Two days later...
There was a knock on the door, which startled Reyes into dropping the baby name book she was reading; she was beginning to think Mulder had cursed her, and they'd never find names she and Doggett agreed on. It was 11:30 in the morning, so she wasn't expecting anyone, since most everyone she knew was at work, or in Gibson's case school, not that he'd knock unless he forgot his key.
She made her way to the door, and remembered Doggett's request that she be "very careful" while he was gone, so she looked through the peephole for a change. What she saw made her smile.
"Hi!" She said, bending slightly to address the smaller of her visitors. " I didn't think I'd see you until your mom and dad got back."
"Daddy and Mommy at work." William said solemnly, as Reyes took his hand. "Had to go away."
"I know, Sweetie. John's with them."
"Gibson at school?" He asked, looking slightly disappointed that he didn't see him. He loved playing with the teenager, since he was the only person he knew that could also talk without opening his mouth. "Em at school too." Reyes swore he would have sighed if he knew how.
"I hope we're not intruding." Maggie said, looking a little hesitant.
"No not at all." Reyes replied, gesturing for the older woman to take a seat. "I'm just a bit surprised to see you." She confessed. "Nothing's wrong, is there?"
She saw something flicker in Maggie's eyes as she quickly glanced at William, but it was gone in a flash. "No no. Everything's fine as far as I know. The day they left, Fox asked if I would stop by and see how you're doing now and again." She explained.
Reyes was a bit surprised by "Fox" for a second, but then she remembered Scully telling her that her mother got away with calling him by first name. The reason for the visit, however, was more startling. "Mulder did? I guess it wouldn't surprise me if your daughter had, but..."
Maggie smiled gently. "Between you and me, I think he still feels guilty that he wasn't there for a lot of Dana's pregnancy."
"Well, he couldn't be, what with the abduction and premature burial." Reyes protested.
"Oh, I know. But guilt can't be expected to listen to logic. To try to soothe his a little, I did promise to check in on you. Just this one time, though, unless you need something. "
"I appreciate that." Reyes told her. "But I think Gibson and I will be fine."
"I expect so. But I'm serious, dear. Don't hesitate to call if you need someone."
"Thanks." Reyes said, meaning it. It was nice to know there was someone willing to help out if an emergency arose.
William, not content to be ignored, stood in front of Reyes and lifted his shirt. "My got a bad boo-boo."
"Oh, that does look pretty sore." Reyes agreed, looking at the scratch, which looked partially healed. From the slightly pink cast to his grandmother's cheeks, she thought she knew why she'd hesitated earlier when asked if everything was ok. It didn't look that bad, though and kids always manage to injure themselves.
William shook his head. "No, I brave. Doesn't hurt. Much." He assured her with a wide grin.
"Just like your Daddy and Mommy." Reyes told him, ruffling his hair and making him giggle.
When Maggie and William left a while later, she couldn't help but think she was glad her babies were going to be girls. They were usually slightly less accident prone. But only just. With two of them, any edge was enough to be thankful for.
As they stood shivering in the woods, Scully had the urge to smack someone. She wasn't really particular about who, either Mulder or Barry would do nicely. And if Doggett kept grumbling about the stupidity of the assignment, she might add him to the list as well.
It was ten thirty on a Friday night, and they were all crouched behind trees that lined the pasture of a man's farm. It was not how she wanted to spend her night. If she'd had her druthers she'd be at home right now, watching a movie, any movie with Mulder. They would have had a nice dinner and read to the kids before tucking them in for the night. Instead she was worried that the tree bark her cheek was up against would scratch her, and she was beginning to think they might freeze to death before they saw anything of interest.
Barry, however, was fully confident that they would soon see Bigfoot. She also suspected that the man was laboring under the illusion that he was fated to make a big find, and make himself a household name. Mulder could have told him how difficult it is to get people to accept even the most solid of evidence, but he didn't seem inclined to crush the kid's dream. Maybe not kid, she reconsidered, since she wasn't much more than a decade older than him, but he was still young. Young enough to make her hold her tongue too.
Which was hard, because Barry had spent the majority of the day trying to convince her and Doggett that it was remotely possible that such a creature existed. She let Doggett argue with him, because she felt she'd wasted too much breath over her career trying to reason with people with firm, if decidedly odd, beliefs. Nothing was ever gained by it.
"Wouldn't we have found evidence by now if there were such a creature?" Doggett had demanded at one point.
"Not necessarily, Agent Doggett. There have been many large mammals discovered within the past one hundred and fifty years. Some even within the past decade." Barry replied. "There are considerably larger animals that are able to more or less keep themselves hidden from people, such as moose."
"But we still would have found dead ones, or some other sort of evidence." Doggett stubbornly insisted.
Barry nodded, but he wasn't really agreeing. "You would think so, but maybe that isn't necessarily the case. If there aren't very many of them, there is equally little evidence of their existence. And what little evidence there ever is, it's probably overlooked, since no one is looking for it. There must be dead and decomposing animals in the woods everywhere, but few people ever make a fuss because there isn't really anything unusual about that. Animals live and die, just like us, and to the majority of people, bones are bones.
"On the other hand, we have to take into account that while man is the top of the line as far as intelligence, there are some other creatures in the world who are no slouches in the brain department. Look at dolphins and chimps. One theory is that bigfoot is also a large primate, and generally speaking, all our primate cousins are pretty smart. Even if they're not as smart as us, they might know enough to avoid detection by hiding their dead and so on, much like our primitive ancestors did." Barry concluded, looking pleased with himself.
"Are you trying to say you think that bigfoot is the missing link? One of those proto-humans they're always going on about on the discovery channel?" Doggett asked peevishly. He was unhappy that he couldn't deflate Barry's theory.
"I don't think so. While it's a fascinating theory, generally speaking the creatures humans evolved from all died off. It'd be extraordinary if there were any leftovers."
Eventually the long night ended, and the four of them stumbled back to the cabin, without ever having seen anything. Scully was slightly disappointed, because she'd been hoping they'd apprehend the guilty party. That's how she thought of it, the guilty party, because despite Barry's entertaining ideas, she was still sure it was a human killing the cow. Her private theory was that the person who killed the cows was using a very weapon, perhaps an ax or a pick. That would account for the enormous damage done to the dead animals. As soon as her head hit the pillow, her theory was forgotten for the time being, but she was planning to share it soon.