It didn't take very long to rent a car and find a suitable hotel. The room was nice enough, with a pair of double beds and a private bathroom- which wasn't always the case in reasonably priced hotels. The hotel also had a nice dining room, and it amused Reyes how wary Gibson was of ordering. She eventually ordered for him, and he picked at his food until he realized that he actually liked it.
Later that night, after they'd taken turns changing in the bathroom and turned off the light, she was almost asleep when Gibson's voice pulled her back to the edge of wakefulness. "Monica?"
"Hmm?" Reyes opened her eyes, glad that she didn't have to roll over to see him on his bed. Though lying on his belly, he was propped up on his elbows.
"Why do you want to find your birth mother?"
"I want her –our- medical history." She told him, stifling a yawn. "I've been healthy so far, but it's better to know, especially if something comes up with one of the babies' health."
"Is that the only reason?" He asked then.
She thought about it for a little while before answering him. "I'm not looking for someone to know. Not someone to know, not someone to complicate my life, or me to do the same to theirs. I have two wonder parents, and I don't need another."
IF Gibson had been older, he might have accused her of adopting that attitude to protect herself against possible rejection. But he wasn't yet that cynical about people he cared about, and instead reserved doubt only for those he felt had earned it. So all he said was "Yeah."
"What about you?" She asked gently. "You never talk about your parents."
He shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't seen them since I started playing chess – and winning- when I was nine. Agent Scully was going to call them when I was twelve-"His voice was wistful." But I got taken away and operated on before she got the chance to."
"You didn't know the number to call yourself?" Reyes asked, finding it hard to believe he wouldn't have known his own phone number unless it had been changed without his knowledge.
He shook his head. "I knew it. The men who took me thought bad things...My parents wouldn't be safe if I was with them, and if they knew where I was they would want to come get me. So I never called. They're better off without me, and I don't remember them very well anyway."
Reyes eyes shone with tears. "I'm sorry, Gibson."
"I'm not. I'm happy with you and John, and they're safe. What's to be sorry about?"
When she finally fell asleep that night her dreams were strange. There were lots of people in a room, and the floor split, cleaving the room in two. She ended up on one side of the divide with Gibson, Emily and William, and all their parents were on the other. Even though she'd never met them, she could tell Gibson's parents from her own. They were happy where they were, and so were she and Gibson, but William and Emily cried and cried. So she and Gibson picked them up, and threw them across the divide, into their waiting parents' arms. Then there was no more crying, and everyone was happy. When she remembered the dream later, she decided that it didn't take a degree like Mulder's to figure out the symbolism.
"I knew it!" Mulder's shout woke everyone from their hard-earned sleep, and they all came out to glare at him.
Noticing the trio of grumpy, sleepy faces staring at them, he had the manners to look sheepish. " Uh...sorry."
Doggett gave him a sour look and scratched his belly. "Now that you've woken us all up, you mind telling us what you were yelling about?"
Instead of answering, Mulder handed him a piece of paper. "See? Right there." He pointed.
Doggett gave him a surprised look. " The mail man came already? It's not even seven o' clock."
"Fed-ex. I sort of bribed the store guy to get someone to bring it as soon as it came, before the driver did the rest of the route." Mulder confessed, not looking up to see what their reaction would be to the news about his use of money.
Well, what does it say?" Barry asked, looking like he was tempted to get up on his tippy toes to read over Doggett's shoulder. Not that even on his toes he'd be that tall.
Doggett gave him a puzzled frown. " Something about the sample you and Mulder collected not being able to be identified."
"Don't you see what that means?" Mulder asked excitedly, "It's from an unknown species, so it must be bigfoot!"
"It has to be." Barry agreed, nearly wriggling with excitement.
"Wait a second." Scully exclaimed, once again the voice of reason. "All it means is that they can't identify the sample. Damage from temperature extremes and weather exposure make biological evidence unreliable all the time. There could be all sorts of reasons that the sample is invalid, and many of them have nothing to do with what animal they might have come from. And even if it is an unidentified creature, why would you automatically think it was bigfoot?"
Mulder gave her a mild look. "You think it's easier to believe it's another unidentified animal? That no one else has even reported seeing yet?"
She doesn't answer him, but instead exchanges a quick look with Doggett. Neither of them is convinced, nor any less determined to prove Mulder and Barry wrong.