Title: Arcadia Calling
Author: FreeWrite
Summary: Alternate ending to Season 9's Providence, Dana Scully would do anything to protect her son, even if it meant they both had to disappear. While searching for somewhere safe she receives and offer she can't refuse.
Setting: The X-Files Post "Providence". Warehouse 13 somewhere in season 3 prior to "The 40th Floor".
Author's Note: This is my first time writing either X-Files or Warehouse 13 and what do I do? I cross them over. It started with an X-Files Marathon (where in the span of a month I watched every episode and both movies) and when I got to "William" I didn't like the way it ended. You would think after everything she went through the last thing Scully would do is give up William.
Dana Scully's Apartment
Annandale Maryland
January 25 2002
0300
Dana Scully sat by the crib that held her sleeping son and watched as the light and the shadows from the window played across his face, marveling at just how perfect he was. When he was first born she had spent many hours just sitting and watching him. While her joy in him had never decreased she rarely just sat with him as he slept anymore.
The previous 72 hours had been a nightmare that Dana was only just waking up from here in the darkness of her bedroom. Not 24 hours earlier she had watched as everything around William burned, she remembered standing on the hilltop in Calgary watching the craft take off and leave trail of fire in its wake. She had known that there were only two options, 1) William was on the craft or 2) he died in the fire.
As she had run down the hill she expected the worst. Monica had tried to hold her back trying to protect her from what they would find, they had entered fearing the worst only to find him lying there unharmed and as she picked him up off the cold ground and held him close she knew with a burning clarity that her son would never be safe as long as he was William Scully.
William is just a baby. Her baby boy and it was her job to protect him and just as Mulder had disappeared to protect them now it was her turn to disappear.
As quietly as she could so as not to wake William or startle Monica and Skinner who were camped out in her living room Dana stood and walked over to her closet and pulled out a back pack.
With the baby she could only take the most essential items. A few changes of underwear along with heavy-duty shirts, jeans and hiking boots. All of the suits and nice clothes would be left behind to either go into storage or to goodwill she didn't care which. Wherever she ended up she wouldn't need them anymore, she also had enough cash stashed away to buy the necessities when the need arose.
Next in went clothes for William, diapers, blankets and a few toys. Not a lot but enough to keep them going for a few days and until they got far enough away from D.C. that she could comfortably stop for a day or two and replenish supplies.
Leaving her cellphone, laptop and keys sitting on the desk she opened the middle drawer and took out the false bottom. Staring up at her was a new life for her and her son.
While Mulder may be the paranoid one seeing conspiracies everywhere and know anyone and everyone who knew anything and everything about the paranormal and conspiracies she was the one who knew people who could make Dana Scully cease to exist.
Scully had never told Mulder where she had gotten the new identities. She had just quietly handed over the license, social security and credit cards with a smirk saying "Just in case".
Within a week of Williams' birth she had her alternate identities changed to include a son.
She had first organised the identities after Missy was killed, Dana never wanted her family in that kind of danger again and she knew that if the need arose she would have to disappear.
Grabbing her wallet she pulled out all of her id and replaced it with her new ones with each swish of a card exiting and entering the wallet Dana Scully slowly ceased to exist and Dara Scanlon came to life.
At least on paper.
She would always be Dana Scully. Daughter to William and Margaret and sister to Bill, Charlie and Missy.
Mother.
Partner.
Friend.
Doctor.
The change of name wouldn't change who she was, what she had seen and done, at this moment it was to give her a second chance and William a first chance at life.
Finally she pulled out a notebook and wrote three simple words that had meaning to only two people.
"Arcadia calling. Dana"
Skinner knew that she had a contingency plan to disappear, that she had had one for years. She had told him not long after he was shot by Luis Cardinal that if she ever disappeared of her own free will… for her safety and that of her family then she would leave a message. The message had changed over the years.
"Visiting Uncle Clyde"
"Going Home"
"Ephesians 4:5"
"Buying Pizza from Ronnie"
Mulder of course knew what the message meant but he would also know how to contact her.
Sticking her head out of the bedroom door she listened for a few moments for any indication that Monica and Skinner were awake. Hearing nothing but Skinner's quiet snores and Monica's sleepy mumbling she crept into the kitchen and quickly grabbed enough formula and baby food to last them 48 hours.
Back in the bedroom she gently lifted her son out of the crib, changed his diaper and dressed him warmly before settling him against her chest in the baby carrier, she sighed in relief when he didn't even stir.
Picking up the full pack off the bed she crept back through the living area and slipped silently out the front door. Her heart was thumping as she walked down the hall to the back stairway and out to the rear of the building.
Minutes later she was across the street and cutting down a back alley into the night.
By the time Skinner and Monica woke up two hours later and found her note she was already on a bus headed for New York.
12 hours later Scully and William were in Columbus and Skinner had finally convinced John and Monica that it was best to let her go and called Maggie Scully to try to explain what her daughter had done.
Four Weeks Later
Rapid City, South Dakota.
How she ended up in Rapid City South Dakota is a bit of a mystery to her.
Somehow in the last month of bus rides and train rides, zig zagging her way across the country to make sure she hadn't been followed she had lost track of where she was going. Not that there had been a clear destination to start with.
All she knew is that she was exhausted and William was not coping with the constant travel.
They needed to stop, if only for a little while, and rest. The weather was atrocious and they were spending more time sitting in bust stops and train stations waiting for the weather to clear than they were moving.
As she was sitting in a small coffee shop looking through a local paper for a place to stay for a few weeks she didn't hear the door open nor did she see the authoritarian woman walk up to her table and sit down.
Dana looked up to check on William and the woman was just sitting there.
Watching her.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes" Behind the glasses Dana could see a spark of something she couldn't quite put her finger on "and I can help you in return"
"What are you talking about?" Worry and fear coiled deep in her belly, she eyed her pack and William sleeping in the pram next to her and quickly calculated an escape route.
"My name is Mrs. Frederic and I am the director of a project that could use your expertise…"
"My expertise?" Dana put on what she hoped was a confused look "I'm just a high school biology teacher"
"Yes… yes you are" Mrs. Frederic murmured and in that instant Dana knew that she had been found "but you have nothing to fear from me. You and your son will come to no harm, just hear me out."
Dana nodded her assent but still allowed her hand to drop into her bag and grasp the gun that she kept in there.
"You've been on our radar for many years since before you even joined the FBI. When you were in medical school one of you Professor's spoke of your intellect and keen problem solving skills. They thought you would be a good addition to our team. You weren't ready then so I decided to watch you; once you joined the FBI I was about to approach you and then you were assigned to the X-Files. It was decided to leave you for the time being and when the time was right we would bring you into our project."
Dana nodded and gestured for Mrs. Frederic to continue.
"The longer you spent in the X-Files and the more of the conspiracy you uncovered the clearer it became that it was better for everyone's interests that you remain where you were. The world needed you and Agent Mulder doing exactly what you were doing. Going into the dark places and dragging whatever you found there into the light."
Mrs. Frederic pushed a folder that was marked top-secret over to Dana.
"Your time in the X-Files is over, they are now in good hands with Agent Doggett and Agent Reyes who are willing and able to go into those dark places. Agent Mulder is on the run searching for that illusive truth and you have a child to look after and are rightfully looking for a safe place for him, which I can offer you." Mrs Frederic gave her a look that sent shivers down Dana's spine. "I trust you to keep the contents of this folder a secret, if you are interested in what we have to offer there are directions to our headquarters inside."
"And if I'm not interested?" Dana fingered the edge of the folder.
"Then this conversation never happened, you move on and I find someone else for my team"
Dana nodded and opened the folder. The very top sheet of paper was a hand written note.
Dana,
You can trust Mrs. Frederic, I give you my word that everything you read in this folder is true and I would not have recommended you to her if I didn't think you could make an immense contribution to our work.
Dr Vanessa Calder
She looked back up only to find the seat across from her empty. She stood quickly and made her way over to the closest window but could not catch sight of the strange woman. With a deep sigh Dana returned to her table and turned the next page in the folder and started reading.
It took several hours but by the time she had finished reading a headache had settled behind her eye's and she knew that right now was not the moment to make a decision about Warehouse 13.
If not for the letter from Dr Calder then Dana would have believed that this was all and elaborate hoax and been on the next bus out of Rapid City.
The only thing that she was completely sure of at this moment is that she desperately needed sleep.
Standing she paid for her meal, shouldered her backpack and walked out of the diner and to the nearest motel.
It was with some trepidation that later that evening Dana picked up the phone and dialed a number. While Dr Calder's note gave weight to the truth of the information inside the folder she had read it did nothing to ally her fears for her son's safety.
If anything the danger William would be in if they joined Warehouse 13 would be just as high as the danger they were running from.
"Dr Calder, I don't know if you remember me but 10 years ago I was in your molecular biology class in Stanford. I was recently visited by a colleague of yours and I have a few questions."
Two day' s later Dana pulled up in front of what was according to the folder Warehouse 13.
Reaching into the backseat she pulled William out of his car seat and settled him on her hip under a thick blanket just in time to see two men come running out the door pushing at each other. One of them ended up in a snowdrift and the other caught a football that seemed to fall out of nowhere.
He did a victory dance before launching the football back into the air where it disappeared back to wherever it came from.
They finally noticed her as they were brushing the snow off themselves and one of them approached her gloved hand held out.
"Hi I'm Steve Jinks you must be the new guy" he peeked under the blanket and quickly corrected himself "guy's"
"Dara Scanlon and this is William" she smiled and followed the two men through the door and out of the cold.
To: wskinner
From: sc3pt1c
Sent: April 25 2002
Subject: Unknown
Walter,
We're safe and happy.
Arcadia called and we answered.
Dana