Byers lay awake in bed, his brain refusing to shut down as it tried in vain to process everything he had learned in one night. He had been aware of the alien plan to colonize Earth and the government's involvement in it for some time, but never had he fully understood the details. His new level of understanding scared and confused him. What concerned him most was his newfound involvement, the fact that part of the only plan to stop this from happening relied on him and his two best friends. Well, possibly one best friend now he corrected. Langly had refused to budge all night, still referring to Agent Scully as nothing better than a killer even though he had agreed to work on the problem of creating a virus capable of disabling the alien ship. Byers knew he had no more to go on than Mulder's assurances to the contrary, but he believed in Mulder and he refused to entertain the idea that Dana Scully could ever be a murderer. It simply went against everything he knew. As he lay there remembering Scully's shocking new eyes, he heard the buzzer that signalled a visitor at the front door. Feeling a sudden twist in his stomach he rapidly got out of bed, pulling a robe around him as he headed down the shared hall that led to the front offices of The Lone Gunmen newspaper. Frohike was stepping out of his own door as Byers passed.

"It's ok, I got it," he told him.

"You sure?" Frohike mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah, I'll call you if I need anything," Byers assured him. Frohike waved his hand vaguely and vanished back into his room, shutting the door behind him. Byers noticed that Langly hadn't even bothered to come and see what was going on, he wondered if the long-haired hippy had the same suspicion about who was calling that he did. He checked the monitor screen and silently congratulated himself on being correct as he undid the dozen locks and pulled the door open.

"Hey Byers," Scully said with a nervous smile, "can I come in?"

"Of course," he answered, stepping aside to allow her to pass, "can I get you anything?" He instantly chided himself at the stupid question but Scully just silently shook her head and failed to suppress a grin.

"I think I'm good," she assured him, "besides, I already ate." Byers swallowed hard making Scully laugh out loud. "It's ok, they volunteered."

"Oh," Byers said, a question forming on his lips. He pushed it away as he led them toward the group of sofas that still smelled faintly of Frohike's chilli, that question was for another day. He heard Scully sniff the air behind him.

"My God what is that smell?" she asked.

"Frohike's cooking," Byers answered with a small smile as they both took seats.

"I am so glad I never took him up on the offer of a home cooked dinner," Scully mused. The pair of them looked at each other for a few awkward seconds.

"You needed to tell me something?" Byers asked quietly.

"Yes," Scully said quietly, her face now deadly serious. "It's about Suzanne." Byers sat up suddenly in his chair, staring at her intently.

"Suzanne?" he whispered, "she's meant to be safe, living under a new name."

"She is," Scully assured him rapidly, "I just did a little digging on her new details and I wanted you to know. She's living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, working as a high school chemistry teacher." Byers managed to laugh a little.

"You know I can picture that," he told her sadly.

"A friend of a friend lives close by," Scully explained, "she's going to keep an eye on things when we put our plan into action. If it looks like anything is happening there she's going to pull Suzanne out immediately." Byers sat quietly for a few moments.

"You didn't have to do that Scully," he told her.

"Yes I did," Scully told him, " I have people watching out for my family and beside me you're the only one with..." she paused for a moment looking sad. "We're the only two with any family left," she told him. "I know Suzanne isn't technically family, but I saw the way you looked at her in Vegas. You want her to be." Byers sat silently, fidgeting quietly with the chord of his robe.

"You know I never thought of it that way," he said eventually. "We're all alone. Mulder, Frohike, Langly," he paused at the last one and looked up at her face apologetically.

"Yeah," she agreed, ignoring his expression, "but we're all in it together so at least we can wallow with friends. Misery loves company and all that." Byers smiled vaguely but didn't reply, letting the room lapse into silence again. He heard Scully fidget and draw a breath. "I'm sorry about your father," she said. He looked up in surprise. "Mulder told me," she explained quickly, "it must have been hard, losing him again so soon after you were reunited."

"Yeah I suppose," Byers mumbled, "I mean things still weren't good between us. At least we had those few months, he even took me fishing like he did when I was a kid." He paused thoughtfully for a moment. "I still hated it!" Scully laughed quietly and Byers did too, the two of them smiling happily at one another. "It really is good to have to back Scully," Byers told her eventually, "Mulder was... well he wasn't Mulder after you... left. It was like losing two limbs, you and him both gone. You know your mother asked him to speak at the funeral and he tried, he made it up to the pulpit but he only managed to get out one line and it was too much, he just broke down. Mr Skinner went up instead and read out what Mulder had wanted to say, all about how good an agent you were and how great a doctor. There was a lot of FBI there actually, we were surprised but Mulder wasn't. He said you were always the likable one." Scully smiled then bit her lip nervously.

"Did Daniel show up?" she asked, Byers was the only other person who knew about her recent reunion with her ex-lover. The two had grown closer since their shared experience in Las Vegas.

"Yeah," Byers said with a small nod, "his daughter was there too but they left as soon as the service ended, I don't think they wanted your family to notice them." Scully pursed her lips and nodded thoughtfully.

"They never really understood," she mumbled. Byers decided not to push her on it. "Look I'd better go," she continued, "if Langly comes out here, well I'm not really in the mood for a fight."

"OK, but don't let Langly dictate where you can and cannot go," Byers told her, standing to see her out, "this is my house and you are always welcome here. I know Frohike will agree with me on that."

"Thank you," she smiled as she walked outside, "I'll see you soon." She turned and began to walk away.

"Scully..." Byers called. She turned to him, eyebrows raised, waiting for him to continue. "Nevermind," he mumbled, shaking his head. Her brow furrowed as she watched him close the door and heard the sound of the various locks being fastened. A thought that she could easily break all of them with one swift kick crossed her mind but she paid it no attention, turning and breaking into a run. City running was slower, so many obstacles and too many people watching, but if she kept to the back streets she could be at Mulder's in less than 20 minutes. As she sprinted around the corner and headed towards central DC, she didn't see a pair of headlights switch on behind her.

Author's Notes:

Not much to say this week. The title for this one is a Rihanna song. I heard it at Zumba class about a year ago and the lyrics made me think of Mulder & Scully, even though this chapter isn't really about those two for once! There's a couple of nods to other shows in here too; a big one to the Lone Gunmen spin-off show (which I should really finish watching) and another subtler one for Warehouse 13 - house points to anyone who can spot it. Big shout out to my fellow Agents/Caretakers/Masochists - whatever the W13 fandom is calling itself this week. Finally it may be a little longer til the next update because I'm in London for a while this week for Comic Con where I will be meeting the Cigarette Smoking Man himself! *screams* So if I don't come back, well, you know who to blame...