**Post contains spoilers for the X-Files novel "Antibodies"**

Doggett and Reyes thanked the doctor who admitted Brian, and left the hospital. Doggett was still confused even when they were half-way back to Washington. He finally turned to Reyes, who was driving them back and exclaimed "It still doesn't make any sense! Not only is the boy not dead, he was awake and alert when we left."

"John, didn't Mulder and Scully once work on similar case?"

"What do you mean, spontaneous resurrection?" Doggett asked.

"No, I mean spontaneous healing." Reyes said, glancing at him for a second before returning her attention to the road. "I haven't read all the case files like you did, but one in particular springs to mind. Scully and Mulder once investigated a case in 97' that involved things called 'nanomachines' which were injected into subjects so the machines could repair damage on a cellular level. While some of the prototypes went horribly wrong and ended up killing healthy people, some of them actually worked and saved a child suffering from what should have been a mortal injury. There aren't supposed to be any left, though." Reyes concluded, sounding puzzled.

"It must be something else." Doggett said, then lapsed back into silence as he thought hard about something that was trying to break through his unconscious. Then he slapped his knee. "I think I know what it is. Remember a couple of days ago Mulder told Scully that it all made sense because the replicants were after the hybrids? Way back, only a few months after Scully joined the X-Files, they had a case involving one of these so- called hybrids. The guy survived drowning and other mishaps, quickly healing. Apparently the only way to kill one is to spear them in the back of the neck. They bled green, though, so I'm thinking that Brian and the other kids must be mostly human."

"They just inherited quick healing?" Reyes asked with a faint smile that Doggett couldn't see in the dark.

"Exactly." Doggett agreed. While he wouldn't admit to himself that he'd just suggested that Scully's daughter was part alien, he was at least satisfied that he'd reached a logical conclusion about what was bothering him.

** Emily woke briefly during the drive back to Washington, but had fallen asleep again long before Mulder pulled into their driveway. He tried waking her, but she was only half awake a best, so he carried her into the house.

He had expected that Scully might be up with Gibson while they waited for Reyes to come for him, but he didn't expect William to be up too. Nor did he expect his son to be trying to dance to 80's pop music while Gibson and Scully cheered him on.

"Scully, you tell me I'm a bad influence on him." Mulder said drolly as a scarlet-cheeked Scully quickly turned off 'The Warrior' by Scandal and Pattie Smyth. Deciding that he'd had enough of Emily yawning in his face, he set her on her feet.

Emily took an uncertain step towards Scully. "Are you...are you my Mommy?" She asked in a tiny voice.

Scully's heart melted. Emily looked almost exactly like she remembered, except her hair had darken slightly, and she'd grown considerably. "Yes, sweetheart." Scully said gently. "And this little boy is your brother, William."

Emily's face broke out into a big smile, her dream was coming true so quickly. She squatted down so she was at the toddler's level. "Hi William, I'm-"

"Em." William interrupted her. Everyone blinked.

"That's right, Emily." Emily said, and gave him a hug.

"How did he-"Mulder muttered.

"He must have overheard me talking-"Scully said looking doubtful.

Gibson shook his head, and they both felt a sudden sinking feeling in the pits of their stomachs. "He knew. I think there's something you ought to know about him...but maybe we should talk about it in the kitchen." He said, looking at Emily and William.

"Uh, sure. Emily, we'll be right back, ok? Give us a shout if he causes any trouble." Scully said, reluctant to leave the children alone for even a few minutes.

"Sure." Emily chirped, already sitting on the floor and playing with William.

"Spill it." Scully demanded as soon as they were out of earshot of the children.

"I know that back when you decided to give William up, Jeffery Spender went out of his way to convince you that he'd given William magnetite in order to make a normal little boy..." Gibson trailed off, looking uncertain if he should continue.

"What are you saying, he lied?" Mulder asked, thinking about the scissors, which he'd done his best to forget about.

Gibson nodded. "He lied. All the shot did was dampen his powers until it got broken down in his blood stream."

"So you're saying he's still telekinetic? "Scully asked, her face suddenly looking gray.

"And telepathic." Gibson added. "He knew her name because he read her mind. He told me that a couple of minutes ago when you were asking each other how he knew. He also told me it's frustrating that neither of you reads minds. Emily doesn't either, if you were wondering that." Gibson smiled faintly.

"I guess there's nothing we can do about it except accept it." Mulder mused. "Who knows, maybe his powers will come in handy some day."

"I was hoping you'd say something like that instead of suggesting you keep giving him magnetite. Scully, what do you think about it?" Gibson asked, so Mulder could hear her thoughts too.

"I think a certain Jeffery Spender is in need of a severe ass-chewing." She growled.

**

Spender sat bolt upright when the phone rang. Many years of working for the FBI and receiving important phone calls in the middle of the night had conditioned him to waking instantly when the phone rang. He sighed ruefully as he fumbled for the phone, nearly dropping because the bandages on his hands made him awkward.

"Hello?" he said, trying to stifled a yawn.

"Spender?" A familiar feminine voice asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm going to kick your ass the next time I see you." The woman growled.

Spender was suddenly able to place the voice. "Scully?"

"Don't ask like you don't know who this is. You lied to me about my son, you son of a bitch. How could you let me believe that the shot you gave him made him normal? You wanted me to give him away, didn't you?!" She screeched at him, making Spender glad he hadn't had too many opportunities to be on the receiving end of her wrath. Twice was quite enough as far as he was concerned.

He tried to think his way through several placating lies, but finally opted for the truth instead. "Look, Scully, if I didn't go along with their plan, they were going to experiment on me again. I'm sorry it hurt you, but I couldn't go through that again. Can't you try to understand that? I...I'll help you get William back, I promise."

"Save it. We have Will back, no thanks to you. And who the hell is 'they'??" Scully demanded.

"They. The Syndicate." Spender sputtered in confusion. He was glad that William was back under his parent's protection, but he sensed that now wasn't the time to ask how that had come about.

"What are you talking about, Spender? CSM is dead. Surely you know that." Scully shot back, sounding slightly less angry.

Spender sighed loudly. "Yes, I know he's dead. And I don't mourn him any more than I'm sure that Mulder does. But they syndicate didn't die with him, and you'd be a fool to believe so. Didn't you wonder how Mulder's murder conviction was over-turned?"

"Well, of course, but we got the call about it on our way to William, so didn't ask many questions. We were just glad that Skinner had Mulder's cell phone number. He told us they said the local police put up a fuss because they realized that the body was from a murder they were working on." Scully replied, sounding less certain.

Spender gave a hollow laugh. "And you think that would be enough to get the tribunal to overturn their verdict? Don't delude yourself, Scully. The Syndicate ordered it. They still order a lot of things, so watch your back."

Spender reached down and abruptly ripped the phone cord out of the wall, ending the conversation. He threw the phone to the floor, turned off the light, reminded himself to get an unlisted phone number in the morning, and went back to bed so he could get some sleep before his next doctor's appointment.

**

Mulder kept an eye on the kids while Scully made her phone call. He looked at the two children, searching for similarities. Emily had dirty blond hair that promised to darken even more when she got older. William, on the other hand, had hair that was finally long enough to show its reddish gold color. They were both fair, and both had Scully's blue eyes. His son, however, seemed destined to inherit his nose, something which he nearly pitied the boy for. With a rueful smile he told himself that not everyone could have a button nose.

"What are you doing?" He asked, sorry to have startled them.

"Em." William told him, pointing at his sister. " Pway."

"We were playing." Emily told him shyly. Several of Will's stuffed animals shared the couch with them.

Mulder sat down on the floor near the couch. "You know, even when I was a boy, kids played with toys."

"Do you still remember how to play?" Emily asked.

Mulder was momentarily grateful that she didn't express her astonishment that even he had once been a child. "I think so. You know, if you asked your mother, she'd probably say I played too much."

Emily looked like she was at a loss for words for a moment. Then she said what was on her mind. "She's my mom, and his mom." She said, pointing to William, who smiled at her. "But you're only his dad... could you be my dad, too?"

The hopeful look in her eyes broke his heart. "Would you want me to be?"

"Yes." She said, nodding vigorously.

"Why?" he asked, not being able to contain his curiosity.

"Because you're the daddy in my dreams. Lots of times I dreamed about you and mom being my parents, but I don't know why."

"Emily, do you know that you met Scully and I before?" The girl shook her head, but looked uncertain. "When you were three we met you. Maybe you remembered our faces." He suggested.

"Maybe..." she replied sounding doubtful. "Some times I remember things about the Mommy and Daddy that died a long time ago. But no one here is going to die, right? "

Mulder put his arm around her shoulders. From your lips to God's ears, kiddo, he thought. "I think we're going to be a family for a very long time." He told her with a gentle smile. He looked at his watch. "You, know, though, today has been a very long day. It's so late it's actually tomorrow." He said, making her giggle. "So I think it's time for you two to go up to bed. Your mom bought a few things for you, like some jammies for tonight, but I see a shopping trip in your future this weekend. Come on, I'll show you your room."

With that, he reached down and scooped up William, and lead the way to the bedrooms.

**

Doggett rolled onto his side and savagely punched his pillow in frustration. It had been hours since he'd gone with Reyes to pick up Gibson, then dropped them off at her apartment, yet he still couldn't sleep. An irrational envy of everyone else in the state, whom he felt sure were sleeping unless they worked third shift, set in as the clock in his hallway chimed four times. He just barely resisted the urge to see if kicking his pillow into the wall would make him feel better.

He threw his head back onto his pillow with an aggravated growl. Though he knew that Mulder's insomnia was legendary around the X-files office, he himself seldom suffered from it. In fact, he reflected as he started at the ceiling, the last time that he had this much trouble sleeping was right after Luke passed and his marriage itself was itself dying.

Luke, he was slowly coming to realize, was the reason he couldn't sleep. Luke, Brian and Emily. Having found a dead boy who turned out not to bed dead threw him for a loop. Brian had looked so much like Luke had, at least with his eyes closed, that he'd been thinking about Luke off and on all night. When the horrific sense of déjà vu had passed into stunned disbelief at the sound of Brian's pained moan, he'd become even more morose. Why couldn't his little boy have been ok too? Why was he the one who had to bury his beloved son, while people who hadn't even bothered to see theirs for nearly five years received such a gift? It wasn't fair.

At least he wouldn't have to see Brian constantly, to be reminded of it. Emily was another story. When Skinner told him about Scully's loss, he'd felt an immediate sense of kinship, an empathy that only one parent who has lost a child can feel for another. But Scully's child wasn't really dead, and was now sleeping peacefully in her house.

When Scully invited them to peek in on the child, presumably so he and Reyes could reassure themselves that she was fine after such a traumatic night, Doggett found himself lingering in the doorway as he stared at the resting girl. He didn't coo over her as Reyes did, but instead stood his ground, trying to fight the urge to wake her. He wasn't fully convinced that she was alive, not after having met a boy like Billy Underwood two years before, who had been something else entirely. He still wasn't convinced that Billy had been a ghost, but he'd been something strange.

Emily, he repeated to himself as he hugged the doorframe, was not like Billy. She'd grown and changed, and communicated normally. Still, it was hard to shake the image of eventually finding Billy's bones, and he didn't want to ever have to be the one to find another dead child. But dammit, he thought, pounding his fist against the wall, I can't take finding living ones either.

Reyes had tried to tell him something as he dropped her off, but he'd brushed her off with a curt "good-night" and had nearly ran back to his car. He knew she meant well, but he couldn't take being doused in sympathetic words, so he'd taken the coward's route and run off to escape everyone.

As he finally felt his body giving into sleep, a drowsy thought passed through his brain: maybe Emily had been sent to test him. To make him consider putting his money where he mouth was, and actually moving on with his life. Once he fell asleep, he dreamed of holding a newborn in his arms who wasn't Luke.