Ok... so this is just an author's note, really. I had to write it, because I knew after publishing the epilogue that some people were going to feel a little shortchanged by that ending. I got kind of exhausted by this story toward the end, because I never intended for it to get so complicated as to need a thorough resolution. And by the way, resolution is not my forte.
I tried to write an epilogue that wrapped everything up with Will, but it just wouldn't work. I don't like to force things into writing. I think that when I brought him into this story, he was so new and exciting that I didn't want to give him an end, so I kind of let his storyline just float away into the non-ending of your speculation.
So, I'm going to do a stupid thing, whether anyone wants me to or not. I'm going to write a sequel.
Thanks to my attempts at an epilogue, it is already in progress, but probably not to be published for a while yet, because I like to have at least a few chapters head start.
I want to answer some of the questions that you guys had about the end of this story, because I'm probably not going to address them all in the sequel. I know its been a couple weeks, so maybe nobody cares anymore, but this has been bugging me, so I'm just gonna do it.
Q: How did Skinner get the super-secret-letter-from-Will-that-mysteriously-makes-everything-better? What did it contain?
A: Scully drove through the night/morning, called a favor in to John Doggett to meet her at her mother's house and play bodyguard to Maggie, Mulder, and William, then went directly to Skinner with the letter. Explained the situation as best as she could, including the bit where Will said she and Mulder wouldn't remember him. At this point she goes back to her mother's, sleeps for a few hours, and wakes with a hazy, chaotic memory of the night's events, sans Will. Doesn't have time to be bothered by this, because Mulder's condition has worsened overnight and she has to risk taking him to a hospital. Doggett stays with Maggie and baby Will, and basically doesn't step down from guard duty until Skinner gives the green light for them to head home (with several trusted agents keeping tabs while he ensures their safety)
A: What the super-secret-envelope contained; a list of the names, locations, and affiliations of everyone Will could track down using look-into-the-past technology who had wanted his parents dead. Skinner had to pull some serious strings to get investigations into a couple of these guys, as they were involved in some way with the FBI. A couple were caught and imprisoned on proof of being double agents, a couple were killed in altercations with the field agents sent to bring them in, and a couple got away. Proof of a larger organization or conspiracy against Mulder and Scully was never found, but nobody new came out of the woodwork after Skinner's initial operation was pretty successful. The envelope also contained an actual letter from Will, explaining his position and telling Skinner of their close relationship in his timeline, even including a picture of them at Will's high school graduation (Mulder and Scully made Skinner Will's godfather, in case y'all forgot) Skinner, not having actually encountered Will or any of the time-travel temporal fluctuation nonsense (very scientific, yes) does not forget what he knows. He keeps the photo, obviously not sharing the truth of his source with newly-amnesiac M & S, and remains the only person who really knows what happened that night.
Q: What the hell happened to Will when he disappeared from his parent's timeline?
A: Good question. Part of the reason I had such a hard time wrapping up. At first, I thought I killed him; that he made it back to his time only to die in the lab, or that he had died en route and only his body turns up at MIT, breaking the hearts of Tess, Scully, and Travis. The appeal of that ending is pretty strong because I love drawing plot parallels, and to have paradoxical Will die saving his father who was supposed to have died saving him as a baby would have been a good one. I guess I love Will more than Mulder, because I just couldn't bring myself to do it. That's all I'll say, because you'll find out more in the sequel.
Q: Happily ever after? Family? Will and Tess?
A: I'm dying to write old-ish Mulder and Scully, still together, interacting with their awesome adult son. It will happen. Also, I love the potential for Tess, so she will be around. Gears are turning about how she'll play into this next story.
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Hope this helps give the story some resolution. Sorry if you got your hopes up for another chapter, but hopefully someone is excited about the prospect of a sequel, because I've already talked myself into it. If you are excited, I apologize for what is going to be a long wait, most likely. I may have to spit out a couple short stories before I can really get into it. If you're not excited, I'm going to pretend you are, because it will help me write.
Ok, it's late. Again, thanks for reading. I owe you guys my sanity, for real.
