Who's The Father?
Part 7
By Trycee
Time-Line: Season 7
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files, this is written for fun not profit.
"Sir," Scully began. "We're you ever in the Armed Forces? Is that how you were injured?"
Kenneth Holmes looked confused. "I thought you were here because of the accident!"
"Accident?"
"Yeah," he said, looking towards his children and then back to the agents. "The drunk driver that plowed into my car. I lost my left eye and my wife is in critical condition in the hospital."
"We're sorry, we didn't know," Scully said. "That's not why we are here."
"You're not gonna investigate it?", he said, shocked.
"Sir, I'm sure the local police will investigate it," Mulder said. "We're here on another matter."
"What matter is that?", he said, getting agitated.
"May we speak to you alone?", Mulder asked, glancing up at the man's three daughters.
Kenneth turned to his children. "Go back outside to play or something. Give us some room to talk."
The kids looked upset as they walked past their father and the Agents. They rolled their eyes and stared at both Mulder and Scully as they slammed the front door behind them.
"Where you ever in the Armed Forces?", Mulder asked.
"No," he said, confused. "I never tried either."
Scully looked surprised. "Did you ever make a donation to a sperm bank?", she questioned.
Kenneth Holmes became quiet. "Look, I have three kids. They said I was not responsible for any children created using my sperm. Oh, wait? Are you here because one wants to contact me?"
"So you did give a donation."
"It got me through college," he said, looking at Mulder for support. "Why yank off for nothing when you can get paid for it."
Scully turned her head away. Mulder smirked but then noticed her reaction. "Ah, were you ever missing at any time?"
"No!", the man said, more confused. "What is going on here?"
"We're trying to determine if you are the father of a 3 yr. old little girl named Emily Sims that's deceased."
"Why the questions about the Army or being missing?"
"There are five other men on a list as possible fathers. We're trying to determine if there is any connection between you and the other men on the list mailed to us. "
"Who mailed it?"
"We don't know," Scully said, sighing.
"Why me? I mean, come on, I'm supposed to have been protected against this very thing. No knocks on the doors asking if I'm the father!"
"Would you be willing to give a donation?"
"A sperm donation?", he said, standing up.
"Ah, no, wrong choice of words," Mulder smiled. "No, a DNA sample."
"To rule you out as the father of this child."
"Three years old? I didn't give sperm three years ago. My oldest is 14. I did that in college, years ago."
"They could have kept your sperm, sir and used it later," she said, looking irritated.
Kenneth looked at the Agents and then at the door where he could see his daughters duck back. "Fine, take it. Whatever happens, happens…the sooner you leave, the sooner I can get back to the hospital to see my wife."
Scully stood up and slapped on her gloves from her kit. She swiped his mouth and then dropped it in the bag and handed him a card. "Thanks for your help. We'll be in touch."
"You come here for this, but no one can find the drunk driver that plowed into me and my wife," he huffed.
"We aren't apart of that investigation, " Mulder stated. "But I hope they catch him."
"Damn straight," Kenneth said. "Girls, get out of the way so these Agents can go. "
The kids moved but continued to glare as Mulder and Scully quickly pulled away. "Back to the San Diego field office, Scully."
"Fine. Maybe we can get some answers, Mulder. We don't have the results of the fingerprint testing to see who sent this. We don't know why we've been sent out on this wild goose chase. We know pretty much, nothing."
Mulder touched her hand and her hand slid into his easily. "You want it over with, don't you?"
"I do, I'm ready to know. Seeing these men, it just really angers me that they would do this to me. What if none of these men are Emily's father? I mean…what if we are being set-up?"
"For what?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Hell if I know," she sighed. "I'm just tired of finding all these crazy men who could be the other half of MY daughter and yet none of them are good enough for her."
Mulder squeezed her hand. "As hard as it is, Scully, maybe you need to step back for a moment."
She turned her head to look at him and he knew he had said the wrong thing. "Step back, Mulder? Why is it when it's you, you plow right ahead but when it's me, you want me to step back?"
Mulder looked out of the window as he drove on. She waited for his answer but when he didn't give her one she sighed and then stared out of her own window until they came to the San Diego office. They both stepped out, the samples in hand and took it inside to the lab. The technician expressed mailed it off to D.C. but surprised them with some of the results they had been waiting for.
Scully sat down at the table and looked through them. "The person that mailed this left no saliva, no hair, and no finger-prints. They wore latex gloves and sealed it with glue."
"Okay," Mulder spoke.
"As far as the DNA results from David Michaels, he is not Emily's Father."
Mulder nodded. He hadn't suspected him as being the father. Scully moved on to the next person. "Neither is George Highland."
"That's a relief," Mulder said. "He was a creep."
"He was…"
"What about John Nelson, the one who may have been abducted with you?"
Scully shuffled through the papers. "I guess it's not available yet," she said, looking at the phone. "I'll make a call to have them put a rush on this. Any news from the guys?"
Mulder whipped out his cell phone. "Hey, it's me. Anything?"
"Apparently five out of six of the men were in the Army," Byers answered,
"I know that," Mulder said.
"We had to crack into the Military database. These men were a part of a special forces, Mulder."
"What special forces?"
"Langley is working on it," Froehike said. "There's something strange about their records, Mulder. Trying to access their records, we keep coming up on security blocks…Someone's hiding something."
"Look, I think these men were being used to create children."
"What like the hybrids, you think the Army is using their own men as donors, Mulder?", Byers asked.
"That's exactly what I think they're doing."
"Here it is," Langley answered. "Project Phoenix."
"Project Phoenix?", Mulder said, as Scully watched him.
"Mulder, you're right," Byers stated as he read from the screen.
"Looks like these soldiers signed up for more than they thought they did," Froehike stated.
"We found two of the names you gave us."
"Which ones?"
"John Nelson and Zachary Briar…"
"The two blonds," Mulder answered.
"We can't find any other information on them though. They're listed with a series of other men as a part of Project Phoenix."
"I need more information, something that ties them to Scully's abduction."
"In what way?", Byers asked.
"Something that shows that they are the father of Scully's daughter, Emily."
The Gunmen looked at each other, surprised. "Is that what you're investigating?"
"Yeah…"
"Does Scully know?", Froehike asked.
"Yeah, she knows, " he said, glancing at Scully. She was still watching him. "Look, I need anything you can find on Project Phoenix. Commanders, other officers, anything."
"Will do!", Froehike said, as Mulder hung up.
"What they say?"
"Nelson and Briar were in a special project called, Project Phoenix. I'm having the guys look to see if there's a link between them and your abduction."
"Okay," she sighed. "We either can stay here and wait or get us a hotel and tell them to call us if anything comes in…what do you want to do?"
"I think you need some rest," he said, noticing the lines under her eyes. "You didn't sleep much last night."
She looked surprised. "How do you know?"
"Because I was up. I know you were trying like I was to stay as far away as possible. It was hard enough to be in the next room from you all these years but now that we've told each other how we feel, it was even harder to lay their knowing you feel like I do and NOT touch you…"
"God, do I know it," she sighed. "Okay, separate rooms…Stay in your own bed?"
"Skinner would kill us if we didn't…"
"We'll rest until we get a call."
"Can we rest with each other?", Mulder winked.
Scully smiled shyly. "Mulder, don't tempt me," she said.
Mulder moved in closer until his lips were inches from hers. "Tempting you is what I want, Scully."
She stepped back away from him. "We promised we'd take it slow, both of us promised."
"Any slower and I won't be able to control myself, Scully."
"Soon, Mulder, soon," she sighed. "But not now…not while on this case with all that's going on."
"You're right," he sighed heavily. "Okay, let's go. I'll be good!"
She looked at him and laughed. "I wish I could believe that, Mulder. I wish I could."
They walked from their room in search of Agent Cruz. Mulder could see the sly look on Scullys face as she would cast a glance at him as they Mulder tracked down Agent Cruz. "Agent Scully and I are going to find a hotel. You can reach me on my cell if anything comes through for us."
Agent Cruz looked at the two agents suspiciously as if he could sense the sexual tension between the two Agents. "Sure. No problem."
They turned and headed back to the car in search of another hotel. Scully fell asleep on the drive there. Mulder looked at her and he reached out to touch her but his phone rang. "Hey Mulder," Froehike's dry voice rang through. "We got it, we cracked Project Phoenix…"
"Hit me," Mulder said.
"Mulder, it's not what you think."
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