"Hello?" Scully said groggily into the phone. She felt a shift in the bed, indicating the shrill ring of the telephone had startled Mulder awake.

"Hey Scully, this is Mel," Melanie told her.

"Hi Mel," Scully replied, looking over her shoulder to look at Mulder.

"How is he?" Mel asked, referring to Will.

"He's…doing ok," Scully lied. Mulder shot her a questioning glance.

"That's good. He hasn't called in awhile so I was worried."

"You should come by," Scully suggested.

"Yeah, I think I will," she agreed.

Once Scully placed the phone back onto its cradle, she shifted in the bed so that she could face Mulder.

"Sculleee….you are playing a dangerous game," Mulder warned.

"I know, but if anyone can help him get out of this…this…funk, it would be Melanie," Scully reasoned.

Mulder pulled her closer to him and rested his chin on her head. She sighed into him and they fell into a deep sleep once again.

Meanwhile, Will sat rigidly on the edge of his bed, aimlessly bouncing a basketball between his feet. He needed to get out. He needed some time away from it all.

He knew his parents were worried. Hell, he even knew Mr. Doggett was worried…but he just couldn't accept this bizarre life he was forced into living.

In a sudden burst of anger, he got up from his bed and grabbed his jacket. He revved up his engine and sped away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He tried really hard to remember the numbers. His fingers felt oddly numb. He must have managed the right numbers because her soft voice answered its hello.

He loved her voice. So gentle and sweet. Just like her face. That face….

"Will, is that you?" she asked.

"Melly…", Will breathed into the phone.

He heard her sigh heavily. Neither spoke for a long time.

"Where are you?" she finally asked.

He didn't like the mean tone of her voice. It didn't sound like his sweet Mel.

"I tink I am at…a bar. Yeah..bar. You come get me pleases..I need to get home," he talked very slowly so that his Mel wouldn't know he had been drinking.

After they hung up, Will dizzily made his way to the curbside and sat down. He stared down at his hands, trying to make out the little lines that creased his palms. He wondered vaguely who's hands he had inherited.

She pulled up shortly after. Her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and her body clothes in gym pants and a t-shirt.

Oops, he must have wakened her.

She leaned over and opened the passenger door as he stood unsteadily.

He plopped down beside her and looked at her hands. Her knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel. She had her mother's hands.

"Sorry," he mumbled to her.

Her features softened and she murmured, "Put on your seatbelt Will."

He obeyed solemnly, clicking the seatbelt into place.

The streetlights went by in luminous blurs and the trees were like fast paced monsters lurking in his safe world.

She helped him up the stairs to the 3rd floor. He pointed to the apartment number that was his parent's and she tried the handle. It opened slowly.

He breathed in her hair as he laid his head on her shoulder. His sudden weight made her stumble into the living room. They both tumbled to the ground and Will tried really hard not to snort with laughter.

He stopped short when he saw her glare. She could put on a mean glare. Really mean.

Meanwhile, Mulder jumped at the low sounds that came from the living room. His sudden fear awakened Scully and she shot him a questioning look. He put his finger to his lip to indicate he wanted her quiet.

She followed him down the hall and almost ran into his back when he stopped suddenly. She peered around him to see Mel setting a drunk Will on the couch with not much help from him. She started to walk into the living room to check on him instinctively but Mulder's arm shot out to block her.

She shot him a questioning look but returned her gaze back to Mel and Will.

"Are you mad?" Will asked Mel.

"No, just worried," she replied, taking a seat next to him, heir backs to Mulder and Scully.

"I'm fine," Will protested.

"No, you haven't spoken to me in forever and you mope around all the time," she stated, folding her arms across her chest.

"I guesss alienss don't act the sssame as humanss," William slurred, patting Mel on the head.

"You aren't alien, Will," Mel said.

"Well, part anywayss," he corrected himself.

She didn't say anything else to him. He stared at her, wondering how long this buzz was going to last. He just wanted to go to bed.

"Stay with me?" Will asked.

She shot him a surprised look.

"Tonight?" she asked.

He nodded vigorously, causing her to smile slightly at the goofy way his hair flopped over his heavy lidded eyes.

"I can't, I have to go back home. But tomorrow when you have a splitting headache and unhappy, please call me. Even though you will be mad at the way your life has changed, I haven't changed. I'm still your best friend," her voice cracked.

He nodded and touched her cheek in the same way he had for as long as they new each other.

"You will always be my Mel," he told her.