Last Wish
Part 12
By
Trycee
Time-Line: Alternative Universe. Season 10 After Home Again and before My Struggle II.
Disclaimer: This is written for fun, not profit.
After three long days of being hooked up to the machine and undergoing the Stem Cell removal, Bill was ready to be released. He was still sick, nauseous and feverish from the reaction of the five days of shots prior to stem cell retrieval but Scully gave him several prescriptions and released him with instructions that he follow up with his own doctor in Germany. But before Bill, Tara and Matthew left D.C., they spent a few more hours in the crowded room with William, who was growing ever weaker. Bill shook his nephew's hand and hugged his sister tightly. "Tell me if it works," he said.
"I will," Scully said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Thank You for this, Bill."
"We're Scully's, Dana. He's a Scully!"
She glanced at Mulder who shook his head but remained quiet.
Bill hugged his sister hard and nodded in Mulder's direction yet never speaking directly to him, which Mulder appreciated. Tara and Matthew also hugged Scully saying goodbye. They left for their hotel before catching a taxi to the airport for their flight back to Germany.
For the past week, The Van DeKamps were staying in the on-campus Hospital Apartments meant for out of state families with terminally ill children. They would go sleep there at night and cooked themselves something to eat before returning to William's bedside. They were grateful for the privacy and the comfortable accommodations.
Scully rushed back to the lab grabbing up her supplies. She needed to calm her nerves as she placed everything she needed on a tray. Scully was hoping she could fight William's illness by transplanting Bill's blood Stem cells directly into William's blood stream. She needed it to work to save his life. Scully paced around the floor as she waited for the lab techs to ready the Stem Cells for Transplantation. The minute they handed her the needle with the stem cells, she was off running back down the hall. She passed the needle off to the Nurse and then scrubbed up, slapping on gloves and placing a Mask over her face and then stepping into the room. Scully waited impatiently as she watched a Nurse wiped the copper colored iodine on William's arm, and then placed a blue drape with an insertion hole in the center sectioning off the area of his arm.
Scully took over but in that moment, she was not a doctor, but a mother who was nervous about her child. She was also his doctor and so she grabbed a blue tourniquet and insert a numbing needle into his arm. Mulder could sense that Scully was methodical but torn. This was her son and she could feel his pain just as she had with Emily. Scully inserted a needle into his arm, and then inserted the guide wire, removing the other needle. Scully then took a blade and nicked William's arm, at the injection site. She then threaded the dilator onto the guide wire and then pushed the thicker plastic dilator into William's arm. Scully winced as she moved quickly & removed the guide wire before capping the line. Scully continued on, attaching the catheter and then flushed both ends before injecting the concentrated stem cells into his picc-line. She smiled cheerfully at her son as she watched the stem cells enter his blood stream. She wiped Williams greenish blood up and taped the line down. She cleaned up the area before handing off the medical waste to the Nurse for disposal. She removed her gloves and then stepped out to wash her hands before returning into the room. "Now, we just wait."
The Van DeKamps had chosen to visit the Chapel during William's procedure, leaving Mulder and Scully alone with their son. His grandmother was napping in one of the nearby abandoned hospital rooms. William could feel the worry in his adoptive parents despite the distance. He could hear their thoughts and he knew that this was all too much for his adoptive mother. She'd gone through this more times than he could now remember and he understood her need to go pray to her god but, for William, he had faith in his biological parents. He was weak but he knew that this time, things were different. This time, he would get better.
Scully fiddled with her sons blankets, trying to make him comfortable "Do you feel nauseous, honey?"
"A little," he said. "How many more injections of this?"
"Those stem cells will multiple in your body. And in about two weeks, you'll start to feel better. And in about a month, we will inject you again. And I still have quite a bit of your Uncle Bills stem cells if we need to repeat it, if necessary."
Mulder glanced at Scully and she knew he was cautioning her to not get her hopes up. She searched his eyes as they communicated wordlessly the way they always did. She lowered her head, as a tense Mulder looked on.
"Guys," William said, in a meek voice. "It's going to work."
Scully nervously glanced up towards Mulder. He softened and placed his hand on her back. He kissed her forehead and she sighed. "Okay," she said, with a smile. "We'll take it one step at a time."
"Don't worry so much, mom," he said. "It will be okay. You do believe that, don't you?"
"It's not that, sweetie," Scully said, rubbing the side of his cheek. "I think being a Physician, I'm a little cautious that's all."
"She has always been skeptical," Mulder huffed.
Scully huffed and nodded. "But, I have faith that you will be fine."
"I promise you. I know it. I knew before we came here that you would find a way," William smiled.
"You amaze me," she said, looking at their son. She glanced up to Mulder and then back to William. "I never thought I'd see you again," she said, tearing up. Mulder placed a heavy hand on her shoulder.
"I did," William smiled.
Scully wiped away the tears quickly. "I'll let your parents know the procedure is done."
"My ADOPTIVE parents," William declared.
Scully kissed the top of her sons head. "Yes, they are but they love you dearly, you know that, right?."
William held on to her hand. "Not as much as you though, right?"
She nodded her head and smiled. "We love you but they love you too, William. It's not a competition. We love you the same," she stressed.
William could hear the simultaneous inner thoughts of his biological parents. "They could never love you as much as we do." He smiled to himself, knowing how they truly felt.
"Close your eyes," Scully said, sweetly. "Get some rest. I'll go get them so they can see you."
Mulder stopped Scully and wrapped her in his arms, squeezing her and pressing his nose into her hair. Scully watched as he pulled back. She reached up and touched his cheek. "It's okay," she said, scanning his eyes "It'll be okay."
Mulder sighed heavily, needing Scully's strength and reassurance. He bent down and kissed her. She smiled, noticing William watching them closely. "Be right back," she said, shyly. Mulder watched as she disappeared down the hall.
William gasped, his eyes enlarged as he stared in horror towards the doorway. Standing right beside the two FBI Agents were two black shadows, their eyes wide and their faces indistinguishable. They were staring directly at him as the FBI Agents stood in place oblivious to their presence. Suddenly the black faceless figures walked through the glass doors unseen by others and walked up to him, hovering at the foot of his bed. Mulder sat down next to his sons bed, lost in his own thoughts and unaware of the invisible presence of the two men. William swallowed hard and looked at his father who could see the panic in his eyes.
"What is it, son?," he said, jumping up. "I'll go get Scully!"
"You can't see them!", William gulped. "They're right here!"
Mulder turned in the direction William was pointing. "What are they doing?", Mulder said, frantically.
"Staring at me!", he gulped. "These aren't like the other ones. I don't know what these are!"
The two beings suddenly surrounded him on both sides. William looked frightened as he stared at them. Mulder was helpless as he watched his son unable to see what he was seeing. William swallowed hard as they moved in closer to him, paralyzing him as they looked him over. From their eyes a green beam came down, scanning William's entire body. William began to shake as Mulder grabbed his legs, trying to hold him. "I NEED HELP!", Mulder screamed.
"DAD!", William said, frightened, his eyes glued to the beings.
Two of the nurses burst into the room and began to check William's monitors, as Mulder looked on. William was frozen in fear as the beings stood over him. William could hear their conversations in his head as the scans stopped and they spoke amongst themselves. William began to calm down, able to move his limbs again. He reached out and touched Mulder's hand.
"What happened?", Mulder asked.
"We don't see any signs of seizures," a nurse interrupted. "His monitors show no rise in his heart rate or anything."
The other nurse looked confused. "Clearly he was having a seizure."
Frustrated, the nurse agreed. "Yes, but it's not showing up anywhere. I saw him having a seizure. You saw him having a seizure, but we can't prove it."
They turned to Mulder. "I don't know. I don't know. We'll let Dr. Scully know. We'll call her."
Mulder nodded his head as the two nurses walked out. William laid back, breathing heavily. "They're gone. Dad, I'm okay. I promise. I'm okay."
Mulder tossed off his sons blanket, trying to see for himself. To his surprise, the bluish bruises William had from his unique blood disorder had disappeared. "What did they want, son?"
"They were examining me. They know I'm different now. They were surprised. But they scared me," he said, shaking.
Mulder covered his son back up over his shoulders and sat down next to him on the side of the bed, his head hung low.
"I know, dad," William said. "I know that's your greatest fear..."
"What is, son?"
"That I'll be taken and disappear like your sister..."
Mulder sighed to himself, shaking internally until he felt a small hand on his arm. "I'm okay now. They know that. I have a feeling that they were the ones trying to kill me. I think they are the ones that gave me this disease to stop me from fulfilling the prophecy. But, it didn't work. You and mom will see. I'm going to get better."
Mulder clutched his sons hand. He was too choked up to speak as he tried to stop his internal trembling.
Scully stood outside of the chapel. She was quite familiar with the chapel having come in many times herself when she needed support. Sometimes when she was overwhelmed with emotions after a long hard day or at times when she thought of Emily or William and just needed comfort, she came in there. She had always kept her emotions hidden, even as a child, and it was something that Mulder had helped bring out in her. But, despite Mulder's devotion and love, he could never understand the intense guilt she felt after allowing Emily to die and from giving their son, William up. No matter what Scully did, nor how many lives she saved, she still felt unworthy. She was a Mother with empty arms. She often felt that the only one that could understand her pain was the Holy Mother.
Scully dipped her fingers into the ceramic bowl and made the sign of the cross. She stepped into the chapel and sat behind the Van DeKamp's. She knelt down on the kneeler and again made the sign of the cross and then sat back, looking up at the large statute of the Holy Mother, holding an infant Jesus. The Van DeKamp's were seated in front of her, unaware of her presence as they prayed in a way that reflected their church and their beliefs in contrast to the Catholic statues and bowls of incense surrounding them. Their eyes were clasped shut as they held hands, praying to Jesus for their son. Their bible was open on the pew in between them as they studied and prayed. Scully admired them. They're faith was unshaken despite all that they had gone through with William. Scully turned her attention back to the Virgin sending prayers of her own up to heaven. She waited until they had finished praying. "Amen," they both said and turned in back of them, surprised to see her sitting behind them.
Scully wanted to ease their fears."He's doing well," Scully smiled, her eyes glinting. "The procedure took only a few minutes. We should see improvements in about two weeks to a month. He may need more than one treatment, but I have it stored away so we can reevaluate him in a month and again in six months and repeat if necessary."
Mrs. Van DeKamp looked pleased. "How is he feeling?"
"Talking and Laughing. He's doing Good. The hope is that the stem cells will regenerate and start making him feel better soon."
"Thank You," Mr. Van DeKamp said, cautiously. Scully could tell that they were still unsure if anything would change.
"This is the latest technology we have. It's field tested. We've had results for more than ten years now. I realize you've tried this before but the key was finding the mutation that came from his father and I, something no other doctor or specialist would even know to look for and also using familial blood instead of donor blood. William most likely won't reject it this time and I will test him in two weeks to see if that mutated gene has been replaced."
Mrs. Van DeKamp was still distraught but trying to believe her. "Can we see him now?"
"Yes, of course. I came to get you," Scully paused, licking her lips. "He wants to see you."
Mrs. Van DeKamp picked up on Scully's half-truth. She was pretty sure that William hadn't asked about them at all. "So we can take him home in two weeks?"
Scully stared at them for a long moment, her heart dropping to her knees. "YY...Yes."
Mrs. Van DeKamp grabbed up her bible and grabbed her husbands hand and walked past Scully, out into the hall. Scully sat alone for a moment as her heart sank into the floor.
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