"I think that's all the questions we have for you," Rick said, after concluding his interview with Mulder. He could tell Mulder wasn't going to volunteer much more information. Maybe he would have better luck with Scully. "At least for now. Would you mind asking your friend to come in?" Mulder nodded and walked out of the office. Rick turned to face Daryl. "What do you think?"

"I think he's alright. He seems a little off, but he's been out there a long time. That can make anyone a little loopy."

"What do you make of him implying he knows what caused the outbreak?" Rick recalled their trip to the Center for Disease Control. They had met a man there, a scientist. He showed them how the virus worked. He told them there is no cure and that everyone was already infected. Rick had never questioned where the virus came from. If there wasn't a cure it didn't seem there was much point in knowing more about it.

"If he really worked for the FBI, then maybe he does know something about it," Daryl reasoned. "Let's see if her story checks out with his." He was still cautious of making a judgement call too early, but something in Daryl's gut told him he could trust Mulder. He wanted to believe that these two newcomers would be able to stay.

Rick turned back around to face Scully as she walked into the office. He greeted her. "Welcome, have a seat. This is Daryl. We have a few questions we'd like to ask you. But first we thought maybe you could tell us a little bit about yourself."

Scully gave a brief, polite smile to Daryl. "Why not? I'm Dana Scully. I'm a doctor and an FBI agent. I'm not really sure what you'd like to know about me."

Rick prodded her. "Mulder said you two were partners."

"Yes, we were partners for many years at the FBI. We worked together in a department that investigated paranormal activity." Rick tried not to let it show, but that sounded strange to him. When he heard the word paranormal he thought of ghosts and the like. Ghost chasing didn't really seem like an appropriate career path for a doctor. Scully seemed to notice the doubt in his body language and decided to add, "I was originally brought into the department to disprove whatever Mulder discovered."

Rick felt that sounded a little less odd and a little more scientific so he pressed her further. "He implied that you know what caused the virus. Is that true?"

Scully paused, seeming unsure of herself. Rick reasoned she was most likely wondering what Mulder may have already shared with them. He already had a slight suspicion that Mulder was out of his mind. He figured she didn't want to come off as crazy too. She was being careful. Cautiously, she said, "If you mean the cause of the outbreak, then yes, we know how it started. But it wasn't exactly a virus."

Rick and Daryl glanced at each other. So far Scully was much more forthcoming with information. They wanted to keep her talking. But what Scully had just said was a slight deviation from what Rick had already accepted as truth about the outbreak. "We've been to the CDC and a scientist there called it a virus."

"I'm sure he believed it was," Scully replied. "The immuno-response presents in very much the same way as it would to a virus. There were only a handful of people in the world who knew what it actually was and I doubt very much if anyone at the CDC had that sort of security clearance."

"But you did?" Daryl questioned, incredulously.

Scully's eyes darted between Daryl's and Rick's. "Not exactly," she finally said. "Mulder and I were working to uncover evidence to expose what the government had planned. We weren't supposed to know anything about it."

"Are you saying it was a government conspiracy?" Rick had never considered that option. In his mind he started to piece together everything he knew about the outbreak. He tried to see how this new piece of information could fit into the puzzle. He was trying to evaluate whether or not he could trust this woman and also trying to figure out if this information she was sharing was even useful.

"It was. At least it started out that way." Scully searched their faces, clearly unsure if she could trust them. Then, with a sense of hopelessness in her voice, she continued, "Listen, I could explain the whole thing to you, but you would probably think I was insane. We had evidence. We had proof of everything. It would be so much easier if I could just show you the proof." She dropped her gaze, shaking her head.

Rick scrutinized her closely. He felt he could believe her. He was pretty certain he knew what she was going through. She wanted her proof because she was worried that they would never believe her. They would think she was crazy or lying and they would send her and Mulder packing. She had only been inside the walls of Alexandria for a few hours, but already she likely felt she desperately needed to be accepted here. This was the first time she had felt safe since the outbreak. She needed to find a way to stay. Rick knew all this because he had felt the same way when he had sat exactly where Scully sat now. Deanna had interviewed him and he wanted to believe that this place could be a safe haven for his people.

"Where is the proof?" Daryl asked her, bringing Rick back to the present.

"It's in our office in D.C. We tried to take it with us, but there was an incident and we had to leave quickly. It's all still there in that building as far as I know."

"Well then why don't we go get it?" Daryl asked. Rick spun around to give him a concerned look. Daryl quickly added, "I need to go on another run anyway. We didn't find much in the way of supplies this time. I'm sure D.C. will have something that hasn't been picked over yet." This was true of course, but Daryl's curiosity about the cause of the outbreak was the real reason he wanted to go on this mission. He also had a growing inquisitiveness about these two people, Mulder in particular. While he trusted them more now than when he had first spotted them out in the woods, he still felt they were different somehow. He couldn't quite explain it and he wanted to know why. "You two would have to come with us," he said to Scully. "You'd have to lead the way."

"Now hold on a minute," Rick said throwing his arms up in protest. "Before anyone goes anywhere, we're going to need a little more to go on. Why do you need this proof? What is so hard to explain?"

Scully paused a moment and then decided to take a leap of faith. With a slightly mischievous smile she asked, "Gentlemen, do you believe in aliens?"