A/N: Happy new year everyone! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this story!

XxX

Chapter 21.

It was becoming violently windy outside. Matthew gave up trying to climb through the window or over the balcony when a branch whacked him in the back of the head. It was like the treehouse wanted them to stay here. Iden felt its tumultuous emotions like she had felt the light from Sarah. It was like a waking vision she could not escape. She was afraid and alone, so unbelievably cold, so confused and shaken. Something awful had happened here.

Matthew, Iden, and Sarah sat like three little penguins, huddled together on the wall furthest from the chilly balcony, both Sarah and Iden pressed as closely as they could get to Matthew, who was larger and dressed more warmly. Sarah still trembled, unable to speak except for some random murmurings about water, and Iden worried that if they stayed here much longer, their rescue would turn into a recovery. She was a bookworm, and many of the books she read were about survival against insurmountable odds – but the hero usually lost someone along the way. Sarah was fading. Coming this far only to have her die seemed too tragic to be real.

"I think my dad will find us, and your dad," Matthew was saying. His teeth were chattering but he seemed unable to stop talking. He was scared, Iden could tell, and talking made him feel better. "Dad said he used to be in the FBI, and aunt Dana, too. They do this all the time, right?"

Iden nodded, though he was really just talking to himself at this point.

"We should keep an eye out, in case they show up."

She agreed. Iden had been watching the window from their little corner for over an hour, hoping in vain that she would see someone, anyone, walking through these dreary woods. But she gradually lost hope, and started watching just for the sake of looking at something other than old, rotting wood.

It was when she had finally decided they were all going to die here that she saw them.

Dana was a flash of color among the gray trees. She had red hair and she wore the intense blue coat that Fox had gotten her for Christmas this year. Iden thought she had never been so happy to see anyone. She clambered to the window, flinching at the rushing wind surrounding their prison, and started yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Help! Dana! We're up here! Dana!"

Iden had no idea how Dana had gotten here, no idea if this was just an illusion, but the biggest, dumbest grin spread over her face as she hung out the window, calling out to her. Dana looked up sharply, and through the swirling leaves Iden caught a look of surprise and fear. In the next moment, Fox was right beside her, that look echoed in his face. More people arrived, standing on the fringes of the freakish windstorm that enveloped the treehouse, wearing police uniforms and black FBI jackets. The wind slowed infinitesimally, and Iden knew it was time.

She crawled back inside and mobilized Matthew. They half-carried, half-dragged Sarah to the hatch, and with a little tugging, it finally opened. Matthew looked astonished. He went down first, and Iden slid Sarah down by her legs. He was strong, but the weight of her body against his made him slip down the ladder and land with a thud on the ground below. Iden scurried after them.

In her desperation, Iden jumped upright and made a run for Dana. She wanted nothing more than to be wrapped up in her arms.

Dana shouted something, appearing horrified, and Iden had just enough time to see a streak of red as Dana tackled her to the ground. It was the scarf. Iden wriggled out from under Dana, and let out a cry of horror as she discovered what had happened. Dana was clawing at her throat, now wrapped in scarlet, as the scarf tightened its grip. It was just like her dream, just like the red snake that had tried to kill Fox, only it was painfully, brutally real this time.

Fox was on her in an instant, trying to rip the scarf off, shouting something that was stolen away by the wind. Dana's eyes bulged and her mouth opened, but she couldn't breathe.

"Help me!" Matthew called.

Iden turned from the awful scene to find Matthew struggling to drag Sarah through the leaves, branches pelting his broad back. Iden couldn't help him. She was frozen to the spot. It was like she had used all her bravery already and now she was empty.

In that spot, she had the perfect view.

Beyond the trees, past the mass of bodies streaming in to try and free Dana from the scarf, there was a man standing all alone. He was a ghost. He had to be. Iden could almost see through him. It was like looking at an old painting on glass, its details chipped away, but the subject still discernible. He was staring at the scene with quiet indifference, like he wasn't really seeing it.

Iden cried out, "Stop!"

His eyes jerked to hers and, like he had been submerged under an icy lake for years and years and years, life flooded into him. He took a short, startled breath, and then vanished.

When the glass man was gone, the wind stopped. Leaves and sticks dropped limply to the ground, pelting the disturbed snow and bonking some unsuspecting officers on the head. Skinner came running through the fray, passing a knife to Fox, and together they managed to cut away the scarf. Dana sat up, gasping, and Fox held one of her shoulders tightly. Someone ran toward the tree and grabbed Sarah, running off while the girl flailed like a doll in their arms. Matthew took a few steps to follow, but then came toward Iden instead, sinking to his knees beside her.

It seemed like forever that they sat there, with the police buzzing around them. Dana was escorted the same way they took Sarah, with Fox torn for a moment about where he should go. Skinner ended up staying with Iden and Matthew, patting Matthew on the back while he vomited.

"We came to find her," Iden explained, when Skinner asked how they had gotten there.

He snorted, and his expression reminded her of Dana when Fox was telling them a story about aliens. "You and Mulder deserve each other, kid."

Matthew got his legs back eventually, and Skinner walked them out of the woods. Iden marveled at how close to the edge they had been. Beyond the trees was an old house covered in dead vines, looking as welcoming as a nail in the eyeball. Skinner put a firm hand on her shoulder and forced her on when she tried to stop to investigate a glimmer of movement inside.

"Best let that be," he said in a low grumble.

Fox and Dana were sitting together in the open back of an ambulance, where Dana seemed to be negotiating with the medics in a croaky voice.

"You should go to the hospital, let them look you over," Fox advised. At a venomous look from Dana, he only smiled. "What would you say if it was me?"

She shrugged noncommittally, "You have to take Matthew home."

"Skinner can take him home," Fox said immediately.

Dana seemed more sure of this than she was of her own health. "Please, take him home."

Matthew was standing there beside Iden, quaking from head to toe, seemingly unaware of what they were saying. It was warmer now that the treehouse was behind them, but the cold had a way of winding into their veins. Iden put her hand on his arm to draw his attention, and said softly, "Come on. Get in the car."

He followed her out into the maze of police cars and vans, to the rental they had gotten on their first day in California, and settled into the backseat with Matthew. She had her family, she realized, and he needed his. Everything was better after a big hug from mom.

Fox joined them eventually, sitting and looking back at Iden before he started the car. His eyes were warm. "I guess you went to find her."

"Yeah," Iden admitted.

"You know, you scared the crap out of both of us today."

"I scared the crap out of me, too."

He chuckled, "Well, I guess that counts for something. How about next time you get a hunch, you call one of us and we come help you check it out?"

Iden thought of having Fox or Dana to hold onto during the ordeal with the treehouse, and nodded vigorously. "You got a deal."

He was smiling as he drove them off, but it slowly slipped into a tired frown. Iden sagged against her seat. Matthew gradually stopped shaking, but every now and then he would quiver. Fox made a lot of phone calls – some to Charlie, another to Tara, and then a longer one with Skinner, who had gone off to the hospital with Dana.

Iden thought about the glass man, unsure how to bring it up to Fox, and uncertain if she really wanted him to know about it. What she had seen in his eyes seemed private somehow.

She settled on an innocuous question.

"Fox… what is it?"

He stared forward, without a glance at her in the rearview mirror, and said, "I thought… Iden… something terrible happened here a long time ago. Terrible things have a way of living on."

Iden turned her attention to Matthew as they neared the Scully house, where she might say goodbye to him for the last time this holiday. He looked a lot like Bill, all big and brown-haired, with small blue eyes and a blocky face, but he was a lot different. He believed in her abilities. He was willing to walk out into the woods to find Sarah and he admitted that he had made a mistake when he let her wander off by herself. Fox was always telling her how people could change.

"How does your stomach feel?" Iden asked him.

Matthew gave her a meek smile, folding his arms tightly, "Better, I guess."

Iden lowered her voice to a whisper, "I'm glad you believed me. I think we saved her life."

He seemed to glow at that, but he looked quickly at the window to escape her eyes. He was uncomfortable, maybe uncertain if he should go back to being a brat.

"I don't think you're stupid," Iden added, turning back to face the front.

It was a warm scene at his house. Tara came running out to embrace her son, and Matthew shook like a leaf in her arms. Iden thought it was odd, seeing such a large, confident boy clutching his mom like that, but it also made her feel better about running for Dana in the woods. It must have been something about moms.

Bill came out slower than Tara, sort of storming, stomping his feet like he expected them to make more noise in the soft snow. He patted Matthew on the head, and then came right up to Fox.

"He could have been hurt!" Bill boomed, making everyone jump at the sudden volume. "Of all the irresponsible… I can't believe this…

Iden expected Fox to square up to him like he had during their first argument, but he stayed right where he was. He only gave one sign that he was irritated by Bill – a little twitch in his jaw – and the rest of him stayed serene.

"Matthew is fine. The paramedics looked him over."

"That's not the point!" Bill shouted back.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Since you got here, all of this started! First it was Sarah, and then Matthew! My son!"

"He chose to go! I wasn't even here for that!"

"Your kid was. She forced him into it, led him out there to get lost in the woods in the dead of winter!" Bill pointed accusingly at Iden, and she stepped sideways to hide behind Fox's arm, all of that warmth from before draining away.

Fox stiffened. "Iden is a nine year old girl. Are you insinuating she somehow dragged Matthew into the woods? Do you really think she forced him to do anything?"

It looked like the men were really going to fight this time, and without Charlie to come and break them up. But before Bill could cause any more problems, Matthew jumped between them. He looked at his father with wide, wet eyes, still pale from his experience in the woods.

"Dad, no. I wanted to go. It my was my idea."

Bill stared blankly at his son for several seconds, and then seemed to forget that Fox and Iden were standing there. He dropped into a crouch and took Matthew by the arms, his voice becoming impossibly tender. "Why would you do that? You could have been hurt. You know Sarah went missing, and then your mom couldn't find you. We were so worried."

Matthew had tears in his eyes and seemed to want nothing more than to go back to his mother to be held again, but he stood his ground. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to help."

It was their moment, sweet and private, but Iden could not look away. She was getting her first look into the way that people were layered, how they could be so hard and angry on the surface, but very different on the inside. When it came to Fox, this man was aggressive, but when it came to his son, he was someone completely different.

Fox put his hand on her shoulder, drawing her toward the car. "We have to go," he said, addressing his adversary, though Bill was still looking at his son. "Dana is in the hospital with Sarah. She got some bruises they wanted to look over before we fly back to Virginia."

Bill looked away from Matthew at last, his hard blue eyes falling on Fox. He lost some of that tenderness as he responded, "You go ahead. I'll be right behind you."

"I want to go, too," Matthew said, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"Matty…" Tara murmured, half-heartedly, stepping closer.

Bill glanced at his wife, and then put a hand on top of Matthew's head. "Not just yet. I want you here with your mother."

Matthew withdrew from the contact, looking defiant, "I have to go, Dad."

Fox spoke up, and the sound of his voice made Bill tense. "I think you should stay home for now. Sarah has been through a lot. She'll probably sleep for a while. I'm sure your dad will take you to see her when she's a little stronger."

Bill looked at Fox incredulously, and Fox looked back with a tired, tranquil expression. Iden could not fathom what he might be thinking, but something in his eyes seemed different. He took her by the hand and walked her to the car, saying nothing else to the family behind them. Iden kept her eyes on them, watching Bill, and Bill stared hard at Fox's back.

Iden was still trying to decipher the situation when they pulled up at the hospital. Fox turned the car off, unbuckled, and sat there, saying nothing.

"What are you waiting for?" Iden asked.

Fox shrugged, resting his forehead on the wheel. When he finally looked up, his eyes were a little shiny. He patted Iden on the head, like Bill had done to Matthew, and said, "Nothing. It's just been a long day and I'm ready to get home."

"Me too. Frankie is probably sick of Dalton by now. He wears too much cologne."

Fox snorted. "I bet you're right."

"Well, let's go get Dana and go home. Can we?"

"Not just yet." He looked up at the emergency room doors, which were sliding open to admit a few people. "I have something to do before we leave California."

"Is it about the treehouse?"

"Mhm."

Iden glanced at the emergency room doors. "Are you coming in?"

"Just for a little while. Come on. I know Dana wants to scold us. We shouldn't keep her waiting any longer."

Iden barely paid attention to the hospital, which bustled all around her. She was aware of Fox on the phone, talking to one adult or another about what had happened and where they were. Charlie was the first familiar face they ran into, pacing outside a door.

He came up to Iden immediately and wrapped her in an unexpected hug. "Mulder told me what you did for Sarah," he said, crouching down and holding her hands, his eyes red like he had been crying before they got there. He had blue eyes, like Dana, and they were just as warm. Iden realized that all three siblings looked strangely alike, and very different. "You were very brave."

"How is she?" Fox asked.

Charlie released Iden and glanced at the door, smiling nervously, almost gleefully. "Starting to come out of it. They said she was in the last stages of hypothermia. If she had been out there alone any longer…" He paused, looking again at Iden. "If no one had come along to keep her warm, she might have died before the police found her."

Iden wondered if that was really true, but she glowed anyway. She felt the same pride she had when Dana told her that Katie Whitehead was safe, after Iden had suffered terrible visions of her death. Sarah was going to be okay, and it was at least partially because of her.

"Dana is a few doors down," Charlie offered. "She seems fine. Kind of croaky."

Fox and Iden walked down the hall, passing open rooms with sick people lying mostly motionless under dimmed lights, until they found Dana. She was sitting on a small bed, covered in blankets at the waist, and her neck was turning shades of red and purple. Skinner sat beside her in a flimsy chair, picking through a magazine.

"Wow, they give rooms to anybody these days," Fox commented as they stepped inside. He grinned at Dana, and she grinned back at him. "How many weeks of rehab, soldier?"

Dana rolled her eyes, opening her arms for Iden to climb into bed with her. Dana was warm enough to chase away the squirmy, cold feeling Bill had given her. "I can leave whenever I want."

"I don't know, you look pretty delicate to me. Maybe a few more weeks in Cali?"

Fox sat on the bottom of the bed, recounting what had happened at the Scully house. He downplayed the almost-fight a little, but made sure he told Dana how brave Matthew was. Iden insisted on it.

"You should have let Matthew come," Dana said, stroking Iden's hair.

"Sometimes I have to agree with Bill," Fox responded, a light smile on his face for the first time since Sarah had gone missing.

"What are you going to do… about it?" Dana asked.

Skinner came to attention at that, "Burn it down?"

Fox shrugged, "I think I'll visit Greenfield one more time. I just have a feeling about it." He stood up, patting Skinner on the shoulder. "Can you give Scully a ride back to the hotel?"

"You sure you should keep messing with that thing?" Skinner asked.

Dana only smiled, clutching his hand for a moment, "Be careful."

"Well, to both of you, I'm not nine and it hasn't been fifteen years, so I think I'll be okay."

He left them there, and for once Iden had no desire to follow him. She hoped he would find some miraculous cure for that wicked thing, and stop anymore kids from falling victim, but her mind wandered away from it almost immediately. She snuggled close to Dana, giving a vague mention of the glass man she had seen, and how she wanted to see Frankie again, and sleep in her own bed. Dana assured her that they would be going home soon, maybe that very night.

Dana slid out of bed when the nurse came to discharge her, and gave Iden a tight squeeze, "You see? If I had any other kid, we would have lost Sarah. I need you just the way you are."

Iden had almost forgotten her worried earlier, that Dana and Fox might want a normal kid instead of a strange one like her. It seemed so silly now.

"Can we go home now?" Iden asked.

Dana moved to the wheelchair the nurse brought in, rubbing her neck. "As soon as Mulder gets back. Unless you want to leave him in California."

"I think he has the house keys on him."

"Oh. Well we better wait then, huh?"

Iden grinned, and followed Dana, the nurse, and Skinner down the hall. She thought of the glass man on the way back to the hotel, the way he seemed to fade into the forest, and of the treehouse. For hours she turned the pieces around in her head.