CHAPTER THREE


8:30 PM, on a Saturday evening somewhere in Richmond


Now that the girls were finally in bed, Mulder and Quistis sat down to have a well deserved cup of coffee. Getting the two of them into bed was definitely not an easy task. At that age children are absolutely tireless and going to bed often ends with a brawl between hyperactive young girls and exhausted adults.

Paula and Kim had been playing in the garden the whole afternoon; running up and down the lane with Floyd dashing after them and at 6:00 PM there was still no sign of tiredness. However, dinner was waiting and Mulder had to drag them back to the house, much to their disappointment.

"Paula was quite sad yesterday…, she spent most of the evening looking at pictures of you and Linoa and kept asking me questions about her mother… she even mentioned The Blue Eyes Mystery." said Quistis and smiled at Mulder.

"Don't laugh, you know, this is really an X-file" replied Mulder and returned her smile. He got up, grabbed the coffee-pot and refilled their mugs.

"Edea called me to say that Paula ran off from the group while they were visiting the bureau. Apparently she was looking for me."

"Yeah I know, and luckily Edea was there before Paula could tell the agent who her father was, so your little secret is still well kept." replied Quistis.

"Yeah." said Mulder taking a gulp of coffee "Did she describe the woman who was there?"

"Well, all she said was that she was tall and had dark hair" said Quistis.

"Then she must have met Diana, I was on the field with agent Reyes and Dana certainly wouldn't have reacted that way-" Mulder paused for a moment and then continued "Quistis, I'm not sure that I'll be able to keep this secret from her any longer. I mean it's just too immense…"

"It was your choice not to tell anyone".

"I know but things have changed now… I'm not a Seed anymore" explained Mulder.

"But your past is still a part of you, and there are people out there who still know what you were"

"Don't get me wrong, I still think that it's important to keep their existence hidden. I was just thinking of introducing Scully into my secret" explained Mulder.

"If you think that your relationship is strong enough"

"Dana's abduction has definitely deepened our relationship. I was so worried during her absence, that I thought I was going to die of anxiety. It was then that I realized how much I loved her and how much I wanted her to be a part of my life…"

"I suppose that the abduction has shaken her profoundly, don't you think that she's emotionally too weak for such a revelation?" asked Quistis.

"She hardly remembers anything"

"Wasn't she subjected to tests, like most of the abductees?" asked Quistis.

"I'm not sure. She might."

"You're not telling me the whole truth. Come on tell me what happened to her"

"Once I found out that she had been abducted, I decided to make my own investigations" explained Mulder.

"And you found something"

"I discovered a list; a list with the names of women who had been subjected to a series of experiments. The kind of experiment where they extract their ova…" explained Mulder.

"To conceive children who are partly human, partly alien. I've already heard about such test, but what's the purpose of it?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that they're up to no good" said Mulder and continued "I checked the list and saw that Dana's name was on it. I was scared and I desperately needed to find out what had happened to these women's ovaries. I discovered that the eggs, extracted from the stolen ovaries had been fertilized with an alien substance and then later on implanted to surrogate mothers"

"Who would voluntarily carry an alien baby?" asked Quistis.

"No one. These were old women, pensioners; and they were all kept in a kind of coma, so that they wouldn't risk obstructing their work."

"Could you find Dana's ova?"

"No, unfortunately I had to leave the building before I could learn anything more, and when I returned two days later, everything was gone…"

"So you have no proof? Maybe they didn't extract her ovaries… Maybe it's just a coincidence"

"But maybe they did"

"What's your point Fox?"

"If they really did extract her ovaries, Dana won't be able to have children"

"Oh now I see…"

"I mean… Linoa's dead. Why not give this family a new chance to live a normal family life?" said Mulder "I'm sure Dana would be a great mum"

"I'm not sure that this is a good idea; but if you want, we could arrange a meeting with her and the girls, and see how it works…" suggested Quistis.

"Thank you. I knew that I could count on you. Dana's great, you'll soon be able to judge by yourself"