Children From a Lesser God
Chapter Thirteen : The Sins of the Fathers
and
Epilogue: The Sins of the Mother
PART I
December 22nd, 2018
Fox's Apartment
Alexandria, Virginia
Five years, 360 days later
14:26
Fox sighs as he re-reads the same sentence for the third time. Reading it aloud in the hope that that this time, the words would actually register. Which they do, but the significance of the sentence is lost on him because he doesn't recall reading the sentence before that, or before that, or even the entire paragraph!
He tries to find where he last cognitively read from, and realises that the only part of the student's essay - he is supposed to be grading - that he properly took in, was the title.
His mind was definitely tumbling down a rabbit hole but it wasn't this student's critique of Ropper and Burrells' analysation of the human brain.
And he knew why. It's been the same story for the last five years, his mind is occupied on them. Where they might be, and what they might be doing. And rather than being an adult about it and picking up the phone to call her, he allows his mind to tumble into the unknown.
Because he can't. He can't see her. He can't hear her voice. He's not ready to forgive himself. To revisit. He is ashamed of himself. When he thinks of her and how they were together... It wasn't explicit but it certainly wasn't innocent. He was the adult and he was supposed to be responsible for her, he shouldn't have allowed things to get heated between them.
And that's just how he felt about it. Nevermind when his mind wandered on what she must feel about him. She said that she would never tell, and to this day she must have kept her word, but that's not to mean that she won't. That she doesn't feel like he betrayed her.
'Pervert Asshole'.
He'll never forget those words.
He'll be having a good day; he'll be having a bad day; he'll be taking the bus home on a snowy day, innocently staring out the window, and that phantom voice would again whisper those two words down his left ear drum - always, the left ear.
It didn't matter how many people continue to praise him for his bravery and kindness.
~xXx~
15:07
Giving up on actually getting any grading done, Fox shuts the cardboard box full of his vacation marking; as well as the other equally full cardboard box full of reading material Johnny sent him on the subject of bees as an incubator for diseases for an X-File he was looking into; his small weekend bag full of the clothes he'll need up until New Year's Day, all into his Silver 2016 Toyota Prius and sets off.
Georgetown broke up for the holidays only yesterday and already, Fox, had been trying to make a dent in his marking. It didn't so much have to do with him wanting to get it out the way, more than the fact he was eager, and he'll say it, excited, to read his students' essays. It was his first year as a professor, so he was allowed to be excited by something as mundane as marking.
He just always found it difficult to concentrate this time of the year, especially when he was alone in his apartment with only his thoughts.
January 2014
two weeks old...
'Maybe they're no longer looking for us', she says, from where she's sat on the couch.
He looks over at her from the adjacent couch he is sat on. From the expression on her face, he can tell that she is just speaking her thoughts out loud. He doubts that she even realises she spoke aloud. Her head is arched backwards over the low back of her couch, her fingers massaging her scalp before running through her short strands of hair. Her knees support William who is feeding off her chest.
When she lifts her head back up and her hair falls back into place, her fingers continue to religiously massage her scalp.
But she does not look at him, or make any indication that she had been talking to him, she instead looks down to watch William.
He's noticed before how self conscious she still is over her big chop, and unfortunately for her, her ends still curl just below her ear just like he remembers they did three months ago on his birthday.
He decides not to answer her question/thought, but he had been thinking the same thing.
For just over a week now, they had been hiding out at one of her relative/family friends' holiday home in, Dana Point, California. Someone she knew well enough to know where the key box was hidden and the code combination. Not that he has allowed himself to explore yet, but apparently there was also a, 'Dana Hill', and a, 'Dana Cove', in the area. It was also the inspiration behind Dana's name. It all seemed so obvious to Fox that this is where they would be, and yet, no one has come to look for them. No one answered their calls, no one seemed to be at their homes, and the news stations were not responding to the copied material that he had posted to them.
He feels like he has been doing everything he can and nothing at all at the same time. He wants their fathers free from prison and compensated for their defamation. He wants he and Dana to be able to return to their families, and he wants William to be safe. But how can he achieve it when no one is willing to start the conversation?
Why won't his mother answer his calls?
Why won't her mother answer her calls?
Why won't the news teams respond to the information he sent them? Why have people suddenly stopped worrying about the welfare of, Dana Katherine Scully? The Madonna with Child reincarnated.
He spent a good ten minutes the other day staring at his cellphone - his old cellphone, the one his father said not to turn on unless it was an emergency, wondering whether he should turn it on, just to see.
~xXx~
Melmo's House
Baltimore, Maryland
16:37
"You're late", Melmo says gruffly when he opens his front door to see Fox on his threshold, a prink frilly apron around his waist and an oven glove on his right hand.
"How can I be late? I'm not even supposed to be here," Fox laughs.
"And yet, here you are", he mumbles, turning back into the large townhouse, leaving the door open for Fox to follow him in. "Like you were last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. You're like a boomerang, I throw you away and you keep returning".
January 2014
three weeks old...
'I think we should get there before it gets dark, he says to her in the backseat, frowning at the copied directions on the laptop screen. The car he had purchased just two days ago had no GPS. 'Then we'll just hang out until it gets dark'.
Or maybe he should locate the key first so he isn't looking for it in the dark? Melmo, had been really clear in his instructions, but still...
She didn't respond but he knew that it was because she was busy with William. The drive from Dana Point to Roswell, New Mexico was only thirteen hours and Fox knew he could have done it one time, but Dana was in charge of the directions - and - William, who still wanted her to tend to him every two hours, which meant Fox had to plan his stops ahead.
Roswell, New Mexico. Fox couldn't believe the place actually existed. He thought it was make believe, like Springfield, but it seemed like aliens, space and UFOs were part of the city's tourism. It made sense that Melmo would have a house there as a conspiracy nut.
He also couldn't believe his stroke of genius of how he got back in contact with the Lone Gunmen...
... He had unsuccessfully tried the bar in Omaha, Nebraska first and so was shocked when the bar in Dayton, Ohio had said they were playing that Friday and to try then. From then the decision making had been out of Fox's hands again and back in the Lone Gunmens, and he was thankful for it as phone calls still remained unanswered, and the news stations were still uninterested in his plight. The Lone Gunmen had instructed Fox to first get himself, Dana, and William to a 'safe house' in Roswell - which Fox thinks is really just a house that Frohike owns - then, they would go from there. So he had found them a car the next day, and the day after that they were off ... It had been difficult though, driving through Arizona, past the signs and highway turnoffs for Pheonix, knowing that was where his father was currently wrongly incarcerated on death row. Wondering if he just turned up at Arizona State Prison Complex with Dana and William, whether they would just let his father go then and there...
~xXx~
December 23rd
The ferry from Woods Hole, Massachusetts to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
07:15
the next day...
Fox stared over the ferry's stern barrier into the waves silently being parted by the boat. The morning was crisp and cold, and he was pretty sure he was the only passenger out on the deck. He hadn't intended on staying so long at Melmo's place, his family had expected him to arrive last night, but the first time he had looked for the time after arriving at Melmo's, he knew he was never going to make the last ferry. Still, he had made sure to be on the first ferry out.
January 2014
almost one month old...
'Finally! You're back! What did they say? You were gone so long, I thought - ... Fox? What's wrong? What happened?"
Dana had gone from being like a puppy bounding to meet it's friend to being, well, Dana. Nervous, a small octave above quiet, hidden, constantly on edge.
'Fox?' Even softer and quieter, scared of what he was going to say, like she just knew it was going to be bad, when she had obviously expected good news. Just like he had. News that their parents and her brothers were going to be released from prison, news that they could finally return to their families. Because why not? Everything had been progressing - albeit much too slowly for the both of them - in the week or so since arriving in Roswell and involving the Lone Gunmen again. Who had achieved what Fox couldn't, getting the media interested again in their plight. They had the whole of America believing that their families had been set up, with lively commentary concerning whether the government were trying to hide a secret operation to create, 'super soldiers', as the media liked to coin it.
He had arrived at the internet cafe as instructed. He had been going there daily as that was how the Lone Gunmen had said to communicate with them. He hadn't expected to meet all three of them there in person. The moment he recognised them, he knew that something was wrong, and he just knew it had something to do with his father. But he didn't think he had expected what they said, and he definitely hadn't expected what else they had told him...
He stumbled his way towards the living room, vaguely aware of her helping him, guiding him to sit on the large arm chair, before taking off his baseball cap and carefully pulling off his fake moustache and beard. She then kneeled before him and propped her chin at the edge of his knees, looked up at him and waited.
He stared down into her caring eyes.
His father... possibly dead? The cheek swabs showing that William partly shared the same DNA as Fox...?
How was that possible?
What did that mean?
And his father couldn't be dead!
They said they drove all the way to tell him before the media got wind and he heard it on the news. They had talked more but Fox hadn't listened and when he cut them off by asking how sure they were that his father was dead, they all avoided his question.
Pretty sure, Ringo eventually.
Melmo?
Probably, he confirmed sadly.
Then nobody spoke for a long time, just the background noise from the arcade they had re-located to.
Johnny said something about more cheek swabs to ascertain the relationship between him and William, but Fox didn't care about that. He only cared that his father was probably dead.
~xXx~
Mulder Family House, built by hand by William Mulder I in 1730
Martha's Vineyard
08:22
The Mulder Family House had been renovated and extended since William Mulder I - who had a small, local, whaling company - first built it as an actual family home. Now it served as a location that was big enough for the extended family to vacation and spend the holidays together, Christmas being the busiest.
A small, decaying snowman greeted Fox near the front porch; the kids had obviously built it with the minimal snow that dotted around the area. Fox smiled, and wondered like he often did this time of year, whether William would have joined in with these antics. Would he have been the natural ring leader of the lot or would have he been quiet? Happy to go along with what he was told, just grateful to be involved. Would he even want to play? Would his nose be stuck in a book - or more likely a tablet? Always had his chess board out?
His Aunt Clara greeted him first, she was in the kitchen with his cousin, Blight's smallest child, Tristan.
He greets his aunt with a kiss to her cheek, and lightly plays with the baby's foot.
"I think your mother stayed up all night waiting for you".
Fox cringed slightly, he should have called.
"And Sam?"
"She caught the last ferry and got in the same time you should have", gently scolding.
Fox finds his mother asleep in the conservatory, nestled in a large armchair with a blanket draped over her. The older sister of the baby plays quietly on the floor near her with one of her dolls, but rushes to hug Fox's legs when she sees him.
He picks Martha up, giving her a kiss before putting her back down so she can return to her solitary game.
He then walks over to his mother and gives her a gentle kiss on her forehead.
He doesn't feel nearly as bad as he should that she stayed up waiting for him. He wonders if he will ever fully forgive her for lying to him about who his real father was, for her cheating on her husband, for making him believe for so long that Bill Mulder was the one who had given his DNA for William's creation. He honestly thinks it's only because she offered to adopt William for him that they are as close as they are.
He looks over at the little girl who is watching him.
He is not even technically a Mulder, and yet his mother had the audacity to give him two of his father's names.
She had pleaded that she hadn't been sure, that when Fox was born he could have been either of theirs, and that it wasn't until 'William' that she had DNA proof ... but still ...
Charles Spender is his real father, the cigarette smoking man, and he never got the chance to meet him properly, let alone as his father.
He is fatherless, both biologically and legally. He lost them both to their involvement with William. The Lone Gunmen had been correct, his father died in prison. A bullet to the head, execution style, Fox had found that out later himself when he asked the FBI representative that came to interview him when he was back in his house with his mother and sister. They had said it was suicide. Apparently he had tackled a guard to the ground, removed his gun and then shot himself, but Fox still doesn't believe that.
That was partly why he did his stint at the FBI after graduating from Oxford - short as it was - to find out the truth. It had been exciting at first but it quickly turned uncomfortable and felt strangely incestuos. Still, he won't regret what he learned, or the access it gave him to the X-Files.
Charles Spender was amongst the bodies found dead in that wreckage he witnessed back in Colorado, Fox still to this day doesn't know how he knew it was him; maybe it was just a case of a son being able to recognise his father.
The English gentlemen that had helped him and Dana so much, his body was also found in the wreckage. Fox had since learnt his name, Richard Wilson.
What Fox hadn't managed to find out was whether the government or the FBI were more involved in the creation of William, or if the Syndicate was, as they claimed, 'a case of a few agents going AWOL'. He guesses if there were any files or ties, they would have all been destroyed by the time he joined the FBI.
Charles Spender ... he didn't deserve his fate, but at least he had blame. From what little Fox chose to understand on the subject, he and Dr Calderon headed William's creation as a three-parent baby. Fox's father had become involved later, after William had been created and Dana inseminated, and all he had wanted to do was protect Dana and her family from further hurt. His kindness got him dead.
At least, that it what Fox had settled to believe. Not that it mattered much now. And he had come across much more bizarre cases in his short time working on the X-Files, cases that made William's case look like a walk in the park. No, he just wanted to forget about it really and move on with his life apart from his fathers. It was just, Christmas, was a hard time. It brought it all back.
~xXx~
May 15th, 2019
Baltimore, Maryland
Four months, twenty three days later...
Fox knocks impatiently at Melmo's door.
"What you doing here?"
"I need your help", pushing past Melmo and into his house.
It had all started on a date Fox went on with one of his colleagues a couple of weeks ago. He knows he should have learnt from Diana, not to have relationships with colleagues, but the question Ruth had asked him had struck. Whether he wanted children? Fox had looked at Ruth, who he knew was five years older than him, very pretty, but obviously wasn't looking to start anything that didn't have an end game in marriage and children, and turned the question back on her. She said she would like to have her own, but she also liked the idea of adopting. Their date hadn't materialised into anything, but her question did bug him the rest of that night and since. The answer coming to him like an epiphany after a rare and very odd visit from his brother, Jeffrey Spender, just this morning.
He didn't want children, because he already had a child who needed him.
He just hadn't realised it until Jeffrey had said that he was thinking of applying to adopt William himself, and was looking for Fox to back him in court.
'The baby, the one you protected, well he's five years old now and in the foster care system. I thought I would adopt him, he is sort of my family after all. I don't like the idea of him being just left behind like that'.
It had taken Fox more than a few moments to comprehend what his older half-brother was telling him because the last he knew, his William was now Jackson Van De Kamp, Dana had followed through with his intended adoption. That, and the fact that Jeffrey had never mentioned having any knowledge about William to Fox before. Of course, Fox knew he undoubtedly knew about 'William', because well, everyone in the Bureau knew the ins and outs of that case. But, working with his older half-brother on the X-Files, Jeffrey sort of being Fox's boss, Fox had been pretty certain that his brother hated his guts because of what he represented, his father's infidelity towards his mother. So for him to come ask him for help... flabbergasted him.
Jeffrey had taken Fox's silence as a cue that he was interested. Apparently, Jeffrey and his wife had not long found out that she couldn't have children, so they were thinking of adopting. He explained, that if he had Fox's written consent, as William's first legal guardian, it would make the process quicker.
It made Fox flash to the birth certificate the Lone Gunmen had somehow procured from that nurse, Monica Reyes, and posted to them in Roswell that listed he and Dana as William's parents, an original and two copies. He still had his copy, folded into eight and purposefully lost in a mess of 2017 tax receipts.
Jeffrey had continued prattling on in that boring, obnoxious tone of his, before Fox asked why, William, was no longer with his adopted parents.
They had given him up.
Given him up?
Did Dana know this?
Jeffrey was getting impatient so Fox made up a lie about being late to see his mother and pushed him out his door.
Fox didn't understand what was going on but one thing he was sure of, there was no way, Jeffrey Spender, was raising William.
~xXx~
May 16th, 2019
Enroute to San Diego, California
the next day...
Fox looked out of the small aeroplane window and allowed the bright sun to burn his eyes as his brain ran through again everything he had learnt concerning Dana and William.
Dana had been living in Kaua'i, but had moved mainland last year to start her studies at Stanford University. Fox already knew the first part, Hawai'i was where she and her family had moved to when the three of them had separated five years ago. Him, back to Maryland with what was left of his family; William, to Wyoming with Patricia and Cleveland Van De Kamp through closed adoption, in the hope that he would grow up living a normal life. That had been the hopes for all really. That's why they split the way they did, a chance for all involved to forget and be forgotten.
But William was now living in a children's home in San Diego.
Fox had initially gone to Melmo for his hacking skills, to find out more information about William's whereabouts; Melmo lived the closest to Fox, and asking for his help was much easier than Fox trying to do the search himself. His surprise to find out that Melmo already knew William was no longer with the Van De Kamps! Apparently, it was Dana who had decided to move him to the children's home. Apparently, she still kept in contact with Melmo. Apparently, Melmo hadn't told Fox because Fox always walked away when he tried speaking to him about Dana or William or about that time.
But Fox wasn't angry at Melmo, Fox was angry at Dana.
January 2014...
She wanted out, and he didn't blame her. If he was in her shoes, he would do the same in an instant. She didn't want what maybe happened to his father, to happen to hers. To happen to her brothers, or her mother. Fox found that he also wanted out. Although his mother was apparently only under house arrest, what's to say she still isn't in danger? And what about his sister?! Her sister.
'We tried, Fox. We tried for him', Dana says, looking at the baby between them. 'But we're just kids ourselves, and we're in way over our heads'.
Fox picks William up, kissing his forehead, before kissing the little fist he already has locked round Fox's finger.
He always seemed calmer when he was skin to skin, and the feeling was mutual.
Fox kisses William's forehead again.
None of this was his fault.
He didn't ask to be created, to be born.
'Will you keep him?' He asks, and he tries to keep any judgement from his voice, because she was the one who had decided to let him grow, to let him live.
"I don't know, the reason I had him was never to be his mother. I will always love him, and I will always love you, but we have families who love us too, and are being hurt by us not being with them'.
~xXx~
Sunday May 19th
West San Diego Catholic Children Home for Boys
09:49
three days later...
Fox crunched on a new packet of sunflower seeds whilst he waited in his rental Prius for ten o'clock to arrive. It delighted him to know that William also had a liking for sunflower seeds, as it had been his father's favourite snack too. Fox still remembers when his father first gave them to him to try, he was probably six or seven, so older than William, but he will always remember his father's smile as a little boy when he went to grab another one. It was almost deja vu as he watched William's curious fingers grab another yesterday.
William was perfect, there was no other word to describe him, and when he first saw him, all he saw was how much he looked like he and Dana. He almost choked when he saw that he still had the same shade of blue eyes as her, smiling up at him. And call him a love-sick fool for looking for similarities that didn't exist, but he was certain that the shape of William's - or Billy as said he likes to also be called - eyes were the same as his, and maybe his jaw too? Fox always thought that he looked like his mother, but he guesses he must have some of Charles Spender in him too. William had her smile too, and the same plump pink lips. He wasn't at all what Fox expected, and the sight of him, knocked the wind out of him.
Then when William shot up from where he was sat on his little rug with his toys to give him a running hug, squealing out his name, 'Fox', the wind was knocked out of him more.
He'd caught him just in time.
'She said you were coming!' He squeals in his excitement.
Fox can't speak at first, lost in the little boy's eyes. Up close, he can see that they are a bit different to hers, with flicks of brown and green imbedded in the blue. And within them, swirls Fox's entire six months with Dana. 'Who said?'
William throws his head back and chuckles, two perfect dimples emerging on each cheek. His lips are slightly darker than hers. 'Da-na', he sings.
The wind is knocked from him a third time.
It had shocked Fox to learn that Dana was still involved in William's life to the extent that she was on first name basis with him, and that she had told William about him, and that she knew that he had requested to see William. He had arrived in San Diego furious with her for abandoning him like he was an orphan in some children's home, but obviously that wasn't quite true.
He had spent the whole of yesterday with William in the grounds of children home, and when William had ran out to meet him in his car, the sun glinting like a halo over his blond corkscrews as they bounced happily along with him, all Fox felt was guilt that he hadn't let his mom adopt him. That he had let his hurt and anger over his father's death dictate that decision.
Now, out of the corner of his eye, he sees, the blonde halo of corkscrews bouncing in the sunshine and hurries to fold away his snack, so he can catch him.
He's pocketed them and is about to open his car door when he sees that William is in the arms of someone else...
Ginger hair that waves way past her shoulders. She's wearing a yellow sundress. ... It's ... Dana.
Even after all this time, even from this distance, he knows it her.
She and William look beautiful together.
And it wasn't just the way the sunlight hit her hair the same way as William's, and creates a sort of halo over the two of them.
~xXx~
20:37
The doorbell rings and Fox collects the pizza money before rushing to answer the door.
That was quick, he thinks.
But when he opens the door, he realises his mistake. It's Dana, not pizza.
She's no longer wearing her yellow sun dress, she's in a black and white stripped all in one thing and her hair is heaped up on her head. It's a totally different look, she looks somewhat professional, and older.
He looks behind her.
"You're expecting someone else?" She asks, curiously. Her voice sounds older, but it still has that childish note that rings through it.
Fox's eyes flick back at her. Her eyebrows are furrowed slightly, she looks hurt, like he's wounded her, but then it goes quickly.
"Pizza", he half lies. He had been looking for her mother. She was with her at the children's home.
On seeing Dana for the first time since they separated, Fox had faltered, but only for a moment. Surprisingly for him, the insecurities he'd built over encountering her again, vanished. He had been ready to greet her with as much enthusiasm as William had, but then he had spotted her mother.
If there was ever a mother most dedicated to her child, it was Maggie Scully. He'd never forget her display, when she saw her daughter again for the first time, after almost six months away from her...
It was the blood curdling scream that shocked him, and by the way Dana pushed herself and William into him, he knew it scared her too. He locked an arm around her and tried to protect them as best as possible as this woman pushed her way towards them.
'What have they done to you?!' She sobbed, trying to grab Dana, through Fox's hold.
'Mom', Dana choked, pushing away from, Fox.
The woman swiftly transferred William out of Dana's arms and into Fox's. 'Look what they've done to you?! My baby girl!' She crushed Dana into her and held her for the longest time.
When they pulled away from each other, both mother and daughter's eyes were swollen with tears. 'Look at you', the woman exclaimed sorrowfully, inspecting Dana from head to toe and back up again. 'It's OK', she then says, eyes determined. 'It's OK', voice determined. 'We will get through this, I promise'.
Maggie Scully seemed intent from then on to put as much space between Dana and William. Fox is pretty sure, if it wasn't for the woman being so insistent on making her daughter forget her whole ordeal, Dana would have kept William. He had tried to speak to the woman, only once. He can't even remember the few words he had tried to say to her, but her laser eyes had turned on him, and it was like she saw everything he did to his daughter, that she saw through what everyone else didn't, that he hadn't been entirely innocent towards Dana, and it shut him right up.
Now, Dana and Fox just stare at each other, waiting for the other to decide on the next move.
His palm is sweaty on the door frame and he lifts it off and before he know's what's next, she's got her arms circled around his waist in a hug.
Hesitantly, he brings his arms down to hug her too.
She's grown taller, but then so has he. The top of her head still fits under her chin.
She doesn't let go of their embrace, so he throws caution in the wind and breathes her in. She smells of shampoo, but also a smell that even after five years, he has never managed to get out of his system. Her.
He feels her breathe him in too, before relaxing even more into his embrace.
He places a wisp of a kiss on top of her hair.
~xXx~
"Air BnB?" She asks, as she noses more around his rental.
She was still slim and athletic, but she had put some weight on too. She looked good for it. He would describe William's build as slim and athletic too.
"Rental at the moment".
She stops and turns to look at him. "You looking to buy?"
He shrugs, "maybe".
A small smile creeps on her face.
"When did you come back in his life?" Maybe it wasn't the right time, but he had to ask.
"Right after I found out the Van De Kamps were giving him up", she answers easily, making her way up the stairs.
"Why did they? I thought you said they wanted him".
"They did - had".
"And how did you find out they were giving him up?" He asks, as she looks over the spare bedroom.
How did she know and not he?
"Because they told me".
They told her?! But ... "But ... - how did they know how to contact you?" It was supposed to be a closed adoption.
"Because I granted them access to my contact details and William's birth certificate, just in case ..."
" - incase what?" Slightly annoyed that she hadn't played by the agreed rules.
"Incase he needed me", walking out of the spare bedroom, he was pretty sure she was avoiding eye contact with him.
"And they didn't tell you why they were giving him up?" He persists.
She was now inspecting the spare upstairs bedroom, but looks him in the eyes briefly, before she turns out. "They didn't tell me why, Fox".
It still did something to him, hearing his name come out of her mouth. He watches the back of her as she continues to the master bedroom. His bedroom and decidedly ignores how it makes his dick tingle. He had expected that reaction when he first saw her in her short yellow dress, but hadn't. He put that to the overwhelming sense of relief on seeing her again, happy and well, but again he had felt nothing sexual towards her when he had first seen her on his porch, or when they had hugged. So it was in fact welcomed that he knew he found Dana - the much more womanly twenty year old - sexually attractive, as his younger self had found her as a teenager.
Womanly. His eyes trailed over her form as she looked around the room. She was no longer sparrow like in build, her bones had arched out an expanded as if they were putting her on show for all the world to appreciate her new womanly assets. Her breasts, although hidden in the bagginess of the material, looked fuller and rounder, her stomach synched at the waist, and her ass ... had followed the same growth spurt as her breasts.
Her profile turns and he immediately shoots his eyes up, so as not to be caught leering at her. She could have a boyfriend for all he knows, or even a husband?
But he hasn't been caught, her eyes are still roaming the room.
Girlfriend? Wife? Fiancé?
His eyes trail down her again, within her new body he can still see the shadow of the one that carried William hidden, watched birth him, and then nurse him, and those are all sights that no one else but he can appreciate. That knowledge fills him with a rush of testosterone, possessiveness, ownership. Because he doesn't like the idea of anyone else witnessing it, in fact, it makes his skin peel thinking about it.
"Melmo told me of your plans to adopt, William?"
He flicks his eyes immediately up at the sound of her voice but it takes him a while to compute what she asked him.
It's OK though, he has time as she's not looking at him, she's inspecting his bed.
What he would like to do with her now on that bed... he wonders if she would let him? He wonders if she has allowed someone else to take a bite of her? He always promised himself it would be him, but that was five years ago, and she was interested in sex then.
She slowly turns her attention from her inspection of the bed, to look him in the eyes again, this time she doesn't let go of her stare.
Fox twitches his lips, and he starts to feel hot under the collar, whether from her question or his thoughts about her, he doesn't know. He had already guessed Melmo was how she found out where he was, but the way she was looking at him, it was almost as if she was challenging him? Challenging him to do what? Kiss her? Fuck her on his bed?
No. She is only thinking about William. "It's better than where he is now", defensive, trying to keep accusation from his voice.
The slight flare of her nostrils shows that he - as always with her - was unsuccessful in hiding it.
She pushes past him and with the soft blow, goes any idea he had of fucking her on his bed.
He rolls his eyes and follows her down the stairs.
"My mom lives in San Diego, she keeps an eye on him", sitting on one of the living room's couches, she folds one leg over the other and arches an eyebrow at him, waiting for his comeback.
"And you ... what?" Taking a seat on the other one.
"I'm studying at Stanford".
"And William is to what...? Wait in that children's home until you're ready to be a parent?"
She had been bouncing her leg, but it suddenly stills. "I never had him to be his -"
" - I know, you never had him to be his mother", he breathes out his anger. He just hoped she had changed, grown up ... like her body has.
"It's complicated, he understands, and he likes where he is, he has lots of friends. He's protected, there are people there that can help him", she says getting up.
Fox follows her again, annoyed at how freely she allows herself to move around his house.
This time she ends up in the kitchen. She turns the tap on.
"Protected from what? He's not special like that. He has no special powers. He's not superhuman. He's not like Gibson Praise. He's just a three-parent-child, and even that it is not illegal now. He was groundbreaking, yes, but not anymore. You don't have to worry about anyone coming to take him for research".
"And who told you that?" Her eyes look at him cooly.
He turns off the tap because she had it running for no reason.
"Look, I worked at the Bureau for a while, to find out more information. But it was all true what they told us, I have it on good grounds".
'Fox?' Tony Correolli greets him. 'I heard you had joined us. The X-Files division, right? With -'
' - with my brother, Jeffrey Spender, yes'.
Tony Correolli looks surprised that he knew that, but only briefly. 'Well, what can I do for you, my boy?'
'I want you to tell me why my father, Bill Mulder, died'.
The smile falls from Tony Correolli's face. 'Why would you think I would know?'
Names may have been stricken from the files on the Syndicate to just Dr Calderon, his father, Charles Spender and Richard Wilson, but faces haven't been erased from Fox's memory, and what they don't know is that he was there that first night Dana was brought to them, and he distinctly remembers Tony Correolli's face in the room.
'Because you were his friend'.
Tony Correolli's face eases. 'I was very sorry to learn what happened to your father, Fox. It seems like only yesterday, the two of us were watching you and my Jason, playing in my pool as kids'. He pauses. 'I'll tell you something I probably shouldn't...'.
In the end it was what they told them five years ago, it hadn't been about super soldiers, it had been about creating a three-parent-baby, but to do that involved a form of human cloning, which was then illegal. Naively, they hadn't expected the magnitude of the media attention, and then the different groups that got involved, each manifested that their reasonings for William's existent were true.
'Then why didn't you say anything?! When they accused my father of rape, why didn't you defend him?!'
'Because then they would have sent us all to prison, your father included. We were waiting for you to bring Miss Scully in, so that we could prove that your father and her father and brothers had nothing to do with the child's conception. But you never did. You kept running'.
"If that's true, why did they inseminate me?" Dana asks.
"Because Dr Calderon was crazy".
"Why did your father tell us to go on the run?"
"Because he was crazy".
She looks at him pointedly. "You believe that?"
"No!" No, he didn't! He didn't know why he was said that! Truth was ... he didn't know what to believe, he only knew what he chose to believe, and he chose that over the insanity of trying to find out what was the truth. "I don't know ... He was worried about the tests they were doing on you, about what they were doing to William, that they were just seeing you both as just lab rats... "
From the way she's looking at him, she doesn't seem convinced.
"I don't know, Dana! All I know, is that it got him killed!" He turns from her to sit with his back to her at the small breakfast table so she wouldn't see the tears, even though she has seen him cry so many times before. He was a proper man now, and she was still four - now only three - years younger than him, even is she was a woman now, and seemed so strong. Why was that...? Why had she grown strong, but he was still that pathetic eighteen year old.
"William took away my cancer", she says quietly. "I'll always believe that".
"You never had cancer", Fox sniffs. "Dr Caulderon just had some perverted, crazy infatuation with you, and inseminating you with William just meant that he could spend more time with you".
"What about all those lucrative prescriptions?"
"I don't know?!" Fox stands up, having enough of her prodding what has been his sound logic for the past five years, not liking the splitting headache it is giving him. "Maybe you did have cancer and they were special cancer tablets. What does it matter now?" He turns on her.
"It matters plenty if I can't protect, William", she shrills, and he can feel her worry radiating off of her.
"Well while you let your worry dictate you, he's probably laying up at night, wondering what he's done wrong for his parents not to want him. You can't let this be his life, Dana", he pleads. "He's a happy child, yes, but I don't care how much you think he "understands", abandonment is abandonment and it has big psychological repercussions, especially the longer you leave it", he argues, his voice going gentler as he speaks. He can see what he is saying is upsetting her, and he still doesn't like seeing her sad. Even if it's something she needs to hear.
She nods, blinking away tears. "I don't want this to be his life. And I didn't come here to fight you, Fox. I came to tell you that I am happy for William to spend next weekend with you as I trial".
That stopped him.
"Oh. Well... thanks..."
The door bell went.
"That would be my pizza. You're welcome to stay ..."
"No, I should go. I need to get back to Stanford", turning back to the sink, she turns the tap on again.
"Well, why don't you join me and William next weekend?" Suddenly worried that he'll never see her again unless he fixes this now.
She turns the tap off, "I'm away with friends next weekend, celebrating the end of the exams". She turns the tap back on, which was getting more than slightly annoying. "Do you have anything else to tell me?" She looks at him accusatory.
Fox's eyes go wide.
Suddenly a deer in headlights.
What is that she want's him to tell her?
Does she want him to apologise for the way he acted with her five years ago? The kisses, the touches...
Or maybe that all he wanted to do upstairs was throw her on his bed and fuck her until her voice went horse from screaming his name... "What is that you want me to tell you?" He asks slowly.
Her eyes lower, but she doesn't respond.
"What was it that you told William about me?" Because he is interested to know why William has an almost hero worship for him. "He seems to know a lot about who I am"
"I told him that you helped me look after him when he was a baby, and that you protected us".
The doorbell rings more insistent and she turns off the tap and her gaze from him.
He get's the pizza while she collects her things she left in the living room.
"Are you sure I can't convince you? I'll pick off the meat, if you're still a vegetarian".
Great, that was extent of wooing his brain could come up with for her.
"I told you, I have to get to Stanford".
"Stanford is a long drive".
"I'm flying".
He nods, failing to think of something to say that will make her stay. "-Wait".
She stops.
Stay, he wants to ask.
She walks up to him kisses him with the barest of kisses on his cheek, before leaving him in the middle of his hallway with his pizza.
Later that evening, he stared at the polaroids he had of him, Dana, and William at different stages of William's existence. He had gifted her the camera one Anniversary Day she had been feeling particularly low; having secretly purchased it in Buffalo as an intended Christmas present, only to find out later than day, that she would be severing their partnership after the baby was born.
September 2017
Jersey City, New Jersey
'What, what is it?' Diana asks, biting on his earlobe and then gently pulling on it. 'I can visibly see that amazing', she moves to kiss his lips, 'beautiful', and again, 'clever brain, running a mile a minute'.
Fox rolls his eyes, smiling at her.
'I'm being serious', she moves, so that she is flush against him, rhythmically bucking her hips into his. 'That X-File has been sitting around for so long, it's been looked at by so many people, and you solve it in just one week. Your first week too, might I add'.
'Well, I had help. Your help'.
'You don't give yourself enough credit'.
She sits up to straddle him, continuing her gyrations, he puts his hands on her hips to steady her. 'I was just thinking, what was it again that you said you gave Dana?'
She breathes out, but doesn't seem angry by his question. 'A simple epidural to help with the pain'.
'And you knew it was her because of that nick she has on the back of her neck?'.
'The C, yes, like I said, Calderon was obsessed with her'.
~xXx~
May 25th
19:31
six days later...
He had gotten a text message on his cellphone from Dana yesterday to remind him about his weekend with William, and that whilst he had no allergies, William was a vegetarian.
He really should speak to Melmo about him giving up his personal details to her.
He had picked William up at ten, his golden corkscrews again happily bouncing to meet him, and Fox in that moment wished, that William would never grow out of this unrestrained enthusiasm for greeting him and Dana like this.
That morning, William's whole body was a bundle of happy bouncing energy as he waited for Fox to open the car door and help him take off the most adorable little yellow rucksack, that had blue foxes all over it, before placing it in the backseat.
Fox wondered idly if Dana had got it for him? If she had packed his bag for him? And if she hadn't, who had? William himself?
The only sense of trepidation Fox got from the little boy was when he was belted in the booster seat he had rented just for him. The fingers of one hand in his mouth and the other locked in a little fist around his rucksack loop; eyes big, William looked at Fox from the back of the car warily.
'You ready?" Fox asked. Wishing again that Dana was here with them. He was nervous about today too. He hoped William enjoyed what he'd planned.
William nodded slowly, smiling.
So far, his weekend with William was going good, and he was feeling fairly confident that he could do this on a full time basis. He loved spending time with William, and William seemed to love spending time with him. He was a good kid, very bright, always happy, and did what he was told, without complaining. He ate all of his food, without complaints about not liking something, and now, he was getting his pyjamas together without complaints. Fox just wishes he could get over this feeling that the boy was going to break any minute, and just enjoy his time with him.
December 2013
Dana Point, California
He had heard her shift in her sleep, and then rise - doubtlessly because she couldn't feel William next to her.
'Is he OK?" She asks.
Fox continues looking down at the tiny newborn in his arms, and continues his tracing of the infants facial features with his finger that's wrapped in the baby's teeny tiny fist. 'He's so strong. He's the tiniest thing I've ever seen and should still technically be inside you but look', he says, still, even almost a week after his birth, completely in awe of William.
He hears Dana sigh, lie back down, and continue her sleep.
Fox places a kiss on the bridge of William's nose.
"I have to wash before I put my pyjamas on", William says.
Fox takes his eyes off Dana's cross that lays low on the boy's chest to look at him. He's fiddling with his belly button. Where he and Dana were once connected.
"Like a bath or in the sink?"
"A bath", exaggerating the word. "I'm too big for the sink!", he jumps.
"OK", Fox nods, he could do that. "Did you know I gave you your first bath?" He blurts out.
William goes all adorable shy, and shakes his head, no.
"I did, and you were about the size of my hand".
William nods. "I used to be really small!" Jumping again for effect.
~xXx~
"Who gave you that necklace?" He asks, when William is in the bath. It had taken him forever to take it off and William had seemed a bit put off when he realised he was taking it off, but he assured the boy he would put it back on him, and seemed happy when he explained he only wanted to protect it from the water, so it lasted longer.
"Da-na".
He always sung her name.
He then barrelled his head under the water and pretended to swim. When he came back up, his hair was plastered to his face.
Oye.
Fox had kind of hoped to keep his hair dry, it looked like a lot of work.
"Do we have to wash that?" He indicates to William's hair.
William shook his head, no, "only on Sundays".
"Well it's a good job today's not Sunday", Fox laughs, and William joins in too.
He had to brush it though. He looked warily at the hairbrush William had produced from his bag and handed to him, but the boy had seemed quite happy to play with Dana's cross whilst he waited for Fox to muster the confidence to do the first brush.
It was quite easy.
The last thing William pulled out of his Mary Poppins-esque bag before he went to sleep, made Fox's heart stop. It was the baby blanket Dana knitted for him. He held it tight to his chest, as if it was some kind of stuffed toy.
"Do you know who made that for you?" He asks, helping the child into the bed in the spare room. His hair was still wet, Fox wondered if he needed to wrap a towel around it whilst he slept.
William had a thumb stuck in his mouth and the blanket around his neck and face, ready to sleep, but nodded, before his eyes closing. When he turned to the side to snuggle his blanket even more, Fox thought that indicated conversation over and started to move quietly out the room.
"Dana made it for me when I was in her tummy", he states. Fox - momentarily stupefied by William's revelation - again thinks that's conversation over, but the little boy continues. "Dana's mommy says that there are different ways babies come to the world. Some mommies birthed their babies, some mommies have other womans birthed their babies", he explains around his thumb.
Fox holds his breath, not quite believing that William knew this. There was telling a kid that you looked after him when they were a baby, and there is telling a kid that you were the one who carried him through pregnancy and birthed him! ... But maybe William didn't understand the significance, he was still young.
"And did she tell you how William came into this world?" He dares himself to ask.
"Dana birthed me, but she is not my mommy".
That sounded like Maggie Scully, and Fox rested a hand on the kid's back.
"I used to have a mommy and a daddy when I was a-dop-ted and was Jackson Van De Kamp, but now I am not".
Fox's heart sinks, feeling no child should be given up. Especially this one, who was still so tiny and knew he was given up twice. "Do you miss being Jackson Van De Kamp?".
His little body twitches, "sometimes".
A thought suddenly occurred to Fox. "Do you miss being called Jackson?" That had been his name for the first four years of his life, the name he grew up knowing. "Because I can call you that if you like?"
"I am not Jackson anymore. Mommy and daddy had to go away, so I was no longer Jackson Van De Kamp, and no longer have a mommy or daddy. I am William again and William does not have a mommy or daddy", he proclaims definitively, understandably, sounding a bit upset. And, 'William again', so he probably knew, 'William', was the name Dana had given him...? Did he know why?
"OK, William", Fox appeases, rubbing his back gently and placing a kiss on the little boy's head, before leaving the room to get his polaroids of the three of them, and his copy of William's birth certificate. Fox felt it was time he added his say to William's story.
"William can you look at these?" He asks, cupping the back of the boys head to rouse him awake again.
William dutifully sits up, and rests his little weight against Fox's chest.
Fox places a few kisses on his forehead, and William relaxes into him even more. "Have you seen these photos before?" He asks.
William nods, yes, but then shakes his head, no, taking his thumb out of his mouth to touch them.
"Do you know who are in these photos?"
William points to the one of Dana pregnant, "Da-na, and that's you", he points to him standing next to her.
"That's right", Fox smiles. Langley had taken it of them. "And do you know where you are?"
William points to Dana's bump.
"That's right", Fox laughs. "Hey?".
William looks up at him.
"When did you get so smart?"
William smiles, chuckling, his head flinging back on Fox's chest. "I don't know. Dana's showed me si-mi-lar photos".
"She did?"
He nods.
"Then who's this?" Showing him one of him as a newborn.
William pushes his head back into Fox's chest - it really was quite damp. "That's me!" Jumping slightly in his seat, "and I think that's you who is holding me", he points to the faceless bare torso in the background.
"It is, Buddy. And can I show you something else?"
He nods.
"Do you know what this is?" Unfolding the document in his lap.
William looks at it, resting his hand on it. "B-ir-th Cer-ti-if-fer-cate", his little finger moves as he reads out the words.
"Birth Certificate. Do you know what it means?"
William shakes his head, no.
"A Birth Certificate is a very important piece of paper about a person when they are first born. It has the day a person is born, what their name is, who their mommy is and who their daddy is. Can you read whose this is?" He points to William's name.
"William Sc-u-lly M-ul-der", he says his first name easily, but has to sound out the surnames.
"Do you know who that is?"
William looks up at him and shrugs. "Me?" Unsure.
"It is you".
William smiles pleased.
"And look", he points to his name. "'Father', that means 'daddy'. Fox William Mulder, that's me".
He looks to see the child's reaction but William is silent, his fingers tracing Fox's name.
"And see the day you were born, December 25th - Christmas Day - 2013. You see?"
William nods his little head, and Fox kisses the top of it again.
"Da-na", William moves his finger to her name, under, 'Mother'.
He looks up at, Fox.
Ah. He didn't really think this through.
"Yeah that's Dana's name. Dana Katherine Scully", he reads out.
"Scully, like here", he points to his own name. "William. Mulder. Like your name".
The kid really was clever.
"That's right". Fox bites his tongue, not believing what he was going to say, but ... "So you do still have a daddy and mommy, it's me and Dana", he says, lifting up the little boy's chin. "OK".
William nods.
Then, there is silence.
"Are you ready to go back to bed?" Fox asks eventually, desperately wanting to go panic privacy.
William nods.
Dana was going to kill him. That and it really wasn't fair what he had just said, to William and to Dana. Just because he had suddenly decided to pull up his trousers. And it wasn't like Dana wasn't here for him as some kind of guardian.
"William", he calls, hovering over the little boy after he's helped him back under the covers.
William has his thumb back in his mouth and his blanket back around him, but turns to look at Fox.
"I love you", because it's true. It's always been true, and it seemed like this evening was for truths.
William smiles, sitting up and hugging him, making Fox feel confident about his admission.
"I want you to live with me, do you think you would like that?" Moving back to gauge William's reaction.
William fiddles with Fox's t-shirt. "The bad men have gone?" he asks.
"What bad men?" Fox frowns.
"The bad men you had to protect me and Da-na from".
Fox hugs the little boy again, heart broken that he has that as a worry. He doesn't know why Dana even mentioned that men had been looking for him. Maybe when he was much, much older, but it wasn't important to his story now, all it would do now is give him unnecessary insecurities and nightmares.
"There are no more bad men".
"Will Dana live with us too?"
Fox pulls away. "Well, Dana was very, very young when you born. She was too young. She still has some growing up to do. OK?"
William nods, rubbing his eye. "But after she grows up, will she live with us?"
"Maybe she will. Maybe she won't, but it doesn't mean she doesn't love you, OK?"
William nods, before suddenly going shy and not looking at him... "Will you give me away again?" His voice bubbly, a juxtapose of how he must be feeling.
William's words stab in Fox's heart and he bundles the little boy in his arms again. "Never, never again", he promises, trying not to cry. "Never", he promises again, this time looking the little boy in the eye. "I didn't want to in the first place but-"
"- the bad men", William finishes.
Maybe that was why Dana had told him.
"Yes then, because of the bad men. But you have always been important to us. Dana called you William not only because it is my name, but because it is my father's name, her father's name, and her brother's name, all the people we love the most".
'Here let me help you with your rucksack?'
William had been happily swinging his legs whilst licking his ice cream. He shakes his head, no.
'It must be heavy?' He had tried to get the boy to leave it in the car, but he was adamant to take it with him.
William shakes his head again.
'Well now I know why your muscles look so big', he jokes, poking a finger at his stomach.
William giggles before flexing his un-ice-creamed arm and kissing it's bicep.
Fox laughs at his display. Overjoyed that William has such a fun personality despite spending almost the last year in a Catholic children's home. Again, he hadn't known what to expect, solemness perhaps, shyness, religiously reciting Catholic prayers, untouched from reality, always with his head in the Bible ...? But he seemed like a happy, normal child. One who knew what's what.
'You having fun?'
William nods, giving what Fox guesses, is his best smile.
Fox laughs, wiping off William's vanilla ice cream beard. He then tries to take his rucksack off and William turns slightly, so its blocked from Fox, and shakes his head no.
Fox tickles him. 'Come on, what's the deal with the rucksack? You got a million dollars in there, you ain't sharing with me?'
William giggles widely, his hair mimicking his laughter. 'It's a secret between me and Da-na. I'm not s'pposed to tell anyone'.
'A secret between you and Dana', Fox makes a face that makes William laugh again. He likes the idea of them keeping secrets together.
~xXx~
He lies on William's bed, the little boy having fallen asleep on him, his head nestled against Fox's heart. Fox's large hand spanned across the whole of the boy's back and firmly planted him in place, whilst the other gently dries William's hair with the blanket. He didn't know how much William understood about their conversation, and obviously it wasn't as simple as Dana was his mommy and he was his daddy, but it was a start, and there was a weight off his heart that he had at least started the conversation.
'Does living with you mean no more tests?' William asks against his chest sleepily.
Fox is still wondering what he could have meant by that.
'What do you mean, no more tests?'
'You know', he moves the arm on top to the arm underneath and then pricks the skin between his two fingers.
Alarm bells were starting to ring, 'I don't know, we'll have to ask Dana about that'.
He would be asking Dana about that one. Or maybe Melmo would know if he couldn't get hold of her quick enough? The boy's question had left him uneasy, and he kind of wanted to know as soon as possible, like now ... if William hadn't fallen asleep on him not that long ago he would have already been on the phone, but he would give the boy another ten minutes, to properly fall asleep.
December 27th 2013
Denver International Airport
So far, so good. Laura Petrie's and Robert Klein's drivers licenses had delivered once again. They both made it through airport security and were now about to board the flight. No one asked Dana about any documentation for William - which was good because they didn't have anything - they just congratulated her, and said that she could board first so that she and the baby could get settled quicker. They had been careful not to present themselves as being together, but Fox always maintained a close distance, ready to intervene and protect if needed.
Fox wanted to get Dana to her mother as soon and as comfortably for her as possible; a two hour flight, compared to an over eighteen hour drive - not including stops - was a no brainer.
"Fox".
Fox jostled at the sound of his name, first thinking he was having an inter flashback ...
... But then ...
... the smell of cigarette smoke...
He jostles again.
Smoke?
He hadn't used the oven at all?
And if it was the hob he would smell gas?
Besides, it wasn't fire smoke. He knows how that smells like from his time on the X-Files and the precarious situations he found himself in.
No, the smoke ... it was cigarette smoke...
Looking in the direction of the bedroom door he -
- He startles badly
Keeping the little boy fixed to his chest, Fox scrambles off the bed, because there in the room...
... A figure in the darkness...
How...?
"Who are you?!"
Fox quickly flicks on the bedside lamp, and it was just like a nightmare as the light illuminated the room to show ...
NO! ...
But it was ...
It was really him.
He recognised him from the photograph.
Older.
Greyed.
Fox fell back against the wall.
The cigarette smoking man! Charles Spender. His father. He was alive? ... And in his rental home with William.
Fox grips William even closer to him. He heard the little boy cough and was pretty sure he was crushing him but he had to keep him close, it had to be William he had come for...
But why and how?
How did he know where he was?
He was supposed to be dead?!
Fox pulled out the lamp from the socket and picked it up in his spare hand.
Everything went dim in the room again.
William must have been awake now because he could feel the boy grip tightly on his t-shirt and into his skin.
He didn't want to scare the boy, but ... "You're supposed to be dead", his voice cold.
A huge billow of smoke came out in response.
"Is this any way to greet your father, Fox?" He finally speaks, his voice as cutting and chilling to Fox as the harshest winter frost. "And after all I did to make sure your mother didn't end up in a prison. I'm sure Dana wishes her mother was granted the same treatment as house arrest in the comforts of the Vice Consulate of Spain's accommodation in Tampa, Florida".
"You are not my father", Fox spits. "And don't you dare mention her name!"
Charles Spender chuckles lowly. "I've come here for my son, Fox".
William.
"Well you can't have him", Fox says, gently putting William down on the floor, and guiding him behind his legs. "You'll have to go through-"
"-Fox".
Fox recognises the new voice as the main bedroom light is switched on.
Jeffrey Spender.
Fox sneers at him. He should have known. All that bullshit about him wanting to get William out of the foster system.
"Come now, Fox, really? I thought Bill would have taught you to be more distinguished than rolling up your sleeves and putting up your fists. But then again ..." ... "Ah, William", the old man's eyes gleam to the left of Fox.
He knew his name?
It had supposed to have been classified, like his adoption. Fox himself only told his mother that Dana had called the baby, William.
Fox turns to see William is no longer behind his legs, but hunched over the small armchair in the corner of the room, looking through his rucksack.
He quickly moves to shield the boy behind his legs again.
"Stay behind me, William" ... "You", he turns back to Charles Spender, "don't talk about my father", he warns.
"He's a very special boy you know, Fox? He needs very special care", inhaling his cigarette deeply.
Something cold went through Fox. "What do you mean?"
"Only I can give it to him you see, because I created him".
Suddenly, Fox thinks about what William said about tests...
"- Dad", Jeffrey's voice sounded urgent and it severed their tete-a-tete.
"What is it?" he snaps angrily.
"Diana says the house is surrounded by blues?" Looking at Fox.
... Diana...? As in Diana Fowley? She was helping them? It was possible, she'd helped Charles Spender before but then, then she said she was just following orders, she hadn't understood ...
"What have you-", Charles Spender snaps at Fox, his lizard eyes now narrowing on him, before abruptly dropping.
Falling onto William, and narrowing even more...
Fox turns and follows his gaze to see William with a cellphone in hand.
AN: So close to finishing! The final chapter and epilogue turned out to be over 20 000 words, so I going to split it in two. I haven't quite finished the epilogue, but part 2 is already 10k words, so I hope its not going to be too long. Anyway, until next update!