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Visitor in the Desert: Chapter 3

Author: Gillian Leigh

Disclaimer: C'mon now, we know who owns Mulder and Scully, and it's certainly not a seventeen year-old who has $22 to her name…

Summary: After spending a solid two days packing up everything that they could, Mulder, Scully, Gibson and the rest all head West toward 'The Underground'.

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            Scully sat in the passenger seat of the Ford Excursion with the GPS in her hand. They'd been on the road for nearly a week, having to stop in motels to sleep, and they were all growing tired of the endless stretches of highway and desert.

            "We've got two miles or so," she said. Mulder looked at her. "Stay on this road."  Eve leaned forward between their two seats and said,

            "I need to get out of the car." Mulder pulled the car to the side of the road.

            "Why?" he asked, craning his neck to look at her.

            "There is a magnetite field that surrounds the Underground on all sides. It extends for a mile. If I get too close, it will kill me. Magnetite is lethal to my body because of the alien DNA," Rhiannon said.

            "You won't be able to come see us anymore?" Scully questioned. Will was sleeping peacefully in his car seat, and Maggie listened with interest. It had been difficult to explain Rhiannon to Maggie, and why they had to leave. She also had to be told about Scully's second pregnancy, which they had been keeping a secret. Gibson was also in the car, and the Gunmen, Doggett, Reyes and Skinner had been following them the entire way out. Langly appeared at the driver's side window.

            "Why are we stopping?" he asked.

            "I have to leave, Uncle Ringo," Rhiannon said. Langly smiled at the girl. "Mom, Dad, I won't be able to come see you anymore. But don't worry, you're saving the world, and Dr. Bailey will help you all out once you get there. I love you," she said, hugging both. Scully hugged her daughter, and then released her, finding tears in her eyes.

            "Goodbye, sweetheart. Take care," she whispered, kissing her forehead.

            "Keep out of trouble, Rhiannon. Don't do anything your old man wouldn't do," Mulder said, kissing her on the cheek. His daughter smiled at him, and got out of the car after hugging both Gibson and her grandmother goodbye.

            They drove away, and Mulder and Scully watched in the rearview mirror until Rhiannon vanished from sight.

            "I can't believe she's gone," he said, with a sigh. Scully reached across and took his hand.

            "She's not really gone, Mulder." He looked over at her, and glanced down at her belly, with a smile.

            "You're right. I just hope the Rhiannon we raise in the 'safe' world turns out as well as Rhiannon the Super Soldier did," he said.

            "Fox, where are we going again?" Maggie asked. Mulder looked at her in the rear view mirror.

            "It's called the Underground. It's an entire subterranean network of cities full of people trying to prevent the end of the world.  It's where we'll all be able to live as safely and normally as possible. Dana and I are going to help stop the Apocalypse, which is what the alien invasion which will end the world is being called."  Maggie nodded.

            "And Bill and Charlie are already there?" she asked. Scully nodded.

            "Yes. They have been for a year, as Rhiannon told us. They're safe and their families are safe too, just like ours will be," she responded.

            "You okay back there, Gibson? You've been pretty quiet," Mulder called.

            "I'm alright," the boy replied. "I'm just thinking." Scully looked down at the GPS in her hand, and said,

            "That's it right there." She even surprised herself by pointing at a small shanty in the middle of the desert.

            "That's it?!" Mulder questioned.

            "According to Rhiannon's directions, yes it is," she replied, double-checking the coordinates and other directions Rhiannon had given them.

            They pulled up to the shanty and stopped the car. Behind them, Langly did the same. 

            "How much farther 'til we get there?" Skinner asked, standing beside Mulder. Scully looked at him, shielding her eyes from the sun.

            "This is it," she said.

            "What? This can't be it," Skinner said, turning three hundred sixty degrees and observing their surroundings. "You told me that Rhiannon said it was a huge operation, with nearly a thousand people working on it. They can't be operating out of this shanty, can they?"         No sooner had the words left his mouth than two armed men in uniform appeared on the porch of the shanty.

            "Freeze where you are!" One commanded, pointing his rifle at them. The other kept his eye on them as they both advanced. Everyone held his or her hands in plain sight, and Scully looked to Mulder, slightly panicked, just as Maggie looked to Skinner, and the Gunmen tried hard to save face.

            "Who are you, and what is your business out here?" the second guard asked.

            "I'm Special Agent Dana Scully, and this is my partner Fox Mulder. We need your help. Our son William and the baby I'm carrying are both in grave danger, as are we," she said. The men lowered their weapons.

            "What did you say your name was again?" one asked. She cleared her throat.

            "Dana Scully." At a distance of twenty yards, the man could tell who she was. He pushed his hat off his head, and said,

            "Danes, is it really you?" Stepping closer, Scully said,

            "Charlie?" Maggie's jaw dropped, and both Scully women started running toward the uniformed man, who everyone now knew was Scully's brother Charlie.

            "Mom?" Charlie said, smiling widely at the two of them. "You're here too? Oh my God, I thought I'd never see the two of you again." He hugged his mother, who was moved to tears after not seeing her youngest son for two years.

            "Danes, you're pregnant?" Charlie asked, after breaking from his mother's embrace. His sister nodded, and opened her coat, directing his attention to her swollen abdomen.

            "Four months, and Mulder and I have another child. Our son, William. He's a year old," she said. "A lot has happened since I saw you last." He embraced her tightly.

            "I've missed you, Big Sis," he said.

            "I've missed you too, Charlie," she replied. "I'd like to introduce you to everyone, but I have to go get Will, Gibson, Frohike and Byers."

            She returned a moment later, carrying Will on her hip, with Gibson and the two remaining Gunmen trailing close behind.

            "Charlie, I'd like you to meet Mulder; AD Skinner, our former boss; Byers, Langly and Frohike, who call themselves the Lone Gunmen; Gibson Praise; our colleagues, Agents Doggett and Reyes; and lastly, your nephew William," she said. Charlie nodded and shook Mulder's hand.

            "So you're the man who married my sister," he said, grinning. Mulder and Scully looked at one another, both slightly reddening.

            "Well, we haven't exactly gotten to that yet…" Mulder said.

            "Oh," Charlie said simply, and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, at any rate, it's great to meet the man my mother and sister raved about for four years." Scully's face colored deeply, and Mulder grinned at her.

            "So you raved about me, huh?"

            "Shut up, Mulder."

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