the fourth.

12:26 p.m.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital
Washington, D.C.

He didn't even realize he had fallen asleep again until the sound of Scully's voice woke him. She was on her phone, arguing about the last known location of some primers or something that had apparently gone missing. He really did not envy whoever was on the other end of that phone call.

She was pissed.

"I'm telling you, Director, all of the materials are still in the lab. Frankly, I fail to understand why it's so important that the CDC find the remains of the unsuccessful trials of the vaccine, but it's all there, regardless. I will remind you that the FBI has been nothing but cooperative. It was Special Agent Dr. Einstein's quick thinking that prompted the quick distribution of the contents of the vaccine that prevented the deaths of nearly ninety-five percent of those affected by the virus. A.D. Skinner will be sending over another agent to assist in the name of inter-agency cooperation-"

"Scully I realize your patients these days are dead, but it's only been three months. Have you already forgotten your bedside manner, Doctor?"

She cupped her hand over the bottom of her phone and narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh shut up Mulder," she hissed in his direction.

"Director, you can expect assistance from DC to arrive in the next hour. Skinner will be acting as liaison between our agencies. Please contact him, as I am otherwise occupied with family matters. Goodbye." The annoyance on her face faded as she shoved her phone into her pocket.

Scully came closer and stood next him. She bent down and placed a soft kiss on the top of his head.

"How are you feeling, Mulder?" She was already too far away from him again.

"Good enough to tell you to knock it off with the G-rated crap, Scully." He grabbed at her hip to pull her back into him.

"Mulder…" Scully looked down at where his hand rested on her hip. He thought she let it linger for a second longer than necessary before she batted it away, rolling her eyes at him. "You do know the door isn't locked, right?"

"Funny. Never seemed to bother you before."

Scully narrowed her eyes at him. "You're impossible. Once you're out of here, I'm going to contact the FBI about their return policy."

"They'd never take me back Scully. You'd just end up having to support me. I'd have no choice but to become a trophy husband. That reminds me, I need to brush up on my Emily Post."

Scully muttered something under her breath that sounded an awful lot like 'fucking ridiculous' just as there was a knock at the door to Mulder's room.

She stepped toward the door and opened it a few inches. Mulder saw her posture immediately relax.

"Hey…" she said softly.

"Is he… Is he okay?" asked a small voice.

"Yeah… Yeah, Mulder's doing better… Hi Walter." The mention of Skinner's name still managed to make him sit up that straighter as if preparing to deliver a fervent rebuttal.

"You good Dana?" came Skinner's reply.

"Yeah… We're doing just fine."

"Well, ah, alright… I'll be around if you need me. I have to go meet with Agent Einstein about some demands she's getting from the CDC."

"I was going to text you about that – I suspect Director Vaughn will be giving you a call any minute now. He wants confirmation from you that his team will be getting at least two more agents from our office to assist in addition to Agent Einstein."

"Interagency cooperation my ass! Oh… uh… sorry. I mean, well… what good does it do me to have liaison-type people to handle exactly this sort of thing if they're in Boston? It's enough to make me wish those bastards had just succeeded already with the whole damn apocalypse thing."

Mulder could hear Skinner's exasperated sigh from the other side of the door.

"I'll be going - apparently I've a country to sort out, no thanks to the CDC."

Scully gave Skinner a look of sympathy before he left. She then opened the door wider to let someone in the room.

Instantly, Mulder felt the air leave his lungs.

William.

"Mulder, you have a visitor."

He barely heard her. His eyes were transfixed on the boy in front of him. Mulder's mind collected one observation after another, as if hoarding these tiny details about their son for another unbearable fourteen-year winter. Brown hair. Or auburn? Is that the light?

William shuffled forward and caught Mulder's gaze with his own. Scully's eyes stared back and Mulder could finally begin to reconcile the week-old infant with the fourteen year old that stood before him. He could spot the familiar lines of his own jaw and cheekbones; William's features were still slightly rounded from childhood.

Mulder felt Scully's eyes dart between him and William. He realized he had to say something. Anything. He was certain 'bittersweet' didn't even begin to describe the sensation of having to introduce himself to his own son for the first time ever. At least as far as William would remember anyway.

"Scully, you still sticking to that story from fifteen years ago? Because he still definitely looks like Skinner."

The words fell out of his mouth of their own accord. While his attempt at humor went over William's head, he got another eyeroll from Scully. Mulder ran a hand through his hair before he continued.

"Well... ah... now I suppose this all ruins my plan of a big Darth Vader-style reveal if you already know who I am." He paused. Mulder cleared his throat in an attempt to stop the emotion from making his voice any heavier than it already was.

"I know you've had a rough week kid, but… thank you. You really didn't have to do what you did and I want you to know that we can't possibly thank you enough for what you've been through." He finally realized what Scully meant the day before when she told Mulder how terrible her own reunion with their son had been. He hated that William had suffered because of him yet again. It never stopped.

"It wasn't a big deal. I mean, uh, you're welcome." William glanced down at his feet and shrugged. "You're going to be all right though?"

"That's what they tell me." Mulder replied.

Scully stepped closer, just a foot away from William and put her hand on his shoulder. "He's going to be fine, Will. We're already seeing signs that engraftment is occurring and your cells are encouraging the growth of new blood-forming cells. Mulder's blood cell counts and platelet levels are nearly back to normal. There have been no signs of graft-versus-host disease or any other kind of infection."

William's forehead scrunched up a bit. Mulder could tell he was processing everything Scully had thrown at him. Mulder knew only half of what was going on because Scully had explained her work a thousand times to him when she was practicing full-time, but he wouldn't put it past Scully's kid to just have an innate knowledge of all things science.

"Oh. Okay. Good." William seemed to be satisfied enough with Scully's answer. Mulder didn't think he looked entirely convinced, but suspected that had more to do with losing his dad only a few days ago than Scully's medical doctoring.

"William, did Dr. Huang give you any prescriptions when he discharged you this morning? I can get those filled for you before we leave."

"Nah, just said to let him know if I had anymore pain or felt sick or whatever."

Mulder's head shot up. In the awkwardness of of the moment before, the reality of the situation had somehow momentarily escaped him. His son had been in actual pain because of him.

"Scully, are you sure he should be up?"

Scully sighed. "Mulder, I told you. He's been cleared and discharged. He had to be in order to be admitted as a visitor because of your high risk for infection." She then turned her attention to William. "You should be taking it easy though, William. Sit down."

Content that their son was doing fine enough for Scully's liking, Mulder kept his finger off of the nurse call button. For now.

William was moved over to the couch on the other side of the room by Scully. As she guided him with her hand still on his shoulder, Mulder could see that the half-inch she maybe had on their son was entirely the result of the heels she was wearing. Mulder struggled to remember exactly how tall he was at age fourteen and wondered if William would shoot up even more at age sixteen like he had.

Mulder hoped he'd get to find out.

"Do you think I'll have a scar from where they got me?" William asked Scully, with a bit too much excitement in his voice. Mulder laughed.

Scully shot Mulder a dirty look. "What? No, no. No, baby, you don't have to worry about a scar. The needles aren't that large in diameter and you're healing very well. I promise." Focused on the horror of him being scarred from the surgery, Scully missed the brief flash of disappointment on William's face.

Mulder struggled to stop laughing. "Scully, relax, he's not worried. He wants a scar."

William gave him a small smile and Mulder knew he had been right. Kids.

A knock at the door stopped Scully from commenting further. The door slowly opened and Skinner motioned for Scully to sit back down.

"I was going to go grab some lunch from the deli across the street before I have to meet with the CDC. Do you want me to grab you anything?" Skinner asked, still standing in the doorway of Mulder's room.

"Nothing for me - I can't bring myself to pass on another opportunity to eat the delicacies from the cafeteria." Mulder answered.

"No danger of that, Mulder. I wasn't offering to get lunch for you."

Mulder held his hand up to his chest and feigned hurt.

Skinner rolled his eyes. "Agent Scully?"

"That'd be great. Alright if I just text you with what we want?"

Skinner nodded.

"Can I come with and help?" piped William. Mulder was sure William was bored out of his mind being cooped up in the hospital. He was nearly insane with boredom and he wasn't a child.

"Sure you can. I mean, um, well, so long as it's okay with your… with… with you two?" Skinner seemed to be struggling with the concept of Mulder and Scully as parents to an actual child that was here , instead of William simply existing in the abstract. Mulder knew Skinner preferred to ignore certain facts about his agents such as owning a house together, signing a marriage license, and having a child together.

However, their boss' awkward stumble didn't appear to faze William. He looked to Scully, who looked to be clearly as uncomfortable as Mulder felt when it came to whatever roles they might play in William's life. "Alright if I go?" he asked.

"Sure, yes, of course." Scully was still shocked William had asked permission from her to do something. She reached down into her bag and pulled out a bill, putting it into William's hand. "You have my number if you need anything, otherwise just stick with Skinner."

William glanced down at the twenty in his hand, as if unsure if he should take the money. Scully didn't notice his hesitancy as she dug into her bag and pulled out a green field jacket. Mulder met William's eyes and gave him a quick nod to take the cash. William shoved the bill in the pocket of his jeans as he stood up to leave.

Scully held the jacket up to William. "Take this. You can use it until we have a chance to get something at the store. It should be fine."

"But…" William's voice trailed off.

"I'd take the jacket if I were you, kid. Not worth the argument and she's always right anyway." Mulder supplied. It was over fifty degrees outside but that didn't stop Dana Scully, M.D. from insisting their son take a coat with him when he went outside.

William threw on the coat without protest; it was a little long and baggy on him, but Mulder thought it looked fine enough on the kid.

Mulder addressed William directly, "Don't let Skinner make good on his promise to starve me. He'll try."

William let out a small chuckle and shoved his hands in the pockets of Mulder's jacket as he moved toward the door.

"Oh for god's sake, Mulder. Somehow you're a bigger pain here than when you're in the same building as me." Skinner let out an exasperated sigh. Ignoring Mulder, he turned to Scully as William walked past him to leave, and told her they'd be back soon.

As the door closed behind Skinner and William, Scully looked at him. The smile on her face made her look more content than Mulder remembered her being in a long time.

"I can't bring myself to really believe it," she said. "I think it's starting to hit me now."

Mulder wasn't quite convinced this wasn't all a cruel coma dream.

"He has your eyes, Scully." The observation seemed oddly sacred. His son had Scully's eyes.

"And your mouth. And your complexion. And probably your height."

"Scully, I don't think there's much of a question there. He's already taller than you."

"Barely."

Mulder shot her a look of disbelief. "Lose those shoes and then we'll talk." He gestured with his hand at her three-inch heels (which might as well be surgically attached to her feet these days).

Scully playfully scowled at his comment.

"I don't think he has really grasped what's happened yet, Mulder. We had to leave so soon after his father died. And then there was the surgery, his recovery, your recovery…"

The reunion with their son had come at a very high price. Mulder tipped his head back against the bed. The joy he felt from seeing William again had temporarily blocked out his awareness of the tragic circumstances which brought the three of them together again.

"We'll do what we always have done for William, Scully. We'll have to talk to him and figure out what's best for our son. Then we'll make the best of it we can for his sake."

Mulder wished whatever they could do would at least be somewhat adequate. His family had suffered enough.