"Mulder you're crazy!"
"Why am I?" Scully had jumped up from the bed and was staring at Mulder as if he had gone completely insane.
"Because we can't just rush in to this!"
"Rush into it? Are you kidding me?"
"What?"
"You think that if we snuck off to get married that it would be rushing into it after being together for eleven years? After having a son together and expecting our second child, we need to slow down and think about what we're doing?"
"Mulder..."
"No you're absolutely right, I can totally see where you're coming from. I agree, we should just take a step back and think about how we really feel. You think we can get a refund on the pregnancy?" Scully couldn't help smiling at Mulder, and he was doing the same to her. He had stood up and placed his arms around her as he spoke, he was teasing her she knew that, but he had just out of the blue suggested that there was no better night to go and get married, it's not exactly how she had expected to have her big day. She kissed him softly and returned his gaze as they stood together in the moonlight shining through the window.
"Mulder, we can't do it like that. There are things you have to organize and arrange for a wedding. We can't just go and ask the minister in the first church we come across if they'll marry us. Besides it's hardly the big white wedding a girl dreams of..."
"Scully, I had no idea that you had had those kind of dreams as a kid..."
"Every little girl dreams of marrying prince charming Mulder, with a big white gown, and a horse and cart..."
"Horse and cart?"
"With all of our friends and family standing by happy for us and pleased to see us, to be spending our special day with us..."
"Wow, you're a little scary when you get that mushy loved up look in your eyes did you know that?" Scully playfully hit him and they made their way back over to the bed. As they lay down and spooned together Scully sighed and Mulder looked at her concerned.
"What is it?"
"This. This can't last, it never does."
"You mean being happy?"
"I just want what every woman wants, a family that isn't under threat from the US government or involved in an alien conspiracy." Mulder laughed a little and then kissed Scully to ease her worry.
"Everything will be fine, I promise. You'll get your happy and safe family, we'll get that together. And I promise we'll get married as soon as it's possible."
"With a horse and cart?"
"Absolutely." As they lay together knowing that they were not being entirely honest, that they were more scared than they were letting on they didn't seem to care, and for now they were willing to put it to the back of their minds so that they could have a peaceful nights sleep.
However when the telephone rings startling everyone in the house, including the sleeping three year old in the next room, no one is likely to get a peaceful night. And as Mulder got out of bed to play dad Scully answered the phone half asleep wondering who on earth would be calling at two o'clock in the morning.
"Hello?"
"Dana? It's Monica. Is Mulder there?"
"He's with William, what is it Monica what's wrong?" There was a pause and Scully was in no mood to play games at this time of night.
"Monica, talk to me."
"I think you need to get over here, both of you."
"Why?"
"Please Dana, there's something you need to hear, something that we all need to talk about and be aware of."
"Monica its two am can't this wait?"
"No. I hate to be so strong about this, but it's important. Please Dana."
"Ok, ok. We'll be at your place as soon as we can." Scully put down the phone and rubbed her tired eyes with the back of her hand. Mulder walked back into the room holding a tired and upset William. When Mulder saw the look on Scully's face he seemed upset too.
"Scully what is it?"
"Get dressed. William too. We've been summoned."
Reyes looked at the ground because she couldn't stand all of the eyes staring at her. Even William was looking at her, and he couldn't have understood what she and Doggett had just relayed to the visitors in her apartment. She hadn't wanted to tell anyone, she had been on the verge of just disappearing but a clear thinking Doggett made it clear to her that by running now she would be running forever. But the way Scully was looking at her now was with the similar expression she had had the day they had received Gibson's message. And now they were all confused with the conflicting opinions and stories.
Where did they go from here?
"So let me get this straight. Krycek isn't dead, and he turned up here tonight claiming to be able to explain what was happening and what we could do to stop it?"
"Yes. And put alongside what Kersh told us, you have to wonder who the hell knows what they're talking about, if anyone does at all..." Scully looked at Reyes and held her hand in the air as if she wanted permission to talk.
"Wait a second, what did Kersh say? And when?" Mulder looked around the room as all eyes turned to him. He had cursed himself a thousand times for not telling Scully right away the news that Kersh had given them, but then in his defence Scully did interrupt his thoughts on conspiracies with the news she was pregnant, he thought his priorities were rather well organised.
"Mulder, what haven't you told me?"
"I didn't have the chance to tell you, what with your news and everything..."
"Mulder, don't lie to me, not now." He looked at her and couldn't understand why he even bothered trying to make bad news look good to her anymore, he knew he only did it because he loved her, but he also knew that she would never fall for his pretty lies when all she ever wanted was the truth, his own bad influence on her.
"Kersh told us that we can't win. He said that no matter what we throw at them, whether I'm in the bureau or not, whether we fight or not, we can't overthrow them this time. It's over."
"How can it be over? What aren't you telling me?" Reyes saw how much this was hurting Scully as she requested answer after answer, and she couldn't take much more of this. Her head found her hands to lean in for a seconds rest. This is not how her life in DC had looked in her head three years ago.
"He said that William and Monica will both die, that there's nothing anybody can do, for the conspirators or super soldiers to win they need Monica and William alive, but there is a new branch of power, a power that has our own government involved in its activities alongside a new race of alien, and they want Monica and William dead. According to Kersh there is no way to determine whom the people are that we need to come up against, or who the aliens are, they're un-detectable. Kersh says that its over, and that the only reason that I'm back in the bureau is because he thought it had a bitter sweet irony to it, that I should finish what I started, that there's no one else capable of seeing this through to the end."
Scully took a deep breath and stood up to pace the room. Everyone else was sitting down and she was free to roam wherever she wanted. As she spoke she didn't direct her comments at anyone in particular, but she sure as hell wanted someone to answer her.
"Ok, so we've got Gibson who seems to think that Mulder can save the day and keep everybody alive, we've got Kersh who says the games over and that both Monica and William will die so that this new conspiracy of aliens and government men can take
over the planet, and then tonight a dead man turns up and tells us that, somehow, he knows about my pregnancy and that it's Monica who will die, but that she will do so when faced with having to protect me and my unborn baby or William? And I'm the only one that's pissed off about this because?" Nobody spoke for a second and then Scully lost her self-control completely. "I don't believe this. I just don't believe it!"
"Scully..."
"No Mulder! I don't care what you have to say or what you're going to tell me will happen so that we all live happily ever after. It's never going to happen, and I can't believe that you're all sitting here wondering who it is that's telling you the truth when it's quite clear to me that everyone you've all spoken with is talking bullshit! You can't have a kid who reads minds, a deputy director of the FBI and a double crossing son of a bitch like Alex Krycek all telling you different theories and giving you different outcomes for our families and mankind and not wonder if any of them have a clue what they're talking about!
And I am so sick and tired of being the one to point all of this out, maybe this is why working on the x-files gives everyone such a laughable reputation, because right now I'm the only one that's looking into them from the outside and I have a fourth theory to add to this game, that someone's playing a sick joke and knows that they can reel in whoever's on the x-files because you're all crazy and paranoid! Now if you'll all excuse me I'm taking my son home."
Scully picked William up and was out of the apartment before anyone could say anything to her or try and make her see what they saw. The only person who thought she could have a point was Reyes, and that was selfish of her because she just wanted someone to have a theory that meant her life wasn't in danger.
