Mulder and Scully drew their guns before they even got to the door of the Van Dekamps house. Something about the house's quietness spooked them, and they both feared the worst. Instead of turning on lights, which might have alarmed anyone still in the house and alerted them of their presence, they relied on flashlights. The house was a single level, so they knew that they were going to discover that everything was all right or nothing was very quickly.

They listened hard and heard nothing, which could have been a good or bad sign. They opened a door and stepped into the room. The first thing that the beam of Scully's flashlight picked out was the blood pooling on the sheets of the Van Dekamps bed. Her breath hissed through her teeth as she confirmed to herself that they were both dead, and very recently, since they were still warm to the touch. One thought screamed through her head, ohmygodohmygodpleasenotwilliamtoo as she and Mulder hurried out of the room.

"Scully, I think we ought to spilt up so we can find William faster." Mulder urgently whispered to her.

Though she didn't want to be the one to discover that their son was missing, or worse yet, dead, she reluctantly agreed, knowing that time was of the essence if William was somewhere in the house with the person who murdered his adopted parents. She nodded and headed down the opposite end of the hallway.

Scully slammed a door open and looked around, gun pointed towards the interior. No madman or tiny body met her sight, instead she saw a poorly decorated bathroom that had a fuzzy lavender seat cover on the toilet. She nearly cried in relief when a cursory look relieved nothing more sinister than soap scum hiding in the shower.

Mulder threw open the door and saw the cloud wallpaper before he saw the crib in the rear of the room. For one moment his heart squeezed when he thought that the crib was empty. Then it squeezed even tighter when he saw a lump up against the foot of the crib. He felt his body tremble all over as he reached for the baby blanket and pulled it back. A small pinched face looked up at him, and his sudden relief was palpable. He reached down for the boy who suddenly burst into tears and wailed "Da!" Then immediately snuggled against Mulder's shoulder and continued to sob himself out.

Because he was trying not to be so loud that he scared the baby, it took him two tries to get Scully's attention. When she faintly heard her name she ran down the hall and almost bumped into Mulder. "He's ok, he's really ok." Mulder told her, tears running down his cheeks.

**

Scully stood on the lawn holding William with one arm, while she shined the flashlight around the perimeter of the yard, on the look out for the murderer. Mulder stood a few feet away and spoke on the phone to the local police, who assured him that they would come immediately to secure the crime scene.

As he thanked the person he was speaking to and glanced over at Scully, who was now cuddling her son with both arms, the forgotten flashlight near her feet. William, who obviously remembered his mother despite being separated from her nearly a quarter of his young life, looked thrilled. Which just made what he had to say to Scully that much more difficult. He dragged his feet as he walked back to them.

He took a deep breath to steel himself and lightly touched her arm. "I know that finding him alive and safe is both wonderful and overwhelming, but have you given any thought to what we're going to tell the police about him when they get here?"

Her joyful look instantly slid off her face. "Do we have to tell them anything?" She asked in a small voice, already knowing the answer.

"You know we do." He sighed. "I suppose we tell them that we were working on a case near by, and came by to see if they'd allow us to see William when we found the house quiet and the back door open, so we went in to investigate, fearing the worst."

"That sounds like a pretty plausible story." Scully remarked. "They'll probably let the three of us go on our way after we explain that.

Mulder winced, because he could tell that she wasn't reaching for logical conclusions to what would happen after that. It both surprised and pained him that his super rational partner obviously wasn't where the baby was concerned. "After that they'll probably take William into protective custody until they find him foster parents." He told her as gently as possible.

"Why would he need foster parents? We're his parents!" She exclaimed then, clutching the baby closer to her.

"We're not, legally, anyway. You know that we lost all our rights to him when you signed the adoption papers." Without me, he was tempted to add if only to bring her to her senses.

"I signed away my rights, and was allowed to put him up for adoption without your consent because we had reason to believe that you might be dead." She said, suddenly looking more together than she had since before they arrived at the house. "Since you're not dead you can fight for custody of him, even if I can't."

If he's mine, he told himself silently. Not wanting to hurt Scully he merely said, "I think that's the angle we'll have to use." He put his arms around them both, determined to be thankful for the time the three of them had together, no matter how short, no matter how soon the police would arrive to complicate everything.