"You're going to have dinner with him?" Fowley asked with a mischievous look.

Years earlier, Scully wasn't able to imagine a civil conversation with the other woman, never mind discuss her personal life. But things had changed.

"It's not set in stone, but I think so." Scully admitted.

Fowley grinned at her.

"What?"

"It's just nice to see you excited about spending time with a man." Fowley told her. They both knew that 'besides Mulder' was the unspoken clause in that statement.

"I wouldn't say that I'm excited-"

"You are! So what is he like? And why did you break up with him in the first place?"

"What he's like isn't something I'm really in a position to answer. I haven't seen him except this once since nineteen ninty-three. People change a lot in that kind of time, as I'm sure you know-"Scully gave Fowley a pointed look, which made her turn pink. "So I'll have to get back to you on that.

"As to why we broke up...we just sort of drifted. I was new at the FBI, and he was a cub reporter. When he got a job offer in Chicago we talked it over and realized that our relationship wasn't a good enough reason for him to stay. There wasn't any bitterness or anything." Scully shrugged. "There wasn't really... anything."

"Maybe this time will be different." Fowley encouraged.

"Maybe." Scully repeated with a wistful smile.

**

Monday morning...

William's brothers were very excited when he went with them to school that first morning, but he himself was feeling confused and a little overwhelmed. Mulder had filled out all the necessary paperwork over the weekend, and he was supposed to be put into a sixth grade class without any placement tests, but he was still so nervous. What if none of the kids liked him?

The younger boys tumbled out as soon as Mulder stopped the car, and they all remembered to wish him luck before racing off to join their classmates. William got out of the car slowly, and hung back shyly, not sure what to do. Mulder ruffled his hair and told him to stick close.

He followed Mulder into office, and sat in his chair while Mulder hung up his coat. Someone poked their head into the office. "Who you talking to, Fox?"

Feeling shy, William was glad that his father's body hid him from view. " My oldest son. Why don't you come say hi?" Mulder invited, stepping aside.

"Oh, Benji and I are old fr-"The man stopped in mid sentence when he saw William. "You got him back?"

"Last week." Mulder told him, sounding pleased.

The stunned looking man offered William his hand to shake. "My God, Kid, your dad has been talking about wanting to bring you home for a long as I've known him."

William didn't say anything in reply, but he suddenly felt pretty good. Mulder must have really wanted him if he'd told his coworkers about him.