Scully woke up with a heavy sinking feeling inside her stomach as she immediately felt forced to remember that things weren't going to be happy and simple like they had been when she woke the day before. She reached out a hand for Mulder's familiar and comforting touch but he wasn't there. She got up and looked around the room and walked through to William's room but he wasn't there either.
That's when she could hear William crying in the bathroom. She ran through the apartment desperate to reach him and tend to whatever ailment was making him cry out like this. When she walked into the bathroom she couldn't stop the smile that spread broadly across her face. Mulder looked up at her and he was not impressed.
"You know you could help instead of standing there laughing."
"Oh no, this is way too much fun for me to help you out of." William was covered from head to toe in flour. He had managed to pull the bag down from the table where for some reason it had been left since his birthday cake had been made. He looked like a ghost, as he stood very unhappy with his dad trying to pull his clothes off without getting the flour all over himself. William looked up at Scully as if he knew she could help make a better job of this but she wasn't about to give in that easily.
"Come on Scully, you're so much better at this than I am."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, come on."
"I think it's gonna do you both some good to have this time alone."
"We're doin' great, but I've not read the chapter on mess yet."
"Oh and I did? You can handle this just fine..."
"But William wants you to help us out too don't you buddy? You want mommy to help us out here?"
"Mama!" William held up his arms to Scully and she couldn't resist any longer. She sat beside Mulder and together they undressed their little spook and cleaned him up.
As they went into William's room to pick out something clean for him to wear Mulder took Scully's hand and gave it a small squeeze. It made her heart tingle, as if he had known that she had reached for that very touch as soon as she had woken. Even now it sometimes astounded her how no words were needed for them to understand each other and their feelings.
They had come a long way, and even though she knew there was a long way to go she knew that she could do it with Mulder by her side.
"How are you doin' this morning?"
"Ok... I think. I don't think I should go to work today though. I should be at home with you and William."
"Are you sure?"
"Am I sure? Of course I am, Mulder, my son's life has been threatened, and not for the first time, you honestly think I could get anything done at work?"
"No, but I just want us to think about this before we act on it."
"Well it was ok for you to announce your trip to see Gibson last night, but I can't not go to work?"
"That's not what I'm saying. It's just that... We're not the only people we have to think about this time..." Scully looked at Mulder and she knew exactly who he was referring to, and she knew that he was right and felt glad that someone could understand for once what it felt like to be constantly in fear of your life. But for some reason she couldn't feel any sympathy for Reyes. She hadn't been able to the day before and she still couldn't now.
"You mean Monica."
"Yeah. She's still not prepared to talk to me, but I need her to. And we need to make sure that we keep all lines of communication open with her and Agent Doggett. They're gonna need our help."
"I know that. But William needs our help. And he's my priority."
"Of course he is, it goes without saying Scully. But to protect William I have a really strong feeling that we need to protect her too."
Despite Doggett's protests Reyes had got ready for work and had even insisted that she drive too. He had wanted her to take the day off, he thought she'd be in danger at the FBI, and Reyes had only been able to win the argument by stating that she was in more danger if she stayed home alone. When they got to work there was an atmosphere in the office that they both hated but could do nothing about without upsetting one another.
Doggett had been surprised to find Reyes sleeping on the sofa and hoped it had been a one off and not a sign of things to come. Reyes had explained she just couldn't sleep but was hesitant at releasing any information about what she had spent the night thinking about, mostly because she knew that he would have been worrying about everything that she was and she thought he could do without her thoughts as well as his own.
It was no surprise to either of them when Skinner called and asked to see them immediately in his office. They took the elevator in silence and were just about to inform Skinner's assistant they were there to see him when Doggett pulled Reyes to one side.
"John what are you doing?"
"I need to say something. I think we should tell Skinner about us."
"What?"
"I'm serious, if he's pulled us up here to tell us that he's heard from Gibson the same news we have, then he needs to know everything Monica."
"John you're crazy, we could lose our jobs."
"I think it'll be ok, I think Skinner will understand."
"Skinner doesn't make the rules John, he could understand completely you're right, but he would be obliged to inform his superiors and we'd be out of here so fast that we wouldn't have time to find our ass' to land on."
"I don't wanna hide how I feel about you anymore."
"We don't have a choice." Reyes turned from Doggett and spoke with Skinner's assistant as Doggett watched her and wished that she had agreed with him. Now he was going to have to act like an FBI agent in front of Skinner rather than a guy who was scared the woman he now actually planned to spend the rest of his life with was going to get hurt, or worse...
As they sat down in front of Skinner they waited for him to finish his phone call and remained quiet until he gave them reason not to.
"I assume you both know why I've called you here?" Reyes nodded her head.
"You've heard from Gibson."
"Yes. And I am not comfortable with what I was told. I've just spoken with Mulder, he says that this has understandably shaken you all up, and I just want you to know that we're going to do whatever it takes to find these people and put a stop to them before anything happens."
"With all due respect sir, are you forgetting what it was like the last time we faced these super soldiers? This isn't going to be some nice walk in the park, it's war. And we're all sadly mistaken if we think there's some way out of it without somebody getting hurt."
Doggett looked from Skinner to Reyes as she stopped speaking. Her expression was hard and fierce. He hadn't seen her like this for a long time; everything in their lives had been so simple and easy. It scared him how quickly she had changed her composure, and it scared him even more to think about how much more she would change.
