Title - Blood Ties

Author - M. Lucas

Rating - PG

Classification - X

Spoilers - none to think of

Summary - M&S go on a routine investigation and meet up with a mystery woman with ties that link Mulder to the Syndicate.

Author's Note: This was my first venture into fanfic of any type. It has undergone a few minor revisions and takes place before Scully had become a full-blown believer and before Mulder had undergone his own bit of genetic manipulation. So if there are any suggestions, comments or not so obscene remarks, they would be most welcome.

Thanks much.

Disclaimer: The X-Files® belongs to Chris Carter and Ten Thirteen Productions and are simply used in this story to make it more interesting. There was no profit sought in the making of this story. Nor was there any actual damage done to property to help write this story. I've just graduated from college and owe a substantial amount in loans, so nothing can truly be gained by suing me. Thank you for your support, in this, my first endeavor into fanfic.

Maria Lucas

Blood Ties

It was Mother's Day and she knew the family was planning a surprise. She had spent the day at Dr. McGrady's office and was on her way home. He had confirmed what she had already suspected. Now all she had to do was figure out how she would tell the family. She had made up her mind that she would just tell them as soon as she got home when she saw it . . ..

It's her home and she won't leave it. She can't. How could she when everything is here? All the memories of old, of a child lost and a husband gone. There was never any other place that could truly be called home. She could rebuild, continue to remember. But the destruction was too great to overcome. Besides, she has another life to consider now. A new life on the way. It will never know the father's love it could have received or the sibling who would have watched out for it when it was weak. All she can say to her child is, 'No matter what happens now, those memories will live on with the new one's we'll make.' Mother's Day will never be the same again.

"First things first. When I find out who did this, nothing will stop me."

They said that it was the wiring.

Another part of her was reemerging.

That it was old.

A part long believed buried.

The fire had spread too quickly.

Buried so deep that she almost believed that it was gone.

There was nothing that could have been done once the blaze was going.

It rose, and rose.

Emergence!

Her senses reeled as they began to process and readjust, to the massive sensory input that was once again being absorbed. It was at first so overwhelming that she was nearly knocked off her feet. But she stood fast and the body remembered. Remembered how to channel the energy, not fighting it, but allowing it to flow freely through her. Standing in the rubble, she took in everything around her. The things that she sensed were coming into focus now. She could see what had happened that day. The patterns were erratic, but the picture was becoming all too clear. All too clear who had done this. It was his way of showing that he knew that she had faked her death and this was the price for doing so. He never did like being tricked, and took pleasure in knowing that she would get the message. He was even so bold as to use his own cigarette to trigger the fire. Taking pleasure in his control. They want to pull her back into the fold. He seems to believe that now that she has nothing, that there is nothing to ground her, she would come back out of fear. He's so very wrong.

Once, maybe. Now. Never. He has no idea what he has done. There were things that she knew. Things that she had learned under his instruction. Yet there was more. He believed that she lacked the killer instinct. He had plans of changing that. Plans to ultimately controlling her. Only now, she did have the killer instinct, and he most definitely did not have control. Control of her ability, her mind, body and soul. More control than any of her 'doctors' could have ever expected. Soon he'll experience just how much first hand.

FBI Headquarters

Washington DC

Two weeks later.

Dana Scully walked in to find Fox Mulder engrossed in another X-File. A smile creased the edges of her mouth as she watched him studying the neatly typed pages, his brows furrowed in concentration, the light glinting off his glasses as he turned his head to review the next page. His attention seemed so focused on the file that he didn't appear to notice her presence.

"Come look at this, Scully." He said as he looked up at her. He had that smile and look upon his face that suggested yet another mystery that he intended to throw her way. His intent, as usual, was to have fun clashing their opposing theories. Sometimes, she suppose, he lived for those opportunities to question, and be questioned, about what is and is not possible. To engage her in another discussion within the realm of extreme possibilities that he so enjoyed exploring.

"About a couple of weeks ago," Mulder began, "a suburb in Boston suffered a brownout that spanned a two block radius at the center of which remained the rubble of a burned down home."

"Mulder," Scully replied before he could continue, "that could have easily resulted from the fire itself. The fire probably damaged some power lines close by. This doesn't seem to be something that would warrant the attention of the X-Files." Approaching his desk, Scully noted that lopsided grin that usually preceded some revelation. A revelation that generally put her explanations on shaky ground.

"Scully, I'm hurt." Mulder said, placing his hands across his heart. "Have you no faith in me?"

"Okay, Mulder." She said sighing. "Out with it. What makes this our case?"

"Well, Scully," Mulder began, as he leaned back in his chair, "I would agree with you if this brownout hadn't occurred a week after the initial fire. All power had been cut to the house, eliminating any connection to the surrounding homes. I wouldn't have even paid much attention to the report if witnesses hadn't reported seeing someone standing in the debris glowing in a blue light while emitting what looked like sparks of electricity."

"Glowing in a blue light while emitting sparks of electricity, Mulder?" Scully replied taking the file to review. "You're not thinking that this is some power-sucking mutant that emits an after-meal gas cloud in the form of a blue glow, are you?"

Mulder watched as Scully's eyebrow arched in skepticism and sarcasm. He always got a kick out of seeing that. He was going to enjoy it more as he knew it would go higher with his next statement. "On the contrary, Scully," he replied, "Although the thought of a power-sucking mutant with its unique form of flatulence is intriguing. I think that what was witnessed was a person who has somehow been able to harness and master the electrical field around themselves to such an extent that they are able to effect their environment to the degree that was reported. The brownout."

"Mulder, if this is true, how can someone live their life without anyone finding out about this? I'm sure that such control would have had to have been mastered at some point, but until such a time there were bound to have been slips."

"I agree, Scully." Mulder replied, sitting up. "However, I've been unable to locate any such reports in the files. This person had to have been raised by someone that had prior knowledge of such an ability and took the required precautions to keep said ability a secret."

"I take it then that we will be going on a trip to Boston, which I'm sure that you've already arranged, to find out just how someone could live with such an ability and go unnoticed." Mulder smiled as Scully continued, "In the meantime, I'm to go up to Assistant Director Skinner's office to request that we be assigned this case because coming from you it would not receive the assurance that would be given if say I were the one to present it. Stop me if I'm wrong, Mulder."

"Scully, you amaze me with your powers of perception." Mulder's smile broadened as he leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head.

"I'm surprised you'd even notice something like that, Mulder, considering the 'observations' you like to make during your down time."

"Why, Scully? Are you interested in my down time?" Mulder replied.

"Shut up, Mulder."