Washington DC

FBI Headquarters

One month later . . .

Fox Mulder still continued to relive the scene in his mind. He had watched as the woman, whom he'd come to call sister, won a battle to save their lives just to find out that she wasn't whom she thought she was. He watched as this same woman destroyed her only chance of ever finding out who she was before she died just to make sure that he and Scully would never be threatened by Alpha again.

Alyssa had collapsed after that. With Scully at his side, he had cradled Alyssa in his arms and made a pledge to her that he would do what he could to find out who she had been taken from. Pledged to let her family know that she had turned out to be an extraordinary person. Alyssa had gripped his hand and he could see in her eyes how much what he said had meant to her.

"That's not important, Mulder. The chances of you ever finding out where I came from are slim to none. No matter my origins, I still felt a connection to you and it does my heart good to know that, for a short time, you, and Scully, were my family. I could never be more proud."

Alyssa had then grabbed Scully's hand and used her power one last time before she closed her eyes for the final time. Mulder wiped a tear from his eye as he turned back to an open file on his desk.

He wanted to try and clear his head before Scully came into work. The one thing that he didn't want to do was to bring her down too. Alyssa's last act was to make the slight bond between them a permanent empathic one. It was that bond that had gotten him through the past month. He had always found it difficult communicating his emotions to Scully. It was now a relief to be able to share what he felt without having to say a word. His only worry was that he would become a burden to his partner.

At that thought, he felt Scully's presence as she was getting off the elevator. She was anxious about something that she wanted to share with him. Scully walked into the office, file in hand, and closed the door. She came around the desk so that she could perch herself on it by Mulder.

"You were thinking about her again." Hiding his feelings hadn't worked in time. That was the only thing that was different about their bond. She was better at discerning what he was trying to hide than he was at discerning her.

"Yeah. I can't get it out of my head that there had to have been something that I could have done to prevent all this." Mulder felt a wave of reassurance come over him as Scully put her file down and clasped one of his hands in both of hers.

"Mulder, trust me. We did all we could. There was nothing that we could have done differently that would have changed that."

"I know, Scully. Now all I have to do is believe it. What is it that you want to show me?"

Keeping his hand in one of hers, Scully picked up the file and laid it in front of Mulder.

"What's that?"

"This is the result of a DNA test that I had done after the first time we had gotten involved with Alyssa. I wanted to find out if what Alyssa had said then was true. That she'd been cloned from your DNA and had been altered. I had decided never to open it because I trust you, Mulder, but I had to at least make sure you had the opportunity to check should you ever have doubts. Circumstances being what they were after Alyssa died, I decided to finally read them. Mulder, regardless of what my feelings are about showing this to you, you have the right to know the results."

Mulder let go of Scully's hand and opened the file. He didn't know what to think, but he could feel his heart clenching.

"What does this mean, Scully?"

"I don't know that I can answer that, Mulder. The results were inconclusive. You and Alyssa did share some common genetic traits, though the idea that she was cloned from your DNA can be almost completely ruled out." Scully paused for a moment and looked into Mulder's eyes, not sure that she wanted to continue but knowing that she had to and that he wanted her to. "Mulder, I don't know how, and because of all the genetic manipulation that's been done there's no way to be sure, but Alyssa was related to you."

Mulder could do nothing but drop his head and stare at his hands as he felt his heart break. He thought that it could get no worse. The realization that his sister may now be truly dead was overwhelming. Scully touched his cheek and he in turn pulled her toward him and wrapped his arms around her. Holding her tightly, he listened to the beat of her heart as she brought her arms up to cradle his head. He found comfort in its persistent pounding and was taken by surprise by the feelings of love that were coming from his partner. He found that she was just as surprised as her feelings were returned.

End for now.

What do you think? Let me know.