So, I don't really have an excuse for this other than that I got
swept up with work and I couldn't get inspired to write until now. I've
actually been writing this chapter for a year, which probably won't
show when you read it, but no matter. I am sorry to all of the readers
who actually followed the story, it was not my intention to screw up so
royally and let you all down. I'm not sure if this will be the end of
the story, but I think I'll at least do another chapter. I'm sorry
again and I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Thanks for reading,
the child with no name
Fox Mulder walked through the halls of D.C. Memorial Hospital with a bag of M&Ms and a deck of cards in one hand and a fresh bouquet of flowers in the other. He had a smile planted on his face as he greeted the nurses and headed towards his son's room.
It had been two days since the surgery and Ben was going to be okay. The little boy that held the key to his spirit was going to be okay. Irony spoils everything, though, doesn't it? No one knew what to do about Scully's cancer. He couldn't stop it. His son was going to survive and his soul mate would suffer until the end.
Mulder strolled through the eerie white hallways. He had always hated hospitals; they kept too many dark memories deep beneath their fake white surfaces. Those dark memories sprung to life as he reached his son's room only to find an empty bed. He was lifting his wife out of the water again, he was trying to save her when it was already too late. Mulder dropped his collection of gifts on the floor and started running. His mind was screaming as he frantically flew through those eerie hallways yelling the name of his little boy as his legs propelled him.
"Where's the boy in 208? He's not in his bed, where is he?" Mulder cried to a blank faced receptionist who was still attached to a woman's constipated voice through the phone receiver. "Please! Please help me." The woman once again looked upon him, but this time there was only confusion; no answers, only questions.
Mulder started his dash again and sped up as he ran aimlessly past the Children's Hospital and into the regular care area. He didn't notice where he was, he was just running, trying to beat the tears that were about to spring from his eyes when he heard a familiar voice.
"I hope you don't have to have surgery. My surgery wasn't so bad, but it still hurts from where the doctors were working." A small voice that carried an extraordinary amount of power, unbeknownst to its owner, said.
"I don't know if I'll need surgery Ben, but I'm just gla-" Dana Scully looked up as her partner bolted into her hospital room, his face flushed with relief overpowering the still visible panic. Mulder ran to his son and picked up the fragile little boy.
"Oh God Ben, I though something had happened to you." Mulder spoke as a few tears slowly ran out of his eyes and onto Ben's pajama shirt, which was being held tightly against Mulder's face in a hug. Both of them pulled away and Mulder looked into his son's hazel eyes and found the safety of his son's existence.
"Dad, dad, don't worry so much. I was just visiting Dana and having a talk about the ups and downs of surgery." All three of them smiled and Mulder looked up as Scully, smile still on his face.
"Yes, Ben has become quite the expert in the surgery department, not to mention anything and everything having to do with scars." Scully said with a grin on her face. Mulder knew that she had always loved Ben, she was really the only mother he had ever had, Mulder only wished she had been his mother.
"Look dad!" Ben pulled up his pajama shirt to show his father his incision. The look on the little boy's face was priceless, the pure excitement; he was showing off his battle scars to his hero.
Mulder and Scully both laughed at the child's antics and Mulder pulled Ben's shirt back down. Sitting down and picking his son up to place the little boy on his lap, Mulder settled himself down in his partner's hospital room.
"Well, I would have M&Ms for poker, but they-" Mulder started, but was soon interrupted by the boy perched on his lap.
"Were stolen by a pack of rabid dogs who only had cravings for small pieces of chocolate candy!" Ben said with a certain sarcastic enthusiasm. Ben had a flair for the extraordinary, which was only obvious when one looked at his father, but Ben was also a little cynical. Growing up with just his father, he had learned early that the two needed each other, no matter what happened.
Mulder and Scully both laughed at the small boy, but their jubilance ran short when a tall figure walked through the door and stood staring with his mouth wide open, and his whole body frozen in place.
"Oh hi Bill." Scully said nervously. Her older brother and her partner were not the best friends in the world and Scully was bracing herself for a fight.
"You, you," Bill couldn't think of anything to say. What is that little boy doing in here, on that man's lap? No.
"Um, Bill, this is Ben, he's Mulder's son,. Ben, this is my brother Bill." Scully said as her gaze traveled from Mulder and Ben to Bill, who still stood erect in the doorway.
"Hi Bill! That's my grandpa's name too, did you know that? Do you want to see where the doctor operated on me? I was having trouble breathing so the doctors told daddy that they had to go inside of my chest and fix me." Ben was once again beaming with pride, but his father's hand caught Ben's as Ben started to lift his pajama shirt up to show the visitor his chest. Mulder looked over at Scully before he spoke, her eyes reflecting what he was thinking. Ben didn't need to see Bill and Mulder fight, the little boy had been through enough already, the degradation of his father in front of him would be going too far.
"Well, I think we should leave Dana alone with Bill, what do you think buddy?"
"But I want to show Bill my chest!" The boy looked at his father with pleading eyes.
"I don't think Bill wants to see you chest right now Ben," Mulder said cautiously as Bill eyed him. "How about you can show him later? We can leave Bill and Dana alone and we can go and look for the M&Ms that the rabid dogs tried to eat." Mulder had to break out in a smile as he said this, Scully too, because Ben's face lit up. They didn't know if he was genuinely happy at the prospect or if he was pretending for Mulder's sake. Ben was looking around the room, he could see the look in everyone's eyes, he could feel their pleading in the air brushing past his face.
"Okay Dad, but if we find those rabid dogs, can we keep them? I want a dog real bad, so I think we should take the dogs and, and, and make them sit and stay and shake." Ben said this with an ever-broadening smile on his face.
"Alright my little dog trainer, let's go look for the dogs." Mulder replied as he gave Scully a nervous glance before grabbing tightly to Ben's hand and walking from the room with Bill's eyes following them out.
Once the little life of the party had left, the entire room fell silent. Bill just stood staring at the back of his arch nemesis and the little head of the boy who had broken his heart. It was confusing of course, first of all that any woman would give Fox Mulder offspring and second of all that the obsessive and impulsive lunatic would even be able to take care of the child. Why wouldn't Dana tell me about something like this? I could have – what could I have done?
Somehow Bill was able to compose himself, after his minor lapse into his own world, and turn his head to Dana, though not without a very bewildered look on his face.
"Dana, h-" Bill stopped, wondering what he was supposed to ask her. Mulder had done nothing to hurt Dana, so what was Bill supposed to say? I can't just let her think that I don't care about her, I have to ask her what's going on, I have to act like I'm angry, but what in God's name am I supposed to be angry about?
"Look Bill," Dana started as Bill looked up from his frustrating thoughts regarding his next action, "I, I'm sorry that I never told you about Ben. I didn't know how to tell you, you'd rip Mulder apart for thinking that he could take care of a child." That's it! That's what I'm angry about, but he looked like he could take care of the kid. That little boy looked so happy, no matter how pale his sickly face was. Damn it! Why can't I be angry at Mulder this time! "He really is a wonderful father Bill, the two of them together are just, well, wonderful."
Whether or not the information was registering in Bill's head was a mystery to Scully. His blank stare left his thoughts up for interpretation by anyone who looked into his eyes. Finally, he was able to open his mouth and, much to his own surprise, real words came out.
"What happened to him?" Bill asked quietly. Scully seemed to take a breath and look sullenly at the floor before making eye contact with her brother again. Bill could have known it was serious even if he hadn't seen the little boy lying frailly in his hospital bed.
"The doctors are telling us that it's a rare Respiratory disorder, something about his diaphragm malfunctioning and preventing him from breathing correctly." Bill looked at her astonished. His blank stare had been replaced by confusion.
"But, I saw, I saw him, he was in a coma." Bill mumbled the words as they slipped out of his mouth.
"What? You saw him? You saw him before the surgery?" Scully was the perplexed sibling now as her voice rose and her eyebrow lifted quizzically.
"I, I was wandering around," Bill hesitated with shame covering his face. "I just saw him lying in his bed and-" Bill shuddered as tears started to form in his eyes; he quickly tried to gain control of himself, but did not succeed. He stared at the floor, hoping not to reveal his state as his shaky voice asked, "Why was he in a coma?"
At this point Scully was confused beyond belief, the fact that Bill was not furious was hard enough to swallow, but the fact that he was crying over Mulder's son was even more amazing. Scully was only able to answer him slowly. "Ben has Diabetes; he went into a coma due to Ketoacidosis. He, um, he didn't get his insulin when he needed it."
Bill was silent as he slowly shifted his gaze from the patterned linoleum on the floor to Scully's face, revealing tear stains. "Is he going to be okay?" Bill croaked the words passed the giant lump in his throat. Scully's own lip started to tremble when she saw the tears roll down Bill's face.
"Yeah, yeah, he's going to be okay."
"What about Mulder, will he be okay?" Scully inhaled sharply and started to cry at Bill's question, her joy falling down her face.
"Yeah, he'll be okay too."