The next morning, Scully had arrived at the hospital to find that her little patient was gone. "Where is the boy that was in 307?" She inquired of the reception desk.
The girl at the counter shrugged her shoulders. "He was discharged yesterday, Dr. Scully."
"How could he have been discharged? I am his doctor and how could he have been discharged in his condition?!" She demanded.
Scully sighed and didn't even wait for an answer as she quickly exited
the lobby and dialed Skinner's number. "He's gone," she managed in a whisper, as if she had lost her last resolve.
"I know, but I have some good news. I found an address for his...his family," he continued even though he knew the words stung. "This little boy named William Van De Kamp lives in Wyoming."
"What's he doing all the way out here in Virginia?"
"Looks like his adoptive parents have family out this way...a grandmother the boy often visits."
Scully hesitated, she couldn't believe she was this much closer to her son...but he would never be hers again.
"Dana?"
"I have to tell Mulder."
"Well, that would be a good idea."
"Thank you, sir."
Scully struggled with the proper words...the conversation she planned to have with Mulder repeated in her head as she drove home. She managed to get a sample of William Van de Kamp's blood from the hospital and ordered the test to be done that would compare it to her own. She knew this was the boy, but the scientist in her needed the proof as well.
If this William really was hers, what would it change? She would be fooling herself if she thought they could have their family again. She had blessed another couple with the miracle that was once bestowed upon her and she couldn't take him away from his family. But why was the boy pulled from the hospital when he seemed to be so sick?
She sighed as she felt the engine of her car begin to sputter before coming to a stop about 2 miles from the entrance of her home. What the hell? She just had this car repaired not long after Mulder had come close to totaling it off the side of a cliff. She exited the deserted road to take a look at the engine, not that she'd really know what the issue was. She pulled out her phone and began to dial Mulder. It was only a moment before she could hit the call button before she heard a motion from behind. All she could do was let out a gasp before everything around her went black.
Mulder was eagerly anticipating Scully's arrival that evening to show off his cooking skills. He wanted to do something for her after she had been on her feet all day when she really shouldn't be. She started to grow worried after a few hours had passed her usual arrival time. He called her several times before calling her hospital...only to find out she left 3 hours ago.
Well, where the hell was she?! After living in isolation this long, she was the only reason he woke up in the enough, he decided to pull his coat on and make his way down to the entrance of their home. He picked up a sleeping Vera from her play pin and headed out door. He was finally able to have a car of his own and be semi self sufficient again. He had a nagging feeling something was wrong and he couldn't sit at home a moment longer powerless to do anything about it. He drove down the usual way Scully took home; his blood ran cold when he came upon Scully's car on the side of the road. He got out and looked it over, obvious she was nowhere in sight.
He saw the opening of the hood, where it was evident someone had tampered with the engine. "Scully," he screamed, though he didn't expect any response. He came across her phone sitting on the concrete and her purse still in the passenger side of the car. He grabbed the purse and scanned it...for any possible trace of evidence to link him to who had possibly did this.
The only thing he found was a piece of paper that had the address of a William Van de Kamp from Wyoming along with another local address. What the hell was she doing? Was she trying to find their son? And why hadn't she thought to mention it to him? He felt a pang of anger that she would do this behind his back, especially since they had so much at stake. He picked up her phone and looked at the call history, finding a few calls from Skinner. He felt a mixture of emotions...fear, anger and maybe a bit of jealousy. He clicked the call button and waited until he heard Skinner's voice. "Skinner."
"What the hell is going on?" He demanded.
"Mulder?" Skinner was caught off guard.
"Who else?"
Skinner sighed and Mulder wanted to demand answers.
"It's Scully," he finally said. "She's gone. Someone took her."
"What do you mean, Mulder?"
"She didn't come home and I went to look for her and I found her car stalled, only she wasn't in it."
Skinner swore under his breath, finally regretting getting the information for Scully that she wanted so desperately
"Look sir, I'm not happy you both kept me in the dark, but I am going to assume this has something to do with William that Scully didn't want me to know about."
"It's not for the reasons you think, Mulder. She didn't want you to worry about her until she was sure."
Mulder rolled his eyes. That plan definitely backfired.
"Does it have to do with a patient of hers, a William van de Kamp?"
"I believe it does, yes, Mulder."
Scully was very recently in a dark place about her patient, Christian Fearon. She was obsessive to the point of going against hospital regulations, not that it was a bad thing as she could have possibly saved his life. However, he hated to admit that the loss of William was really taking a toll on her, on both of them. Neither of them was ready to admit what really happened. It was still an unspoken topic between them. He didn't want to admit his resentment for her giving away their baby without his knowing, nor did he want her to shoulder that burden of his resentment. Logically, he knew she was just as torn, if not more so.
"All right, I will gather a task force." Sometimes Skinner hated being the middle man. "Now, don't go doing anything-" he started to say before the line went dead. "Stupid."
Mulder couldn't wait. He had to find her. It had been such a long time since their work the X-Files, that she was so used to her coming home to him each day, he didn't want to think that danger still followed them...though he knew in his heart that the darkness always followed them and he knew Scully couldn't accept that. He thought he was okay with it, but not if it meant losing her.
