Leslie's A/N: I love awesome things. I also love Mel Brooks. He's awesome. Don't you think?
"Yes, it's a problem" Mulder shouted into the phone, then pulled the handset away from him and rolled his eyes, trying to get his anger under control. Around him Scully practically ran, shoving items in boxes and packing up their lives quickly and efficiently- something she'd gotten used to in the last few months.
A doorbell stopped them dead. One second, then two, and the only sound was Frohike groveling on the other side of the phone.
"Who is it" Mulder yelled as he moved toward the door.
"Walter Skinner" the voice yelled back, clipped, but in the familiar tone.
"Prove it" Mulder yelled back, pulling his gun out from the holster at the middle of his back.
"Constantly..." Skinner muttered under his breath. "Which little misadventure of yours would you like me to recount for you" he yelled through the door.
"What did I call you in Hollywood"
"Assistant Producer Skinner."
"And how much did I run up on the company card that weekend"
"Seven hundred fifty-two dollars and thirty six cents."
"On what"
"Damned if I know, Mulder I wasn't there" Suddenly the door flew open, revealing a relieved Fox Mulder. "Always have to screw with me, don't you"
"Yup" The two men quickly hugged and then the hug was passed onto Dana.
"So good to see you" she muttered into his shoulder.
Skinner hugged her back tightly, feeling as if he was holding a daughter in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and then released her to continue packing.
Skinner stood stock-still and looked at the chaos surrounding him. "You can't leave." He stated vehemently, causing Scully to stop in her tracks.
"What" She asked, a lamp in her hands.
"You can't leave. They'll just follow you." Skinner prompted, placing his hand on her arm. Fury burned in Mulder's eyes.
"We can't stay. William, I mean... what about William" Mulder spat, his gaze flitting to the door to the room, which held his son.
Skinner's chin fell to his chest, but he promptly lifted his head to stare at his two friends. "Listen, if what I've heard is correct, they're already on their way here... and if the information you've given me is correct, Jim Brass is on this detail."
Mulder nodded, and Scully quickly looked to both men.
"Jimmy. Jimmy B." Skinner said, allowing a ghost of a smile to dance on his lips. "We uh, we played hockey together. Back in Jersey."
Mulder huffed out an astonished laugh. "You're kidding me." Mulder said, flopping down on the couch, letting the weariness settle into his bones. He brought a hand up and swiped at his face, as if to relieve himself of his lethargy.
"Look, he's a reasonable guy" Skinner started, sitting and motioning Scully to do so as well. "And an old friend. I don't enjoy lying to people, but I think I'll be able to convince him that you're part of the witness protection program and that what he received was bad information." Skinner passed Mulder a folder full of documents. "The guys helped me forge these, and have already stopped the arrest warrant from getting to the mainframe at the FBI."
"I know these people, Walter" Scully said, sitting on the coffee table across from her husband"And they're not going to just let this go. Even though it's been a week, Dr. Robbins has told me a lot about how they act. This night shift- they're top of the line. If they smell a rat, we're dead."
Mulder looked at his wife and took her hand in his. "Good thing Krycek's long gone, then." Even though his joke was horrible it brought tiny smiles to the three of them.
Just as the tension in the air settled the doorbell rang.
"They seriously have the worst timing..." Mulder muttered as he stood up to answer the door. Skinner and Scully followed, and with a deep breath, he swung open the door.
"William Melville? Or should I say Fox Mulder? You're..." Brass stopped as the door opened wider and the trio was plainly visible to Brass, Grissom, Sara and Nick. "Skin-man"
"Hey Jimmy. We need to talk."
Skinner smiled a half smile as the detective moved forward and thrust out his hand. Skinner shook his hand solidly and they embraced for a few seconds.
Grissom stood back, his face shocked, brow raised.
Skinner saw the three CSI's standing at the door. "Ah, yeah. I'm uh, Walter Skinner, Assistant Director, F.B.I., and these, I'm sure you know, are agents Mulder and Scully."
The two agents stood back, both wearing scowls, Scully's flush much more discernable now that she was a blonde.
"CSI's..." Brass spun to face his colleagues. "Grissom, Sidle and Stokes. Top of the line. And you're damn right they already know." Brass shot his old friend a glance, and Mulder moved to the door, ushering the rest of them into his home.
"Mr. Melville" Grissom began, his voice catching and he worked quickly to catch his mind up. "Mr. ... Mulder..."
Mulder looked to the CSI with his own raised brow. "We're here about the substance found at your neighbor's residence."
Mulder stayed silent, his arms locked tightly in front of his chest. Scully moved to stand next to him, her hand on his arm.
Held out the sample to the man, who eyed it for a moment, and then took the contained. He looked to his wife, they both looked at the specimen, and Mulder blew out a quick breath. "Hm, I'm surprised you were able to contain it without it 'detonating.'" Mulder said, handing the young woman back the container. Sara placed it back in her kit and swiped at her brow again.
"So you know what it is then" Grissom pressed, stepping a fraction of an inch closer.
Agent Mulder nodded, followed by a nod from his wife. "We first encountered it back in '93. At first glance it appeared to be an alkaline of some sort, an acid. But there were no natural discernable qualities about it. You... you have no idea what it can do." She concluded, sounding direr than she had intended to.
"What do you mean" Sara asked, her eyes now more pronounced that they'd reddened.
Scully looked at the woman with wide eyes. "Have you been around that a lot"
"I've been the primary for the trace evidence, yes" Sara sounded a little worried, and her eyes watered as everyone looked at her.
"Sit down" Scully commanded as she ran into the kitchen.
"Excuse me" Sara gaped, and panic seized Grissom and Nick.
"What's going on" Grissom demanded, even as he pushed Sara down onto the coffee table, examining her eyes for himself.
Dana returned with a bag full of ice surrounded in a thin towel. "Put this over your face, lie down, and take deep breaths." She looked up at Mulder while Grissom forced Sara down, her objections going unheard. "We might be able to stop it, it doesn't look too pronounced."
"Can, can you catch me up on what's going on here" Grissom asked, even as he and Nick helped to hold the ice pack over Sara's eyes. "We came here to arrest you, and now..."
"Prolonged exposure in large quantities can lead to death. I almost died." Mulder said, searching through one of the boxes at the edge of the room. "The first symptoms are severe irritation of the orifices: eyes, nose, mouth... but it can be stopped by cold in the earliest stages."
"Mulder, where is that from" Skinner asked.
"The clones." He said, producing a CDrom. "It's from the clones."
"Wait a minute. What the hell is going on? Skinner... I can tolerate a little, and I trust you like hell... but you better start explaining." Brass completed the triangle in the corner, away from the spooked group attending to Sara.
"Clones" Nick sputtered, holding the ice tightly over Sara's eye as she fidgeted. Finally, Nick clamped his down on her arm and she stopped.
"Nice couch." She muttered and settled back to listen.
Mulder threw his hand over his shoulder as he loaded the CDRom. "Clones, but off the skepticism for one minute..." He waited until the program loaded and he pulled up the DNA codes he was looking for. "Clones." Mulder stated, standing to face the group, hands at his sides.
"Genetically engineered alien/human hybrids."
Brass laughed. "Aliens? Come on Wally." He shot his friend and amused look that his friend didn't return. Brass shook the smile off his face and continued. "Clones. With... alien DNA..." Brass speculated slowly, and Scully nodded.
"Believe me, I was as skeptical as you..." She trailed off.
Mulder looked to her and laughed shortly. "Shoulda seen how much convincing it took me to get her to marry me."
Scully shot him a look and moved to William's door, listening at it. "Yeah well, it certainly wasn't your boyish charm, that's for damn sure." She shot back rather seriously, and Mulder looked wounded for a moment.
"Anyway, there's a huge back story to this." Mulder took a deep breath and began. "My sister was abducted in 1973, November. That's how I discovered the X-Files... eventually... anyway, looking into her disappearance I came across information, government information having to do with aliens, hybrids. The government was making humans, what looked to be humans, with alien DNA. The idea was they would survive when the aliens came to take..." Mulder trailed off, realizing that he sounded like a lunatic.
He was used to it. Scully shot him a weak smile and leaned again William's door.
"Here's the bottom line, powerful men beyond the reach of law enforcement are trying to kill me... my wife and my son." Mulder finished.
Everyone in the room was silent, staring at him.
