Disclaimer: The characters of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder & The X-Files universe belong to Chris Carter and Ten Thirteen Productions. For me, they also belong to the gifted minds of GA and DD without whom those characters might not have been so intense. I don't intend to steal anything or to make any money with this. This is purely a creative game, a way to train my brain cells, so to speak. Timeline: after "The Truth", probably early 2003, set after "The Truth" & my previous stories ("Family Blues", "Hope", "Thoughts").

Agony

Scully was sitting on her couch. She circled her head over a book she was too tired to complete that night. It was past midnight already and she fought hard to keep her eyes open. She had promised to stay awake for Mulder to return. It had been three days that he had been away. Three long and lonely days. It was time for him to come home. It was time for her to be held again.

A wave of insistent sleepiness overcame her when she heard his key turning in the lock of their entrance door. She smiled in anticipation and dragged herself up from the couch to move towards the door to greet him.

It was him, after all, tiptoeing into the dimly lit apartment, setting down his bags and his jacket. He smiled at the sight of her. "Oh, you didn't have to stay up for me, my love."

She wrapped her arms around him, lazily, seeking the comfort of his embrace. "Who said that I was staying up for you?" She smiled onto his chest, placing soft kisses onto his shirt. "Did the pizza man plan to come over again?", he chuckled while greeting her with a soft kiss on her hair.

"Yeah, but that's okay. He prefers Thursdays anyway." Another wicked smile from her and her mouth was captured by his for an overdue welcome. "Hello, my love. I missed you."

"I missed you, too." She wrapped her arm around his waist and let him towards the bedroom. "I hope you're dying for a shower and some hugging through the night."

"Couldn't think of anything else on my way home."

"Good." Scully whispered while opening the door to their son's room. Mulder silently sneaked inside, caressing his son's messed-up hair, propping up his teddy bear and covering him gently with his blanket. He smiled and shot Scully a loving look. The light from the hall illuminated her pregnant form in the doorway to their son's room. She looked adorable leaning against the door frame like that. Placing a careful kiss onto his son's head, Mulder withdrew from William and closed the door behind him while leaving the room. He pulled his lover into a lingering kiss and caressed her belly. "Now how are we doing?"

Scully gave him one of her warmest smiles. She loved to feel his caring hands on her growing belly and the little sparkle that formed in his eyes at that. He really tried to take in every precious moment of the development of their daughter. And he never grew tired of exploring new aspects of her pregnancy to amaze him. He was wonderful.

"We are much better now. But we're also awfully tired."

"I can see that." He answered through another soft kiss onto her soft lips. "Why don't you just lie down already and I take a quick shower and spoon up with you in an instant?"

"Uhum, sounds divine." Scully managed to answer while burying her head in his chest. She let him guide her to their inviting bed and tugged herself under the silky sheets. She tried to stay awake for him to join her in her sleep, but she had dozed off within a couple seconds.

She woke again to the ringing of the phone next to her bed. She felt his safe embrace around her belly and his steady breath on her neck when she fumbled for the phone. "Scully."

"Good morning, Dana. I hope I didn't wake you."

"Mom?"

"Yes, I know it's early..."

Dana was a little concerned. "What time is it?"

"It's 6 o'clock."

"Mom, what is it?"

"I'm really sorry to have woken you so early on your day off, but..."

"Mom, it's ok. It's just that Mulder didn't return before midnight." She tried to get up from his side to grant him some more sleep, but he was already slightly awake and grabbed her closer to his body. He placed a soft kiss onto the back of her head, indicating for her to stay. "Alright then, what is so pressing?"

"Your brother is coming to town today. He just called from the plane and will be here for an early breakfast. He asked me to call you to join us."

"Bill?" Scully was confused.

"Yes. He didn't mention why, but it sounded urgent."

"Alright. So we will come over then."

"Don't hurry. He said that he would pick you up at 8 o'clock sharp."

"Pick us up?" Now she was confused, alright. ""Alright."

"I just wanted to give you a head-start with William, you know."

"Thank you, mom. See you later then."

"Oh, Dana. And please tell Fox that I'm sorry for having woken him so early."

"I will. Bye." She rolled her eyes in amusement. That was typical of her mom, to be more worried about Mulder than about her own daughter. She had grown so fond of her son-in-law, or at least that was the way she used to mention him to others lately. The way she tried to pamper him every time they came to visit, the way she observed them when they shared a short intimate kiss or an absent-minded fondling of her belly. It was astonishing. She had given Mulder a feeling of belonging to a family again after all.

She smiled and felt his yawn into her neck. "So, what's the emergency?"

She returned his yawn and started to stretch in his embrace. "We'll have to find out. My brother grants us with an unexpected visit and he will pick us up at 8 to have breakfast with my mother and to have an audience with Colonel Scully."

"Oh, alright. Is there a dress code?" Mulder chuckled into her hair, feeling her raising annoyance. "I swear I didn't srew up anything. Did you?"

Scully sighed with an amused overtone. "With Bill you never know, do you?"

"I hope you told him about your current condition. I don't want to risk a fist fight with him about his little sister's honor."

"Oh, don't worry. I assured him of my falling from grace since I was, what, 14!" She grinned devilishly and turned to face him. "And he knows that I am pregnant again, with our second child."

"Well, the Bill I know will send up not-so-silent prayers to any God to believe that I could not possibly be the father." He chuckled and placed a short kiss on Scully's mouth.

"Let him pray." She managed to mouth in between another growing kiss. "One day he has to learn that his little sister is not so little anymore."

At 7.45am, Scully was getting dressed in the bathroom, checking her reflection in the foggy mirror and fixing her freshly dried hair. She smiled. It had only been three days, but she had already missed waking up in Mulder's arms and making love to him before the sun came up. There have never been better starts into a new day.

Closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, she prepared herself to leave the bathroom, looking for her lover and son. She found them in her son's room, struggling over the choice of sweaters to wear.

"Alright, William. Pooh isn't really it today, you say. What about Roadrunner and Coyote?" Mulder held up a dark blue toddler shirt in front of his son's face, shaking it a little bit in the air to show it off. Scully couldn't help but chuckle at this in the doorway. She moved towards them, checking out the pile of selected shirts on William's bed, and knelt down.

"Now, angel. What's so bad about Pooh this morning?" William just shook his head, giggling and beaming at his mother's warm smile. "Then, what do you want?" He grabbed one of the green shirts and let himself fall into the rest of the clothes, squealing in delight when his father started to tickle him. "So that's the shirt you want? One of the alien ones, huh?"

Scully tried to suppress a grin, trying to put the chosen shirt over her son's head. "Father like son. I should've known."

"It's all in the genes, honey. We can't help it." Mulder mocked her, steadying his son while putting on his shoes.

"Yeah, I know. I just hope that some of my genes are in there somewhere, overruling your taste in movies before he's 18."

"Well, you can't have it all, you know. He already got your eyes and hair."

Scully got up from the floor, raising William into her arms. "Now, I think we should pack your bag to get ready for uncle Bill's visit. What do you think?"

Mulder grabbed some diapers, some clothes to change and the Roadrunner shirt. He chose a book at random and packed everything in the toddler bag on the dressing-table. Taking the bag with him, he moved to the kitchen, adding some toddler food and grabbing William's teddy bear from the couch. Scully followed him into the living room and started to dress her son for the snowy DC winter outside.

They were just getting ready to leave when it knocked firmly on the door. Mulder put on his coat, lifting William and his teddy into his arms, and opened the door to Bill Scully. "Hi Bill. We're just about to get ready to leave. C'mon in."

Scully, who was already in her coat, was switching off all the lights in their apartment and approached the door to greet her brother with a fast embrace. "Hey, big brother. Just gimme a minute." She turned around to grab her son's bag and her own, putting a hat on William's head, and indicating for the men to leave the apartment for her to lock.

At 8.27am, Mulder parked their car on the driveway at Margaret Scully's house. He helped Bill with his suitcase and took his son's bag inside with Scully and his son closely following him into the house.

Margaret Scully welcomed them with a familiar embrace and a kiss on their foreheads. She raised William from his mother's arms and brought him to the set breakfast table in the dining room where she sat him down in his toddler seat and gave him a kiss onto his head. Then she turned to hug her own son. "Bill, what a surprise of you to stop by." Bill hesitated to smile and observed his sister who fondled her lover's hands.

"Well, I wish it was only a plainly personal visit. But yes, it's good to see you." He brushed over his nephew's hair and sat down vis-a-vis Mulder. "All of you, I might add."

Mulder shot him an irritated smile and turned his head to raise his eyebrow at Scully who only shrugged in response.

When Margaret Scully entered the room again with the coffee pot, the breakfast was officially opened and everybody indulged in some smalltalk over French toast, bacon and muffins. After a while, Bill stared onto Scully's belly for what seemed to be an eternity for the crowd surrounding him. Dana decided to break the silence. "Bill, what is it? What was so pressing to gather us here on such short notice?"

Bill took in a deep breath and sighed. "I'm sorry for that. But it all happened so fast lately."

"What happened?" Margaret Scully asked concerned.

"The reason for this visit." He sighed, fixing Mulder with a look. "You know, it is complicated, but, of any people, I hope that you will understand."

Mulder was irritated and couldn't help but put his arm around Scully's shoulder to draw her closer to him. He detected something in Bill Scully's eyes that he had never before seen in them. Insecurity, immaturity, fear.

"I know that I never understood that quest you have been on for the past decade. I thought of it as a spleen, as a way to put my sister in danger and to draw her into your world." Bill sighed again. This obviously wasn't easy for him. "I know now that I was unjust. That you were looking for truths that are actually out there. That you were actually trying to protect my sister from all of this."

Now it was Dana's turn to be concerned. "Bill, what are you talking about?"

"Dana, I know that we are all in great danger. I know that we are facing a threat from a place I never before dared to believe in. I know about these super-soldiers. I know about abductions, the transformations and metamorphoses. Throughout the past months, I have learned more about things that I would never have wanted or chosen to know." Mulder shot him a knowing glance while squeezing Scully's shoulder. She had almost stopped breathing. "Dana, I know about the miracle of William and of your second pregnancy. I know about Mulder's miraculous return and I know about the dangers you had to face to be able to live this new, superficially secure life." His right hand reached for his sister's across the table and he started to hold it firmly. "Dana, I have learned about so much pain and so much more to come. I know about the invasion. I know about the X-Files and the daring job your former partners keep up at the Bureau. They are facing great dangers on every new day of their work, and so am I right now."

Scully gasped and she closed her eyes.

"I wouldn't risk to let you in on this if it wasn't so important for Tara and me on a personal level." His gaze fixed Mulder again. "Mulder, I have access to information you've been looking for for years. Unpleasant, devastating truths. To cut it short, I am in great danger now. And so is Tara because I told her about some of the most gruesome details." Margaret Scully had raised her hand to cover her mouth while hugging her grandson close on her lap. "We're facing death threats. I don't know how much longer we will be able to be protected by the military. The aliens are amongst us already. They kill those who are informed and in power. I am on their list. I was their target and was only lucky to have survived."

A tear started to run down Scully's cheek and she was seeking some comfort in her lover's tightening embrace. "How can we help you?"

"There is nothing you could possibly do, Dana." Bill forced himself to smile. "And even if you could, I wouldn't want to endanger you like that."

"But there has to be something that can be done." Margaret Scully whispered through her silent tears. "I'm afraid not, mom. We can only pray."

Mulder placed a sad kiss on Scully's cheek, and another, more lingering one, before he addressed his brother-in-law. "I will contact Agents Doggett and Reyes. Maybe they can help."

Bill sighed "Believe me Mulder, there is nothing you could possibly do to stop them. I am a high-ranking officer, I have seen things, I have pledged allegiance to a higher truth, a combination that makes me an excellent target. You've been through it. They almost killed you because of it. They almost killed your son and my sister."

"I know, but there has to be a way. There has to be something we can do."

"I know that you want to help. But I beg you, keep your hands clean on this. Don't risk to loose everything again. I need your word on this." Bill bore his eyes into Mulder's while going on. "I need to know that you'll be here after all. That you will be ready to fight for our memory in the future. That there will be a future because you will try to save us along with your friends when the time has come."

Scully choked at her brother's words. She knew he was right and she shot Mulder a tired look of approval. "Mulder, we know that we can't possibly fight them now. We have tried. We failed. He's right."

Mulder nodded. It hurt to admit the obvious. It hurt to have his hands tied. It hurt to see his Scully suffer like that. Again. "I know. I just don't like to give in so easily."

"You won't give in easily when the time has come. I am certain of that. And if you should be able to convince your partners and friends to hold their horses until the time is right, I have the improbable hope that you might succeed after all." Bill turned his head to his mother who was crying inaudibly onto her grandson's head. "Mom, I'm sorry to put you through this, but I am not sure what will happen next. I wanted to see you again to be able to say a proper good-bye to you and Dana. I know that you were always prepared to see me die as a hero in some distant war. But it will hit me right home and I will have no other chance but to die a coward if I want to rescue my children." He turned his head towards his sister once more. "Dana, Mulder. There is something else." Scully nodded at him in anticipation of another wave of shuddering news. "Would you do me a favor and consider to look after our children if something should actually happen to Tara and me in the nearest future? Would you consider to raise them as your own?"

Scully was baffled at her brother's request, to say the least. And so was Mulder. He choked at Bill's facial expression while posing that difficult question. The pain he detected there was hitting right home with him. It was the exact pain he had felt while being captured in that military facility almost a year ago. It was the pain of knowing that you are about to loose the most precious part of your life and that you don't have any control over it whatsoever. His heart went out to Bill Scully and he tried to put his understanding and support into words. But he failed. All he could do was join his family in the deafening silence of agony.

The End