Mulder raced along the Beltway towards Bethesda, and his mind raced faster than the speedometer with thoughts about wife and missing daughter. After the years they had spent together, he knew not to second guess his wife and knew better after thirty some years than to doubt her abilities. Her tenacity, intelligence and strength of will had stood her in good stead, and would do so again.
But still, he worried.
It was his memories of the early years in their history that helped to fuel his concern. They had been through so much together, had come too perilously close to loosing each other for good. For ever. But somehow, someway, they found their way back to each other.
The last time they found each other, Meena was born.
Their daughter was the manifestation of a love so deep and a devotion so strong that they both found themselves marveling at the wonder of it. Thankful for each and every day, Mulder and Scully watched as that love grew in themselves and in their daughter. They nurtured her, they supported her, they protected her. They were a unit, a family, and for the first time in as long a time as he could remember, things were good. For the first time in a long time, he felt a sense of security, of safety. Scully and Mulder built a life for themselves and their daughter that was finally and completely safe, and had been that way for a long time.
All of that had now changed in a heartbeat. And the nagging inner voice that had waited for almost a quarter of a century finally said, "See? I told you so."
Mulder had crossed the border into Maryland when he noticed the truck next to him. A large eighteen-wheeler, it was stacked with large, black barrels, each wrapped in a cushioned mesh and capped at either end with silver lids. It quickly pulled past him, but not before he caught a glimpse of the writing on the door.
"Janus Pharmaceuticals," it read.
Mulder accelerated his speed in an effort to catch up with the truck. He managed to stay within three car lengths of the back the truck, and was able to see it as it pulled off the interstate.
The truck was headed for Bethesda, and now, so was Mulder.