December 21st, 2012

Before breakfast

Not long after they'd talked, Scully had shared with Mulder what William had been told, and he'd been simmering since the words left her mouth the night before. After a night of consideration, he boiled over.

"This has gone on quite long enough." He declared, as he and Scully stood to one side of the room so Benji and Owen could dress without being embarrassed; though Owen was a card-carrying member of the "let's watch dad dress" brigade, he was shy about dressing in front of other people, and Benji was modest as well. "We're going to do something about this, tonight. Late, maybe in the wee hours when everyone is sleeping."

"Do what?" Scully asked, her voice low.

"I'm not sure. We'll have to think about it. The one thing I'm sure of is that we can't be here tomorrow. If William can do what they want, the entire Earth is doomed. If he can't or he can but refuses, they'll kill us all. What you told him was brave, but I really don't want to die- again- and I sure as hell don't want you or my kids to. Dying sucks, Scully. Let's not."

"But Mulder, even if we do get away, won't they just drag William back here?"

Mulder shook his head. "When I was at Mount Weather I did get a chance to read some of the files before Rohrer inconveniently 'died'. Tomorrow is a special date, and it's the only date they'll come here. Something to do with planetary alignment, but I got the feeling it was more to do with fleet navigation than new age-y astrology stuff. If aren't summoned tomorrow, they won't come again this century and maybe not the next. And by the time they made another attempt, well, the kids will probably have died of old age. It might suck for our great-great grandkids, but at least we would have great-great grandkids."

"Why would they wait?" Scully looked confused.

"They're patient. The project to bring them here has gone on for over 70 years, Scully. I don't think their sense of time is like ours. Maybe they live longer. Maybe they've got more pressing concerns, who knows?

"All I know is that if we can get the kids out of here tonight and stay out of sight until the twenty-third, we'll be able to put this all behind us."

"Don't you think the cultists would be vengeful?"

He gave her a grim look."I'd rather risk that then have a visit from the grays."

11pm

They were aroused from their uneasy sleep when the door burst open. Several men came into the room and roughly grabbed Mulder and Scully from their beds. Benji and Owen woke up because the commotion.

"Daddy?" Owen whimpered. The man took a step toward him.

" Don't you dare touch him!" Mulder shouted while squirming to be free of the two men who held his arms.

The men acted as though he'd never spoken, but no one went any closer to the two boys. Scully, always the more cautious of the pair, was passive in the hands of her captors but Mulder struggled. His efforts were rewarded when a man pulled out of taser and shocked him with it. Suddenly limp, Mulder was dragged out of the room, and Scully frog-marched right behind them. The men slammed the door behind them.

Pushed beyond endurance, Owen began to cry noisily alone on the bed he had been sleeping in with Mulder. Benji cautiously got out of his own bed, and he climbed up to the big bed. Wrapping his arms around his brother, he began to cry as well. Neither of them said a word; especially not everything is going to be ok.