Two weeks later
Mulder looked at his lawyer who gave him a smile of encouragement. He
wanted to smile back at the man, but he was too nervous to look anything
but dour, too uncomfortable in the courtroom. His lawyer assured him that
it was a good sign that the case was being heard relatively quickly, but
the whole thought of some uninvolved woman in a black robe deciding the
fate of his family scared him. At least, he thought, we got through that
night and the next several after that...
** Three officers had arrived at the Van Dekamp's home, and two immediately went in to examine the crime scene while the third stayed outside to speak to Mulder and Scully.
"...so what you're saying is that you came by the house to look in on the baby here, and found the door open and the house quiet, so you decided to go in and investigate?" The officer paraphrased the story Mulder had just fed her.
"Yes." Mulder said, while William tugged on his tie.
"This couple were his legal guardians, then." The officer said flatly, giving them a suspicious look. "There was no custody battle between you and the Van Dekamps?"
Mulder's blood turned to ice as he caught the undertones of what the officer was implying. "Are we under suspicion?" He asked sharply.
"At the moment, no, but your cooperation at this point would be appreciated."
"What would our 'cooperation' entail?" Scully asked, and Mulder heard an almost indictable note of fear in her voice.
"Giving your statement as you are right now, and your fingerprints."
"Why our fingerprints?" Mulder asked, curiously.
"You indicated that you didn't touch the door knob when you came in, so we hope to be able to match the freshest prints there and in the Van Dekamps' room. I know that Agent Scully at least had to have touched the bodies to make sure they were dead, so having two pairs ruled out, in addition to the deceased's, will make it easier for us to isolate the prints that belong to the murderer. Assuming that he or she left any." The officer explained, sounding entirely reasonable, even to Mulder.
"Please," Scully said, looking at the other woman. "What's going to happen to our baby?"
"Standard procedure is that if the child has no next of kin, which seems to be the case here, the state takes the child into temporary custody until suitable foster parents are found for him or her." The officer said, looking away when she sensed that Scully was close to tears.
Mulder shifted William in his arms, and spoke quietly. "I'm not sure that the adoption was entirely legal. I never signed away rights to my son."
The officer's face brightened. "If that's the case, we can probably get a judge to award you temporary custody of the boy while you wait for a formal custody hearing."
He let out the breath that he was holding. "That would be wonderful."
"This would make things considerably easier for us too, paperwork-wise, and negate the need to find social worker at this hour. I can ring up a judge to sign the order after we do the finger printing." The officer smiled at Mulder, and for a moment he allowed himself to forget that the custody they were hoping to be granted was only temporary.
**
The judge, a middle aged man with a kindly face, looked like he had been roused from his bed in the middle of the night, which he had been. He looked away for a moment and yawned, then looked back at Mulder and Scully.
"I don't see why I shouldn't grant you temporary custody of the boy, Mr. Mulder. You have a clean record, you're in good standing with the FBI, and you are the father of record on his birth certificate. I advise you to locate a lawyer tomorrow so we can arrange a formal hearing. Hopefully this matter can be dealt with quickly, because I'd hate to see the fate of such a cute little boy remain undecided any longer than necessary." The judge said, smiling broadly at William who was sitting quietly on the police officer's lap.
Mulder shook the judge's hand retrieved his son from the officer, trying not to let his mixture of elation and fear show.
** Bright and early the next morning Mulder found himself sitting in his lawyer's office. The lawyer's name was Ted Feldman, and Mulder suspected that he'd been a quarterback in high school twenty years ago. Ted looked slightly uncomfortable in his suit, and his big frame took up most of the space behind his desk, all of which might have made him slightly frightening to talk to if he didn't seem to have the sunniest disposition Mulder had ever known an adult male to have. He'd been nothing but encouraging and smiles since Mulder began his odd tale.
"To be perfectly honest, Fox, you don't mind if I call you Fox, do you?" Mulder stifled a shudder but let it go. "I think that you have a very good shot at getting your son back."
"You do?" Mulder asked, not being able to prevent surprise from seeping into his voice.
"I've looked at your son's adoption papers. First, the adoption was rushed through with inordinate haste. I know that you said that your girlfriend asked for it to be so, but that's not your concern, since you're the one seeking custody instead of her." Mulder stared at Ted when he said the word 'girlfriend'. It startled him to have someone refer to Scully that way, though he knew it was more or less the truth. His mindset still wasn't much different than when he answered Ellen Adderly's question of if he a significant other by saying "Not in the widely understood definition of that term." And it surprised him to have someone so simply label such a complicated relationship as his and Scully's was by using the word.
"And?" Mulder asked, sensing that Ted had noticed his distraction.
"And, even more importantly you didn't sign the papers to give him away, meaning that, for all intents and purposes, you had no intention to give up your rights to your son. The way I see it, we only need to establish two things for the judge before you are granted custody of the boy."
"What would those things be?"
"Well, first we'd have to do DNA testing to prove conclusively that William is your biological son. That shouldn't be too difficult, and I have a Doctor friend at a local hospital who has the clout to get the results quickly. He's done rush jobs for me in the past. While I know that you said that you and your girlfriend are still together, you should bear in mind that making her look bad makes you look good, because after all, she was instrumental in depriving you of your parental rights. If the two of you can't handle that maybe she shouldn't attend the hearing" Ted cast him an apologetic look before continuing." Unfortunately, her looking bad will have the effect of making the judge question the boy's paternity, so that's why the DNA tests will be necessary. "
"What's the other thing?" Mulder asked, already dreading not only the test but also the thought of his lawyer deliberately casting Scully in a bad light. Maybe Ted was right, and she shouldn't attend.
"The second thing would be confirming with one of your superiors that you were required by your position in the FBI to temporarily be out of contact with everyone, which is why your girlfriend was able to persuade the adoption agency that she went to that you were presumed deceased. Those things shouldn't be too hard, now should they?" Ted asked with a grin, still apparently in a jovial mood.
"No, not too hard." Mulder agreed, if you compare them to the tasks of Hercules perhaps, he added silently.
**
Mulder studies the small blue sneakers on William's feet. They look a lot like a pair he himself owned four or five years ago, but of course his weren't a mere three inches long. He wonders why anyone would spend so much time constructing footwear that will be outgrown in three months. "It's ok, buddy, almost through." Mulder murmured to the boy, who whined and struggled in his arms.
The reason Mulder had developed a sudden interest in Will's shoes was because he was trying not to look at his face while the doctor drew the baby's blood. He didn't know if he could bear the looking at the baby's face while he was in pain. After an eternity, the doctor cheerfully said, " All done, William. Now it's daddy's turn."
Mulder rolled up his sleeve, then looked away, still marveling that the doctor had referred to him as William's "daddy." For a moment Mulder was tempted to ask him if he said that because he'd noticed some sort of family resemblance between him and Will or if he was just being polite, but then he noticed that William was staring at something on the tray where the doctor had put the boy's sample, and the discarded needle. At first Mulder thought it might have caught his eye because the metal tray was shiny, but then he realized that a pair of scissors also in the tray were gently vibrating. Mulder immediately decided that he could stomach watching his own blood fill the vial after all.
The doctor seemed blissfully ignorant of his scissors' strange behavior, and cheerfully said, "Well, Mr. Mulder, we should have the results for you in about a week. Good luck with your trial," confirming Mulder's suspicions that Ted had told him why he wanted the results quickly.
Mulder thanked the doctor, put William's sun hat on his head, and rushed him out of the room. A backward glance confirmed that the scissors had stopped their restive behavior and were lying quietly in the tray once again
**
Skinner hung up the phone with a sigh as Doggett walked into the room with the files he had gone to retrieve. Doggett gave him a wary look, because even 15 feet away he could see that the other man was so tense he seemed about to snap.
"Is there something wrong, Sir?" He asked cautiously.
"As I've said before, Agent Doggett, there is always something wrong on this job. However what's wrong today is of a more personal concern. That was Mulder I was just speaking to." Skinner said flatly.
"Has something happened to Scully?" Doggett asked, fear seeping into his voice. He'd long had protective, big brother-like, feelings for the diminutive agent that he'd come to respect a great deal.
"No, but something has happened to William's adoptive parents. They were murdered in their bed." Skinner held up a hand to keep Doggett from interrupting. "Before you worry, William himself is fine."
Putting aside a dozen less important questions, Doggett asked the one he considered the most important. "What happens to Will now?"
Skinner sighed. "That's what Mulder was calling about. Apparently he and Agent Scully were the ones to discover the bodies, and a judge awarded him temporary custody of William."
"That's good, right?" Doggett asked, wondering why Skinner looked so grim.
"It's a good sign, yes. However, Mulder's lawyer thinks that he has a good shot at getting custody of the boy since he didn't sign the adoption papers, as long as two things are proven to the judge."
Doggett felt uneasy then. "What conditions?"
"The first is that William is his biological child. Mulder said he just left the doctor's office where he and William have just had blood drawn for the tests. They should get the results of that in about a week."
"What's the second condition?" Doggett asked, wanting to know before he worried about the likely results of the test.
Skinner rested his chin on his steeped hands. "The second is proving that he was ordered to remain out of contact with the rest of the world, which is why Scully was able to say he was dead when she gave William away, and why he didn't immediately protest the adoption."
"How...how could he prove that?"
"He was ordered away, more or less, Agent Doggett. The problem is convincing Kersh to testify to that fact." Doggett gave him an equally grim look. "I think Agent Reyes, you and I need to pay Kersh a visit. Tomorrow."
Doggett wondered for a moment about the futility of that. "Reyes took a half day so she could go for her required yearly physical, but I could swing by her place and leave her a note to tell her what's up." He offered.
"Good idea." Skinner said. "I think Mulder would approve of that since notes can't be bugged like phone lines."
"I really miss the Lone Gunmen at times like this. They were always handy for sniffing out bugs." Doggett said with a sigh.
** Three officers had arrived at the Van Dekamp's home, and two immediately went in to examine the crime scene while the third stayed outside to speak to Mulder and Scully.
"...so what you're saying is that you came by the house to look in on the baby here, and found the door open and the house quiet, so you decided to go in and investigate?" The officer paraphrased the story Mulder had just fed her.
"Yes." Mulder said, while William tugged on his tie.
"This couple were his legal guardians, then." The officer said flatly, giving them a suspicious look. "There was no custody battle between you and the Van Dekamps?"
Mulder's blood turned to ice as he caught the undertones of what the officer was implying. "Are we under suspicion?" He asked sharply.
"At the moment, no, but your cooperation at this point would be appreciated."
"What would our 'cooperation' entail?" Scully asked, and Mulder heard an almost indictable note of fear in her voice.
"Giving your statement as you are right now, and your fingerprints."
"Why our fingerprints?" Mulder asked, curiously.
"You indicated that you didn't touch the door knob when you came in, so we hope to be able to match the freshest prints there and in the Van Dekamps' room. I know that Agent Scully at least had to have touched the bodies to make sure they were dead, so having two pairs ruled out, in addition to the deceased's, will make it easier for us to isolate the prints that belong to the murderer. Assuming that he or she left any." The officer explained, sounding entirely reasonable, even to Mulder.
"Please," Scully said, looking at the other woman. "What's going to happen to our baby?"
"Standard procedure is that if the child has no next of kin, which seems to be the case here, the state takes the child into temporary custody until suitable foster parents are found for him or her." The officer said, looking away when she sensed that Scully was close to tears.
Mulder shifted William in his arms, and spoke quietly. "I'm not sure that the adoption was entirely legal. I never signed away rights to my son."
The officer's face brightened. "If that's the case, we can probably get a judge to award you temporary custody of the boy while you wait for a formal custody hearing."
He let out the breath that he was holding. "That would be wonderful."
"This would make things considerably easier for us too, paperwork-wise, and negate the need to find social worker at this hour. I can ring up a judge to sign the order after we do the finger printing." The officer smiled at Mulder, and for a moment he allowed himself to forget that the custody they were hoping to be granted was only temporary.
**
The judge, a middle aged man with a kindly face, looked like he had been roused from his bed in the middle of the night, which he had been. He looked away for a moment and yawned, then looked back at Mulder and Scully.
"I don't see why I shouldn't grant you temporary custody of the boy, Mr. Mulder. You have a clean record, you're in good standing with the FBI, and you are the father of record on his birth certificate. I advise you to locate a lawyer tomorrow so we can arrange a formal hearing. Hopefully this matter can be dealt with quickly, because I'd hate to see the fate of such a cute little boy remain undecided any longer than necessary." The judge said, smiling broadly at William who was sitting quietly on the police officer's lap.
Mulder shook the judge's hand retrieved his son from the officer, trying not to let his mixture of elation and fear show.
** Bright and early the next morning Mulder found himself sitting in his lawyer's office. The lawyer's name was Ted Feldman, and Mulder suspected that he'd been a quarterback in high school twenty years ago. Ted looked slightly uncomfortable in his suit, and his big frame took up most of the space behind his desk, all of which might have made him slightly frightening to talk to if he didn't seem to have the sunniest disposition Mulder had ever known an adult male to have. He'd been nothing but encouraging and smiles since Mulder began his odd tale.
"To be perfectly honest, Fox, you don't mind if I call you Fox, do you?" Mulder stifled a shudder but let it go. "I think that you have a very good shot at getting your son back."
"You do?" Mulder asked, not being able to prevent surprise from seeping into his voice.
"I've looked at your son's adoption papers. First, the adoption was rushed through with inordinate haste. I know that you said that your girlfriend asked for it to be so, but that's not your concern, since you're the one seeking custody instead of her." Mulder stared at Ted when he said the word 'girlfriend'. It startled him to have someone refer to Scully that way, though he knew it was more or less the truth. His mindset still wasn't much different than when he answered Ellen Adderly's question of if he a significant other by saying "Not in the widely understood definition of that term." And it surprised him to have someone so simply label such a complicated relationship as his and Scully's was by using the word.
"And?" Mulder asked, sensing that Ted had noticed his distraction.
"And, even more importantly you didn't sign the papers to give him away, meaning that, for all intents and purposes, you had no intention to give up your rights to your son. The way I see it, we only need to establish two things for the judge before you are granted custody of the boy."
"What would those things be?"
"Well, first we'd have to do DNA testing to prove conclusively that William is your biological son. That shouldn't be too difficult, and I have a Doctor friend at a local hospital who has the clout to get the results quickly. He's done rush jobs for me in the past. While I know that you said that you and your girlfriend are still together, you should bear in mind that making her look bad makes you look good, because after all, she was instrumental in depriving you of your parental rights. If the two of you can't handle that maybe she shouldn't attend the hearing" Ted cast him an apologetic look before continuing." Unfortunately, her looking bad will have the effect of making the judge question the boy's paternity, so that's why the DNA tests will be necessary. "
"What's the other thing?" Mulder asked, already dreading not only the test but also the thought of his lawyer deliberately casting Scully in a bad light. Maybe Ted was right, and she shouldn't attend.
"The second thing would be confirming with one of your superiors that you were required by your position in the FBI to temporarily be out of contact with everyone, which is why your girlfriend was able to persuade the adoption agency that she went to that you were presumed deceased. Those things shouldn't be too hard, now should they?" Ted asked with a grin, still apparently in a jovial mood.
"No, not too hard." Mulder agreed, if you compare them to the tasks of Hercules perhaps, he added silently.
**
Mulder studies the small blue sneakers on William's feet. They look a lot like a pair he himself owned four or five years ago, but of course his weren't a mere three inches long. He wonders why anyone would spend so much time constructing footwear that will be outgrown in three months. "It's ok, buddy, almost through." Mulder murmured to the boy, who whined and struggled in his arms.
The reason Mulder had developed a sudden interest in Will's shoes was because he was trying not to look at his face while the doctor drew the baby's blood. He didn't know if he could bear the looking at the baby's face while he was in pain. After an eternity, the doctor cheerfully said, " All done, William. Now it's daddy's turn."
Mulder rolled up his sleeve, then looked away, still marveling that the doctor had referred to him as William's "daddy." For a moment Mulder was tempted to ask him if he said that because he'd noticed some sort of family resemblance between him and Will or if he was just being polite, but then he noticed that William was staring at something on the tray where the doctor had put the boy's sample, and the discarded needle. At first Mulder thought it might have caught his eye because the metal tray was shiny, but then he realized that a pair of scissors also in the tray were gently vibrating. Mulder immediately decided that he could stomach watching his own blood fill the vial after all.
The doctor seemed blissfully ignorant of his scissors' strange behavior, and cheerfully said, "Well, Mr. Mulder, we should have the results for you in about a week. Good luck with your trial," confirming Mulder's suspicions that Ted had told him why he wanted the results quickly.
Mulder thanked the doctor, put William's sun hat on his head, and rushed him out of the room. A backward glance confirmed that the scissors had stopped their restive behavior and were lying quietly in the tray once again
**
Skinner hung up the phone with a sigh as Doggett walked into the room with the files he had gone to retrieve. Doggett gave him a wary look, because even 15 feet away he could see that the other man was so tense he seemed about to snap.
"Is there something wrong, Sir?" He asked cautiously.
"As I've said before, Agent Doggett, there is always something wrong on this job. However what's wrong today is of a more personal concern. That was Mulder I was just speaking to." Skinner said flatly.
"Has something happened to Scully?" Doggett asked, fear seeping into his voice. He'd long had protective, big brother-like, feelings for the diminutive agent that he'd come to respect a great deal.
"No, but something has happened to William's adoptive parents. They were murdered in their bed." Skinner held up a hand to keep Doggett from interrupting. "Before you worry, William himself is fine."
Putting aside a dozen less important questions, Doggett asked the one he considered the most important. "What happens to Will now?"
Skinner sighed. "That's what Mulder was calling about. Apparently he and Agent Scully were the ones to discover the bodies, and a judge awarded him temporary custody of William."
"That's good, right?" Doggett asked, wondering why Skinner looked so grim.
"It's a good sign, yes. However, Mulder's lawyer thinks that he has a good shot at getting custody of the boy since he didn't sign the adoption papers, as long as two things are proven to the judge."
Doggett felt uneasy then. "What conditions?"
"The first is that William is his biological child. Mulder said he just left the doctor's office where he and William have just had blood drawn for the tests. They should get the results of that in about a week."
"What's the second condition?" Doggett asked, wanting to know before he worried about the likely results of the test.
Skinner rested his chin on his steeped hands. "The second is proving that he was ordered to remain out of contact with the rest of the world, which is why Scully was able to say he was dead when she gave William away, and why he didn't immediately protest the adoption."
"How...how could he prove that?"
"He was ordered away, more or less, Agent Doggett. The problem is convincing Kersh to testify to that fact." Doggett gave him an equally grim look. "I think Agent Reyes, you and I need to pay Kersh a visit. Tomorrow."
Doggett wondered for a moment about the futility of that. "Reyes took a half day so she could go for her required yearly physical, but I could swing by her place and leave her a note to tell her what's up." He offered.
"Good idea." Skinner said. "I think Mulder would approve of that since notes can't be bugged like phone lines."
"I really miss the Lone Gunmen at times like this. They were always handy for sniffing out bugs." Doggett said with a sigh.
