Usually I shy away from stories about William, but this one caught me and I went with it. After I watched IWTB, I couldn't really think much else other than... damn their lives suck. So here we go to maybe make them suck a little less. Please review... even if it is bad.

Oh... I don't own the X-files or any of the characters. If I did the last movie would have been really different.


The apartment was small. It was simple. It was, definitely, not home. Usually she dreaded moving, but this next time it would be welcomed. She wondered exactly how they had ended up in this specific terrible locale. A year on the move and Scully had hated some of the places she and Mulder had lived, but this apartment in North Dakota, took the cake. It was small, it was damp, it was always cold, and it smelled like rotten Chinese food.

She shuddered as she opened up her laptop computer, unplugged the internet cable from Mulder's computer and plugged it into her own. While she waited for it to boot up, she looked through the mail lying on the desk. Bills, bills, bills, oh and a chance to win a million dollars. Tom and Jessie Williams didn't get mail from family or friends, they had none. The aliases she and Mulder had created were simple and hard to track. That had been the intention. Nobody could find them, unless they wanted them to.

She sighed as she logged into an anonymous email account. She changed it every six months, sending the new address to only three people, on equally anonymous and ever changing addresses. She couldn't cut off her ties to her life for good. She and Mulder took enough precautions, it was a calculated risk.

As the inbox for her email opened she began shifting through the junk mail starting at the oldest messages. Finally an email from a real person, almost a week ago SkinmangoesHollywood had sent her a message. She couldn't help but laugh at Skinner's new email address. Mulder would get a kick out of it. She clicked on the blank subject line to reveal the email.

D,

Hope you are both well. I hadn't heard from you in awhile and just wanted to check in. Let me know if you need anything.

WS

She decided to finish going through her inbox before she responded. There was a message from her mother, simply sending her love. The third to last email was the one that caught her attention. The senders email addresses, whalesong37, was what had really gotten her attention. Monica Reyes had multiple email addresses she used to contact Scully. This one sent up a white flag. It meant something was wrong. She frantically clicked on the email to reveal the message.

The email contained nothing other than a web link and Monica's initial. When Scully clicked the link it took her to a Wyoming newspaper's website. The article that appeared on the page puzzled Scully, Why would Monica send her this? The headline read, "Couple Dies in Mysterious Conditions". She read the article still completely puzzled. The article could be an X-file for sure, but why would Monica have sent it to her. It wasn't until she got to the end of the article that everything became clear. Her breath caught in her throat and her hand shook as she clicked the print button.


Scully was pacing the apartment having reread the article somewhere around ten times, when Mulder finally got home an hour later.

Mulder entered the apartment and recoiled at the smell. He could completely commiserate with Scully's hatred of this place. He glanced around the room. "Scully?" he asked quietly. "Where are you?"

"Bedroom, packing," she replied. "We're going to Wyoming," she said authoritatively.

"Scully, I know you hate it here but I don't think you would like Wyoming any better," Mulder said sitting down on the foot of the bed next to her suitcase. She pushed the printed article into his hand and continued to fill her suitcase. "What is this?" he asked. When she didn't respond, he began to read.

Mulder couldn't figure out what had Scully so worked up until he got to the last paragraph. It read, 'The Van Kamp's leave behind their two year old adopted son, William.'

"Scully," he said reaching out for her hand. When she didn't respond he tried again, but she just continued to pack. Finally, he stood up and took hold of her arm. "Dana," he whispered, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Mulder, what if they find him?" she asked fear resonating in her voice.

"I know, but do you really think us going to him is the safest thing, for him?"

"We're his parents. We have to protect him."

"Isn't that why you sent him away in the first place? To protect him?"

"Yeah and look how well that worked. All I know is that I need to go to him; I need to take care of him. I'm his mother." She collapsed into Mulder's shoulder crying horribly.

"Scully, where did you get this?" Mulder asked, as he and Scully sat down on the edge of the bed. He was worried that someone was trying to use William against them.

"Monica," Scully replied.

"Okay, before we go to Wyoming I think we should make contact with her and Doggett, Skinner, too. We need to go in with as much information as we can."

She nodded, listening to his advice. "Okay, I'll buy plane tickets to DC."