She wanted to know what happened to her highways in the sky. Like so many of her generation, she had sat in class in grade school and listened to teachers lecture on how life was going to change when the century did; of the hovercraft and countless other inventions that would spring forth from fertile minds to make their lives easier. She was there when they talked about "the paperless society," she was a senior in college when she first used a computer to type her thesis instead of a typewriter. She had seen 1984 come and go without the advent of the Orwellian society the author had so ominously detailed in his famous novel. "Well," she thought, "my husband might not quite agree." So maybe Big Brother did exist, but not with all the dire consequences predicted by the great author.

And so she, along with her classmates, along with her colleagues and contemporaries, watched the march of time. She remembered when the century changed, watching in wonder and amazement as most of mankind celebrated the changing of one thousand years. True, there were those who thought the sky would fall, computers would crash, and all of mankind would be plunged into chaos and darkness, but it didn't happen. And yes, she did worry that mankind would panic as it stood on the brink of nuclear annihilation, but humanity had stood there before. WWI, WWII, the Cuban Missile Crisis.... As long as humanity had a deep and unrelenting fear of its own demise, she felt confident that no one would be that stupid to hasten it. They may come close, they had come close, but thankfully no one had gone that far.

She wondered what happened to her highways in the sky as she sat in afternoon traffic, trying to make a Noon delivery deadline. And she surmised that if, by some twist of fate couple with man's ingenuity there were highways in the sky as they had promised, she'd still be stuck behind the same slow-moving earth mover that had blocked her path for five solid miles.

Jackie Byers nee Suzan Modeski wondered how unseemly it would be for a grandmother to lean out of her car window and cuss like a sailor.

She reached the overseas express office three minutes after Noon, and ran into the office after a cockeyed attempt at parking her car. The counter was the only thing that stopped her as she handed the package to clerk. "I need to send this overseas to Great Britain," she panted. "Sorry, 'mam, but the cut off was three minutes ago," replied the clerk. He never looked up from his paper, and refused to look at her. "But it was only three minutes late; I'm sure the currier hasn't even left yet," Jackie replied. "Certainly you can stop them before they leave for the airport."

"And if I did that," the clerk replied, "I'd have to do it for every single person who came in here, three minutes after deadline, expecting me to bend the rules for them."

"Well then you'd better get used to being flexible, because that's precisely what you're gonna do."

Jackie recognized the voice, and turned to face her husband. His friend, Frohicke stood next to him. "I want to see you bend over backwards to give my wife exactly what she wants, and when your through, you're going to send my package to the same location as well."

"Just so happens we have friends waiting on this," Frohicke continued, "And I and my friend here are not above getting medieval on your behind to make sure it gets done."

The clerk looked up from his paper for the first time. "And just how do you think that will work? Listen, even if I wanted to, I couldn't" the clerk replied. Nobody heard the doorbell as someone entered. "The courier's on his way to the airport..."

"I don't think so," Langley replied. He held the driver by the scruff of the neck as though he were a tomcat. "In fact, the driver personally assured me that he would wait."

They left the store after they were certain both packages were safely on their way overseas. "I know they won't get this today," Jackie-nee-Susan began. "It has to be near suppertime in Great Britain," Byers finished. "But I thought that maybe, you know, just in case something happened..."

"My thoughts exactly," Byer's wife finished. "We can try to get ahold of them later to let them know. You've e-mailed them?" Byer's nodded. "Then we've done all we can do." Jackie stopped her husband in the middle of the parking lot to give him a big kiss. Langley and Frohicke looked on in admiration. "See, Frohicke," Langley whispered. "That's what happens when a boy and a girl really, REALLY like each other."

"And maybe someday that will happen to you, Langley" Frohicke shot back. "But I'm doubting it..."

*************************************************************************

Mulder and Scully sat at the small table at the inn. They decided it would be best to eat dinner out that night rather than facing the woman who stood in their way. Unbeknownst to them, Phoebe, the woman who had so stubbornly stood between them and their daughter for reasons they would never know, decided to take supper in her room.

Phoebe did not have the courage to face the two of them. Not after telling Mulder "no".

They had ordered a steak and kidney pie to split between them, even after the innkeeper's protest that it was too heavy fare for a summer's night. She brought it to them anyway, and they barely touched it. The ale in their glasses also sat on the table untouched and warmer than it really should have been.

Mulder watched Scully as she watched the foot traffic on the village street, and marveled at the woman he had married. She held his hand as he held his - as though it were the only lifeline as they both hung over a deep precipice. Every so often, a woman, a man, a couple would look through the window at the two of them. "Did they have any idea," thought Mulder, "of how strong this woman is?"

When the innkeeper walked past their table yet again, Scully released Mulder's hand so that she could re-arrange the food on her plate. "I'm afraid we've given the innkeeper a bit of a complex," Scully said as she walked past. "I suppose we could be crass Americans and ask for a doggie bag," Mulder replied. "The food here is actually quite good. It reminds me of an inn I used to frequent near Oxford. Good food even a poor, struggling university student could afford." The two of them managed to take a bite as the innkeeper made her way back to the bar. She smiled at them, satisfied that it wasn't her cooking that had made them not touch their food. Scully was the first to speak after the innkeeper passed their table.

"I was thinking about the antidote, and I think I've come up with a solution."

"I think I know where you're going with this," Mulder answered. He was a bit puzzled by the look on Scully's face, and paused a second before he continued. "Go on," Scully finally replied.

"I called The Lone Gunmen after Phoebe... After my meeting with Phoebe. I got the machine, and I tried to call them again after we talked. I think we should go ahead, let them develop the antidote there, and send it..."

"But there's so little time, Mulder..." Scully began.

"I know, I know, Scully, but at least they could be working on it. I've been trying to get them and will keep doing so, but I think as soon as I can get through, the process will go a lot faster. We're almost halfway through the twenty-first century, Scully," Mulder continued. "Information, objects, things travel considerably faster than we ever thought they would."

"Which is fine when you have time on your side," Scully answered. "Time and fate. And I'm not sure that we have either on our side right now."

Their conversation was interrupted by the crying baby two tables over. Out of instinct and a sense of desperate hope, the two of them turned towards the sound, half expecting to see their daughter and their grandson.

It was neither.

It was Mulder's turn to move the food around on his plate in a feeble attempt to mimic a hearty appetite. "Scully.." he began.

"I have another solution," Scully interjected. "I've gone over this several times since this afternoon.... In light of the circumstances, I don't see any other way." Mulder took his wife's hand in his, half knowing what she was about to say.

"Scully..."

"Mulder, I want you to sleep with Phoebe."

Scully tried to continue, but all of a sudden, Mulder reached across the table, took her face in his hands, and kissed her. "I won't do it," he replied when he stopped "Been there, done that, hated it once I wised up."

"But..." Scully began, and Mulder again kissed her with all the passion and love he felt for her.

"No, Scully," he replied after he was finished. "I love our daughter, and I love you too much to do that." Mulder held her face in his hands, smoothing away a tear that had fallen down Scully's cheek despite her best efforts. "We will not sacrifice our lives or our family for this," Mulder replied. "There is another way, Scully. We will find it. We will - I know it." He smiled slightly at his wife. "Of course, I am extremely flattered to think that you think I'm still attractive enough to pimp me out to randy senior citizens..."

Scully reached for his hand and pulled it to her lips in a gentle kiss. The two of them looked at each other for a moment when they heard someone call across the inn.

"Fox! Fox Mulder! Is that you?"

Mulder and Scully turned to see a stately looking gentleman with a silver-white goatee and short, white hair calling from the table across the inn He was seated with a woman about Meena's age, who was feeding the baby who had been crying. He got up, and walked over to their table.

"It has to be you," the gentleman replied. "Good God, man! The very least you could do is have the decency to age a little more. And here I am, looking like a beatnik Father Christmas!"

It took Mulder a moment to recognize the gentleman, but memories of his days at Oxford finally came to his aid. "Gregory McGracken?!" Mulder replied. The gentleman cleared his throat in mock consternation. "That's Sir Gregory McGracken now" he replied. "I have just enough of an over-inflated sense of self worth to demand that I hear it often, but the actual truth is I'm amazed that the crown saw fit to make me a knight."

Mulder stood up and embraced his old college friend. "It's been way too long, Gregory," Mulder replied.

"Indeed. Now, as I remember, they have had regular flights across the Atlantic for, oh...A number of years now." Sir Gregory ribbed. "So I really must know what brings you across the Great Pond this time after, of course, I meet this charming lady."

Mulder's old college buddy reached for Scully's hand and kissed it as a proper knight should. "Sir Gregory McGracken at your service, mi'lady. I hope I shall have time to regale you with my tales of derring-do..."

The baby across the room began to wail. "... As soon as I attend to my liege, the grandson."

"Finally settled down, Gregory?" Mulder replied.

"Long enough to have a beautiful daughter and son and a grandson to rival King William when he was Diana's bonnie little prince. My wife would have doted on him so," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry," Scully replied.

"Meredith was a no-nonsense woman who didn't like pity even when she was ill. She wouldn't want it...." Sir Gregory's eyes began to mist over as he thought of his late wife, but quickly moved on. "I, on the other hand, will take it from a lovely woman any day. What a lovely choice," he whispered to Mulder. "Glad to see you didn't end up with that Phoebe character - every bloke had a go at her, you know...."

"I'm not surprised," Scully interrupted.

Sir Gregory insisted that Mulder and Scully join them at his table. Mulder tried to sit between Scully and the baby because he thought it would be too hard for her, she immediately asked to switch places so that she could be near him.

"You never cease to amaze me," Mulder thought as he smiled at her.

"So, what has the famous Bard of Oxford been doing with his life since commencement?" Sir Gregory asked. "I suppose he didn't tell you that he was quite the poet in his youth," he replied to Scully. "Yeah; especially after a couple of pints of ale," Mulder joked. "I did hear you were at the Federal Bureau of Investigation - right when you were working on that case with Phoebe Green. Made the campus rag, it did."

"We're here on bureau business, actually," Scully replied. "Phoebe received a prestigious honor from Scotland Yard, and we were here for the awards ceremony."

"So I suppose you're not here for very much longer, then?" asked Sir Gregory.

"Actually, we're not quite sure how long our stay will be," Mulder replied. "There are some things.... We have to take care of a few things before we head back."

"Well, let me know if I can be of any assistance," Sir Gregory replied. "I'm not certain what I can do as the head of the Physics department at our old Alma Mater, but I can try. I believe I'm entitled to free lunches in the faculty lounge and, of course, unlimited lab access, but outside of that..."

Mulder and Scully had the same thought at the same time, but it was Mulder who spoke for them both. "Actually, maybe you can help. It just so happens we need lab access for a case - something that the Yard's laboratories can't handle..."

"Say no more," Sir Gregory replied. "As an alumnus, you have access to the university's resources for a fee, but why pay when I can get you in for free? We can go tomorrow, if you'd like. How about first thing?"

Mulder and Scully's appetite finally returned.

The rest of that evening was spent reminiscing on old times, filling Scully in on stories about Mulder's days at Oxford, and enjoying pleasant and affable company. They talked for hours before the baby decided it was time for all of them to go.

The party couldn't see the van parked on a side street near the inn. The party couldn't see the man inside behind its dark, tinted windows. The party never saw the sonic radar, nor did it know that it was recording ever word of their conversation.

The party said their "good nights" and went their separate ways not knowing any of this, or what was to happen before the break of day.

***************************************************************************

"Are you awake?"

Mulder and Scully chuckled, amused that they both voiced the same question at the same time. "Jinx, Scully - you owe me a Coke," Mulder replied. He lifted his arm so his wife could find that familiar hollow in his embrace. She found it, and snuggled close to him.

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?" she asked.

"Enough," Mulder replied. "You, Scully?"

"About the same. I'm counting on the pure adrenaline to keep me going," she sighed.

"It's almost as if time was racing forward and standing still at the same time - does that make sense, Scully?"

"I know what you mean," she replied. "We want to get to the lab, we want, we almost need time to speed up so that we can, but the faster time moves, the more of a possibility that Meena may be closer to finishing those last two treatments. I just hope that we can get to her before she does."

Scully leaned up on one elbow to look at the clock, and as she did, the strap to her nightgown fell from her shoulder. "Seven-thirty," she said. "We'd better get up." Mulder placed his free hand on her arm, smoothing the strap farther down her arm. "We don't have to be at Oxford until 10:30..." Scully leaned into to Mulder for a kiss. "Much as I would love to finish this," she said when she stopped, "I think we should give ourselves plenty of traveling time to get there. We both have to take showers..."

"Taking a shower together would definitely cut down on time and conserve water, Scully," Mulder replied as he kissed her back. "It would definitely conserve water, true," replied Scully, "But our showers together have never been what I would call quick and dirty."

"And after I worked soooooo hard on the dirty party," Mulder replied.

Scully climbed over her husband to get out of bed.

"Mulder..."

"Killjoy," he replied in mock disdain.

"Did you want the shower, or should I go?"

"Ladies first," he replied.

Mulder watched as Scully walked over to the bathroom. "Oh, and Mulder... No fair getting out of that bed until I'm done." Scully slowly shut the bathroom door behind her.

"The least she could do is leave the door open," he mumbled as he turned over. Mulder was sound asleep as soon as Scully's nightgown hit the bathroom floor.

*******************************************************************************

By the time Mulder awoke from his nap, it was nine o'clock. "Oh shit," Mulder grumbled as he rushed into the shower. "If I'd known I was going to be this late," he thought, "I would have done a better job convincing Scully on that two-in-the-shower idea."

Mulder hurriedly got dressed, and went downstairs. It puzzled him that Scully hadn't come back up to get him. He hoped that she wasn't too mad; maybe even taking a stroll in the garden to get her mind off things. He looked out of the window when he reached the second landing, but didn't see her in the garden. "Yep, I'm toast," he thought as he hurried downstairs.

Mulder went into the dining room, fully expecting to see Scully at the table with her "I really could kill you right now" face. She wasn't there. In fact, it didn't look as if she had even sat down to breakfast. He half expected to see Phoebe there, but her place was untouched as well.

The butler appeared as soon as he sat down.

"Good morning, sir. How are we today?"

"Fine, thank you," Mulder replied.

"Here's the morning paper, sir. Would you like tea or coffee this morning?"

"Coffee black, please." Mulder replied. "Geoffrey..."

"Yes sir?" the butler replied.

"Am I the first person down this morning?"

"Oh no, sir," the butler replied. "It's been a very busy morning, it seems. Lady Montague was called away on a case late in the night, and your lovely wife left some time ago."

"Left?" questioned Mulder.

"Yes, sir; she borrowed a car; said she had something she needed to take care of, and that I was to tell you not to worry..."

Every time Mulder heard the words, "don't worry" or any derivative thereof, the hackles on the back of his neck began to rise...

"Did my wife say where she was going?" asked Mulder. "I'm afraid not, sir" the butler replied. "Will you be having toast or muffin this morning, sir...?"

Mulder never answered the butler because he never heard him. He was instead fixated on the headline of that morning's paper:

"Oxford Physicist Sir Gregory McGracken and family members killed in M9 car crash."

When Mulder didn't answer him, the butler turned to notice that Mulder was reading the newspaper headline. "Oh, such a tragic accident, sir. They're not quite certain how it happened, but it looks like he, his lovely daughter and grandson were killed on impact. That's where Lady Montague went last night. As per his majesty, King William, any car crash involving a knight of the realm or the royal family must be investigated by the Yard immediately. I'm certain it stems from his mother's car accident so many years ago...."

Mulder never answered the butler because he never heard him. It was suddenly clear what had happened. They had been tailed. They had gotten to his old college chum, and now he and his family were dead.

It also became crystal clear to him where his wife went.

"Geoffrey," Mulder asked. "I need a car and directions to Notting Hill. Can you tell me how to get to Notting Hill? How far are we from there?"

"Roughly forty-five minutes to an hour sir, give or take with traffic. Shall I have Darcy drive you?"

"No, I'd rather drive myself," Mulder replied. "I trust you can provide me with detailed directions.."

"Of course sir; I'll mark them out on a map."

Mulder got his map and a car in short order, and set out for Notting Hill as fast as he could.