Title: What He Knew

Author: Gillian Leigh

Disclaimer: I'm not a production company, a former surfer turned TV show writer/producer, or an actor at all. (i.e. They're not mine.)

-x-

When Scully left the hospital a half an hour later, her head was still spinning. The Assistant Director had told her so many things that she wouldn't have dared believe years ago, but now, well now, she had seen it all. After hearing everything he had to tell her, Scully had immediately requested armed guards to be placed at his door at all times. Guards she appointed herself, because she didn't know who else she could trust.

The things Skinner had told her blew her mind. He had detailed for her his exact involvement in the Syndicate. He had worked closely with the men who were responsible for her abduction, known all about Emily... everything. He had told her that he couldn't claim to be innocent, or oblivious, because he was involved in these things. At first, he'd said, it was easy enough to follow orders, because he didn't know Mulder and Scully well, and he could just think of them as regular test subjects.

"When you told me about your cancer, that was when it really started to bother me. Everything that happened with your daughter, made me sick. By the time they started mentioning Mulder's planned abduction after the major surgery performed on both Mulder and CGB Spender, I'd had enough. For Christ's sake, the two of you have been through enough already! I couldn't stand the thought of you getting hurt anymore. I knew that Mulder was going to be abducted in Oregon, and I knew that I would stop it by going in his place, but I needed to be there with him when I knew that they were coming for him.

When we set up our laser pointers in the forest that night, and I saw where the light diffused, I sent him back to the car to get my cell phone, and then I walked up and through the force field. By the time he came back, I was gone, and by the time the Syndicate learned what had happened, it was too late."

Though their discussion had indeed answered many of her questions, she still couldn't understand why Mulder's chip would've been removed before his abduction, or for what purpose they would be taking him again in the first place. Feeling the twins squirming impatiently, restlessly in her belly, Scully sighed, wondering if they were worried about their father too.

She was so wrapped up in her own reverie as she walked to Mulder's room, that she didn't even notice the other person in the room with them until he spoke.

"He won't live another two weeks like this. You know that." Standing in the far corner of the room, was CGB Spender. Scully's flesh immediately broke out into goose flesh.

"What are you doing here? Who let you in?" She watched in disgust as he pulled his lighter from his pocket and moved to light the cigarette in his mouth. Before she could stop herself, she had angrily knocked the lighter from his hand. "You can fill your own lungs with smoke, but I won't have you filling mine, my children's or Mulder's. You do that on your own damn time. I'll ask you one more time. How did you get in here?"

"Only the Assistant Director's room is guarded, Dana. Not Fox's," he replied coolly. She scowled at him, crossing her arms protectively. "The nurses certainly had no objection to a father visiting his dying son in the hospital."

"You've never been a father to him," she ranted, wanted to scream at him. She would've killed to have her gun on her at that precise moment in time, just so she could shoot the bastard.

"No, I haven't," he said. "But I've come here to redeem myself. I must tell you... there is a cure for Mulder's cancer." Scully felt her heart beat accelerate as he reached into the pocket of his coat, and pulled out a small, silver vial.

"Why do this?" she questioned. "Are you showing this to me only to take it away? Giving me a glimpse of it before snatching it back? I don't have the stamina for this," she said. "I won't stand for it."

A strange smile formed on the man's lips, and he shook his head. "I don't want Mulder dead," he said, turning the vial over in his hands before offering it to Scully. "I never have. Mulder is more useful to me than he could ever know. But now, I'm dying. My associates on the Project are all dead. Our once powerful organization has come down to just myself.

"We were misled, Agent Scully. We believed we would be working alongside the colonists for a long time, for partial colonization, but then global domination came into play with the mutation of the virus. We had to end it. So we did. There is no more threat to the lives of the citizens of the planet Earth. The super soldiers are gone, as are any traces of the Project, and the many other operations that have stemmed from it. It is all over." Scully regarded him skeptically, wanting so badly to believe what it was he was telling her.

"Why this sudden spirit of altruism?" she questioned. "Giving me all of this information that you and your co-conspirators worked so hard to hide for so many years... And why give me the cure for his cancer?" She still hadn't extended her hand to take the vial from him.

"Have you ever wondered," Spender began, studying her in the half-light of Mulder's hospital room, "how it is that you, a woman diagnosed as barren over three years ago stand here in your fifth month of pregnancy?" Scully felt her heart jump into her throat. She wanted to know just where he was going with this. And so she asked.

"I've said it once already; I stand before you a dying man, Agent Scully. A man who has done terrible and torturous things to people all over the world his entire life. But now, as the last man standing, so to speak, I have a chance to redeem myself."

"You'd have to do a lot of redeeming to get you out of the dimension of Hell you're headed for," she replied coldly. He smiled that strange smile once again.

"I'm not kidding myself. I'll never make it to Heaven, if there even is such a thing. But there are things I need to do before I die. I'm not about to leave this world with unfinished business. You and Mulder, your quests are for all of the right reasons. I'm sure that you've questioned your pregnancy, Agent Scully, and its conception. Based on the battery of tests you've run since you got that positive test result, I know that you have questions, doubts, and worries. But I can assure you that your children are normal. Their conception was normal, and your pregnancy is normal. My doctors made sure of that," Spender said, rolling the vial back and forth between his fingers, going from studying it to Scully.

Her eyes widened, and she bristled. His doctors? What had he done?

"Almost a year and a half ago, you went away with me in search of a cure-all. You fell asleep in the car and woke the next morning in your pajamas. I'm well aware of what you believe I did to you. That night, as you slept, I consulted with my doctors about giving you back your fertility. It could be done. It was as simple as switching the chip in your neck with one that served a different function. The chip in your neck that got rid of your cancer also made you barren. This new chip keeps you healthy, and repaired the damage done to your ovaries, allowing them to once again produce healthy ova." Scully's breath caught in her throat.

"So you're saying that I could have another child if I wanted to?" she tried to keep the emotion out of her voice.

"Yes," he replied honestly. "You could."

"I need to sit down," she said, her head spinning. He pulled a chair over for her, and she sank into it.

"You may not believe in my altruism, but sitting here, in the condition that you are, with the test results you've received assuring you that your children are healthy, how can you argue that I'm telling you the truth?" She closed her eyes, running a hand over her belly to calm her kicking children. She froze, feeling a hand on hers. Her eyes snapped open, and she found Spender turning her hand over, and placing the vial in it. Her skin was practically crawling at his touch, but she refrained from pulling away. "Take it, Agent Scully. The world needs him as much as you do." Scully stared at the vial in her hand as she heard the door behind her whisper shut.

-x-

Author's Notes: Well, here's Chapter 15. It's relatively short, but this was a quick update for this story, lol! There will more than likely be around twenty chapters by the time this story is finished. I hope you're still reading, and I'm DYING for feedback!!! Please let me know if you love/hate/ want to have this story's babies, LOL. Onward and forward!