Chapter 10.

August 6, 2010.

Wayfield, Virginia.

"Do you have a few moments?"

Her voice was soft and even, the most human it had been since he realized that she was something else entirely. He could hear all the sounds of sleep in the background – a ceiling fan thumping, someone breathing peacefully, a television faintly advertising a vacuum cleaner. She must have been in a hotel. He had neglected to check the number before answering.

He made sure his response was just as gentle as hers. "I have all the time in the world."

Deloris shifted on the other end. He imagined she was turning over in bed. "I want to… reconsider what happened, but I've never done that before."

"What do you mean, reconsider?"

"I have been alive for a very long time – by your standards. I was thinking about why I let you live, why I wanted you to live. It… confounds me."

Mulder got out of bed, stepping into the hall, and then going to the front porch. He sat on the porch swing, hoping the screaming chains wouldn't wake Scully up. "Maybe you started to value human life in a way that you didn't before."

"But I don't… value it."

"You love Iden, don't you?"

She was quiet, and then she sighed. "I do love her."

"Iden is human. So you value human life."

"Not yours. Not anyone other than the children's. Why is that?"

"You spend time with them." Mulder recalled the cases Doggett had sent him, and his own knowledge of the patterns of this woman. "You spend months with them. It's impossible not to fall in love with a kid you spend so much time with."

"Hmm."

"I love her too, Deloris."

"Not my love."

"Think about it, and tell me if you see my logic. I spent months with her, just like you did. I may not be her father, but I love her in the same way that you do."

"Love is not logic."

He was too curious to resist. "You said you wanted to reconsider what happened, but you've never done that before, right? Tell me what you have done before. How long have you been here? Where did you come from?"

"I came from… home. Far away. Long ago."

"Why did you come here?"

"I didn't. I was lost… I was dying."

"All of us are dying."

"I was dying faster than you are. I am always dying." Her voice trailed off, and then she started whispering. "I have… forgotten. It has been a very long time. I do not know why I live – for what purpose. I have never… deviated."

"Deviated from what?"

"Surviving."

"You're thinking about… not surviving?"

"If I spared her, I would die. She is unique. She saw it… she saw me die. Does that mean I am fated to, no matter what I do? Does it mean I can finally be free?"

Mulder wondered about her tone. She seemed relieved, and spacey. It was a contrast to the woman he had met a year ago, and very different from the one who had threatened him in the hospital basement. She had settled on an ancient voice. It fit her words perfectly. It gave him the impression of a creature very distant from home, without a purpose, considering giving up on the lengthy life it had been living. She also sounded sad. She was grieving, perhaps for herself, or for the little girl she had stolen. She was so afraid, so confused. Mulder empathized.

"I think our fates can be changed." He chose his words carefully, his eyes drifting to the stars to ease his mind. "Do you want to keep living?"

"I choose to."

"But do you want to? Does it make you happy? Do you have goals you want to reach?"

"No. I lost those a long time ago."

"Do you remember anything about why you're here?"

"Only that I… don't belong."

"If you changed your mind – if you let Iden live – what would happen to you?"

Deloris paused. He heard blankets shifting around in the background. Her voice came much quieter, hushed by the subject matter. "I would die, I think."

"Did you call me to ask what you should do?"

"No. I called you to ask… I want you to come here. I want you to kill me."

Mulder felt like she had punched him in the gut. "What?"

"I want you to kill me. I am in the Pine Knoll Hotel in Warner. Iden is safe. She's sleeping. I want you to come here and kill me, and take her away."

He should have moved. He should have jumped to his feet and ran to his car, hastily agreeing to her terms as he sped toward them. He knew what he should have done, but he couldn't bring himself to get up. He sat there, watching the stars, contemplating them.

He had spent most of his career trying to prove that aliens were out there, and that some of them were on Earth. He had spent so long dedicated to finding them. His only interactions with them had been short and mostly hostile, and now he was on the phone with one, and she was asking him to kill her. She was asking him to take his dreams and crunch them under his boot.

But there were other things at stake. He thought of Iden. He would do anything to get her back, including losing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn more about the universe. He would kill something more ancient than he could understand just to get her home again.

It all came down to one thought.

"Why do you want me to do it?"

"Because I know you are kind. You do it not because you hate me, but because you love Iden. I want that kindness to be the last thing I know."

He swallowed and cleared his throat. "I'll be there soon."