Chapter 2

I got to meet two FBI agents. They came to ask my dad and his coworkers for help on an important case they were working on. These FBI agents are their friends and frequently ask them to find information for them.

Emma was out shooting baskets in the alley when a dark blue sedan pulled up and parked in Jimmy's spot. He was off visiting friends in New York and wouldn't be back for a couple of days. Emma caught the ball, holding it against her chest.

She watched as an intense looking man with blue eyes and brown hair a lot like Jimmy's got out of the car on the driver's side. He was wearing a dark gray suit. He stood looking at Emma with a bit of a scowl on his face. She stood frozen in place. She wasn't sure whether to be afraid of him or to introduce herself. She figured he had come to see the Gunmen but he just stood there waiting for something. He turned to look back at the car. Emma noticed that there was a woman still in the front seat.

The woman opened her door and got out. She had brown hair that came just below her shoulders. She was dressed in a white shirt and dark pants. She smiled at Emma. Emma liked her already but she still wasn't sure about the man. He continued to scowl at her.

Emma directed her question to the woman. "Can I help you?"

"We're here to see the Lone Gunmen," the woman told her.

"They're inside."

"Thanks." Then, "Can I ask you something?"

"I guess." Emma didn't want to be too chatty. They were strangers after all.

"Do you live around here?"

"Sometimes."

The woman looked puzzled by that answer.

The man spoke for the first time, "Come on, Monica. We don't have a lot of time."

With that Emma figured out who they were. She took a step toward them, once again addressing the woman. "Are you Agent Reyes?"

"Yes, I am. But how did you know that?"

"My dad told me about you but he didn't say that you were coming here today."

She turned to the man. "You must be Agent Doggett. My name is Emma MacKenzie." Emma moved closer to them but stopped when the scowl on Doggett's face grew deeper.

Emma wondered if she had said something to offend him.

"Your dad?" Agent Doggett asked.

"Yes, Melvin Frohike is my dad."

Both agents turned to look at each other. This was news to them.

"Come on. I'll tell them you're here." They followed Emma down the stairs. She rang the buzzer to get someone to let them in.

Langly opened the door, "Well, if it isn't the G-man and the G-woman." Emma ducked around the three of them and scurried upstairs to put the basketball away. She didn't want to miss anything and she always caught hell for leaving things, like the basketball, lying around and having to put them away later. She ran back down the stairs to hear what was going on.

They all stopped talking when she came up to join them. Her dad took her aside. "You need to go back upstairs and wait there until someone comes to get you."

"But why?" Emma wanted to know what the FBI agents had come to talk to her dad and the guys about.

"Don't argue with me about this." He took her arm and started walking her toward the stairs.

"Why can't I stay and listen? I won't say anything. I'll stay out of the way."

Frohike was firm. "No. Just do as I ask. We'll talk about it later."

Emma started to say something else but Frohike stopped her. "Not another word or you'll go sit in your room for a while."

Emma stomped up the stairs. It wasn't fair. How exciting was it to have two honest-to-god FBI agents hanging around and she couldn't even talk to them. And her dad had threatened to confine her to her room. It just wasn't fair! She decided to go sit in her room anyway out of spite. She flopped down on the bed and lay there contemplating the injustices of the world that 12 year olds had to put up with.

What were they afraid of? She wasn't a little kid. She knew how to be quiet when it was important. How come they always treated her like a baby? Her mom would never have done this to her. Her mom had always treated her like an adult. Well, kind of. But she never treated her like a baby!

What could the agents want anyway? Her dad and the guys were just journalists. They published a newspaper. That was all. Maybe the agents were some of the confidential sources that were talked about in their articles. Yeah, that would make sense. Man, she wanted to hear what they were talking about! She was learning to help with the paper. How could she ever learn if she got sent to her room when things just got interesting?

Downstairs Langly was helping Doggett by hacking into the computer system at a medical research facility. Monica watched them for a while but decided that she could be of no real assistance. She turned her mind to the second most interesting subject of the day.

"So, Frohike, you're a father? How did you keep this a secret for so long?"

"I wasn't the one who chose to keep it a secret."

"How so?" Reyes had gotten to know the Gunmen better over the last few months and now felt more comfortable around them.

"Her mother neglected to tell me about her until a few months ago when she came to say that she was dying and did I want to know my daughter."

"That's too bad about her mother but I find it hard to believe that a man of your intelligence in these days of HIV could find himself in such a situation."

"Well, Emma wasn't born yesterday. We had HIV tests and all that but her mother assured me that birth control was not a problem."

"It seems that it was a problem."

"No, not in her mind. She wanted to get pregnant. She was looking for a 'donor'."

"No offense but, she chose you?"

"Her decision. I guess she just couldn't resist the old Frohike charm."

"I guess not. It is difficult at times." She reached over and ran her fingers through his hair. He knew she was teasing him but he didn't mind.

"Listen, Monica, can you do me a favor?"

While the others were engaged with various projects and conversations, Byers went upstairs to talk to Emma. He felt bad that she'd been so quickly dismissed with no explanation. She was a good kid, just intelligent, which made her very curious. He found her in her room. She was lying with her back to the open door. He knocked.

"What?" She didn't turn around to see who it was.

"Emma? Are you okay?" She sat up when she realized it was John and not her father. It was her dad that she was really mad at.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said but her voice and her body language told a different story. He came and sat next to her on the bed. They sat that way for a minute or so.

Emma played with the end of one braid while Byers waited for her to say something. She decided to let go of some of her anger and leaned against Byers, resting her head on his upper arm. He put his arm around her drawing her closer.

Emma broke the silence. "I don't understand why I couldn't stay and talk to the FBI agents."

"They came here to ask for our help with a case they are working on. They don't have much time or we would've explained why you need to stay up here until they're done."

"Are they gone now?"

"No, they're still down there."

"What do they need help with?" Emma hoped that John trusted her enough to tell her.

"I can't tell you." Emma made a disgusted noise. "It wouldn't be safe for you to know."

"But you know and so do all the others."

"Yes, but it's not quite the same." Emma chose not to ask why not. She already knew the answer.

"It just doesn't seem fair."

"I know."

"You can't tell me even a tiny, little bit? I just can't even imagine how you could help them."

"Well, I can tell you that we find information for them."

"You do?"

"They come to us when there is something high tech they need help with." He figured such general information couldn't hurt.

"Do you hack into computer systems for them?" This he couldn't answer. He didn't want to lie to her. She would know. She'd spent enough time working with Langly to know that he could do just about anything on the computer. But he also wouldn't admit to her that they regularly did something that could get them arrested.

"John, did you hear me?" She looked up into his face.

"Yes, I heard you."

"But you're not going to tell me?" Again he didn't answer. He knew that neither confirming nor denying it would give her a good idea of the truth but he hoped that there would always be some doubt.

"Emma?" She heard her dad calling her from the kitchen. She was still mad at him so she didn't move right away. Byers gave her a push to get her up off the bed.

"Go see what he wants." She stood up reluctantly.

"Emma," Frohike called to her again, "there's someone here who wants to meet you."

Her curiosity far outweighed her lingering anger. She came out of her room to find her dad and Agent Reyes in the kitchen. "Emma, this is Agent Reyes. Monica, this is my daughter Emma MacKenzie."

Agent Reyes smiled at Emma again. "We met outside."

Emma smiled back. "Yes, we did."

Emma shook hands with her, "I'm very pleased to meet you, Agent Reyes."

"Call me Monica." At least she didn't ask Emma to call her Reyes. No one around here seemed to follow the conventions her mom taught her for addressing adults. She just waited for them to let her know what they wanted her to call them.

The two of them talked at the kitchen table since Emma still couldn't go downstairs. Frohike got them fruit juice to drink. They didn't discuss anything classified or why they had come that day but Emma was thrilled that Monica was willing to spend time with her. Emma was full of questions about what it was like to be an FBI agent. Monica was surprised that Emma had not met Mulder and Scully. Emma said that she had heard a lot about them though.

Pretty soon it was time for Doggett and Reyes to leave. Emma went down to say goodbye and possibly to meet Agent Doggett. When she got there though he had already gone out to the car.

Byers opened the door to let Monica out but Agent Doggett was standing on the other side. He came back inside with a gift for Emma.

"I'm sorry we had to chase you away this afternoon. I thought this might make it up to you." He gave her a blue baseball cap with the letters FBI on it. "This makes you an official junior FBI agent." He smiled at her. The smile reached all the way to his eyes. Emma had never seen eyes that blue before.

"Thank you, Agent Doggett." She put the hat on. It was too big. As he adjusted it to fit her, she wondered why she had been frightened of him at first.