Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, nor do I make any money. They all belong to 1013 and Chris Carter. The plot line, however, is entirely mine, so I will very angry if anyone steals it. If you want to use it, ask me first.

Thank you to those of you who have reviewed my previous one-shot. I am now creating a long run fic, that I hope to update at least once a month. As for spoilers, I advice you to be awared of the series in general. I also consider the original six book by Titan to be official canon, so I may use elements of them in my story. And now, for the unveiling ^_^

Prologue: August 2008

Dana Scully was enjoying a well earned vacation. She felt that sitting in a boat that was being rowed through a beautiful lake in the middle of nowhere was something she had the right to enjoy, especially after their recent run in with death.

She remembered those days clearly. After they had rescued the woman from the head transplantation that was supposed to be preformed on her to allow a criminal to live, Mulder had ended up in hospital with hypothermia. Scully had spent night and day with him, terrified that now they had been located, the rebuilt Syndicate would come after them again. She only stepped away from him for a few moments, mostly to operate Christian, and if she was chased out of the office by her colleagues, she would move to her office and sleep there.

Surprisingly, the FBI seemed to have kept its word. They had left him, and her, alone in their house in the middle of nowhere.

Even more surprisingly, two months after the end of the investigation, a letter was dropped into the mail box at the front of their property. Inside were documents that reinstated Fox William Mulder as a full fledged member of society, including a passport and a formal letter of apology from the current heads of the FBI and the DOD for 'falsely accusing him of treason, when he had, in fact, helped to bring a traitor to justice. Both of them could not help but feel disgusted by such a turn of events, by 6 years of a wasted life, but Scully was secretly glad that once again they were free.

Finally, the envelope also contained a large pay check. The notes explained that this was moral compensation for the 6 years of 'missed' pay, a cover for the hospital fees and the consulting and medical services that the pair had provided in the latest case. Both found the money more than welcome, and for once Mulder had no grudge accepting it. Perhaps he felt that they were entitled to at least that much luxury.

From that point on, the phone calls and the letters continued, sometimes requesting help in a new and bizarre case, sometimes bringing more money for the help they offered when they agreed. Once one such letter asked them to consider returning to the Hoover building to act as instructors or even return to their pervious posts, but the former special agents were quick to turn down these offers. They had already lost enough.

More recently, however, they received a letter from the FBI, offering to pay for any vacation they chose, as apparently their previous checks did not account for any holiday pay and they therefore had every right to decide to relax. Scully had been uneasy, but had finally decided to order Mulder out of the house and into the sun: six years of isolation had not done him any good and now she wanted him to enjoy the freedom again.

Thus, they had ended up at a lake in the middle of nowhere.

Oh well, at least there were no Big blues here. Or alien life forms.

Dana Scully could right now honestly say that she was happy. She finally could go and visit her mother any time she wasn't working, and bring Mulder along with her. After the successful operation on Christian and his recovery, she became much respected among her colleagues, despite having gone against them in the first place. She was better than she had been in years and was now trying to catch a sun tan.

"Scully?"

She turned her face away from the water and stared at the man she had come to love with all her heart. Mulder was shielding his eyes from the glaring sun and smiling at her.

"Wanna go back to shore? There are bound to be mythical artifacts lying around and maybe we can run into the flukeman's brother out here by the falls? What do you think?"

She resisted the urge to laugh and instead rolled her eyes. "Admit it, you are tired of rowing and want to sleep for a bit."

He smiled back at her sheepishly, and gave her a tiny nod.

This time she did laugh. "Take us to shore, G-man."

***

Walking back into their cabin, Scully threw off her hat and sat down on the bed, while Mulder made it straight for the pillows and was already burrowed under the pillow, hoping to catch some sleep: the afternoon sun was getting to be quite hot.

Shaking her head a little, Scully stood and moved to the shower, intent on washing away the heat and sweat of the day before joining Mulder. Letting the cool water run down her body, she let herself enjoy the sensation and plan the rest of their vacation. Just as she was drying off and about to walk back into the room, she heard a quiet knock on their door and moved to answer it.

She found no one on the other side, except a letter addressed to her and Mulder. Picking it up, she brought it in.

"Who was it?"

Mulder, apparently, had fallen asleep and was only woken up when she had opened the door.

Silently she showed him the letter, and moved towards the bed. Sitting down, she ripped it open and found only a small piece of paper tucked inside. Unfolding it, she red it out loud.

"Ms Scully, Mr. Mulder,

While I am unhappy to be interrupting your vacation, I believe that I possess some information that may be of interest to you. I thereby believe that it is in your best interest that we meet as soon as possible to discuss it. It is relevant to the work that you have previously conducted for the FBI.

One of my employees will be available to discuss the proposal that I am making to you at the resort centre restaurant. I hope that you will be there.

Perhaps, with your help, we will be able to shed some light on various matter, and you will finally find some of the answers you seek.

I am aware that you are worried about the Syndicate's actions if you do take my offer. You may rest assured that none of this will reach those who pursued you. We appear to have the same enemies.

I urge you to consider this offer.

I am also unable to give you my name, as I too am afraid that the Consortium will take measures against my work.

Regards,

A friend"

***

As Scully finished reading the letter, silence settled over the room. The two ex-special agents were looking at each other, completely lost for words. For a moment, neither of them moved.

Mulder shook his head. "We should go."

From his posture, it was evident that he was not happy about this turn of events, about having to chase these ghosts from his past again. It was also evident, that if she disagreed, he would do his best to persuade her. The past still had a strong hold on him.

"Let's go then." He raised his head to look at her, his hazel eyes silently asking an unspoken question. Even now, she could still be unpredictable. She allowed herself to smile. "We have nothing to lose. Only to gain." Standing up, she moved to the closet and pulled out a new sun dress. Seeing him still sitting on the bed, slightly stunned, she smiled ad pointed to her watch. "Get dressed, or we may be late and have no place to sit."

He was up in less that a second. She only smiled.

***

They sat in the corner of the resort restaurant, waiting for their salad and steak orders to arrive, while scanning the visitors coming in and taking a seat. Despite it being still early, many tourists came before the official dinner hour began: the resort was remote and it did sometimes appear that there was no one there apart from your own family, due to the location of the cabins, but in reality there were well over 30 families staying there at any one time. The place was full and it wasn't even 6 yet.

Scully wished that she could know who it was they were meeting or at least an exact time, but for now she had to contend herself with scanning every customer in the diner. So far no one looked like hey were a candidate, but you could never know.

The door swung open and a family of four stepped in. The parents and their little girl moved to find a table, while their older son went towards the counter to ask something from the bar, most likely a drink. Scully's eyes moved on, scanning the room again. She felt Mulder doing the same in front of her.

A shadow fell over her and she looked up, expecting to see a waiter with their order. Instead, she was looking straight into eyes of the boy who had just come in.

"May I take a seat, Ms Scully, Mr Mulder?"

Too stunned to speak, the pair watched the boy slide into a chair next to Mulder, holding his soda in one hand. He adjusted himself and then turned his eyes towards the room.

"I am glad you came. We were expecting you to ignore this, or treat it as a warning, its good to see you trust some of us still." He paused for a moment, looking over the room. Turning towards them again, he continued. "There seem to be no member working for the Syndicate here, but I can't track recording devices, so if you don't mind joining me outside after you finish your meal? I will be waiting for you."

The young man stood up and without another word moved towards the exit.

Scully had never been more impatient for her food to arrive.

When they had finally finished, they paid and exited the restaurant quickly, stopping outside to look for the boy. The spotted him some ways off, sitting on a bench, alone, looking towards the horizon and the setting sun. They walked over to him and joined him, waiting for this man to speak.

At length he did. "There are no bugs here, so we can talk about some things freely, though I would need to be in a completely secure place before I can give you any details. Now, I would like to te.."

Mulder cut him off. "How do we know you're telling the truth. I mean, for all we know you ARE the Syndicate and there is a Bounty hunter hidden in the bushes about to kill us. Or you are the bounty hunter?"

The boy smiled, and turned to face Fox. "I know you don't trust me. I also know there are none of them around." "How can you be so sure?" "No one is thinking about being part of the Syndicate, and I have observing them for the better part of the day." "Thinking?"

The boy did not answer. Scully looked into his face and, on closer inspection, found him to be about 18. His face seemed vaguely familiar. And the thinking comment was nagging at her.

Realisation struck her and she whirled around to look at the boy more closely. There was no doubt left. "Gibson? Gibson Praise?"

Both men looked at her for a second and eventually the boy smiled. "You are wondering whether I can use my knowledge of him to use you for my purposes. And about the time I was at the trial and how it is a wonder I am still alive? And about the scars on my head left from the operations? And that you missed me. Is that enough, Mr. Mulder?"

Tear clouded Scully's eyes and she closed them, trying to prevent the water from escaping. Gibson Praise leant forward and brushed the tears away before gently whispering so only the three of them could hear: "I'm safe now, Ms Scully, I really am and have been for a long time. We have a lot to talk about now. And once we are done, there is someone I hope you would be willing to meet."

A/N: Please be so kind as to R&R. Feedback, including constructive criticism, is highly appreciated, though I would advise you not to flame: people put a lot of work into their stories, and labeling it as sh*t is not appreciated, and I am sure you would not like them if you too worked hard on a piece.

I will be updating some time in the future with the next chapter. I would like to ask you all if there is anyone out there who would be interested in helpin me edit this, as my writing style doesn't always make sence and a fresh eye is more than welcome. Hope you enjoyed this ^_^