William gnawed on a garlic bread stick, and kept a close watch on his parents, as if to make sure they weren't going anywhere. He kicked his feet one more time to test whether or not escape from the restaurant high chair was possible, and resigned himself to the fact he could not. So instead he focused his bright blue eyes on the people gathered around the table.

He was at his father's side, and his mother sat next to Mulder, which suited William fine since he could see them easily. Skinner, who William liked a lot, sat next to Scully, which meant that he had to crane his head to see the man clearly. His grandmother, whom William kept reaching out to pat, sat at the head of the table, adjacent to him. Across the table agents Reyes and Doggett smiled at William, and occasionally, at each other. William looked around for the three funny men who had doted on him before he went to live with Van Dekamps, and was puzzled why they weren't there. The person who most captivated William's attention, though, was the teenage boy sitting directly across from him. He though several times that the boy had said something to him, but each time he turned to look, Gibson's mouth was closed. No one but Gibson noticed his bemusement.

"...so how does it feel not be a fugitive from justice after all?" Doggett asks Mulder.

"Not bad at all. Krycek made the one armed man thing work for him, but I'm just not cut out for it." Mulder quipped.

"So...what are you going to do now?" Reyes asked eagerly.

"Oh, you know, move to little village in Vermont where I can open a small general practice and Mulder can stay home with William while writing a book on alien abductions." Scully said with a straight face, which she kept until she saw that everyone but Gibson and Mulder were taking her seriously. "I was joking!" she said, trying to smother a laugh.

"Actually," Mulder said, "We don't really know what we're doing yet. Maggie has been kind enough to offer to let us stay with her, and we probably will take advantage of her hospitality for a few days." He cast a fond look at Mrs. Scully.

"Oh! Could I come over too, just for the night?" Gibson asked unexpectedly. Reyes shot him a suspicious look.

"That'd be fine with me, dear, if it's ok with Agent Reyes." Maggie said warmly.

"Why?" Reyes asked him.

"There's a chess exhibition I wanted to see starting early tomorrow morning. They're trying out another super computer against a human, and I'd really like to get there bright and early. Since it's so much closer to Mrs. Scully's house..." he trailed off, giving her a pleading look.

At first she was going to demand how he knew where Mrs. Scully lived, but then realized that he'd probably just read the older woman's mind. " I...guess so. Can you drop him off tomorrow afternoon?" Reyes asked Mulder, who nodded. "Thank Mrs. Scully." She demanded.

"Oh, sorry. Thank you." Gibson said with a smile.

"In that case, perhaps we could go for a drink after dinner." Doggett suggested to her.

"Sure. Would you like to come along, sir?" She asked Skinner, not even noticing the annoyed look that flashed across Doggett's face.

"Normally I would, but I'm going on a trip this weekend, so I hitting the hay early tonight."

"Guess it's just you and me then." Doggett said, trying not to look too pleased.

**

Gibson had to hide his smile when Reyes went off with Doggett. Although he knew she suspected that he had an ulterior motive for wanting to go home with Mrs. Scully, she only guessed half of it. He did, as she suspected, want her and Doggett to be able to have the time alone he sensed they both longed for, but there was more to it than that.

"Here you go, dear." Maggie said as she handed a pillow and blanket to Gibson. "You're looking forward to this chess exhibition tomorrow?"

"Yes, very much. I don't know if Scully told you, but I used to play chess myself. Before...everything got strange."

"I think she did mention that. Do you miss it?"

"A little... Mrs. Scully, is William asleep yet?"

"I don't think so, why?"

"I was sort of hoping to play with him a little. I was an only child, so I didn't have much of a chance to play with younger kids."

"I'll go see."

Gibson made the bed in the guest room while Maggie went to get William. Gibson knew the boy was awake, so he was looking forward to playing with him. He'd told Maggie the truth, but omitted why he was particularly interested in playing with this baby.

"Here you go." Maggie said as she put William in his arms. "I left the door to the room his crib is in open so you can find it when he gets tired."

"Thanks." Gibson said with a grin, and watched her walk out the door. He put William on the bed, and decided to begin his experiment. :: William, look at me:: he thought in the baby's direction. William's head whipped around, and his little face filled with confusion.

Gibson was fascinated, because while he'd met other people who had telepathic gifts of varying levels, he'd never met one as young as William. William was so young that his vocabulary was very limited, meaning most of his thoughts were more in pictures than words. :: I know you can hear me, William:: Gibson got a sudden flash picture of himself with his mouth closed. :: You're right, my mouth is closed. I'm talking to you in your head!:: William laughed. :: I hear you too. Most people, like your Mommy and Daddy can't hear you, because we're special, we can. You can tell me things, if you need to, like if you're scared.:: Instead of thinking about being scared, William sent him a picture of Mulder and Scully holding him tight. :: Oh, I see, you're safe. Good! ::

Gibson and William "talked" a little more before he put him to bed. He was surprised how much the baby understood of what was going on, despite his tender age. The thing that impressed him the most was that William really seemed to understand that Mulder was the "daddy" that Scully had told him about since birth. He went back to the guest room, having finally satisfied his curiosity; he'd wondered since Mulder told him about a worried e-mail from Scully about William's abilities to move things if he might be telepathic as well. **

"Waitress, could we get another two bottles of Sam Adams?" Doggett asked the woman as she passed by.

"John, do you think we should?" Reyes asked, putting a hand on his arm.

"Monica, we don't have to work tomorrow, so I can't think of any reason on earth why we shouldn't." He told her with a half-smile.

"Well..." She smiled back in spite of herself.

"Can we talk?"

"Isn't that what we've been doing for the past hour?" Reyes teased.

"I meant can we have a serious conversation." Doggett replied.

"Uh oh. Serious, huh? So we should have this conversation before we have anything more to drink?"

"Something like that." He said, then paused for a moment as the waitress set the frosty bottles on the table. "I've been doing some serious thinking lately."

"What about?"

"Oh, you know, life. The lack thereof... Within the last couple of months I've finally become at peace with the loss of my old life. I've been able to say good-bye to Luke and my ex-wife, and I've finally had the room in my mind to think about other things that are important to me as well. Other people."

"People like who?" Reyes asked curiously.

"William, for one. I've finally been able to allow myself to acknowledge that I care about a child other than my son. For a long, long time I couldn't even think about caring about another kid, not my wife's nieces and nephews, and not him, because I couldn't bear the thought of something terrible happening to them. Now that the little guy is back with his parents, and is safe, I can let myself love him."

"Anyone else?"

"Scully." Doggett said, gratified by the disappointed look on her face, because it gave him the courage to continue." I don't know if I ever told you, but growing up, I always wanted a little sister. Who knew it would take me half a lifetime to find someone who made me feel that way? It's a nice feeling, which is why I felt so frustrated when she didn't seem to be using as much caution as she should have the times Mulder was gone. She feels like the little sister I never had."

"But I don't." Reyes turned her question into a statement.

"No, because that sort of thing isn't legal in most states. "He told her with a grin as a look of slowly dawning comprehension filtered across her face. "I don't have half the words to tell you how much I care about you. I've wasted enough time in this life holding things back...I think it's time you know that I love you."

"I don't you what to say." Reyes said, suddenly blushing.

"That's a first." Doggett teased, knowing when she smiled that he'd done the right thing by confessing.