Vynce busied himself setting the table while I opened jars of baby food, but he kept looking at me when he thought I wasn't paying attention. That irritates me, but not as much as when our mother does it, since she openly stares. She's weird like that. Finally sick of being subjected to not-so- subtle glances, I finally asked " What?"

" Do you think they're for real?"

" Real strange and real deluded." I told him. I was wondering the same thing though, since it didn't seem possible that they were. " What do you think, would there be anyone at the Hoover building this time of day?"

" It depends. What's the Hoover building?"

I sighed. History, I knew, was not his strongest subject. " You know, J. Edgar Hoover? Former president, rumored to have a taste for women's clothing, founder of the FBI. They named a building after him for the last reason. In Washington, DC."

" Oh, that Hoover." He said. That Hoover? Who else is there, the vacuum guy? " Maybe, but would anyone really talk to you?"

" I guess there's only one way to find out." I said, reaching for a phone again. That was another thing that bugged me about those "agents." I've always hated making phone calls, and they were forcing me to make more than one in the same day.

Vynce took the hint that Markie didn't care to wait for my phone call to be over before being fed when he began whining for the out of reach jars. I didn't get a chance to thank him, because I was too busy writing down the number that the recording from 411 was giving me.

A pleasant-sounding receptionist answered, proving that the Hoover building was still occupied even during the dinner hour. She asked how to direct my call, and I didn't know what to say. " The X-files office?" I ventured.

To my amazement, she said she'd connect me. I'd honestly expected a scolding for making a prank call. However, knowing that the office was real wasn't enough to convince me those two people had been for real. Once I was connected to that office, I asked to speak to either Agent Scully or Agent Mulder. I didn't actually expect to talk to them, since DC and New Hampshire are far apart, but I couldn't think of a more tactful way to ask if they worked there. Besides, if they were there, that'd prove that the people we'd met had been impostors, and I could let them know that. I didn't honestly expect that there would be anyone by those names working there, though.

Again, instead of laughing at me, I was spoken to politely, and asked if I'd like to leave a message. Unfortunately, with impostors already on my mind, knowing that there really were agents named Mulder and Scully actually employed by that division didn't prove that the people were who they claimed to be. For all I knew, they'd killed the real agents for their clothes and abandoned their bodies along the highway. Altering those badges with their own photos would probably be an easy trick for murderers.

Thinking fast, I had an inspired idea. " No, if they're not in, I don't think leaving a message for them would do me much good. They asked me to meet with them before work so they could question me about my connection to one of their cases. A few hours after I talked to them it occurred to me that there will be a lot of people dressed in business suits where we're meeting, and I'm not sure I'll be able to find them before I have to leave for work. My boss threatened to fire me if I'm late again...you couldn't give me a description of them so I'm sure to find them in time, could you?"

She did! She seemed very sweet, and I was glad she was so accommodating, but she didn't seem very bright.

" Well?" Vynce asked as I hung up the phone. Markie fussed briefly when his uncle stopped spooning pureed chicken and rice into his mouth. He got his attention again by grabbing at the spoon.

I took over while I explained. " There really is an X-files division of the FBI, there really are agents from that office named Mulder and Scully, and they fit the physical descriptions of the two loonies we just spoke to."

" So they are for real."

" Seems like it."

We both looked at Markie. " Are you..." He hesitated. " worried?"

" No, of course not." I declared, handing him back the baby spoon so I could start on our dinner. I don't think I fooled either of us.

I woke from a sound sleep, my pulse racing. I looked around the room half expecting to find some fairy tale horror, be it a witch or a monster, leering at me. Not that they'd get much of a thrill, given my favorite things to sleep in are sweatpants and a t-shirt. Of course there was nothing there. I must have been dreaming of something strange like that.

Checking the clock I saw that it was about six hours since Vynce went home, and four since the baby fell asleep. The house was quiet. Too quiet, you know what I mean? Once I shut off the white noise machine by my bed, there wasn't a single sound. I threw off the covers, deciding to see how Markie and Chase were.

Chase was curled up in his doggy bed in the upstairs hallway. I'd tried putting the bed in other parts of the house, but he cried and whined all night if he wasn't allowed to at least be near the bedrooms. One of my rules is that nothing with more than two legs is ever allowed to sleep in bedrooms. He snorted in his sleep and stretched when I reached down to pet him, so I stopped worrying about him, at least.

I'll admit it, I worried when I when I went to open Markie's door. Moonlight filled the room, filtering in through the thin curtains. He was lying on his belly, one thumb an inch from his slightly parted lips.

I just stood over the crib, thinking. What on earth could make those two fools think that he was anything but the happy healthy infant he had always been. I shook my head, pitying the people who'd gone to them for help. They must have been really insecure to glom on to some sort of fantastical explanation for their babies not being perfect.

Of course they aren't, not only are they babies, they're people too, so imperfect by nature. As I crawled back into bed I hoped I'd never hear from or see either of the agents again.

Hey, the computer this story was on had its power source zapped =( Hopefully the hard drive is okay, and it's going to be put in my new computer as second hard drive. I'm not sure how long that'll take, so this might be the last update for a few days since I didn't have too many chapters of any of my stories uploaded before disaster struck.