They were beautiful children. Evelyn was a near carbon copy of her father except her nose was smaller and she had her mother's blue eyes. Her hair was hard to manage and Scully found herself spending hours washing, combing, and braiding her hair. Everywhere Evie went she insisted on dressing up as some kind of character, whether it was a princess, an astronaut, some type of animal, or something original to her. There was a special closet in her room, given to her by her grandmother, which held all of her dress up clothes with drawers for jewelry and other accessories.
The only time she was made to wear normal clothes was to school and she would strip them off the moment she got home. Keeping the floor free of discarded clothing was a constant struggle in their home.
Austin was a small child who had bright red hair besides his hazel eyes he looked just like Scully's brother Charlie. Maggie Scully had even come across a picture of Charlie in Kindergarten and put it next to Austin's Kindergarten picture and it was eerie how similar they looked.
He still was quiet most of the time but would allow himself to be dragged into his sisters world of make believe. She would assign him parts, lines, and a costume. He was most often forced to play the prince to her princess, or the villain to her hero.
Evelyn was always top of her class and was consistently the teacher's favorite. Mulder started calling her 'mini-Scully' when she asked for a chemistry set for Christmas.
Following her mother to work was her favorite thing and Scully allowed it occasionally. They bought her a little white lab coat to wear when she went.
At ten she began transitioning into the awkward last stages of childhood and that depressed Scully.
Austin was still very different from his sister but was, like her, dangerously smart. He was bumped up to second grade after only 2 months in first grade. Scully was not sure how she felt about moving him so soon but he'd begun acting out due to boredom. His intelligence rivaled his sisters but he was not personable like her. He cared little for the outside world. He followed his sister around everywhere and to her credit she didn't mind.
Evie was so easy going that she didn't mind when her brother to played games with her and her friends and she let him watch her do her homework.
There were times they made their parents uneasy though. There was a time when Mulder noticed them sitting in silence just looking at each other. When he later told Scully about it Mulder insisted that they were communicating with their minds with each other and with William. Scully just thought that they were odd children with fun imaginations but she too had seen them in these sorts of trances, she tried to ignore the sick feeling it brought to her stomach.
It all changed the day that they were in their own little world, just like any other, and suddenly a plate flew across the room.
It shattered against the wall in the living room and when they ran into the room their parents stared at them one excited and the other fearful.
"Who threw that?" Scully said trying to appear angry rather than concerned.
"'Tiny did it with his mind!" Evelyn yelled excitedly.
Scully crossed her arms and looked at her son, "Austin did you throw that?"
He nodded solemnly.
Mulder-always the investigator-chimed in, "Did you throw it with your hands?"
Scully turned to him in a mixture of anger and confusion but he kept his eyes trained on the children.
Austin shook his head.
"Will told us we can move stuff with out touching it!" Evelyn filled in the blanks for her mute brother as she pointed to the shattered dish across the room.
"That is it! I do not want to hear excuses for bad behavior! You both will come clean this up and then you will go to your rooms! No TV tonight." Scully said as she threw up her hands and went to get a broom and dustpan.
Once Scully was out of the room Mulder knelt next to his children who were currently sitting on the couch looking down at their feet, "Tell me the truth: did you really move that with your mind?"
"Yes daddy." Austin said wide-eyed.
Mulder nodded and brought his fingers to his mouth thinking of what to do about this. While he knew that Evelyn ad a tendency toward tall tales, Austin was always a very honest strait forward child. Mulder knew Scully would never believe it though, mostly because she was afraid to believe it.
Austin looked back down at his small bare feet as he kicked them up and down nervously. Evie, on the other hand, looked thoughtful with a side of bored.
"Dad I think that we need to find Will." Evelyn said this with such certainty in her voice it nearly broke Mulder's heart. He'd been thrown off- although not surprised- by her words and was happy that Scully was not there to hear them.
"We can't do that Evie." Mulder said putting a hand to her cheek.
Her blue eyes grew stormy, as something in her seemed to shift.
"Something bad is coming. He said that we need to." The intelligence and kindness in those eyes reminded him of a young Scully.
"Did he say what the bad thing was?" Mulder asked but didn't get his answer as Scully came back n the room with a broom and dustpan, which she handed to the children.
They sulked off to clean up the broken glass while Scully pinched the bridge of her nose and sat on the couch. She had heard the entire discussion and something in her finally broke when she heard Evelyn's serious voice.
Mulder moved to kneel in front of her and took her hands, "Dana… We need to find William."
She looked up with tired eyes, "I know."
