Mulder drove through the snowy streets in silence. The snow wasn't bad enough to need plowing anymore, but it was stacked on the sides of the road in slushy gray piles. He still couldn't believe the fight with Scully. Sighing, he glanced down at the clock in the car. It was 2:54 in the morning. He needed to find somewhere to sleep. Luckily, that wasn't much of a problem now that he'd driven closer to the coast.
A shabby motel just up the road on the left looked good enough and he took it. He was almost regretful when it took ten minutes to get the door key to work, but it wasn't until he got into the room and discovered the TV didn't work that he officially regretted his decision.
Sighing, Mulder lay down on the bed and stared at the dark ceiling. Old memories drifted back to him, of being on the road as an FBI Agent, Scully in her room usually next door to his own. It never failed that she would come over to his room, or he would go to hers, and they would share pizza and discuss not only the case they'd be working on but other cases as well, and then it became discussing their personal life, and than those personal lives and become more and more intertwined.
Mulder blinked back tears and decided he should have just slept in the car. It wouldn't have been all that much more uncomfortable than the hotel bed, certainly no less boring, and at least it wouldn't have brought up so many memories. But then again, maybe it would have. He and Scully had spent enough time in cars together, driving to investigate cases and on stakeouts.
Mulder sighed again and sat up on the side of the bed. He looked at the watch he'd sat on the table next to the bed. 4:17 AM. That made it 10:17 in France. Mulder hesitated for scarcely a moment. No matter what Scully thought, it was the only lead they had to go on. He dialed the cell phone. "This is Fox Mulder, United States. I need to be put through to Senator Didier St. Charles."
William stood in line at attention. His face was impassive, but inside he was seething with excitement. His Grandfather was finally coming to visit! To his right Joy stood at attention, staring straight ahead and standing tall. To his left Amy stood, looking around and fidgeting. Henri stood at the beginning of the line, his face neutral, but his eyes glinted with anger that was clear and obvious to all of the children. Samantha stood beside him, looking nervous and on the verge of tears. She'd been looking that way ever since they'd gotten news of the surprise visit. William couldn't understand it, why she wasn't happy and excited to see her Father. As delighted as he was to see his grandfather, he was also nervous. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong, and a scent of danger hung in the air like the smoke from a wildfire.
At the beginning of the line with Henri and Samantha the Cancer Man sat in his wheel chair. Still looking very feeble and sickly, he looked significantly better than when William had last seen him. Another man stood beside them, older even than CGB Spender, but in better physical condition. His hair was snow white but he still had a reasonable build and stood without a stoop, and his movements were relatively easy and unpained. While the children stood at attention the three men spoke together quietly, before beginning to move slowly down the line, inspecting each child closely as they went.
To William it seemed like it took forever for them to reach him. He expected his Grandfather to greet him, but he didn't even register any difference towards him in the old man's eyes than he'd shown to any of the others. William went through the rigmarole, striking different poses and answering questions. He knew better than to ask any questions of his own, his Uncle had him well conditioned as far as that was concerned. When the men were satisfied they moved along. William stood at attention, but his insides were like ice. How could his Grandfather behave as though he didn't know him, like he was no different than any of the others? Wasn't he excited and happy to see him? Had he done something wrong?
Dana Scully's eyes were sore and puffy, the result of spending the night in tears. They had finally dried sometime around dawn, but that was only because she didn't think she had any moisture left in them. She couldn't recall ever having felt so empty, so utterly alone.
The phone went to voicemail for the 9th time in a row and she finally decided to leave a message. "Mulder, it's me. Please, just call me back. Tell me where you are?" She listened to the empty air for another few seconds before hitting the end button. Fresh tears threatened again. What had she managed to do this time?
She could remember the night before clearly, much more clearly than she would have liked to. She remembered every word she had spoken, remembered the look of hurt and shock on Mulder's face. She remembered the look of utter betrayal he had worn. She remembered him walking out the door, walking away from her, and driving away into the snow.
Dana swallowed and her dry throat ached from the effort. She couldn't blame him if he never spoke to her again, but it was driving her crazy not knowing that he was okay. He'd gone out into the snow, and he'd been upset, very upset, and she knew very well how he drove when he was upset.
Dana stood looking out the picture window again, and abruptly spun away from it. The house was making her feel claustrophobic, it was too confined. She needed to get away, to get out, to try and clear her head somehow before she went completely insane. And there was only one place she could think of where she could go and someone would listen to her.
William stood with his ear pressed against the closed door, listening intently. Henri, Samantha, his Grandfather, and the other man had gone into the study after they had inspected the children, and William was desperate to know what they were talking about.
"-only a baby! She's barely three, she hasn't had time to develop yet, to learn! They were all older than she was!" Samantha's tearful voice was high and indignant. William recognized the tone as being a fearful one. He couldn't make out most of the replies from his Grandfather or the other older man, they spoke too softly to hear through the door. All he could tell was that Samantha was upset and afraid, and it had something to do with Amy from the sounds of the conversation. Across the room Joy was looking out for Ellis or Victor to be coming to look for them.
William licked his lips and straightened up, straining to hear as Henri spoke. His voice was low, but William was used to listening intently to it.
"-should have been expecting this day, Samantha. You've known all along like the rest of us that Amy was a failed experiment. "
"She's not just an 'experiment', she's our daughter!" Samantha's voice rose up resentfully. "And she isn't a failure either, she just needs more time! It will take over in time, and she'll be just as good as any of the others." Samantha insisted.
William pressed his ear as tightly as he could against the wooden door, but he couldn't make out the whispery reply. Samantha's voice exploded loudly from the room immediately in response though.
"I am NOT in denial! You're all being too quick to judge her! She just needs more time, the same as every one of the others has gotten!"
William's pulse was quickening. What exactly did the men want to do with Amy? What experiment had she failed? He knew she wasn't exactly like the rest of them, and that the other children tended to ignore her entirely as though they easily forgot she existed, but he didn't understand what kind of test or experiment she had failed at. Was she supposed to be the same as the rest of them were?
William again couldn't make out the whispering response from his Grandfather, but it apparently appeased his aunt. When she spoke again her voice was much lower and calmer.
"Yes Daddy, I understand. She will, I promise, you'll see. Thank you Daddy, so much, I won't let you down. "
The sound of chairs scraping back and a flurry of movement signaled William and Joy to make haste. As they hurried back down the hall William filled her in on everything he had heard.
"What do you think it means?" he asked her, and to his surprise she had an answer immediately.
"Amy was supposed to be one of us. Two human parents, but half alien. Something with her got messed up though, so she only has one human parent, Samantha. She has half Samantha's DNA and half of the Alien DNA. It must be why she doesn't have the abilities like us." Joy whispered to him. She connected the pieces much more quickly than he did, having been more receptive to her powers from the beginning. "I guess they were hoping she'd develop powers, but it's not working."
"What are they going to do to her? Is there some way they can fix her?" William asked. He'd become rather fond of his younger cousin, something that had served to endear him to Samantha. He was the only one of the children who had any time at all for Amy. The rest of them made it perfectly clear that they downright resented her.
Joy shrugged in response. "I don't know, probably not. She's just a mistake, usually when it gets messed up like that they just use the babies for tests and experiments. Samantha's probably the only reason she's still around." Joy answered him carelessly, and William could only stare in horror as it dawned on him what they were probably planning to do with his baby cousin.
"No, that, that can't be right." He finally stammered. "Not with Amy at least, our, our Grandfather wouldn't let that happen, he cares about us." William insisted, doubt creeping into his voice. Joy gave him a sidelong look.
"Well, I wouldn't worry about it, anyways. You're probably right." But William couldn't shake the icy feeling of dread building in the pit of his stomach.
When Mulder went home and found Dana's car gone, he had a pretty good idea of where he would find her. He knew where she went when she wanted to be alone and think. Normally he left her alone, but today he didn't have time.
As soon as he pulled into the cemetery he knew she was there. He could see her car parked on the shoulder. He pulled up behind it and sat in the car watching her for a few moments.
She knelt on the ground between her sister Melissa's grave and her daughter Emily Sim's grave. On the other side of Melissa Scully was their Father. Mulder watched as she stood and moved back and forth between the graves. Each had a new bouquet of flowers placed on them.
He got out of the car and walked towards her in silence. He knew she could hear him by the way she stopped walking back and forth and held herself perfectly still, not turning around. He stood behind her in silence for a few moments before he could finally bring himself to speak.
"Dana." He whispered softly, reaching out and touching her shoulder. She spun around immediately and fell into his arms, still refusing to look at him.
Dana held him tightly, taking in his familiar scent, his familiar touch, and felt the tears begin to flow again.
"Mulder." She whispered against him. "Mulder, I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me. I didn't mean anything I said to you last night, I don't why I said it, I-" she broke off, not knowing how to continue, still not able to look at him.
Mulder held her tight against him. "Shhhh, don't worry about it. We're both under an incredible amount of stress." He pulled her away from him and held her face gently in his hands, looking into her beautiful blue eyes and forcing her to look into his. "Besides, I have much more forgiveness to ask you for than you do me." He kissed her lips softly.
Dana smiled at him. "I love you." It came out sounding tiny and almost afraid, and Mulder responded with another, deeper kiss. "Me, too."
Scully said her farewells and she and Mulder walked back towards the cars hand in hand. "I looked over what you found again Mulder. It's a long shot, but you're right. We haven't had anything better to look into. It's worth a shot."
Mulder gave her a cryptic half smile. "Well I'm glad you agree. We've got a private plane to France, leaving this afternoon, courtesy of my, friend, in the French Senate."
In her study at home Monica Reyes stared intently at the computer screen in front of her. She'd been spending the last several weeks attempting to crack a complicated set of encrypted files John had uncovered at the FBI that possibly pertained to William. What she was looking at now was beyond her wildest dreams of what could be going on, beyond what any of them had imagined. She stood up and moved a few feet slowly towards the door. "John!" she called, not taking her eyes off the computer screen. "John! John hurry, come here, you have to see this! I think I found him!"