no!  We didn't bring _that_ much food!" Joe
exclaimed.  "Besides, you guys are coming over for
a cookout tomorrow night.  We'll visit then."  He
stepped over to lean in close to Mulder.  "As
mothers-in-law go, she seems like an OK lady," he
said in a whisper.

Mulder smiled.  "She's a keeper, Joe," he replied.

Jimmy had set the luggage up in William's room,
which would be the guest room during Maggie's
visit.  Maggie wandered through the downstairs
with Scully, her daughter pointing out various items
of interest with the enthusiasm of a real estate
saleswoman.  When they'd finished the tour upstairs
in the babies' nursery, Maggie turned and looked at
her daughter.

"This is your home," she said evenly.

Scully bit her lip, slightly flustered at her mother's
tone.  "Yes, Mom.  This is our home.  And when it's
finished, it's even going to be better.  Mulder will
have an office, the kids will have their own rooms -- "

"What I mean is, this is your _home_, Dana,"
Maggie repeated.  "When I came out here, I was
intent on convincing you all to move back to DC,
maybe even Baltimore if I could manage it.  I
wanted you to be close to me."  Tears started to fill
her eyes and her voice strained as she continued.
"But I see that you have a home here.  You have
friends who love you and help you, and a lovely
house that looks so right for you.  I can't ask you to
leave this," she said, finally letting the tears streak
down her cheeks.

"Oh, Mom," Dana said, taking her mother in her
arms.  "We'll visit, I promise.  Mulder promises,
too.  Christmas, Easter, summer vacations when
school is out, we'll come out east.  And you are
always welcome here!  Now you have the ocean
and the mountains as vacation spots."

Maggie smiled through her tears.  "Well, I always
wanted a little retreat in the mountains."

"I hear sniffling in here.  Look, I'll allow it today,
but tomorrow, no more crying," Mulder said with a
twinkle of mischief in his eyes.  He was carrying
both twins and Will was hanging on his leg.

"You are absolutely right, Fox, no more crying!"
Maggie said, taking one of the babies in her arms.

"Ellery, Mom.  His name is Ellery now," Dana said
softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry!  I keep forgetting.  You mean you'll
let people call you Ellery when Fox upset you so?"
Maggie asked, her eyes gleaming with mischief
also.

"It's not a small, furry, woodland creature.  I can
live with Ellery.  Even if I would have been
roughed up on the playground just as much growing
up.  But since I didn't go through that, I'm fine with
it."

"I still get to call him Mulder," Dana confided only
to her mother.  "MC makes wonderful fried chicken
and I'm sure there's enough to feed an army, so let's
go down to the kitchen and eat."

Will tugged on his father's leg as the others started
down the stairs.  "Can we take Gran'am and show
her the old man?"

"After lunch, buddy," Mulder advised.  "We'll show
her everything!"

"Except the bad guy in the cave," Will nodded.

"You're right, buddy.  We'll definitely skip the bad
guy in the cave.  Remember, we don't talk about
that around your grandma."

"She'd get scared?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Mulder allowed.

"OK, Dad.  It'll be our secret!  I hope Meggie made
my sam'wich.  I don' like fry chicken."

Mulder sighed.  What else could he expect from
their son?  The whole incident seemed to have run
off the little boy like water on a duck's back.  He
just wondered if Skinner could arrange to keep the
X Files on hold until Will was out of college.

the end