July 3th, 2013

William gave Mulder a good-bye hug, then approached his gate. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Mulder swipe at his eyes, then wave when William caught his eye. William grinned and went on. Half the way there Mulder had talked to him about how glad the was that they'd been able to find a town the night before that had been doing their fireworks display early. It had been fun, even if getting to their desired spot on the grass had taken forever since Delaney had insisted she be allowed to attempt her newest skill- walking.

The airport was crowded, so much so that when he looked back again, he couldn't see his father anymore. Luckily, he saw a flight attendant holding a small sign that said "William Mulder," and that gave him a bit of a start. It'd only been a couple of months since his last name had been legally changed back to Mulder, so seeing it in writing was still something of a shock.

The woman smiled when he approached. "You must be William. Or do you go by Billy or Will?"

"Will's fine." He told her. He hated when people called him Billy or Bill.

"Well, Will, I'm going to be sitting with you during the flight. Did you parents explain that kids younger than fourteen fly with a steward or stewardess?" He nodded. Mulder and Cat explained that a flight attendant would stay with him until he was picked up at the other airport. "How old are you, Will?"

"I turned twelve in May."

"You're going to be tall." She remarked.

"So's my Dad." William told her with a small smile.

"Where are you flying to? If you don't mind me asking."

He didn't. "I'm going to spend the summer with my mom." William told her. He thought about the present in his luggage; with help from Cat with the construction, and pictures from Maggie and the Van Dekamps, who had been surprisingly willing to assist, he'd made a scrapbook for Scully. Pictures of him growing up, with the words 'For my Mom' written on the cover in his own inelegant scrawl. "I don't get to see her as much as she'd like me to. We're going to the fireworks tomorrow." He added on a whim.

"So you live with your dad, then?" He nodded again. "I bet you'll miss him."

"Yeah. I want to spend time with my mom and grandma, but I'm gonna miss my Dad and step-mom and my little brothers and little sister."

"You're the oldest, huh? How many kids are there in your family?"

"Six of us. All boys but the youngest."

"Wow, it must be something growing up in a big family like that."

It really is, he thought.

The End

Author's end notes: Perhaps you've wondering why I wrote this fic. I know I spent a lot of time thinking about that myself. I started to write the Beyond The Truth series less than a month after "The Truth" aired. At that point, there weren't too many Scully-and-Mulder-get-Will back stories, but boy are there now, huh? I don't mind that, but...I like different. (Those of you who'll read "We Who Remain Carry On" will see further evidence of this ::wink:: )

So late last fall, I got to thinking, what's the other side of that coin? The other side is this. Mulder and Scully do not ride off into the sunset, retrieve their child, and settle into domestic (dis)harmony. No, they finally find the one thing that drives them apart, and keeps them apart. Why is William that wedge? The line from "The Truth" that I quoted earlier in the fic "I missed you both so much." Both. Sounded like a good foil to me =)