PART 11

Scully made more of an effort when she got dressed than she had done in a long time. Nothing had made her want to care about her appearance or worry what people thought about how she looked until she faced the prospect of coming face to face with the man that may help her win her son back. Mulder had been dressed for an hour, he was wearing a suit and tie and he looked incredibly handsome. The night before he had been very quiet and withdrawn, and Scully had put it down to nerves about the meeting with the lawyer. She was nervous too, but she couldn't help letting herself feel a little excited too.

She knew it was foolish to get her hopes up but Mulder had been so positive and sure about this whole thing that she couldn't help but begin to have some of his faith. As they drove to the address Mulder had written down they didn't say anything, but Mulder held Scully's hand as soon as they arrived and he didn't let go once. He maintained a constant touch on her, as if he wanted to make sure she was really there and he wasn't hallucinating. As they were called into a Mr Collin Winter's office they both took a deep breath and walked inside.

They sat down as Mr Winter's offered them a seat and he smiled at them both clearly

knowing that it was a terrifying thing to sit looking at a lawyer and know that your fate lies in their hands.

"So, I briefly spoke with you Mr Mulder yesterday, and you must be Mrs Mulder?"

Scully blushed and Mulder smiled.

"We're not actually married."

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume. But you are both the biological parents of William Van De Kamp aged two years and four months?"

Scully could only nod through the struggle of keeping her tears back. Mr Winters saw her upset and handed her a tissue. Mulder took the lead, he realised that it was his job to, he was the man, he was the one who was supposed to be strong and help Scully through this.

"I'm sorry to have to go through these details with you when I can see how painful it is, but I do need to get into the personal lives of you both, this will only get harder."

"We know. We just want our son back."

Mr Winters nodded smiling at Mulder's reply to him. It was as if that were his test to see how committed to this Mulder and Scully were, they had obviously passed, as he was happy to continue.

"Ok so, how long have the two of you been together?"

"We've known each other for ten years. We worked together for seven years."

"And how long have you been romantically involved?" Scully blushed again but she was prepared to input here, she had nothing to be ashamed of.

"Almost four years."

Mulder smiled and looked at Scully. He could see exactly why Collin Winters had thought they were married. They had been in love for a lot longer, but it was almost four years ago that they took the next step in their relationship, and they had William as a sign of that.

"Ok, and what was the reason that you decided to give your son up for adoption?"

Only Scully could answer this one, but how? She couldn't exactly say that she was struggling being a single mother and protecting her son from alien super soldiers whilst her partner was on the run from this same group of men.

"It was my decision. I was alone whilst Fox was trying to settle some personal matters, and we had no idea if we would ever see each other again. There were threats made on William's life, he was kidnapped once and I couldn't risk losing him again, so I let him go for his own safety."

"And did you contact Fox to talk with him about this?"

"No. I did it without telling him, I didn't know where he was, I didn't even know if he was

alive."

"So there were no guarantees that you would all come together to be a family again?"

"No."

"And Mr Mulder, you had no idea that your son was being adopted until how long after the adoption had gone through?"

Mulder paused for a second as he remembered the talk Skinner had sat him down for to tell him that strangers were bringing up his son and that it had almost killed Scully to let him go.

"About a month."

"But you didn't fight the adoption right away, why was that?"

Scully squirmed in her seat and Mulder could see how uncomfortable all of these questions were making her. It also didn't give them much credibility to be sitting here with no valid reason as to why they haven't tried to get their son back until over a year since his adoption.

"We had been on the run."

Scully looked at Mulder as he spoke. She was hoping he would come up with an answer, but not that answer.

"We were working on a case for the FBI, and I had been caught in the cross fire which is why I had to leave Dana and my son, I was then charged for the murder of a man that was later proven to still be alive, but as Dana had helped me fight the case with some of our colleagues from the bureau we had to lay low until it was safe to come home."

"I see."

Scully was furious. This man was going to laugh them out of his office; he was never

going to help them get their son back after hearing the kind of life they had been living.

"Well, that's certainly some adventure you've been on. Now, are you both still at the FBI?"

"I work at Quantico teaching."

"And I am currently unemployed, I'm hoping to become a stay at home dad."

Scully looked at Mulder again and where as she was completely taken a back by this it gave her a warm fuzzy feeling in her chest, and Mr Winters was clearly happier about this than the two of them on the run.

"Well the fact that the two of you are out of the bureau, will definitely work in your favour due to the unstable and unpredictable lives you led whilst being Federal Agents. Also, Mr Mulder, you never legally gave up your paternal rights as you knew nothing about the adoption until it was too late, which means that you have a claim over your son by law. I'll take your case, but it isn't going to be easy. A letter will be posted out to the Van De Kamp's this afternoon informing them that we wish to fight the adoption."

Reyes was just about to follow Doggett to yet another meeting with Skinner when the phone in their office rang. She answered it and Doggett turned to wait for her.

"Agent Reyes there's a woman named Roseanne Gregson who would like to talk to you, can I put her through?"

"Who is she?"

"I don't know, she was asking for an Agent Mulder saying that he called her yesterday, and then asked if there was perhaps an Agent Reyes she could talk to."

"Oh. Well, put her through."

Doggett sat down on the edge of his desk as Reyes took the call and he kept looking at his watch knowing how pissed Skinner would be if they were late to his office.

"Agent Reyes?"

"Yes speaking, who am I talking to?"

"Oh I'm so glad you work there, I'd have been distraught if I couldn't find you. My name is Roseanne Gregson, you wont remember me but I dealt with your adoption thirty-one years ago."

"Why are you calling me?"

"I was looking for Agent Mulder, but that young man has just informed me that there is no Agent Mulder at the FBI."

"There used to be, he left several years ago, why did you want to talk to him?"

"He called me yesterday to talk to me about you and your adoption, and whether I knew what exact date you turned up, I wasn't much help but I was calling him back to tell him something I remembered last night."

"What did you remember Mrs Gregson?"

"I remembered that I hadn't told him about the terrible scarring that you had, I didn't know if it was relevant, but he said he was trying to track down your birth parents and I thought that maybe if they were abusive towards you it would narrow his search a little."

"I see."

"I do hope I didn't say too much, but he shouldn't have tricked me into thinking he worked for the FBI, I believed him, why shouldn't I have? In my day people were honest about their professions, it's the government that people are ashamed of working for. No offence."

"None taken. Look I have to go, thank you for your call Mrs Gregson, and if an Agent Mulder calls you again could you please not talk with him but call me at this number?"

"Sure, anything I can do to help the FBI. So good to know you're doing well Monica, take care."

Mrs Gregson hung up the phone and Reyes turned to look at Doggett who had patiently sat and waited for her. He looked concerned as he saw her tearful eyes and he walked over to her panicked.

"Monica? What is it?"

"The son of a bitch..."