When Mulder opened the door he tried to be quiet, it was late and he didn't want to wake Scully. But he needn't have worried, because she was sitting in the dark waiting for him.

"You're home late."

"Yeah, I was um, I was talking with Agent Reyes."

"About what?"

"Just how the x-files are going. I know I said I would let it go, but we were in that office a long time, I just wanted to see that everything was running ok without us."

"Agent Doggett ran that office just fine whilst you were gone. Both he and Agent Reyes are more than capable of keeping things in order."

"I know."

"So you didn't talk about anything else?"

"Like what?"

Scully hesitated and took a deep breath to control herself before continuing.

"Like William? Like finding him and getting him back, and prying into Monica's private life?"

"Oh."

"Yeah oh. You've been busted. I know what you're doing, and I know you went to the bureau this morning to see Agent Reyes. What are you trying to do to me Mulder?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You think that if it was that easy to get our son back I wouldn't have done it already? Why are you even trying to pursue this?"

"Because it's not impossible."

"It damn near is! I cannot believe you would do this to me! If you're so desperate to be closer to William, you can sleep in his nursery tonight."

"I thought we didn't know where the key was?"

"I spent the entire evening looking for it, especially for you. It's unlocked. Go and get close to your son. You're not getting close to me."

Scully stood up and went into her bedroom, she slammed the door shut and Mulder sat on the sofa. Suddenly the idea of going into William's nursery didn't seem so appealing.

The next morning Scully couldn't even bring herself to look at Mulder. She realised he

hadn't gone into the nursery, and felt guilty for coming down on him so hard, she hadn't been able to go inside the room herself. But he clearly didn't understand what talking about William did to her. How could he? They'd never discussed it in any detail. They both understood that at the time letting William go was considered the best and safest option for him. But aside from that fact, he was never mentioned.

Mulder knew better than anyone how much Scully had wanted a child, maybe that's why he felt so compelled to get William back, so that he could give Scully the family she had always dreamed of. But if they weren't careful, and if they weren't open with each other then they were going to lose each other as well as their son.

Mulder was treading carefully; he didn't want to push anymore. He didn't want to risk it.

Scully picked up her bag and headed towards the door to leave for work. As she opened it she turned back to Mulder and hesitated for a second.

"I'm sorry for the way I reacted last night. I shouldn't have lost it like that."

"It was my fault. I should never have gone behind your back. I should have been open from the start."

"I want William to be with us more than anything in the world Mulder, but I just don't think I could put myself through the fight with the possibility of losing."

Mulder stood up from the table and walked over to Scully. He took her into his arms and she felt so much better at just having him near her.

"I just want you to be happy Scully. That's all I've ever wanted. I love you so much."

"I love you too."

Scully pulled free and kissed Mulder softly, as she pulled away he pulled her closer still and kissed her more passionately. He pulled her further into the apartment and closed the door. Scully fought nothing. She let Mulder lead her to their bedroom, she let herself feel loved and wanted. She let herself love Mulder and crave him beside her. And she knew that as long as he never left her, she could survive anything.

Scully called in sick at work and spent the day with Mulder in bed. She didn't care whether she got into trouble for it or not, she didn't care about anything but Mulder lying beside her.

They held each other close and talked about William. The fact that they were holding onto each other enabled them to let go of their individual pain and come together to discuss their son without getting too upset. They had strength for each other, and whereas Scully knew that Mulder wanted William back for her sake, she wished more than anything that Mulder could be with his son and take care of him. She knew that it would be good for both of them if this worked out, but she refused to get involved in anything if they were just going to lose everything and drag themselves through so much heartache.

It would be like losing him all over again and she couldn't do that to herself. They made an agreement to contact a lawyer and find out what legal rights, if any, that they had over William. Mulder agreed to look around for someone good whilst Scully was at work the next day, because for now they were both happy just where they were.

Doggett and Reyes had taken Oliver for a walk and went through the park as the dog ran

ahead into the trees. It was a cold early evening and they were both wrapped up warm in coats, gloves, and scarves. It was times like these that made them both so glad to be together. And it allowed them to be like any other couple in love taking their dog for a walk. Doggett and Reyes had never really discussed it but they were both always aware of the fact that whilst they worked on the x-files, no matter what ghosts had been laid to rest, there was always the chance that something could come up that would bring trouble for them both.

They worked hard and kept their head down, and there was a new policy that all files that came through their office for investigation had to be cleared by Skinner first, and he had been given guidelines by the deputy director as to what kind of cases they were allowed to work on. They both knew that there must be at least a dozen cases that the FBI had deemed unsuitable for them to deal with, but they never tried to fight any decision that was made because they both valued their lives. Even doing as they were told every day for the rest of their careers was no guarantee that they would be safe.

When Skinner had called them into his office six months ago and told them that it was safe for Mulder and Scully to come home, he had been very careful about what he told them and what he kept secret. Skinner was their allay, they knew that, but he was holding something back and they had been reluctant to track Mulder and Scully down until they conducted their own investigation into whether it was a trick or not. After all their hard work they could see no reason for them not to return, the super soldiers had disappeared, they had been keeping tabs on every place in DC that Mulder or Scully may have visited or taken refuge to, but they had all disappeared. They tried contacting the men that were behind the super soldiers but couldn't locate them, they even tried calling Marrita Coverubias, but she wouldn't return their calls.

One final attempt at clarifying a safe environment involved Doggett and Reyes sneaking Gibson Praise into the FBI late one evening to see if he sensed anything, they knew that there had been upwards of fifteen super soldiers posing as FBI agents, according to Gibson they had all gone. And the next morning a notice was posted about job vacancies. It was then that Doggett and Reyes believed that Mulder and Scully could really come home.