Scully knew that it was selfish of her to be glad that Mulder was on his way home, but she was passed caring what the world thought of her when the world obviously cared so little for her. She had been sorry to hear about Sophia's death, and was glad that Mulder had been there to help Reyes. She wouldn't wish dealing with a family death alone on anybody. Mulder had explained about the box of momentums that Reyes had been given and made it clear that it was safer for him to be protecting William from DC and examining the box's contents from home. Scully had been delighted and had sat with William as they basked in their relief that Mulder was safe and would be home in no time.
Reyes hadn't called Doggett to tell him she was on her way back to DC. She felt a little foolish about her exclamation of love over the phone and didn't want him to assume that she would be going back to his place, she still wanted to be alone in her apartment, she'd be taking two steps back if she caved in and went back to Doggett's now. She hoped that he would understand and that he would give her the time and space that she needed. The only call she had made was to Sophia's daughter, Rose, she had cried with the young woman over the phone not wanting to have to explain that she was actually family too and would love to attend the funeral, Rose thanked Reyes for befriending her mother and said she and her family would be on the first flight to Mexico.
Reyes said nothing about who she was other than a friend of Sophia's who cared for her a great deal. Mulder had been incredibly supportive of her and also protective, constantly asking if she was ok and if she needed anything. She knew that he had a lot of experience coping with death; his parents were both dead, as was his sister, he had helped Scully deal with the death of her father and her sister, and he of course had had the unfortunate experience of dying himself. All of these events compiled it wasn't hard to see why he was so keen to help someone going through what he had taken more than his fair share of.
Mulder had considered carefully how he was going to talk Scully into believing he had to get back into the FBI. It was no use fooling himself into believing she would like the idea, he wasn't an idiot. She had sworn him to stay away from the x-files when they had returned to DC after being on the run for their lives. He didn't want to have to put Scully through anything like that again but he also had to stand his ground. The past year or so had been about making her happy and making up for all of the terrible things she had to put up with as a result of being unlucky enough to be in love with him, but now he had to ask her to trust him and let him take care of this. She had heard Gibson say so himself, Mulder was the only one that could end this and protect William and Reyes. So he had no choice but to make sure he didn't fail.
Doggett sat at his computer and felt his eyelids drooping but had no intention of making his way to the nice comfortable bed waiting for him upstairs. He hadn't been able to sleep in the bed alone since Reyes had left and had waited until he was almost asleep in his chair for the past few nights before finally going to bed. Reyes had been back in DC for two days now and the only contact he had had with her was a phone call from her apartment the day she got back to let him know she was ok and that she had missed him but had no intention of coming back to live with him. He had been confused by her message, he was thrilled she was back but didn't understand her explanations of being in love with him but keeping him so far away from her when he knew she'd never needed him more.
Scully had told him to be patient, to let Reyes work things out in her own time and let her come to him rather than him smothering her and being in her way all of the time. He understood that, and if one more person tried to tell him that all Reyes needed was some space he would shoot them. To hell with Reyes being alone and suffering in silence, she might be able to cope with that and be ok with it, but she was sentencing him to loneliness too, and he didn't like it.
As he walked Oliver around the park just after midnight he couldn't stop thinking about her, he had been alone long enough already, he had spent years thinking the rest of his life would be alone, but then he had been lucky enough to have Reyes love him and now he was in it until the bitter end, he was not prepared to let her rule their relationship, but he didn't want to argue either. He was a strong and independent guy, he wasn't about to go running to her with his tail between his legs. But if he did he felt sick at the thought Reyes might turn him away.
As Mulder lay with William sat on his lap sleeping he had never felt so peaceful. It had been an odd couple of days and he and Scully had talked very little about Mexico and Reyes or Gibson. He was worried she was trying to brush it all under the carpet, that she thought it would all go away and they could carry on regardless. Well he had to set the record straight. And he still hadn't informed her of his plans to somehow get the FBI to let him back onto the x-files. Something in his gut told him someone somewhere with enough power would let him back in, but he just feared who.
"Scully, can we talk for a minute?"
"Sure. What's wrong?"
"Something that Gibson said to me when you put him on the phone the other night had a hidden message in it, something I figured out right away but didn't want to admit to until I was sure."
"Mulder you're scaring me, is it William?"
"No, he's fine, it's me. Something I have to do. I have to fight them from the inside, that's what he said, Gibson."
"What does that mean?"
"I have to get back on the x-files Scully, it's the only way I can protect William, and Monica."
"No."
"What?"
"I said no Mulder."
"But Scully I..."
"Mulder, I won't say it again. You are not going to work on the x-files. You did what you could down in that office I won't allow you to take those kind of risks again, and I don't want you to bring this up with me again." Scully took the sleeping William from Mulder's arms and carried him into his room. Mulder was speechless and very taken a back by Scully's reaction.
William opened his eyes briefly to see his father's expression and the tears in his mother's eyes. Up until now he had never seen them on such opposite sides to each other. He didn't like it and hoped they would have made friends by the time he woke up in the morning.
"Thanks for meeting me."
"Not a problem."
"I know it's early but..."
"Its fine, I haven't exactly been sleeping much since we got back." Mulder had called Reyes and asked her to meet him at the FBI parking garage early that morning. It was so early that the garage was practically empty. It was a cool morning and Reyes had pulled her jacket around her tight for extra warmth. This was her first day back at the bureau since being in Mexico. She'd see Doggett, and she was sneaking Mulder in to talk to Skinner. All in a days work.
"So what do you think Skinner will say?"
"Honestly? I don't know. I think Skinner has probably always wanted you back on the x-files, you're the best guy for the job no doubt about it, but no one else at the bureau with that amount of power will let you back in without a fight."
"If I don't get back on the x-files we'll lose this fight Monica. We'll all lose." The elevator doors opening for her so that she could look away from the fear in Mulder's eyes and not have to answer his comment relieved Monica. She was well aware of the stakes here, there were risks for everyone involved. She just didn't think that Mulder could walk back into the FBI and expect to be welcome into his old job with open arms.
Mulder hadn't told Scully where he was going. In fact he'd snuck out before sunrise leaving her a note saying he had something he needed to do and he'd be back by lunch. He had been upset by her reaction to him wanting to go back to the x-files; she had brushed him off all night avoiding looking at him so that she didn't have to talk to him. He knew the signs; he knew when she was upset and angry with him. He also knew what a risk he was taking doing this behind her back. But if he wanted to protect his son and Monica it was a risk he was prepared to take.
Skinner's voice bellowed from his office door as Reyes knocked softly. His assistant had not yet arrived, and Reyes had called the night before to inform him of her early morning visit. She opened the door and walked into the room, Mulder close behind.
"Agent Reyes, have a seat... Mulder? What are you doing here?"
"Well Sir..."
"No wait, don't tell me. Somehow I'm not surprised that you're here. It saves me having to make a strange phone call anyway."
"Excuse me sir?"
"Sit down both of you." They did as asked and were both confused by Skinner's air of mystery.
"When I got here this morning there was a note on my desk from the deputy director telling me that an Agent Mulder would be beginning work on the x-files today. I called him to ask him what kind of game he was playing and all he had to say was that you were being reinstated with full pay and a clean record."
"What?"
"Yeah that was my reaction too. But I assumed the two of you would know what this was about?"
"Not exactly. I was given a mixed message from Gibson telling me that I had to fight from the inside; all I could interpret from it was the x-files. I have to be working for the government to fight it."
"Well whatever the hells going on there are now three people employed on the x-files, and there is a meeting for all three of you with Kersh this afternoon at 2pm. I suggest you don't be late and that you have more answers for him than I think you're capable of giving." The room fell silent and Reyes and Mulder glanced at each other before understanding that this meeting was over and it was time to go to work.
