Mulder slowly lowered his can of cola to the table. As he let go, the coolness of the container remained with his hand. He was in the kitchen, at the table, sifting through some magazines he had brought with him. They had been sitting on his desk at home, for how long he did not remember, and he had grabbed them without looking through them. For the most part, he was killing time because he was bored, and the yokels in town had not given up much information.

"Hey, Mis…I mean, Fox," David said. His face was red, his hair stuck to his head with sweat, and he had his skateboard with him. He sat his backpack on the floor.

"Hey, David," Mulder replied, flipping through an old Lone Gunmen. "How was school?"

"Eh," David replied, opening the refrigerator.

"Good to see some things never change," Mulder replied.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" David asked suspiciously.

"We wrapped the case up early; they settled out of court," Mulder replied.

"Oh," said David as he slumped down in a chair next to Mulder, soda in hand, and took off his baseball cap. He exhaled deeply. "What are you looking at?" he asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," Mulder replied, calmly putting the Lone Gunmen underneath the stack. Looking up, he said, "It's just some old magazines."

David turned his head to read the title. "Juggers Monthly?"

"Huh? What are you…? Oh." Mulder tried to hide the magazine underneath his elbow. "That's…uh.. this is… well, uhh…"

"Isn't that Bambi Roberts?" David asked, pointing to one of the more scantily clad girls on the cover.

"Now how the hell did you know that?" Mulder asked. She was a regular to the magazine, and as far as Mulder knew, she was exclusive to it.

"A friend had one of these at school once," David replied innocently.

"And yet that want to ban Huck Finn." Mulder tipped his chair back and looked around the corner to make sure Scully was nowhere around. "Check this out," Mulder said, opening the magazine.

David's eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped. "What's she doing?"

"Hey, guys," Scully said, walking into the room.

"And if I ever catch you looking at pornography again, why, there is going to be hell to pay, young man," Mulder suddenly said, sternly pointing a finger at David.

"Cut it out, dear. I know it's yours," Scully said. She washed her hands in the sink and left the room.

Mulder turned and watched her leave. "Sorry to rat you out like that," Mulder said, turning to David. The boy was smiling, but he was rubbing his head.

"It's okay," he said, wincing slightly, "You and her get along really well."

"Yeah…" Mulder replied, feeling guilty. David had his head buried in his hand. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, my head hurts. Do you have any Tylenol?"

"It's in the first drawer of the nightstand in our room," Mulder replied.

"Thanks," David said and left the room.

Mulder turned his attention to the magazine, thumbing through it. "Hello, Miss July."

"Hey, Mulder," Scully asked, returning to the room, "where's David?"

"He's in our room getting Tylenol," he replied, turning the magazine and pulling out the centerfold.

"Mulder," she said, her tone very serious, "that's where your gun is."

They were at the top of the stairs before the magazine ever hit the ground. They stood in the doorway, despite of all of their training and preparation, neither knew for sure what to do. David stood unmoving, save the steady up and down movement of his back that fell into rhythm with his breathing. He was looking down, into the drawer. He looks so pale, Scully thought. "David," she said.

"You have a gun." His voice was sad, slow, and distant, just above a whisper. He sounded like he was in a state of disbelief, questioning how they could betray him like this.

"Yes, David, we are aware of it," she replied. She felt Mulder's hand on her shoulder and drew support from it.

"Why?" David asked.

Scully froze. She did not know what to tell him. She could not tell him the truth, obviously, but what could she say? Luckily, Mulder was there to save her. "It's for protection in case somebody breaks in."

"Oh," David said. He was standing there in front of them, but he sounded a million miles away, lost in a world where only he was allowed presentation. His body began to shake slightly, almost like he was struggling to keep from crying. Scully moved to his side, and laid her hands on his shoulders.

"Are you okay, David?" she asked.

He inhaled deeply, and swallowed hard. "Yeah," he replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Will you be all right?"

"Yeah." He looked up at her, and smiled weakly. His eyes met hers; they were sad, hopeless eyes, and they were tearing her heart out.

* * *

"Now I'm pretty sure we have the right kid," Mulder said from their private bathroom.

"Yeah," Scully replied distantly.

"Scully, is something wrong?" Mulder came into the room, toothbrush and foam hanging out of his mouth.

"I was just thinking about what happened today, the way he looked at me, Mulder. I've never seen such pain in a person's face before."

"Maybe it's remorse."

"Maybe…" she replied.

"You know, Mulder, we have been with him two days," she said, "and so far we have not uncovered much. I knew it was going to take time to build his trust, but I think we should be doing something more than watching movies and chugging cola, hoping for a break. I was planning on going through police records and stopping by the morgue tomorrow, but there must be something else we can do."

"I am way ahead of you, Scully," Mulder replied slyly.

* * *< /center>