New Mexico December 19th, 2012 7am

Steven was sent to wake them the next morning; apparently Andrew was too important for such a mundane task. They were all curled up, sleeping, when he entered the room. Waking quickly, Mulder felt the need to offer excuse because Steven was staring at Scully's sleeping form. On one of the bunk beds.

" Our family's complete... at home we don't share a bed because that's only necessary for procreation."Mulder mumbled trying not to wake Scully or the kids. The younger two, anyway, since William was already awake and yawning.

Steven just nodded. Maybe the cultists had similar beliefs.

" William, come with me." Steven said abruptly, grasping the boy's arm. "And take your belongings with you."

" What's going on?" Mulder demanded to know. His louder-than-intended remark woke Scully, who instantly let go of sleep entirely. She gave Mulder a glance, and he saw that she already grasp the situation.

Steven shifted his cardigan meaningfully, briefly revealing a glock stuffed into the waist of his slacks. "Emanuel wishes to spend more time instructing William about what will happen when our... friends... arrive. He will not be returning to this room today. Or tonight."

" No..." Scully protested softly. William got to his feet when Steven gave his arm another, less gentle, tug.

" I assure you, William will be unharmed. It would completely undermine our intentions if anything happened to him."

" How reassuring." Mulder said with a grimace.

They expected William to protest, but he seemed resigned. Still, his feet dragged as he prepared to go with Steven. Mulder made a tentative move to keep them from leaving, but Scully grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Don't make things worse on him." She hissed in his ear. He grated his teeth in frustration but let Steven lead their son away.

It was an unseasonably warm day, even by New Mexico standards. Since he was wearing shorts, the cool leather felt clammy against the bare skin of William's lower legs. His lower lip jutted out into pout as he stared at Emanuel. When it began to seem as if the man had no intention of being the one to start the conversation, William spoke up. "I've been here almost a whole day now... when are you going to tell me why you had my family kidnapped and brought here? I mean, really tell me."

Emanuel's lip curled at the word' kidnapped.' "You are the one who will bridge the gap between us and our allies. You'll be our emissary. "

" You said that, what does that mean? Like, what do you expect me to do?"

" You will be the beacon to summon them to Earth on December 22nd."

" But some aliens were already here." William pointed out. " And they left, so can't they do this summoning thing?"

Emanuel shook his head. " The ships that came were only scouts, sent to make sure their kind can survive our atmosphere."

" My dad said they'd already been here before, so wouldn't they know that already?"

" Better safe than sorry?" Emanuel shrugged. " As technology develops and environmental safeguards are put into place, the atmosphere changes. Things change quickly so they don't like to rely on data more than a year old."

" That's still doesn't explain why they can't do this summoning though."

" They don't have the power to light the beacon. It was designed with human anatomy in mind."

" Ok, so get some other human do it. I'm not interested."

" You're the only one who can do it. Do you think we wouldn't have had someone else already here do it if it was possible?"

" So what if I don't do it? I bet they can't come then." William sort of liked the idea of being able to make this unpleasant adult squirm.

" That is true; if the beacon is not lit, they will not come. But if you don't, we'll kill your family."

William's smirk faded. " How come only I can do it?"

"You're the only person ever born with the power to do this task."

" Yeah, born with. I told you, I don't have those powers anymore. My uncle gave me a shot to make them go away when I just a baby."

" I know. We were in despair when we first learned about your uncle's actions, but we've discovered a way to remedy that situation."