SPOILER: The Truth Part 2 of course. Also, reference to Mulder's dream in The Sixth Extinction.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, or Fox Productions, or Ten Thirteen Productions. Now that I look back on it I don't own a lot. Depressing. I do however control Chris Carter's actions with a little remote control. Bwahaha. Dance little man! Dance! Just kidding. Now stop reading the disclaimer and get to the good stuff.

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*~...And it's not your fault it gets this hard. They knock you down I'll pick you up They laugh at you I'll shut them up. Hold your head high Don't look down I'm by your side Won't back down You wanted a hero tonight Well I'm not made of steel But your secret's safe with me...~* "Made of Steel" OLP

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He wasn't sure if it was a dream or a flashback. Perhaps it was just a familiar vision, a vision that had compelled him to seek the truth when it would have just been easier to conform. He felt comfort in this place. He wasn't alone here. The ocean tides clashed against the rocks. He found himself working on the same spaceship made from sand with the same boy working furiously beside him.

Mulder looked down at the boy, who finally put down the shovel and sand bucket. "It's finished."

"What do you mean it's finished?" Mulder asked seeing the defeat in the boy's eyes.

"See the tides? It's going to get knocked down." The boy motioned to the oncoming waves, which were getting dangerously closer to their creation. "It's going to get knocked down and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"The waves never stopped you before. We can always rebuild. This time we'll build it farther away from the waves so it won't get knocked down again." Mulder explained not wanting to accept the boy's defeat. "It's never finished unless you let it end."

The boy smiled at him like he had won some kind of victory. The child reached out his hand pulling Mulder down from the sand ship. They stood there silently watching the waves creep over their creation. Slowly it was destroyed leaving only a mound of sand remaining. Mulder and the boy walked over to where the sand ship once stood and picked up the sand bucket and shovel. This time they walked farther from the ocean and began their work.

The boy gave Mulder a quizzical look like something was missing. "Mom!" he cried out. "Mom! Come and help us!"

Mulder gazed into the nothingness and saw a woman's figure slowly appear. Her hair was loosely tied back and a warm look covered her familiar face. She reached out to the boy caressing his hair. Mulder realized the boy he once dreamed about was no longer a youthful expression of himself. "William..."

The boy smiled at him as his mother knelt down in the sand and began working on the sand ship. She looked up at him with the same fire and determination he had come to admire. Their eyes locked. "You never let me give up" Mulder stated breaking the silence.

"Fight the fight Mulder." Scully replied handing him a shovel.

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Roswell, New Mexico

She awoke in his arms. She wasn't sure when they has fallen asleep. It didn't even feel like reality. All she knew was that he was here with her and safe and she would do anything to keep things that way. These were the times when her thoughts drifted to what might have been. What if she went into medicine? What if she settled down? What if she had a nice white wedding to some blue collar guy? Weren't these the things little girl's dreams were made of? She laughed inside her head. Domestic bliss was not made for Dana Scully. Her thoughts ran to the biggest sacrifice she had made.

"William" Mulder softly mumbled from his sleep as if reading her mind.

Scully turned to him examining his face. He was smiling. He was dreaming about their son, their son that she gave away. She inhaled sharply trying to push the thought from her head. She wished she could have protected him. She knew the truth. Mulder knew it too. They had seen too much. They knew too much. She thought of Mulder and herself in domestic bliss raising William. It didn't feel right. Ironically enough running away from the goverment trying to stop aliens felt perfect. She tightened his arms around her seeking comfort in the one thing she had left.