When Mulder opened the front door the last thing he expected to see was Scully sleeping on the sofa with another man. But when that man turned out to be John Doggett he wasn't concerned at all. As he stood watching them both sleep he could sum up what had happened by looking at the scene around him. There was an empty liquor bottle in the kitchen, a photograph between them of Scully's family, and two coffee cups. Doggett had needed comforting, he had needed a friend and someone he could turn to and lean on after weeks of standing alone. He couldn't help but take the opportunity to think about how things had changed.

It wasn't all that long ago that he hated Doggett, but circumstances being what they were, he couldn't help but like the guy and respect his strength, although if he had found help in Scully's companionship he could understand it. He had spent more nights than he cared to remember thanking the heavens for having her beside him every step of the way. The only thing in his whole life that had ever meant anything to him was Scully, and the chance she had given him to have a family.

As he watched them both he walked quietly towards the kitchen, he had forgotten that Skinner was with him, so when he turned to see a tall figure he jumped slightly.

"Sorry."

"It's ok. I just got a little distracted."

"Yeah. Looks like it was a rough night. The liquor bottle is a bad sign."

"Can you blame the guy?"

"No, but I don't recall ever seeing you turn to drink to solve your problems."

"A person doesn't turn to drink to solve their problems. They do it to try and forget them for a couple of hours. And believe me, I've been there." Mulder took a soda can from the fridge and offered Skinner one, which he took without hesitating. It had been a long night.

"Are you going to tell them?"

"Yes. Of course I'll tell them."

"I think the sooner they know the better."

"What you want me to wake them now or something?" Skinner was shocked by the outburst and Mulder could see it in his face.

"I'm sorry. It's been a long night."

"I know. I didn't mean to push. But if you and Scully are sure about leaving, the sooner we finish this the better."

"I know. Its just that, it's still so unreal."

"I know, it's Gibson." Mulder was comforted in a weird way by Skinner's immediate understanding of how he felt about the whole situation.

"I still want to protect him. Is that weird?"

"We protected him for so long, it's natural to still feel something for his safety."

"I still can't believe this is happening. So much has happened in the last month."

"I know this has been a strain on you and Scully, but if I'm honest with you, I think you're doing the right thing by leaving."

"You do?"

"Yeah. It's too dangerous for you to stay here. And it's no place to raise a family." As Mulder looked at the surrogate father figure before him he started to speak but was interrupted by a startled William running into the kitchen.

"Hey buddy."

"Daddy!" He lifted his arms to be picked up and Mulder did as commanded and held his boy close.

"You ok William?"

"Scary dream."

"What happened?"

"There was a man. He tried to hurt aunt Mon'ca." As Mulder and Skinner listened to the small child they both knew they would have to wake Scully and Doggett, and they hoped that William's dream had really been just that. A dream.

After Mulder explained about William's dream to Scully and Doggett Scully had taken William and dressed him whilst trying to distract him from the images of Monica he had from his nightmare. He was afraid and she held him tight as he calmed down whilst secretly hoping holding her son would allay her fears too. Doggett was in the bathroom freshening himself up. His head was thumping and he felt like crap, but William's cries of scary men hurting Monica had soon sobered him up and he was determined to get back to the hospital.

Skinner was trying to call and get news on her condition but there was no one picking up at the hospital switchboard. They were all afraid to think about what could have happened, they were trying to concentrate on what rational explanations would lead to William's dream and back to the hospital.

Everyone was on edge as they locked the apartment door and the large party made their way to their cars to get to the hospital. The sooner they got there and put this whole sorry mess behind them the better. Mulder and Skinner kept their news to themselves for the time being. Neither Doggett nor Scully brought up any questions about where their lead had taken them, and until they could determine whether everything was ok at the hospital they were not going to make anybody panic anymore by telling them what they had found out.

William sat in his seat in the back of the car with his mom holding his hand. His dad was driving and Uncle Skinner was here too, that meant it was bad. Uncle Skinner always came to see them when something bad had happened, and he hoped that it wasn't his scary dream that had made everyone so afraid. He could feel his mom and her worry, he had been able to do that from ever since he could remember, even when he had been taken away from her he could feel her and the empty space in her life that he had left her with. But now he was back and he was supposed to help them all, he was supposed to help protect them, but he was just a baby, how could he possibly get anyone to let him make all of this go away.

As they got closer to the hospital William could feel something bad. He could feel a bad person; a negative energy and he knew right away that the boy he heard everyone refer to as 'Gibson' was close by. It frightened him; it frightened him so much he hollered for him mom and she carefully took him from his seat and held him close to her to settle him. But it didn't make much difference. William knew what had happened even before his dad drove the car around that final left turn.

They pulled up as close to the hospital as they could get. They all looked horrified at the sight before them. The hospital was gone. All that stood in its place was ash and debris. Somebody had made sure that no one got in or out of that hospital ever again. As they all got out of their cars Scully found that Mulder's hand was clasped firmly around hers at the exact moment she became afraid and wanted to feel him by her, with William safely between them both they couldn't move from the spot.

They didn't look at each other as they watched the scene around them. There was nothing they could do, and the only thing that drew their eyes away from the empty space where the building had once stood was Doggett as he stood crying staring at the same empty space, but with so much happening in his mind and in his heart that he felt certain he would fall to his death on the spot.