"He's seven. His name is Billy Van de Camp. He says he doesn't know where he lives, or how he got out into the woods. But he begged me for the better part of five minutes not to take him in to town." He took another sip. "The kid is terrified of something. So terrified he can't even speak of what's got him so afraid. He kinda breaks your heart, really." Another sip.
"Where is he?" Scully asked, glancing out the kitchen door. Mulder sighed, again. "He literally fell asleep standing up. He's in our bed right now"
"In our bed"
He nodded. Scully sighed, and lay her head down on the table. "I'm so tired." Mulder sat his mug down and reached out an arm for Scully, who scooted her chair so that he could wrap his arms around her. "I'm really worried about that boy," she said. "I can't really explain it, but I think I felt some sort of connection to him. Like maybe I've seen him before. But he can't live anywhere near here. Those woods are just too thick"
"I know,"Mulder said, kissing the top of her head. "Let's just go get some sleep. We can figure something out in the morning." And with that, they left the room, flipping off lights as they went.
It was just after dawn when Scully woke up. She'd tried to sit up but failed, realizing that she was squished between Mulder and the back of the couch. Brilliant idea, she thought. They hadn't really had a choice last night, with the boy being asleep in their bed, and they didn't want to risk him waking up and getting spooked if they tried to move him to the couch. So they did all they could: sleep on the couch themselves. Or at least try. Scully noticed that in the end, Mulder ended up sleeping more soundly than she did. Of course, he didn't have someone crushing his lungs with their elbow either. So with wreckless abandon she set out trying to free herself from the confines of the overly squishy couch cushions and the jabby doom which was Mulder's shoulder blade. She succeeded, but only after accidentally jabbing him in the rib cage with her own elbow. He jumped awake and glared at her. She smiled, innocently.
"You wanna let me out of this cushiony doom?" she asked, poking him again with her elbow. He groaned and rolled dramatically from the couch to the floor, and made no effort to get up. Scully snickered, simply stepping over him, and walking out of the room.
As Scully walked down the hall to the bathroom, she thought she heard a voice drifting from the room at the end of the hall. Roman's room. For a split second, panic seized her. And as she ran down the hall she was prepared to take out whoever or whatever was in her daughter's room. But when she got there she stopped, surprised. Billy, the boy from the woods, sat in the floor in front of Roman's crib. Roman stood against the rail, looking over at Billy. Billy simply looked up at Scully.
"She doesn't talk." He said simply.
Scully took a few steps into the room and took Roman from the crib. Then she turned back to Billy. "Well, she does talk. But just not like we talk."
Billy nodded. "She can't hear?"
"That's right." Scully said, sitting down on the floor in front of the boy. He stared at Roman curiously.
He smiled at her, and held up one hand to wave. Roman waved back. After a moment, Billy signed something that Scully didn't quite catch.
"What...what did you say?"
Billy smiled. "My name. Told her I was a friend."
Scully was stunned. "You know sign language"
The boy sat up straighter, looking proud. "I learned in school. Teddy Mitchell was deaf. We all knew it."
Just then Scully heard Mulder shuffling around the kitchen. "Daaaana!" He yelled, sounding rather whiny. "We got anymore Cocoa Puffs?"
Scully kissed Roman on the top of her head and sat her on the floor in front of Billy. "I'll be right back," she said, backing out of the room. When she got to the kitchen, Mulder tackled her, hugging her way too tight and kissing her. She shoved him away. For a moment, he almost looked hurt. Until he realized she had something to say.
"You should see that, in there," she said, pointing back down the hallway. "Billy knows sign language. He's in there talking to Roman as if they've known each other all their lives."
Mulder's eyes widened. "Really?" Scully nodded. "That's extraordinary. How does he know sign language?"
"He said a kid in his class was deaf. Apparently they taught it to the children so they could communicate. But how weird is that? That he just happens to know sign language, and he can figure Roman out after having been here less than twelve hours."
Mulder stepped away, pulling a cupboard open. "It is pretty strange," he said. "But you know what else is strange? How yesterday we had Cocoa Puffs to the end of the earth, but now, there's not a cocoa puff in sight. The very minute I decide I'd like some puffed balls of delicious cocoa, they disappear."
Scully laughed out loud. "Right. I'm sure it has nothing to do with you eating more than half the box, just yesterday, and feeding the other half to Roman AND the cat."
"I've never done anything so irresponsible and despicably selfless." he said, smiling. "But seriously. I need Cocoa Puffs. It's like a burning desire I can't explain"
Scully simply smiled at him. He took a few steps toward her and wrapped his arms around her. Scully laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. "You'll live without your damn Cocoa Puffs," she said, messing up his hair.
Mulder scoffed. "You don't know that! You really don't. I could just die. You know, I could. I could die of cocoa deprivation and since you're a doctor and you knew my condition but left me to suffer anyway, I'm pretty sure that's manslaughter."
Scully poked him in the gut and walked away. "Shut up, you drama queen." she said, starting back down the hallway.
"Hey hey! IT's drama now, but I'm telling you. One day YOU'RE going to be the one in desperate need of a chocolate fix and I will look the other way. I will. And I won't even care. I'll look the other way and--"
He stopped. Then he looked at her. "What was that?"
She stared at him blankly. "It sounded like a thud."
They were silent for a moment, listening. As Scully started back down the hall she stopped. Roman was crying. Not crying. Screaming.
They both took off down the hallway. When they reached the room they both gasped in shock. Roman sat where Scully had left her, on the floor in front of Billy. Billy, however, was laying on the ground. His body convulsing violently.
"He's having a seizure," Scully said, going to the boy's side. She held one of his hands in hers, and with her other hand she held his head still. Mulder picked up Roman and tried to calm her down. It seemed to him that the louder Roman screamed, the worse the boy convulsed. As if Roman had some strange sense of exactly what was happening to him. And she didn't like it. Holding his daughter tight, he walked out into the hallway, smoothing down her mussed hair, patting her back, trying desperately to calm her down. But still Roman screamed, looking over his shoulder into the room where Billy lay helpless on the floor.
