Scully reached into her jacket for money to pay the bill as she and Meena hatched an escape plan.

"My son," Meena replied. "I have to get my son. He's at home with the sitter, and I don't have a car..."

"I have one here," Scully replied. "I'm parked a couple of blocks away. We'll get my car, we'll get your son, and we'll take it from there. Meena.."

Scully reached for her daughter's hand, giving it a firm and comforting squeeze. "I want you to listen to me. It will be alright. You will be alright. I don't want you to worry."

Scully decided they should exit through the rear of the tea shop since Krycek was still out front. She would go first, then Meena was to follow her five minutes later. They would make their way behind the shop and down the network of alleyways to the car, thus effectively escaping Krycek. "It will be alright," Scully said as she stood up.

She went through the back of the store, and stepped into the alleyway.

Scully pulled out her cell phone the moment she left the store. She dialed Mulder's number as she made her way carefully down the alley, inspecting it to make sure she was alone. Mulder never picked up, instead, she got his voice mail after a number of rings. "The cellular party you are trying to reach is busy. Please press or say `one' to leave a message." Scully impatiently pressed one to leave a message, and waited for the tone. "Mulder, it's me," Scully said when she finally got through. "I'm behind a tea shop called Mrs. Micawber's on Fitzharold street in Notting Hill. I have Meena, and we're running from Krycek. We're going back to the car. Mulder, listen carefully, do not do anything until you hear from me. I will call you thirty minutes after you get this message...

"I love you, Mulder. We'll be home soon."

Scully stopped, hanging up the phone when she heard the door open, expecting it to be Meena. It wasn't.

She felt a sharp and sudden blow to the back of the head, and everything went dark.

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

It took Mulder twenty minutes to change the flat and get back on the road. He looked at his watch; it was fifteen minutes till noon. The panic sat in the faster he drove towards Notting Hill. Why hadn't he heard from Scully? He kicked himself for not being with her, he kicked himself for not being there to protect her. Where was she?!

Mulder had another sudden thought. Where was his phone?!

He was about five minutes away from Notting Hill when he ran into a small traffic jam. He took that opportunity to get out of the car, and feel around on the floorboards for his cell phone. He found it wedged between the parking brake and the driver's seat, on. Mulder angrily shut the phone off and turned it back on when he got in the car, plugging it in the battery adaptor to recharge. A message flashed across the cell phone's screen.

"One Missed Call; One New Message," it flashed.

Mulder made it into Notting Hill, and pulled into the first available car park he found. He shut the motor off, and dialed his voice mail. "First new message, eleven-fifteen a.m." the cell voice droned. In the next instant, he heard the voice he was waiting for - Scully's.

"Mulder, it's me...."

Mulder listened to the message intently, and looked at his watch at the end of it. It was straight-up Noon. He saved the message and checked to see if he had received any new ones while he was on the phone. He hadn't.

The familiar pang of worry began to throb in the pit of Mulder's stomach.

"How far am I from Fitzharold street?" Mulder asked the attendant as he paid his fee.

"About five blocks in that direction, sir," the attendant replied. "You might want to get a cab, sir - it's quite a ways..."

"I've got long legs," Mulder replied as he set off.

Mulder ran the five blocks to Fitzharold street, his heart racing all the while. Scully was in trouble. Their daughter was in trouble. And he prayed to God and to any saving grace he might have left that he could get to them in time.

He saw the sign for Fitzharold street on the opposite side of the traffic circle or "roundabout" as they were called by British drivers. As he waited for a break in the traffic so that he could cross, he saw her.

His daughter Meena was on the opposite side of the street, pacing back and forth.

"Meena!" Mulder shouted in an effort to get her attention. She didn't hear him the first time, so he called again. "Meena!!" Mulder shouted even louder. She stopped, but he realized it wasn't the sound of his voice that had made her stop pacing the pavement.

A Green Volvo recklessly sped around the roundabout, almost hitting pedestrians and other cars that got in its way. It was going around the full circle, and Mulder saw what Meena had seen when the car had passed her.

Scully, sitting at the steering wheel, next to Krycek. A man sat in the back who looked like a younger version of his nemesis. Krycek's son. It also looked like there was a baby in the car seat next to him. "Scully!!!" Mulder cried as the car raced past.

It was then that he noticed Meena looking at him. She began to run.

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

Meena stalled as long as she could before she went into the alleyway. She sipped some tea, and took a small nibble at her scone, but she was too nervous to eat. She knew that it was up to her to protect Nigel, Drew was so snowed and hoodwinked by this character that she knew she couldn't depend on his support. She would do anything she needed to protect her son, even if it meant she had to do it alone.

But now she had an ally, and she was thankful for it.

Something told her that she could trust this woman, that she was meant to trust this woman. It was if fate had delivered her for their protection. A guardian angel, the mother she wished she had. She knew that she could believe this woman, and that she could trust her.

Meena went into the alleyway, looking for the woman. When she wasn't there, she figured she had decided to go and get the car. "She'll be back," Meena thought. "She will."

Meena's confidence in her newfound savior began to wane after thirty minutes. Her savior was no where to be found.

Meena took a chance and went down the alleyway to the front of the building. She paced the block in front of the bookstore, even going in at one time so as not to look too conspicuous. She half hoped that her savior was waiting for her inside, that she would tell her that she had thought of another plan. But she wasn't there. Crestfallen, Meena went back outside. She stood outside of the store, and looked at her watch. Twelve -fifteen. An hour ago, she had been given the hope of safety and rescue for herself and her young son. How that had all changed in the span of sixty short minutes.

Meena began to pace, almost in a panic. She expected Drew would be coming for her soon, and she had no idea when or where his "Uncle Alex" would pop up. She didn't have much time....

"Meena!!!"

She looked up in the direction of the sound, but wasn't able to tell from whence it came. Just then, a Green Volvo recklessly sped around the roundabout, almost hitting pedestrians and other cars that got in its way. It was going around the full circle, and when the car had passed her, she couldn't believe her eyes. It was her Green Volvo - Margaret was in the driver's seat, the man she had told her not to trust was sitting beside her. In the back seat was Drew and.....

"Oh my God," she thought. "My baby..."

Her brain screamed the words for her that she couldn't voice. "Margaret!" The woman's name echoed in her head over and over and over until she heard another one....

"Scully!!!"

She looked up, and this time was able to see who screamed the name. It was the man who had accosted her at Harrods. And he was looking right at her.

She began to run; her head pounding so hard that she didn't know where she was running. The sharp, stabbing pain was a full blown headache now, almost blinding in intensity. And there were voices, loud, incessant voices that rang through her head:

"Margaret-Margaret-ma-ma-ma-Margaret-Scu-scu-scu-Scully-Margaret-ma-ma-Scully-Margaret-Scully-Grandmother-Scully-Mother-Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-Mom-Mother-Mother-ScullyScullyScully-Scully-Ma-Ma-Ma..."

A bright, white light shot through Meena's brain.

"MOM!!!!"

Mulder heard his daughter scream for his wife across the street. Before he could dodge the traffic to get to her, the Green Volvo sped by them both once more. After it passed Meena, the car shot out of its orbit, and careened headlong towards its target.

Both Mulder and Meena watched in horror, on opposite sides of the street, as the car crashed head on into a brick wall. Meena stood stock-still and rooted to the spot, unable to move or speak. Just as Mulder began to run to the car, it happened.

The car exploded, knocking him, Meena and everyone around them to the ground, and shattering windows in all the store fronts near the crash.