Okay, this is my first X-Files story, so I'm a little nervous about posting it. I don't own X-Files, it's characters, etc. That all belongs to CC.

1999

Fox Mulder's life seemed to be getting better and better. First he and Scully finally got the X-Files back from Jeffrey Spender and Diana Fowley, at Spender's request after members of the Syndicate were killed by aliens. And within a month of being reassigned his life's work, he had received an anonymous email asking to meet him because the sender had information about the Syndicate and their mission. Apparently the fight wasn't over until every member was dead, and at least one was still alive. But the only way this source would meet was one-on-one.

Of course, Scully was not a fan of this idea. She kept pointing out that it could easily be whichever member of the Syndicate wasn't dead or someone like Krycek, and that it was stupid and dangerous to go alone. It reminded him why he used to only tell her about his meets after the fact. But being Mulder, he couldn't not go. If there was seriously someone wanting to get him and Scully one step closer to the truth, then he was going to at least meet them.

This is how he ended up at a local park at midnight, while Scully thought he was at home TV or something, waiting for someone to approach him. He had been waiting about ten minutes when someone sat down next to him, when he looked over he saw a woman in her early fifties with curly, graying hair that fell to her shoulder. And large brown eyes that instantly sent Mulder back about twenty-five years.

"Hello, Fox."

"Ms. Verity?" Of all the people on his list of possible informants, Mulder had never considered his father's secretary, Adela Verity, to be a source of information. Though, now that he thought about it, it did make some sense.

"It's Mrs. Allen, now. You've grown a lot since I last saw you."

"Yeah, well I'm not exactly an eighteen year old headed to Oxford anymore. And you'll always be Ms. Verity to me. Are you the person who sent me the email?" He had to ask; part of him could barely believe the completely honest, wholehearted Catholic woman could be involved at all. But his father was, and she had been the one to write out all of his letters.

She nodded. "I've been keeping track of you and your family since your father retired. And when I heard about you working to find the truth about your sister, I thought your father would tell you everything. But since you still seem to be working on the FBI's X-Files division, I assume he didn't."

"He didn't really have a chance, Ms. Verity," Mulder told her. Even after four years, his father's death still bothered him.

"I saw in the paper several years ago he was murdered. I'm sorry, Fox. You're father was a good man. He's actually why I asked to meet with you."

"And how he was involved in the Syndicate?" She hesitated for only a brief moment, but it was enough to have Mulder question it. "Or is it something else?"

"My family was threatened if I ever disclosed any of this information; so you understand why I'm not comfortable talking about this."

"By who?" If he remembered correctly, Ms. Verity was one of the sweetest women at the State Department, if not the kindest.

"Associates of your father. They were never sure I knew anything, of course. But a couple of them had their suspicions I had figured it out."

"And you did?"

She gave a small smile. "Only parts of it. At first I had trouble believing that your father was having me writing things about aliens and their plans for abducting us, but then after what happened to Samantha and all of those other innocent people went missing, I knew it was all true. I assume you had figured that much out."

"Yeah, I had some hypnotherapy that helped me recover my memory from the night Samantha was taken," he admitted. "I remember an alien creature coming to take her; but since then, I've had some encounters that don't make me trust them. And then there are the multiple meetings I've had with some of the Syndicate members and their lackeys."

"Well, it sounds like you know more than I do, Fox."

"But it's still not enough. And now the men are dead who knew the truth."

"Not all of them. One left me a message to make sure I knew that." Ms. Verity pulled out a folded piece of paper from her bag and handed it to Mulder. The message was simple. You're still being watched. –Syndicate.

"Do you know which member this might be?"

She shook her head. "If I did, I would tell you. But I think what's-his-name probably has the answer."

"What's-his-name? Am I supposed to know who that is?"

"Your father's friend. Bill something rather."

"Bill? That was my dad's name."

"I know that; I haven't gone senile quite yet. But that's why I remember it. Bill and Bill." She smiled.

"Do you remember Bill's last name?"

"No. I forgot that many years ago. But I can tell you that he broke off contact with your father after he gave up Samantha. It wasn't until right before Samantha was taken that Bill, you father Bill, began to agree with what Spender and the rest of those men were saying. In fact, after Samantha disappeared your father's friend never came by the office again."

"So, he wasn't a member of the group?"

"No, definitely not. To my knowledge, we were the only two people outside of the group that knew that anything was going on for a long time."

"Is there anything you can tell me about him? Anything I can use to help track him down?"

"I can give you a description. I can see him clear as day, just can't remember his name."

"Okay."

"He had reddish brown hair and bright blue eyes. He was only a couple of inches taller than me. And he usually came by your father's office in a naval uniform, I think. If my memory is any good, he was a captain."

"And you say he's still alive?" Mulder double checked. He really wanted to talk to this man if he knew the secrets of the Syndicate and didn't trust them.

"As far as I know. But like I said I don't remember his last name, so he could have died or been murdered for all I know." Mulder knew that this was a very vague lead to a man who might be dead, but it could also lead to all the answers he had been looking for. This Bill person could hold the answers to what happened to Samantha, who abducted Scully, all of it.

"Is there anything else you can remember about Bill?"

"I remember over hearing a conversation he was having over the phone once. He called someone 'Starbucks,' like the coffee shop. I remember it, because I had just tried the coffee shop for the first time."

Mulder froze. "Starbucks or Starbuck?" might have been what he asked out loud, but the only thought running through his head was No way in hell. No fucking way in hell in a continuous loop.

What do you all think?