Several states away, Billy Van Dekamp, nee William Mulder, looked up at his mobile and frown. The familiar buffaloes hung from the mobile above his head, much in the way that the one with stars once had. He stained his ears, but he didn't hear either of his adoptive parents stirring in the night. But something had woken him. William whimpered in frustration, knowing that once he cried loud enough to wake someone, he would no longer be awake and alone. Even, then though, he didn't have the words to tell anyone that there was something wrong, or explain why a young toddler could sense something that grown adults lived in blissful ignorance of.

A couple of minutes after he'd worked himself up into a full-blown wail, he heard footsteps coming down the hall towards his room. A sleepy voice said "It's ok, Billy, everything's ok." Which only made him cry harder; he knew it wasn't true.

**

"So what do you know about these people?" Scully asked as they waited for their meals in the dinner they'd found along a desolate stretch of the endless highway. Scully strongly suspected that Mulder's enthusiasm for the dinner had a lot to do with it's appearance- it was a rounded silver structure. She couldn't really argue with him about it, though, they were starving, and there wasn't another place around for miles.

"Their last name is Van Dekamp. He's 35 and she's 32. They've been married for eight years and decided to adopt after having tried for years to have their own child. They live on a farm in North Dakota, though they still have strong ties to where they both grew up- Wyoming. In fact they fly a Wyoming flag in their yard. He as a degree in agriculture from the University of Wyoming, and they raise Buffalo on their farm."

Scully raises her eyebrows. "You didn't learn all that from Danny hacking into the adoption records."

"No...but they do have their own home page devoted to their farm." Mulder says with a grin.

For a moment Scully's heart leapt into her throat. "Do they have picture of William on the page?"

"Nope, just stuff about their ties to farming."

"Thank God. The last thing William needs would be for there be pictures of him out on the web. Where god knows who could see them. "

"I don't think it'd make things much worse." Mulder said soberly. "Good thing we only have a few more hours to go to get there." But what will we say to the Van Dekamps when we get there? He wondered for the hundredth time as the waitress slid his plate in front of him.

**

Meanwhile in LA

Though the doctor was not entirely conscious of it, he kept his gaze averted from the man he was speaking to. The man was not surprised, after all, he thought resignedly, most people had that reaction to his deformed countenance. Except Scully.

"As I was saying, Mr. Miller, these old photos of you are invaluable. I'm confidant, now that I've examined you and looked at the pictures, that we can restore your appearance." The Doctor told him, daring to look up at Spender for a moment. "I'm sure you know that this will be a lengthy process and require more than one surgery, but I know you'll be pleased with the final results."

Spender nodded, and looked at the man with something akin to pity in his eyes, which the doctor did not catch. He doesn't know, Spender thought, that I sold out a small boy, my own nephew so I could have my appearance back. Of course that's how it looks on paper, but in reality I know that I couldn't have politely refused, so it was do it or die.

He couldn't help but feel a deep sadness well up in him, because he had heard that Scully had given her son away, just like she was supposed to. She thought that he'd be safe without his powers, and Spender doubted that she knew that he had lied to her about the child. Because the magnetite that he injected William with did not, contrary to what he'd told Scully that terrible night, destroy the boy's powers. All it had done was temporarily dampen them, sort of a power sucking kryptonite for superhuman babies, until his system was able to process the metal and flush it out. He had wished with all his might that Scully would hold onto the boy long enough to realize that, but she hadn't, thinking it would be best to remove him from her life as quickly as she could so he would be safe.

Which of course, Spender told himself as the doctor carefully explained that they wouldn't be able to restore his actual hair but there were flattering alternatives available, was the dumbest belief the woman had ever had. There are still those who believe that if William is raised by his father, the boy will prevent the aliens from coming invading. And he, Spender, did the bidding of those who would see the invasion come to pass, by preying on Scully's greatest weakness: a mother's hope that her child would have a normal life.

Spender thanked the doctor and set up an appointment for the first surgery. As he walked out of the building, he vowed to himself that after his surgeries, he would find a way to tell Scully that he'd lied. He just hoped that the boy hadn't been found and killed before he looked like his old self again. He couldn't risk telling her sooner, because as guilty as he felt, there was no way he could betray the syndicate before he was through with the doctors who could potentially kill him for his enemies while he was helpless on the operating table.

**

Wendy Van Dekamp snapped off the living room light and walked out of the living room. She went into the nursery to make sure that William hadn't kicked off his summer weight blanket. He was sound asleep, one arm clad in a sleeper decorated with airplanes thrown over his chest. She gave the boy a fond look, glanced at his night light to make sure that it was on, and walked out of the room.

Jared was already asleep when she slipped into bed beside him, which didn't surprise her since he had had an extra long day dealing with the new buffalo calves. She bent down and kissed his cheek without disturbing him at all. After that Wendy said her prayers quickly, then was asleep as soon as her head hit her pillow. She'd had a long day as well.

** The man smirked when he reached for the door, and realized that he wouldn't have to pick the locks because the doors were unlocked. He walked quietly down the hallway, and by instinct picked a door. To his pleasure, it was the right room- the master bedroom. The man and woman in the bed were of no consequence to him, so he decided to dispatch them quickly so he could get to his main objective.

He quietly removed a gun equipped with a silencer from his coat, and placed the muzzle to the back of Jared Van Dekamp's head. With clinical detachment he watched the body jerk once after he pulled the trigger. It did interest him slightly that Wendy wasn't awoken by her husband's sudden and violent death, because humans are often said to be able to sense the deaths of loved ones continents away; Wendy hadn't sensed his, and he was a mere two feet from where she slept. He shrugged his shoulders slightly, then pressed the gun up against her chest, and pulled the trigger.

** Down the hall William's eyes snapped open, and he nearly opened his mouth to bawl, but then didn't. Instead he curled himself up in a ball at the foot of his crib, buried his face in the mattress and hoped whatever was wrong would go away. The man was about to look for the nursery when he heard the sound of a vehicle scream into the driveway.